When they arrived, Melchior had led them directly to the elder magician, a man by the name of Ghyliad. He held the barrier with such concentration that he did nothing else—it was actually one of his apprentices, Wrydes, that spoke with them.
“Melchior, we heard of your run-in with the Royal Army and are glad to see that you escaped their control,” Wrydes said, taking Melchior’s hand firmly and bowing at the waist. “Ghyliad is beyond grateful that you were able to gather allies with such stealth. We found out that your allies from Vereshod… did not survive, but they are revered here for their loyalty—they never gave up our position.”
Melchior was clearly unhappy, but he nodded stiffly. “When will we be ready to march?” Melchior got right to the point.
“Ah, it may yet be a week or so. There are supposedly more on the way and we are doing our best to get them here safely. We have been able to get some to travel over the Walk of Respite but we can hardly have them all travel from the same direction and that way is a high-risk that sometimes fails.”
Melchior seemed okay with this, but restless to get going.
“My allies and I are going to visit Remuth before we return here, so keep us informed with any big changes,” Melchior instructed and swept out of the chamber.
On the way there, Melchior had told them that Remuth was a risky prospect, a town more for Myceum than against, but they might hear whispers of Myceum’s movements there if they were lucky. At this point they had proved they could handle larger forces and Melchior had assured them that if they stayed focused, they could just as easily retreat to Mythec if things got bad. It was far enough away to lose someone’s trail but close enough to avoid delays if they got caught up longer than they anticipated.
As they headed out, they got to see more of Mythec and it was a city preparing for war without a doubt. Everywhere they looked, they saw men shooting bows and arrows, smiths crafting armor, swords clashing, axes slicing through wood, and frenzied shouts and commands flying around. The frenzy of the crowds dwindled as they reached the west gate and they left to take the short walk to Remuth. Rienna almost regretted leaving; it reminded her of home. These men might not be as carefree as home, but the bustle, the smell of oil and leather and lit forges, it was unmistakable.
The journey to the small village was uneventful; a couple hours walk and no traffic but for a couple of trade wagons. When they had reached Remuth, it was a pathetic seedy village, an outof-the-way rundown place devoid of children and mostly full of cutthroats and drunks. Krose was the only one among them that seemed not to mind, but then he had been familiar with that kind of crowd. He met Rienna in a place like this. Ashe had decided they should split up before they even reached the town and Verity was shaken by the prospect but Krose had offered to stay with her. Rienna began to wonder if Krose realized his instant sense of chivalry. He didn’t look down on women, quite the opposite. He seemed to genuinely take pride in being useful to them. The others were going to go off on their own; the bigger the group the more attention they would draw. Even entering the town, they had come on from different directions and had already decided on some bogus stories if someone got too nosey. They all wore ragged cloaks to cover their armor. It wasn’t a village unused to newcomers so it probably wasn’t necessary.
Rienna had decided to stick to a sleepy tavern in the middle of the town and other than having to shatter a few hands that got too grabby, she hadn’t been able to learn much of anything. Most of the people seemed too absorbed in their own petty schemes to have any other wealth of info. Times like these she wished she had more faculty over her feminine wiles.
Dinsch stuck out like a sore thumb and wished he had never come at all. There was no way he was blending in here or anywhere really and he had spent much of the day trying to fend off toothless whores. Unfortunately, Finn’s wings had made him just as noticeable.
Melchior had been fortunate enough to spy on a couple of men whispering in a burned ruin of a building and heard them speaking about how Chevalle had gone mad and was destroying soldiers who were coming back empty-handed. They were searching for him and Melchior had made it a point to put up his hood for the rest of that day. It would only be a matter of time before he stopped that bitch and he didn’t want to get careless now. He flexed the cybernetic arm unconsciously in his bottled rage.
Krose spent a great deal of time fending off men who were captivated by Verity. She had decided to hide from view and grabbed Krose’s hand as she turned them into a crony old couple. It seemed to do the trick but it still didn’t net them any more information.
Ashe had been no more successful than the rest of them, but had gotten himself into a card game with a group of bandits and ended up having to kill a few when they turned out to be sore losers. The bartender looked annoyed but not surprised.
Once they had all met up again, it appeared that only Melchior had been able to find out anything and they now realized how much closer they were getting to danger and how much more careful they would need to be. They were staying in a seedy inn with scratchy hay beds (but thankfully no lice infestation) and it seemed no sooner had they laid down when they heard a great commotion coming from outside and fled out to see what was going on.
A great moving mass of darkness, darker than the night itself was moving towards the town and men who had rushed out to meet it could be heard screaming in anguish before the screams were sickeningly cut off. They knew at once that they were having the misfortune of meeting up with their old friend Night again, but this great mass of darkness had grown in power and viciousness. Verity knew her illusions were no good here; both her and Finn had been told about Night and knew he was no pushover. Verity defended herself and let her companions go out to face him.
“Enough!” Ashe had roared into the great mass and it seemed to pause and consider. From the core of the mass, Night became visible but it was no Night that they had remembered. The limp emaciated man that emerged with sunken hollow eyes looked like a sickly wraith devoid of humanity, but he didn’t look vengeful or full of rage; he looked tired and sad. His once vibrant dark eyes now looked dull and bloodshot.
Rienna did not let down her guard but her voice was sad. “Night, what had Erised done to you?”
Night’s eyes searched for Rienna and when he found her, his shoulders slumped even more. He did not speak with his mouth.
“I am tired; I lost the strength to use my physical voice long ago. Erised has almost drained my soul so I don’t have long. I was a fool to let him use me like this, but Freesia was all I had left and there was no reason for me to keep him from using me when she died. It is taking all of my strength to hold him back and he will try to destroy you when I am done.”
Ashe was digging into his pocket and pulled out the ring he had been holding onto and walked up to Night fearlessly. He placed the ring on one of Night’s emaciated fingers and when Night saw it tears fell unabashedly from his eyes.
“You found it. I thought it was lost forever. The only thing that has brought me comfort is knowing that it is not long before I will see her again. That is, if my soul isn’t too tainted by Erised to go to her. Either way, I know she will not be ashamed of me any longer. Thank you, Ashe. I am… sorry to all of you. Erised’s wrath has been indiscriminate and not without cutting a path through the Mycean army as well. Maybe it will be enough… I’m… dying fast. Get back now and prepare to fight. You mustn’t die here.”
It was only seconds before the great tendrils of darkness started lashing out at them and none of them were quite prepared for how formidable Erised was. No matter how tired they got dodging those deadly limbs of shadow, they refused to call the elementals, but they could see that Erised grew weaker. Rienna had been reduced almost solely to defense and healing as Erised tore at them with ferocity.
Nuriel, it seemed, had no intention of staying away from this battle and to their surprise had shown up without being summoned. Erised’s mass, smaller now, pulsed as if panting from exhaustion and
took of the form of a man, although drippy and slick like wet tar. He seemed to have trouble holding the form together and the result was a grotesque bubbling blob.
“My stubborn child seems to always think he can do the hard parts without me, but what concerns Erised and I is older than his ancestors,” Nuriel seethed and crackled, his temper barely reined in his voice. “Back away, all of you, Erised’s powers are spread too thin and volatile and I have come on behalf of the old gods to limit him.”
They weakly did as they were told and Nuriel kept his gaze on the hissing form of Erised as the others took a safe distant from the Shade. There was an old legend that said that the elements were born in opposition to each other in the event that they attempted to throw off the balance of power. The Luminas were the opposite of Erised’s dark, but Nuriel was the Flame, the Salamander and a light in the dark. For whatever reason, it was Nuriel and Erised who had held the fiercer rivalry over the centuries. Rienna wondered now if the Suleika knew anything about this or if it was coincidence that these were Melchior’s dual elements at war now. She knew she was missing something about this, but was at a loss for what.
Once they had done so, the clash between Fire and Dark was so sudden that it was hard to make out the struggle. It was a strange swirl of roaring fire and thick inky blackness and the fire quite rapidly overtook the darkness. Nuriel struggled a bit as Erised finally looked to be beaten and a blinding path of light leapt from Krose’s ring to shatter Erised’s form. The Shade was not completely destroyed; they saw a pathetic stain of shadow gather on the ground and slink away rapidly towards the desert. A man shaped husk that had once been Night, crumbled into ash and disintegrated into the air at the first hint of a breeze, his somber face lifting in a smile before blowing away. Rienna’s heart plummeted as she remembered Freesia’s similar ending, but tried to smile thinking of them together now. Supposing nasty undines or machinations of hell didn’t keep them apart, but she had already suspected Belias had told a lie of his own to keep her to the world of the living.
Nuriel had appeared before them now, his eyes narrowed at Krose’s ring. “I was handling him just fine, Lumina; I’ll thank you not to fill the minstrel’s heads with lies of YOUR defeat of Erised when I did all of the hard work,” he grinned at the exhausted group then as Lumina’s laughter rang out distantly. “Your efforts are not unnoted either, humans, but you never would have taken him on your own. Stubborn, stubborn humans you are, although I must say I am impressed you managed to command your gifts without needing our guidance. You are certainly more self-sufficient and resourceful that our previous recipients.”
Nuriel turned his hot gaze towards Melchior coldly. “Keep using me to light things and I will wear you as a hat when this is over,” Nuriel hissed as he disappeared again.
Rienna rose shakily to her feet, the others following suit as Verity hurried over to them. “Just how often have you been using him to light things anyway?” Rienna asked as her breaths restored to a slower pace. She was holding herself together with tremendous effort and her attempt to chastise him felt too forced.
Melchior grinned sheepishly. “What can I say; ladies are impressed by a fireplace lit by an elemental!” he bragged, although she sensed it was more bravado than a common occurrence. She was oddly grateful that he didn’t pick up on her faltering heart.
Rienna rolled her eyes and glared at him. “Is your game so tired you have to resort to parlor tricks now?” she countered. She wished she had said nothing at all, for it sounded catty now. Luckily, he just shrugged it off.
“I just hope it’s worth your hide sitting on an elementals’ head. Chances are it’ll be a stupid looking hat and he’ll bury it in a pile of ox shit when he tires of it,” Ashe added. Krose snorted out a laugh. Rienna trembled inside, like she was standing on the wrong end of a long dark tunnel and they were drifting so far away. Her vision swam and she took deep breaths to steady herself.
Melchior had enough strength to chase after Ashe on that note, but Ashe had done him one better; he kept out of reach and managed to laugh about it as well. Dinsch had whimpered a little as he tried to sit up and Rienna had noticed a nasty fracture had his bone sticking out of his leg. She apologized profusely and set her concentration on mending it as Krose held his hand, grateful for the distraction as her bruised heart nearly swallowed her whole. Finn watched his friends with a sort of serene amusement and Verity shouted after the two brothers not to go too far—they had drawn too much attention and staying the night was out of the question. They would have to drag their tired bodies back to Mythec and regroup with some new plans in the morning.
No one would be getting much sleep. Mythec was six hours away.
The morning light streaming in the room was not unpleasant or harsh as Rienna started to wake, but as she stretched her back, sleep dissolving as she registered where she was, she could feel a light bit of weight on her stomach and her eyes shot open, wildly looking for the reason and saw Ashe sleeping next to her, that angelic face puffy and innocent in deep sleep and his hand on her stomach. She was less hysterical as she realized they were mostly dressed (no weapons, heavy armor pieces or boots, but his shirt was off too) and frowned to see the light purple shadows under his eyes, something she might not have noticed if his face weren’t so close to hers at this moment. As well as he looked to be sleeping now, she had already guessed he hadn’t gotten as good of sleep as it appeared at first glance. None of them had. They had hurried back here but still only made it a few short hours from sunrise. They had been shown to a wing where there were empty rooms for each of them, above all the noise and quite secluded.
She noticed that he hadn’t discarded his clothes in here either. He was walking around half-naked? She examined his face as he slept and figured it had been only a couple short minutes before she noticed that Melchior was smirking in the doorway.
“Don’t look so smug; you know nothing happened,” Rienna hissed, keeping her voice down. Still, she had pulled up the sheet around her once she saw him since the shift she wore was hardly the sort of thing she’d wear alone. Unless she thought she was alone fencing with dummies in the rain. She tilted her head up to look at the ceiling to avoid looking at him with Ashe on her other side and his hand was now under the blanket and still on her stomach. It seemed even less modest than she had bargained for.
“At least, not on your end, but it looks like my little brother is having a really, really good morning,” Melchior joked and her eyes shifted to where his hand been to see that, sure enough, Ashe was pitching a tent down there. She put her leg up to block it instinctively, although she didn’t need to defend his modesty for his brother so she felt silly reacting as she did. Her heart ached again for unrelated reasons now—all last night she had traveled here with heavy heart, trying not to weep for Night and Freesia. At least they were together. She had let Belias talk her out of joining him and she felt like a fake.
Rienna glared at Melchior now and he threw his hands up, his mouth twitching with amusement, and closed her door quietly. Ashe finally seemed to stir at the quiet latch of the door and he seemed confused for a moment before he smiled at Rienna and pulled his hand away to rub his eyes. He noticed his morning salute and grabbed a pillow to hide it. She got up off the bed and walked around it to a chair nestled in the corner, sitting there to pull on her boots and get ready for the day. It seemed strange to be pulling on those boots while still wearing a shift, but she wouldn’t dare get bashful and hurry to cover herself. It was a modest covering and definitely not seductive. Her armor, although it felt silly to call it that, was hanging on the far side of the room, so for the sake of seeming casual she took her time.
“You haven’t punched me or asked me how I ended up in here,” Ashe stated, in a voice so full of wonder that she almost laughed.
Rienna stopped after pulling on the first boot and pouted then resumed what she was doing.
“I thought you might tell me once you woke up all the way. Not everyone is sharp fi
rst thing in the morning,” Rienna explained, feeling her resolve drain away. More sorrow, it seemed silly to keep putting on a front. Ashe seemed to see past her facades anyway.
“Nightmares. About the past. I think telling you I wasn’t affected was asking for it, so it was a matter of time before I remembered something. I was panicking so I stumbled into the nearest room and fell asleep again. I could tell it was a woman but I was hoping whoever it was wouldn’t wake up and kill me. Or have a husband stumbling in late. To kill me,” Ashe added as he sat up but kept the pillow in place. Must have become a really incredible dream. It stung a little that she had just been the first warm body he stumbled upon, even if he hadn’t mean it as an insult. It did amuse her that a grown man would have nightmares and look for a snuggle buddy. She might have suggested Dinsch, but that was her personal sanctuary so she wasn’t up for sharing.
His pants were hanging awfully low on his hips and those dark tattoos always drew her eyes. More than anything else, she loved the muscles of his neck and around his collarbones, the way the tattoos traced over those planes fluidly. She always loved those muscles on men because they moved with every little motion—breathing, swallowing, laughing, clenching the jaw. They were muscles that made them human and full of life and they were so different from a woman’s. Rienna stared at them now and noticed he was watching her curiously. Her heart didn’t feel so heavy when she studied him.
Rienna looked away and stood up to look for her weapons. She signed with frustration and planted her hands on her hips seeing they were in the opposite corner as the armor. Had she deliberately set up a scavenger hunt or what? But no, it was an old habit. Her father said that when you’ve had a hard day, to leave pieces of it behind in neat order, ground yourself, center yourself and find peace in the middle. Although it seemed more like rationalization for being a messy person, the ritual of it did calm her. When she looked back at Ashe, he seemed to be watching her shamelessly.
The Truth about Heroes: Complete Trilogy (Heroes Trilogy) Page 27
