by Heath Pfaff
“You’re a fucking ass, Xandrith!” Haley snapped, her anger boiling over as tears began to stream down her cheeks. “You dragged us from one end of the world to the other, fighting the entire damned way. I followed you through terrifying places, and put my axe against nightmares! Each and every time we came out ahead. Each and every time you kept fighting and no one could stand against you. Now, when we’re at the damn end, now you’re going to quit?!”
“Haley, it’s ...” Xandrith began, but his apprentice wasn’t done yet.
“No, you shut you damned mouth!” She took two steps in his direction, bringing her face to face with him. Her eyes were stormy, her face, never beautiful with the horrible scarring, was even more terrible when knotted in anger. “You showed me that it was alright to live!” She shouted. “You fucking showed me that I could still have a life after ...” She stopped for a second and took a few deep breaths. “After that monster killed my family, raped me, and disfigured my body.” Her fist flashed so fast that Xandrith didn’t even see it coming before it collided with the side of his face. Haley was strong, but her strength was further enhanced by the axe she was wearing so that the blow staggered the assassin and sent him sprawling to the ground. “You showed me that it was alright to keep hope even when the entire world felt like it was at an end, and now you’re just going to run away? Well, fuck you!”
Xandrith looked up at the young woman standing above him, her fists balled in rage, tears streaming down her face. He just shook his head and turned his eyes away. He couldn’t meet her intense gaze. “I can’t lose you too.” He whispered, feeling like a knife was being twisted in his heart again.
“Well, Xandrith Dalt, if you turn your back on the world and run away, you will have already lost me too.” Haley replied coldly. “I’m not going to stay with you and watch you choke to death on your own self-pity, and I’m not going to run away from this mess with you. If you won’t do what needs to be done, I will.”
Silence fell between them, and Xandrith couldn’t remember a time when a silence had ever been so terrible and empty. Haley had recovered her mask and slid it over her face, though it did nothing to hide the mix of disappointment and hurt on her features. She pulled her hood up and sat on the bed, refusing to look in Xan’s direction.
Xandrith looked down at his hands, dyed red as though coated in the blood he could never wash away. His disguise had been great, out there with the trolls. That was how inhuman he’d become, and now he was contemplating taking that final step towards turning his back on his people. He was going to abandon them to their fate to eke out a few years of life for himself and someone who might hate him for the rest of those remaining days. He would have to drag her kicking and screaming from the mountains. She wasn’t going to go with him willingly.
The assassin had almost never doubted himself. Even at his bleakest he’d always carried on, unwilling to put down his blade until someone forced him to do so. Yet here he was, when it mattered most, doing exactly what he’d never let himself do. He looked across the room at the girl on the bed. Haley was strong, and she was wise beyond her years. She was also right. It wasn’t time to give in.
Xandrith stood up and crossed the distance to the bed.
“I’m sorry, Haley.” The words were difficult. “I was wrong. We’ll keep going.” Those three statements bore a heavy toll, but speaking them almost immediately lifted a weight from his shoulders. They lifted the last of his doubt from him. Until death, he would fight.
Haley didn’t look his way immediately. “I’m not keeping my promise about running if you’re in trouble either.” She stated sharply.
Xandrith winced, but he realized the strength of her conviction. He couldn’t keep her from doing what she needed to do, and if he tried he’d only risk hurting her. “I release you from that promise.” Those words were even more difficult than admitting he was wrong. They were probably both going to die.
Haley sprung from the bed, her mask falling to the floor as she jumped on Xandrith and wrapped herself around him. Xandrith staggered backwards and only barely managed to keep himself from falling onto the floor. He landed on the bed with Haley on top of him. She leaned forward and pressed her lips against Xan’s. They were soft, warm, welcoming. Their bodies were closer than they’d ever been before, or at least it felt that way even if in sparing they might have gotten more tangled. This was just so different. Warmth was rolling up through the assassin, embarrassment or something else? Haley’s tongue slipped between her lips and lightly touched the assassin’s. Xandrith spun, shifting his weight and tossing Haley to the side, though she attempted to counter his throw and keep herself on top of him. He stood up from the bed and took a few steps away.
“I’m glad we’re alright again.” Xan said quietly. “It can’t be like you want it, though.”
Haley was kneeling on the bed, her expression hurt. “I’m not innocent, Xan. I’ve never been with someone who loved me, you know about my past. Please, I love you. Won’t you be with me? We don’t have much time left.” She started to unbuckle the straps on her assassin’s outfit, undoing the straps that kept her top tight against her skin, but Xandrith closed the gap between them and stopped her hand from undoing anymore of the clasps. He bent forward and kissed her forehead.
“I would be no better than the one who hurt you if we did this.” Xandrith told her.
Haley leaned herself forward into Xan, laying her head on his chest. “It’s because I’m burned, isn’t it?” She asked him, her voice trembling.
“Never that, Haley.” Xandrith said, sitting on the bed at her side. He put an arm around the girls shoulder’s and pulled her close. “It’s because you’re too special to be with someone like me. You think you love me, and I believe that you do in a way, but you are still so young. Your emotions are like fire in a dry wood. They kindle quickly and flare hot, but when the fires burn out, will you still feel the same? Love, the kind you want to feel for me, is about when the fires are cool. If you still love someone once the passion is burned out, then you really love them.”
Haley put her arms around Xan and pulled him into a tight embrace. “I like that you think you understand my feelings, Xan, but you’ll never know how deeply I really love you.”
Xandrith didn’t know what to say, but he returned the hug, certain not to give any indication that they would go any further. Haley wiped a few tears onto Xan’s tunic and then finally released him. She walked over and picked up her mask, sliding it back onto her face. Their eyes stayed locked for a time, but finally Haley sighed and sat back down the on the bed. They waited together.
Chapter 10
The Place of Endings
The door opened and a single Unth entered the room. She shut the door behind herself and with a gesture locked it in her wake. Apparently they didn’t trust that Haley and Xandrith wouldn’t make a run for it if given the chance. Probably if Xandrith and Haley hadn’t had their earlier heart to heart, Xandrith would have been trying to do exactly that. The Unth were too clever.
The assassin stood and crossed his arms but he didn’t move any closer to the Unth. “I’m assuming you’re here to tell us what’s happening, and what you plan to do with us.”
“The trolls have launched an assault of some type. Their Shamans have formed into ranks near the wall. We’ve been killing them if they get too close, but so far there have been not actions of consequence.” The Unth stated blandly. “It has been determined that you will stay here as our prisoners until this conflict with the trolls is ended and we can better judge what amount of threat you pose.”
“Prisoners?” Xan raised an eyebrow. “Well, at least you’re being honest.”
“We have no intention of making you uncomfortable, but you can’t be allowed to leave with knowledge of how to enter our lands.” Her reply was as impassive as the rest of her statements, but it held a key piece of information.
“When the trolls are gone we’re still going to know how to get in and out of this
place. You don’t ever plan on letting us leave, do you?” Xandrith pressed.
She responded quickly, sharply. “The final decision about what to do with you has not been made.”
Xandrith nodded his head slowly and sighed. “I suppose it wouldn’t make any difference if I told you that I couldn’t care less about your Wellspring?”
The Unth didn’t reply, but her expression hinted at agitation with the mention of the Wellspring.
“Are you planning on keeping us locked in this wall?” Xandrith asked. “It’s not safe for us here.”
“This is the safest place for you.” The Unth replied quickly. “We will send food and supplies later.” She backed towards the door as she said this, never taking her eyes off of Xan and Haley. Xandrith’s body tensed. He still had one of the knives he’d been given. He could get himself and Haley free if he had to.
The ground beneath his feet shook, and Xandrith’s thoughts of escape fled. “What was that?” He asked, his situational awareness screaming a warning.
A wave of blackness swam through the crystal that composed the structure of the room they were in, tainting the pinkish color of the wall and leaving a gray residue in its wake. The entire wall seemed to groan and shake. It was happening. The trolls were coming.
The Unth was stunned. She’d grabbed on to the door’s frame as the floor began to heave, and hadn’t moved since. The expression on her face told Xandrith that she was far more surprised by the shaking than he was.
“I told you this wall was coming down.” Xandrith barked at her. “We need to get out of here now!”
Her eyes fell back on the two captives and she seemed to remember what she was doing. She backed out of the door quickly and started to pull it closed in her wake. Xandrith sprang forward with every bit of speed he could muster. He drew his knife and wedged it in the gap as the door was about to snap closed. The Unth woman on the other side drew the door closed again, trying desperately to close the opening before Xan could escape. Haley was on his heels. She grabbed the handle and pulled back, placing her weight in opposition to the Unth. Xandrith got his fingers in the opening and added his own pull and the door swung open, dragging their captor with it even as another terrible vibration shook the wall. Xandrith looked up and saw that the top of the wall, the great rising spikes of crystal, were starting to split and crumble.
An explosion sounded in the room behind Xandrith and he snapped his head around in time to see the Unth woman flying backwards to slam into the crystal wall. He looked at Haley who gave a simple shrug.
“She was trying to use her magic. I had to work quickly.” She explained.
“Fair enough.” Xan replied.
The ground heaved violently upward at his feet, throwing both him and Haley high into the air. The assassin tumbled to a landing, ending up on his knees. Haley fared much better, coming back to her feet smoothly as a giant shard of crystal fell not ten feet from where they stood and wedged deep into the walkway.
“We should get off this wall.” Xandrith noted, already turning towards the stairs.
Haley nodded and fell in behind the assassin as they raced for the base of the wall. The Unth defenders atop the wall hadn’t come down. Xandrith could only guess what was going through their heads, but they seemed too dumbfounded by what was happening to react appropriately. A nicer version of the assassin might have run up the stairs to try and save them, but he just couldn’t bring himself to risk his life for them. If they’d had their way he’d be locked inside their crumbling structure waiting for death.
He and Haley were halfway down the stairs when the entire wall began to crumple. It started at the top, the crystals shattering and splitting into a million tiny knives that rained down from the sky and ripped anything that got in their way apart. Xandrith jumped from the side of the stairs, tumbling the last six feet to the ground roughly and Haley landed just ahead of him, again showing that she was far more graceful than he was these days. She held a hand out to him and helped him back to his feet.
His recently repaired leg ached, and the muscles protested further as he put his full weight on them. Xandrith shook off the crystal fragments that had hit him. He’d managed to pick up at least a dozen small cuts that trickled blood. He looked over at Haley and saw that she’d gotten about the same treatment. There were no serious injuries, but they were both a little worse for wear.
“What do we do now?” Haley asked, looking at the wall that was still crumbling.
“We run that way.” Xandrith pointed in the direction that he thought would lead them to the Unth city. He wasn’t exactly sure where the Wellspring was, but he thought he could feel something calling him in that general direction.
“Towards the magic?” Haley asked, obviously more aware of the Wellspring than he was himself. He hadn’t thought of that.
“Yes, towards the magic.” Xandrith nodded.
“What about the Unth?” She asked.
“They have bigger worries than us. The trolls are coming, and we need to reach the Wellspring before they do.” With that, he turned in the direction of the gentle pull he was feeling and began to run. Haley matched his pace, though it was clear she could have easily gotten ahead of him. Xandrith was limping despite his best efforts to hide his injury. He’d put too much strain on that leg recently and it wasn’t going to give him anymore slack. If he was going to run on it, it was going to cause him agony the entire way.
Xandrith spotted the first signs of the city on the horizon and felt a small amount of relief wash over him. If he’d had to run too far he might not have made it. The cold was numbing his leg to some extent, but it was also making it more difficult to run. The slope of the mountain wasn’t helping matters either. It took them another twenty minutes at a hard pace before they found themselves on a paved and managed road. The road was made of the same crystal as everything else that the Unth crafted, though a texture had been applied to it to make the whole thing less slick.
As Xandrith and Haley approached the Unth on the streets stopped and stared. Instead of being impassive, their expressions were haunted by clear agitation. They were not happy to have strangers approaching their city. Unfortunately for them, Haley and Xandrith were the best of the company coming their way that day.
“The trolls have taken your wall. They will be here in less than an hour. If you have defenses you should ready them now.” Xandrith said, speaking between his gasps for breath. He looked at Haley to see if she was as worn as he was. While she was breathing heavy, she didn’t look quite as worn out. The assassin missed his youth.
None of the Unth made any effort to reply to him. “Listen, someone had better take this warning seriously. The trolls aren’t going to warn you themselves before they start slaughtering you in the street.”
One of the Unth spoke. “The wall can’t fall.”
Xandrith sighed in exasperation. “It can, and it has. How do you think we got here? The trolls are coming for the Wellspring. They will be here soon. If you want to fight for what is yours, you need to prepare yourselves now.”
At the mention of the Wellspring all of the Unth became visibly agitated.
“They would have sent word.” One of the Unth said, still doubting.
“They are dead. They refused to leave the wall when it fell because they didn’t believe it would happen. We are all the warning you’re going to get. What does it cost you to prepare for the worst? Time, a little effort? You have all lived for ages, what could a little bit of time really mean to you?” Xandrith pressed, desperate to get his point through to this strange, aggravating people.
The Unth in the area gathered into a small group and began talking while Xandrith and Haley stood watching, astounded that it took so much deliberation to work on saving their own lives. After a few minutes one of the group split off and headed urgently down a side street. Another of the Unth stepped from the group and walked towards Haley and Xandrith.
“We will sound the city alarm. You will wait here
until we see that this threat is legitimate.” He ordered calmly.
Xandrith sighed. “Fine, but I’m going to sit down.” He hobbled to the side of a building and crumpled to the ground. Haley came up quickly beside him and joined him.
“Are you going to be alright?” She asked, her fox-masked features looking concerned.
“Yeah.” Xan replied quietly. “Just a little sore. My body is reminding me that I’m getting old.”
“You’re not that old.” Haley was quick to say.
Xandrith chuckled. “In assassin years I’m well over a hundred.”
A strange roaring sound echoed through the air, like a cross between a horn and the sound some giant monster might make before consuming a horde of townsfolk. The sound lasted for four or five seconds, went silent for a time, and then rang out again. It was a haunting, unnerving siren.
“That is an unsettling alarm they have.” Xandrith noted after the last of the waves of sound went off.
“Worse than the sound of the horde.” Haley commented, and Xan nodded. She was right.
The Unth began to appear from within the city, first only a few of them, then gradually more began taking to the street and heading for the city limits. It struck Xan as strange that there were no gates around the city itself, but then the Unth had seemed so certain their wall was never going to fall.
They moved quickly, running as they came from side streets to join the others, but none of them looked particularly distressed. It seemed that they were following some sort of well-rehearsed drill. Xandrith noted that some of them carried weapons, but most came empty handed. He guessed that most preferred to use magic as their primary form of defense. They seemed quick to resort to spells, and the assassin was glad he had Haley with him. She’d already saved him multiple times from that magic.
Watching the Unth crawl from their city was somehow eerie. The city was actually only marginally larger than some bigger towns Xandrith had encountered on the road, though it looked like it had been intended to be much larger at some point in the past. The buildings were complex, crafted in an artistic style unlike the wall beyond. They’d built the city before the Wellspring had enslaved them and removed their personalities. The wall had come later, maybe hundreds of years, when their paranoia had over shadowed any artistic qualities that remained in them as a people. It was the lack of people populating a city of its size that made their coalition so strange.
