The Forsaken Hero

The camp was eerily quiet in the aftermath of Luke’s arrival. The woods rustled with the winter breeze. The storm had thickened, and heavy white snowflakes drifted through the branches. Fable paced around us, his paws crunching in the frozen carpet of leaves.

"We should get back," I said.

"Not in your condition," Luke replied.

"I-I’m fine. Really."

He just stroked my hair. I lowered my head, letting him.

"I think I saw a village a mile or so from here. Do you think you can travel alright?" he finally asked.

I shook my head, shivering slightly. I didn’t have the heart to lie anymore.

"Alright, Fable, that’s enough pacing," Luke said, carefully lifting me in his arms. Fable came over, and Luke flew up to his back, carefully easing me into his fur.

"You’re not leaving me, are you?"

He smiled gently, sitting down behind me, and then pulling me into his lap. His arms circled me, his aura a blanket against the cold.

"Borealis, keep an eye from above. Nothing reaches us," He said, an edge to his voice.

Borealis cawed and took off, vanishing into the snow. Fable began to lope through the trees, slowly and carefully.

"Luke, what happened? How did you find me?"

He was quiet for a moment before letting out a sigh. "We thought the Fire Hero would take you directly to the Divine Throne. It was the only logical course of action."

"He, um...got lost."

Luke stared down at me. "What?"

I nodded, my cheeks warming a little. Why was I feeling embarrassed?

He chuckled, resting his hand on my face, his thumb caressing my cheek. "That’s the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard. An eighth-level hero getting lost less than a day away from the Divine Throne?"

"It’s pretty far," I mumbled, thinking of the weeks it had taken Soltair, Trithe, and me to reach High Valley.

"Not for an eighth-level hero. He could cross the entire kingdom in a few days if he really wanted. But regardless, we had nearly reached the Divine Throne by the time Jessia managed to intercept us."

My blood ran cold. He didn’t notice.

"She led us right to you. I’m sorry it took so long. If only I’d realized you’d stopped sooner, then he might not have--" He clenched his jaw, his fingers tightening on my cheek. "I’m sorry, Xiviyah. I...I wasn’t too late, was I?"

His voice trembled slightly on those words. It was as close to pleading as I’d ever heard Luke get. I touched his hand, holding it against my cheek.

"No," I whispered, closing my eyes. "He...he didn’t touch me. Not like that. None of them did."

His breath of relief was audible. "Thank the emperors. I...I don’t know what I would have done if..." He shook his head. "I’m sorry for entering alone as I did. I hope I didn’t scare you. But I had to ask Fable and Borealis to stay back. I couldn’t let it escalate into a fight, not when you were so vulnerable."

"Thanks," I said dryly. As humbling as his words were, his quick thinking had probably saved my life. The slightest shockwave would have broken what was already damaged within me. Hag’s poison had brought me to the brink. It’d only deteriorated further through the long hours I spent bound and exposed in the cold.

"What matters is we managed to find you," he said.

That part made the least sense to me, especially the bit about Jessia. She had so obviously betrayed us to Rash’alon, just like Kislee. She’d exposed my weaknesses to Hag, and by the demon lord’s own admission, been instrumental in designing the plan that had nearly claimed me.

Dozens of visions had shown her collaborating with Rash’alon’s forces, from gathering the scattered hordes to leading them to High Valley. But now she had done the same to Luke, bringing him to me when I needed him most?

The even more pressing question was how she had accomplished that in the first place. The Soul Binder had sealed off my soul, leaving me no different than any other first-level mortal. My aura, mana, and abilities were restrained completely. There was no trail for me to leave, no power for her to sense. Nothing except for a dream that I was now beginning to question whether or not it was a dream at all.

There was something else that tugged at my mind, another inconsistency I’d been ignoring in my certainty, but couldn’t any longer. Jessia knew how to ward herself from prying eyes. She was so good at it she had managed to completely hide not just herself, but Luke, from both the Oracle of Eternity and the very bond of the Soul Binder. So how was it, then, that the Oracle of Eternity kept slipping through?

It didn’t make any sense. I’d literally watched as she’d promised Hag I wouldn’t be able to.

There were no answers to be found, not in the muted hush of falling snow. Only a headache, which Luke’s gentle touch soothed. He was stroking my horn now, distracting my thoughts with the soft, pleasant tingles running down my spine.

"I had a dream," I whispered. "I saw you with R’lissea. You had defeated Rash’alon, and...won. How did you manage to overcome his power?"

Luke’s hand paused, his fingertips resting against my scalp. "I didn’t."

"You...didn’t? But Rash’alon--"

"Has control of the horde. What’s left of it, anyway."

"You just abandoned it? But Luke, that’s...everything you’ve ever fought for?"

"Not everything," he said softly, resuming his caress. "The Lord of Ash managed to escape his fight long enough to inform me something terrible had happened. But not even he could have foreseen the Fire Hero’s incursion. Rash’alon was stronger than me, and more experienced. But he had also set up his revolt in such a way that he thought it impossible I could do anything but fight him. My retreat caught him off guard, and I managed to catch your trail before he caught on."

My mind reeled. Luke had abandoned his horde. He had left the only instrument to complete his revenge in the hands of our enemy. My head started to hurt more. Nothing was making sense. From Alex to Jessia, why was no one doing what they should be?

"Edrin is dead," Luke continued, unaware I’d screwed my eyes shut, my tail curling. "Kislee too. Firemane reported a few minutes ago that everyone else and their forces managed to break from Rash’alon’s horde and join up with your Fatesworn. They’re currently retreating toward High Valley."

"We have to go to them. They’re going to be lost without me," I said, biting my lip hard.

"Not before you recover," he said firmly. "Right now, Rash’alon has no idea where you are. He probably assumes you were taken to the Divine Throne, just as I did. That means he needs full control over the army to siege it and take you back. Or, in the case you somehow managed to escape, he knows that attacking the ones you care about will bring you back. It’s a win-win for him."

"But they’re dying..."

"They’re fighting. And sometimes, that requires sacrificing one’s life. If you go back now, that will all be in vain. You can’t even stand up on your own, never mind use your mana for powerful magic. Xiviyah, I’m afraid that if I don’t hold you so tightly, you might blow away like one of these snowflakes."

I hated when he sounded like that. So straightforward and logical. So...right.

Luke was supposed to be hotheaded and reckless. How could he sit here, holding me so tenderly, when everything he cared about was burning in the flames of civil war?

"I know it’s hard," he murmured, "but I’m not going to let you get hurt. We’ll rest until we’ve recovered some. At least until the poison’s purged from your system."

Dark shapes loomed out of the forest, and Fable slowed to a trot. The silhouettes quickly sharpened into buildings. A village, but one abandoned some time ago. Vines and undergrowth climbed across thatched roofs, and frost clung to the cracked mortar between stone foundations. It was small, only a smattering of half-timber houses around a dirt-packed village square. The biggest building was a small, two-story inn with half of its roof caved in. An ancient memory stirred, squirming in the back of my mind amid the dust and haze.

As Fable stepped over a low garden wall, I caught a glimpse of an oversized barn tucked back in the trees. It looked like the first to have been reclaimed by the forest. Part of its roof collapsed, giving it an eerie look. For some reason, the sight of its doors hanging askew, hinting at the darkness beyond, caused my eyes to moisten. For a reason I didn’t quite understand, I sniffled, a tear running down my cheek.

"Xiv?" Luke asked, his head tilting.

"I...I don’t know. But this place..."

"You’ve been here before?" he asked, surprised.

It wasn’t until we reached the inn that I finally remembered. It had fallen into disrepair, but there was no mistaking the first village I’d come to as a Hero.

I whispered its name, forever engraved in my mind. "Whiteriver Village."