Page 54 of Veil of Vasara (Fate of the Five #1)

CHAPTER 54- SHADAE

T here was a fire burning in front of me. The ground was wet beneath my palms. This was soil. I was under a tree. The smacks against the earth and the coolness of the air were the next things that reached my semi-conscious mind.

It was raining.

I pressed my hands into the dirt and sat up.

Elias was sitting on the other side of the fire. He watched me push myself up, raggedly. I pressed my hand to my temple. My head was throbbing, the very front, sides, and back of my skull felt inflamed.

The faint sound of thunder sounded from above us. I couldn’t help but look at the sky. It hardly ever rained in Vasara, let alone did it see thunderstorms.

“We shouldn’t be sitting here,” I said, as the rumble of the sound crackled in our ears.

Elias was eating something, tearing it apart with his hands. “You passed out. We couldn’t leave.”

How about…how are you? What happened? Are you unwell? You passed out, that’s probably not a good thing?

No, of course, he wouldn’t ask those kinds of questions. Not to me.

I stood, ignoring the stab at the base of my skull as I did.

“You shouldn’t stay by the roots of a tree during a thunderstorm.”

Elias looked up at me and said slowly. “It’s raining.”

Great. I suppose staying dry is worth getting electrocuted. Am I supposed to thank you?

I shook the urge to retort and walked towards Elias’ horse.

He didn’t move.

I stopped and turned around. My boots were squelching in the wet soil. I watched his back, he seemed completely comfortable, willing to sit here all night.

“Aren’t we going back?”

“We can’t. Not now. The weather isn’t suitable for riding.”

“So, we’re staying here?”

Elias threw the remnants of whatever he had been eating into the fire, then stood, and stamped it out. “Not unless you pass out again.”

I took a deep breath in and out.

I didn’t choose to pass out alright? Why are you acting like I did it deliberately?

“What…happened?” I asked, avoiding eye contact with him. He strolled past me and took the reins of his horse. He started to walk. I followed him.

The chill of the air bit at my bones. I supposed staying dry had been better in the end. I put both my hands under the arms of my jacket and hunched over, starting to shiver.

“You touched that…thing, screamed, and lost consciousness,” he answered me.

“For how long?”

“I didn’t bring a fucking pocket watch with me,” he grumbled.

Of course not, what is your problem? But you can estimate a time roughly, surely?

I decided to remain silent. Speaking to him was only going to end in a disagreement.

But he spoke again, still facing forwards. “Do you remember anything?”

I thought about it. “No.”

I didn’t, only crushing, swelling pain in my skull, and darkness.

“Where’s that body?” I asked.

“I’m not touching it. Are you?” He raised a brow, obviously understanding my answer would be no.

“But can we really just… leave it there?” My teeth chattered as the unfettered rain smacked against my clothes more strongly.

“It was lying there for a while already, what’s the difference?” He sounded apathetic.

Urrr…that we know the corpse is dangerous, and connected to a possibly imminent convoluted threat centred around the destruction and the death of more people? Why is this so hard for you to understand?

I kept my thoughts to myself. I wasn’t about to risk the consequences of voicing them out loud. I was cold, and tired.

After less than a quarter of an hour, Elias led us to an Inn at one of Vasara’s Northern towns - Vaden. He must have known of a large number of Inns, and their locations, since he’d headed Vasara’s military before.

Once we got into the Inn, Elias approached the woman in the entrance hall, asking for two rooms.

“Thirty rays each,” the lady said.

Thirty rays?! I don’t have thirty rays.

Elias turned to me with an expectant look on his face, waiting for me to take out that money.

“I don’t have that on me,” I replied guiltily.

Elias rolled his eyes and gave the woman sixty rays in tandem. “You’re paying me back, tracker.”

“I—"

He turned around, leaning one arm on the counter, and raised his eyebrows at me. He was challenging me to continue that sentence.

Challenge accepted. I was poor and a semi captive, what was his eyebrow raise?

“I don’t have the money to pay you back,” I spoke up.

Elias peered at me suspiciously, but before he could reply, the woman returned, handing us two keys. Elias strolled off towards the staircase that led to an upper floor. I followed him.

We approached two adjacent doors. He threw me one of the keys, which I caught. He turned to me again, this time leaning on the door frame of his rented room, with his right arm in the air, his hand in a fist.

“You just got paid, didn’t you?” His unwavering gaze was demanding.

“Yes, but I…used that money,” I looked at the ceiling and grimaced as I said it.

“You used all of that money…already?”

“Yes,” I confirmed.

“What for?” He narrowed his eyes.

What for? Since when did trackers have to report their monthly spendings? Do you want a breakdown of the food, toiletries, and medicines I purchase in the future? What about clothes?

“You’re thinking very hard about your answer,” he remarked.

I sighed and rubbed my aching temples again. “It was her body. I paid them for her body.”

Elias dropped his arm. “You paid those guards for a body?”

“I wanted to bury her.” I tried not to let my voice waver.

“If you spend money every time you want to bury someone, you’ll end up hungry and on the street within a month.” He scowled.

I didn’t look up, instead, I began to place the key into the door in front of me.

Elias was still watching me. “How much?”

My wrist froze in place. “One hundred rays.”

“One hundred fucking rays?” He sounded angry. I closed my eyes in consternation, expecting a reprimand.

“It’s just once. I’ll…pay you back next month if you’ll please… give me the time.”

But Elias didn’t seem interested.

“Who were they?” he asked.

I turned to the right, looking at him. I shrugged.

I have no idea who they were. Do you think I’m intimately acquainted with guards who would spit at my feet?

Elias frowned. “I think I remember from that day.” He nodded to himself resolutely then said, “I’ll get your money back.”

“No please—"

He had just started to put the key into his door when he heard me pleading and glanced at me.

“It’s done now. I don’t want… to cause any trouble.”

I don’t need that guard to beat the shit out of me for this, alright?

Elias waved his key in the air. “You don’t want to cause trouble, but you bribed the guards for a body.”

“The body was worth it. But the money—"

“You won’t last without the money, and I need my money back. Understood?”

I nodded, resigning myself to the fact that I had, once again, gotten myself into a less-than-ideal situation. I resolved not to do anything to or speak to the guards ever again.

At least, not until I wanted to get my brothers out.

Then I’d bribe, drug, or kill whichever one of them I needed to.

The thought made me shudder, but still, I knew I would do it.

Elias had already gone inside his room. I did the same.

It was larger than I had expected, and far more lavish than my own quarters back at the Palace.

Of course, of all the places that he could choose to rest for the night, he, the Lord, would choose the most expensive and comfortable. He can afford thirty rays fine. I can’t. In fact, why does he even need me to pay him back? Isn’t he rich?

I sat down on the large bed at the far-right wall. It was adorned with crimson, silk sheets and bounced under my weight. I threw back the blankets and huddled myself within them, still shaking slightly from my damp clothes.

I didn’t realise I had fallen asleep.

I didn’t even know if I was asleep.

But then, the pain, the pain as before, only more persistent, searing like a venom across the lining of my skull, crushing all its sides with a force so brutal, it stopped me from being able to think.

From the other side of the room, a voice emerged. “You’re following me,”

The voice was so loud, so loud it thundered inside my ear drums, reverberated inside my head and my chest, but it was also quiet, a hushed whisper drowned out by a storm.

It was not a male or a female’s voice. It sounded like knives scratching against steel, and the ripple of silk. It sounded like the screams of a burning village, and the choirs of divine beings.

I tried to get up. I tried to bend my head forwards to see the assailant, but I couldn’t do anything, only move my eyes. I cast them downwards, my limbs vibrating with the effort of trying to move them.

I could only sense something, someone, like a mist so thick and foul, it made it hard to breath.

“You’re following me,” the voice repeated. It was in front of me, but behind me, it was in the furthest corner of the room, but next to my ear.

I tried to speak but could only manage a small squeal out of my mouth.

“Murderer of your own. Predator in white. I can smell it on you.”

I could hear the distinct sound of someone sniffing my hair, my neck. The air next to my face became considerably colder. My lips began tingling from the change in temperature, my chest shuddering.

I was terrified and I was in so much pain, so much.

“You stole it,” the voice sounded with the promise of more pain. “Bring it back.”

I managed to move a finger. The index on my right hand twitched into the air.

In response, a force weighed down across my whole body, nullifying my attempts. The voice and the air became even colder. “Bring. It. Back.”

I couldn’t speak, and so I just thought, I yelled inside my mind.

Stop. Stop. Stop.

The voice didn’t react, the pressure didn’t change. “You will bring it back.”

What? Bring what back?

In response, an image as vivid as the room around me flashed in front of my vision.

That talisman. It was on the body, steeped in blood. Then it was in my hand. Then it was around my neck.

“Bring it back,” it repeated once again.

When? H…how?

“Retrieve it and I will retrieve it.” It was getting closer.

How could I believe this force, this person, most likely a Necromancer, an Acciperean, would, after retrieving the talisman from my body, let me live?

As if this thing could sense my thoughts, the pressure on my body grew tighter. The bones inside my limbs felt as if they were being stretched, fissuring under the weight of a thousand people, a thousand deaths, a thousand lives.

A tear escaped my right eye, falling down my still paralysed face.

“Bring it back.”

What are you?

The voice didn’t reply and the pressure and pain both eased somewhat. I turned my neck, the slightest and smallest amount to the right.

Before me was…something I did not understand.

It was a person, but it was not, it was a form of a body, with legs and arms, and a face, but it sagged as if it was bound by fragile thread. It moved as if it were both liquid and air. There was a faint outline of hair, that fell like ink down its back.

“I can see your thoughts. I can feel your soul. I can taste your desires.”

It wanted me to see its form, as it told me these words.

Had I been wrong? A sorcerer could have more than one ability, but usually, no more than two, and always within the same class.

I had thought this person a Necromancer, but here it was, in my sleep, a Dreamwalker, paralysing and reading me like a Telepath.

How? I squeezed the thought through the dread.

The pain came back tenfold. I didn’t think it was possible for the torment to grow worse, but now, it had. I could taste something on my lips. I could feel something coming out of my ears, and my eyes. It was metallic.

It was my blood.

Blood manipulation as well? No…it’s not…possible…it’s…

The air grew so frosty I began to shiver violently. At the height of all these sensations, the voice grew louder and replied, “I drowned in blood and was born of blood.”

This thing came closer, I could sense it in front of my face. Its own was grey and white, and where its eyes should have been, there were only holes. Where its lips should have moved, there was only the bare outline of teeth.

And then something dark, long, and icy, made contact with my face.

It was licking my cheek.

It was licking my blood.

I was howling, I was screeching, from the bottom of my lungs.

But no sound was coming out of my mouth.

Then as if it all had been an illusion, it stopped.

It ended.

I threw the blankets off myself and stumbled, without care or consequence, without any thought, towards the door.

I yanked it open so hard it slammed against the wall behind it. It was so dark, and the torches and candles that had been lit in the hallway were now out. I didn’t realise so much time had passed. I didn’t know I had been asleep for so long.

Not asleep.

Not truly.

How long did that last?

Was it truly over? Was I still in an illusion? I…I had to be sure.

I was shaking. I was tripping over my own feet, bent forwards running down the hallway, pressing my palms against the wall.

A door opened. A middle-aged man, who appeared wealthy, stepped out.

“Have you no consideration for anyone?” he hissed.

Another one. This time a man who looked like a merchant.

“Oi, bitch, some of us are trying to sleep.” He paused and must have noticed my uniform before adding, “Of course, it’s a fucking sorcerer.”

“This one’s probably deranged. I’ve heard of that happening you know,” the other man replied to him. “Go and get the owner.”

I could hear them, but I wasn’t facing them, still stumbling towards the end of the hallway.

Another two doors opened.

A woman and a small child appeared in the entrance of one. “You’ve woken him up! Are you happy? You’ve woken us all up, you nasty girl!”

My breaths were exaggerated. I was still sweating and hunched over.

“Grab her,” the first man said.

A large hand, belonging to the second man yanked my forearm roughly. I was already off balance and fell to the floor.

“Throw her out!” the fourth guest said, an elderly woman, it sounded like.

The second man reached for my arm again and pulled me up. He let go abruptly and stumbled back when he saw my face.

He pointed at me frantically. “She’s fucking bleeding. What the fuck?”

I reached up with my hands and touched my face. I looked at my palm. It was streaked with red. There was blood on it.

So, it hadn’t been an illusion, it hadn’t been a figment of my dreams.

It had been real.

I looked at my palms wide eyed. I turned without thinking, and looked at the other guests, who all gasped, or shrieked at seeing me. The first man placed his hands over his mouth and walked back towards his doorway. The young child of the woman started wailing.

“I’m…I…no…it’s not,” I started, but I had no idea how to finish. What could I say to a group of human beings, who already hated, and were terrified of sorcerers, about seeing my face covered in blood, and watching me stumble around in the middle of the night?

I was only visited by the epitome of darkness who drew blood from my orifices?

I placed both my palms to my cheeks and wiped at them frantically, which probably, I realised too late, had made it worse.

I raised my palms in a pacifying gesture to the guests, which elicited a disgusted and frightened reaction. Of course, since they were covered in even more blood now.

“Please…I’m not—" I started.

“Get away! Get away from us!”

“Evil. These people are pure evil!

“Abominations!”

“They shouldn’t even let them out into society!”

I, realising there would be no appeasing these people, ran towards the stairs, down them, and outside, into the road.

A road was generous. It was one path, surrounded by a field of short grass.

The door to the Inn slammed behind me as I sprinted out. The clamouring of more guests being disturbed echoed from behind me. Lights blinked on, streaming through windows.

I had no plan, no idea of where to go, or what to do. I had no way of returning to Vasara. I had no way of travelling.

But I wasn’t thinking about a plan, or thinking clearly at all. I simply continued to half-run, half-trip down a small segment of that path, and then cut around into the grass, stumbling down the side of the building, pressing my shoulder into the wall.

I fell to my knees, with one palm still on the wall, scraping it against the rocks and bricks as I did. A near full moon sat in the sky, peering down at me.

Shouts rattled from inside the building, and bashing around, something that sounded like an argument. I froze against the wall and waited.

And then, footsteps. A few people were leaving, coming out of the entrance.

They were coming to find me.

Shit, shit. Where am I supposed to go? What am I supposed to do? I can’t even defend myself with this cursed mark. Am I just supposed to let them kill me? Or beat me?

No. My night had already gone terribly enough. I refused to end it with bruises, punches to the face or…dying.

I was probably deluding myself into thinking I had a choice in the matter.

Still, I pulled myself up and ran. I ran down the side of the building all the way to the back. I turned the corner. The voices were growing quieter.

But this was the back of the building. It was hardly a secure hiding location, or something completely unreachable, or unattainable. I had simply, only walked around the edges of the Inn. I’d have to hide somewhere else.

It was darker here. There were no lights coming out of the back windows.

That might work to my advantage. Yes, alright. I can follow the back path and find a tree. I can climb it. Maybe that would work and then…

Someone grabbed my wrist.

I startled, and tried to shake the person off, but it was a man, and they were significantly stronger than me. The voices were growing louder from the left and the right. That was hardly a surprise, all the guests would have to do is turn two corners to get here.

My heart was beating wildly. I was trapped, on all sides, I had nowhere to go.

I struggled again in vain, letting out a grunt of fear.

“Stop fucking squirming.”

I did, stop fucking squirming.

Because, although I could not see him, his voice was unfortunately familiar.

“What did you do? What the fuck is wrong with you?” Elias asked, but quietly, as if he too, didn’t want the others to find us.

I couldn’t even see him, only the outline of him. The only thing I could clearly make out was his large hand around my wrist.

Before I could answer, a bunch of people emerged from both sides of us. A few in each group were holding flamed torches. I winced at the brightness of the light.

“There she is! It’s that one!” a man said. Then he stopped, gasping, looking at Elias.

“My Lord, you’ve found her! Thank you! This sorcerer has been causing trouble!”

“She frightened us all!”

“She’s clearly been possessed!”

One after another, accusations of an increasingly alarming nature were fired in my direction.

“Just look at her! She’s clearly murdered someone!” a woman wailed.

Murdered someone? What are you talking about? Since when did murdering someone involve blood coming out of your own eyes and ears?

Elias pulled me towards him, turning so he could look at my face.

He paled.

“My Lord! Do you see? We’re so glad you’re here! You can take her to…”

But Elias wasn’t listening. He was simply staring at my face, confused.

I felt like explaining what had happened, but who would believe me? Certainly not the guests, and knowing Elias’s tendency to disregard everything I said, placing my hopes on him seemed pointless too.

“My Lord?” one of the guests asked, noticing Elias’ inattention.

Elias, whose hand was still around my wrist, turned to look at the man who was speaking to him.

“She’s dangerous! According to Vasara’s decree, any sorcerer or tracker who is dangerous can be dealt with immediately! Please, Sir, protect us!”

Was he seriously asking Elias to…

“Asking the Lord to kill me? Don’t you at least have the guts to do it yourself?” I spat, suddenly greatly irritated at the insinuation I had gone on a killing spree. I hadn’t even touched any of these people.

“You! You vile little bitch!” the man said, reaching for me.

Elias used his other hand to smack the man across the back of the face.

I jerked back, surprised. The man grabbed his cheek and looked at Elias in pure shock.

“Do you take it upon yourself to enact the law over me?” Elias said to the man.

“My Lord…no. I…it’s just…you heard her! She’s a savage beast!”

“She’s mine to deal with,” Elias said loudly, raising his voice for all the guests to hear.

“My Lord…I…of course…” the man said nervously, still rubbing at his face. “You should be the one to deal the blow.”

“That’s right, My Lord!” a new man shouted. “You should take your revenge!”

Elias’ grip tightened around my wrist very slightly as his muscles tensed up.

“Revenge?” Elias asked. “For what?”

I side-eyed him. Everyone went silent. It was very clear, even with the limited information that I had, what exactly it was the guests were implying Elias should take revenge for.

But to be asked directly what he meant. Would the man dare to answer?

“For all of us!” a woman blurted out. A collective sigh of relief could be felt amongst the people. “For all the lives that…that…those things have taken!”

“Who knows what she’s been doing in the dark!”

I couldn’t help but let out an exasperated sigh at that.

“She doesn’t even bear any guilt,” one sneered.

“That’s because I didn’t do anything!” I shouted. Elias squeezed my wrist, signalling for me to be silent.

“Yes! Yes, you did! You—"

“What? What did the tracker do?” Elias asked.

Everyone was quiet.

“My Lord, just look at her…she’s clearly been…practising some foul evil, right under our noses! Right where we sleep!”

“Do you have any evidence?” Elias asked.

“But, My Lord, her appearance—"

“Do you have any evidence?” Elias repeated more harshly.

“My Lord, you know better than anyone we cannot wait for these…these people to unleash themselves!”

“That’s right, My Lord, you’ve protected us before!”

What does that mean? When?

I glanced at Elias. Had he really killed sorcerers without any reason? Any…evidence before?

Of course he had. Why did I even doubt it?

“Is that a yes, or a no?” Elias asked.

“Well, no, My Lord but—"

“Then this conversation is finished,” Elias said.

“My Lord! You cannot surely expect us to let her stay here!” the woman, the owner of the Inn yelled out from the back of the crowd.

“That is exactly what I expect you to do. You’re all alive and breathing, and without evidence, so stop complaining and go back to your beds.”

“My Lord!” several ‘My Lords’ sounded in protest.

“You cannot let her go unpunished!”

“This isn’t right!”

Then some whispers about the Lord himself.

“He was always fickle!”

“He’s probably drunk right now!”

“His mind’s a wreck.”

I looked at Elias again, but he remained focused, jaws- clenched. His red eyes seemed even darker in the obscurity of nightfall.

Elias let go of me, pushing me away. I lost my balance and reached out my palms just in time to soften my fall to the ground.

“Alright. How about this? You can have your justice if you take it yourself. Anyone who’s willing to try, can try…”

Was he serious? I turned around and stared at him.

What the fuck are you doing?!

Elias glanced down at me, very quickly then looked back up.

How could I get out of this? If someone attacked me, I couldn’t defend myself, perhaps to an extent, but I certainly couldn’t kill them, not with this cursed mark.

And if I did manage to defend myself, the mark would certainly make me suffer for it. If, in the process, I hurt one of these people, so much as bent their index finger, I would be severely punished.

First bleeding from my eyes and ears now this? Why did you have to find me outside those gates Lord Elias? My life has been significantly more perilous and disastrous since you entered it!

But nobody moved, everyone just shifted on their feet, furtively glancing at one another.

“What happened to the laws that Vasara decreed? You were so eager to see them upheld?” Elias’ voice boomed through the air.

I glared at him.

“Don’t encourage them!” I half-whispered, half-shouted, only loud enough for him to hear.

Elias half-whispered back. “Stop speaking.”

“My Lord…it is only….we dare not…infringe upon your authority.”

Infringe upon his authority? These people, who just moments ago, were making cutting and undermining comments about him.

I huffed out a laugh in amusement.

“Something funny, bitch?” one of them asked.

“Just how fast people’s minds can change,” I replied, looking up at the questioner from under my brows.

“Minds can change! We haven’t changed our minds about anything! You deserve to die! But that’s…that’s for our Lord to decide!”

“Didn’t you just say the Lord was fickle?” I glared at the woman. “Who would let someone they thought fickle make a decision of life and death for them?”

Elias looked at me, squinting, bewildered.

“Pfff…we…we said no such thing, but of course a magic wielding piece of trash like you would fabricate such lies!”

I raised my eyebrows. “Are you going to attack me or not?”

“We’re leaving you in the Lord’s hands, he’ll do far worse!”

“That’s right. He’ll know what to do with you!”

“That’s if his mind isn’t too ‘wrecked’, as you say.” I took great pleasure in bringing up their comments and watching their reaction.

Wait…what am I saying? Maybe I have been possessed. What’s emboldening me to aggravate people already out for my blood?!

Both them and that…thing. Everyone is out for it, it seems.

“My Lord, she’s slandering us!”

I huffed again. “You were slandering him,” I grumbled.

“Him? That’s My Lord to you—"

I groaned.

Why am I even defending this ‘Lord?’ Well, I suppose it’s sensible. I have a far greater chance of surviving this night with him than with these people.

“No respect at all!” one shouted.

I stood slowly, still feeling disorientated. “I’m waiting. Come on! Attack me! Aren’t you angry that I urrr… let me see, what was it? Murdered someone? Made you look at some blood? Woke you up?”

Elias peered at me stolidly.

“My Lord, can’t you see now, she’s violent and aggressive and—"

“Yes. Very,” Elias agreed. “And I’m giving you a chance to do something about that. Please go ahead.” He gestured at me.

For the first time since I’d met Elias, he sounded as if he were smiling.

I turned around to check.

I hadn’t been mistaken. He was smiling. I could see him more clearly in the light of the torches now. He was still wearing the dark crimson shirt, only without the armour.

He met my eyes briefly then returned his own to the guests.

“My Lord, we…believe this situation is best left to you.”

“Yes, My Lord, we will…we’ll let you deal with this!”

Mutterings of agreement, bows, and curtsies followed.

“Thank you for your trust, good Sirs and Madams,” Elias said, cordially. “It’s just a shame it took so fucking long to acquire.”

The astonished expressions on the guest’s faces were merged with increasingly angry whispers between them. But one by one, they disappeared, and scurried into the darkness.

My momentary relief was ruptured, as Elias grabbed my wrist again, and began dragging me behind him.

“Let me…let me go!” I said, with no expectation for that command to actually be answered.

“We can’t stay here now.”

“There’s nowhere else for us to go!”

He stopped and turned around sharply, facing me. “You should have thought about that before you took a midnight stroll covered in blood.”

“It—"

“It? It what?” Elias asked.

“It wasn’t a stroll!”

“My apologies, what exactly would you call it then?”

“This is MY blood!” I yelled, feebly trying to pull my hand from his.

“Whose else would it be?” Elias said, completely unaffected by the revelation.

“I just meant…I didn’t.” I sighed looking at his chest, gulping as the memories of that figure returned to me. “I didn’t know what I was doing.”

“Do you ever know what you’re doing?”

My head shot up and I narrowed my eyes. Elias used his other hand and flung something at me, it landed on the bottom half of my chin.

It was a handkerchief.

“Wipe it off.”

I used my free hand to obey.

Elias sighed. I assumed it wasn’t working. He let go of my wrist and grabbed the handkerchief from my hands. He paused for a moment, his eyes searching my face hesitantly.

But then, he reached forwards, and rubbed the material harshly against my chin, wiping some of the blood off. My eyes widened at the gesture, staring at his hands in disbelief.

He'd come this close to a sorcerer, willingly?!

I raised my gaze to find Elias peering at me.

“It’s…coming…from your eyes,” he said in a low voice.

I didn’t reply.

His facial expression changed slowly, “I’ve seen this before.”

I looked at him desperately. “What? When?”

Elias looked disturbed, his voice still sounding strangely, “A long time ago,”

He paused and then asked, his normal tone of voice returning “What happened? Tell me. Tell me right fucking now.”

“I was sleeping, and then…that pain, the pain from before, when I touched that corpse, it returned, only there was someone there, and they were…” I swallowed. “They looked like…they were dead, but they moved like water and their eyes were gone, and it was so—"

“Cold,” Elias finished, in a steely voice.

I met his eyes, startled. “Yes. Freezing.”

I refrained from mentioning the talisman, and the debt I had to pay. I didn’t need to give this Lord any more reasons to send me back to the draining chambers. Besides, did I really have a choice when it came to retrieving it? How could I explain that to Elias? If I told him about what had been demanded of me, he would make sure I couldn’t deliver it, and I was…not keen on bleeding to death from my eyes.

But this thing, it had killed Ava. Could I really just hand over something it clearly needed?

Then again, what would be the point in me dying in refusal?

I could return the talisman first then deal with it later.

Deal with it later. Pfft. I probably couldn’t even deal with one of its eyelashes.

If it even has any eyelashes.

Elias looked mortified, then turned around, and dragged me behind him again. I didn’t say anything.

Eventually we reached his horse again, which was currently free of its saddle. I mounted the same way as before, but Elias climbed behind me this time. I turned behind me confused.

“I don’t want blood on the back of my shirt,” he said.

And I don’t want to be sat between your legs! And what about the saddle? Are we just leaving like that? Immediately?!

“Here,” Elias gave me the handkerchief again, only this time, he had poured some water on it.

I rubbed my face with it, and assuming he didn’t want it back, placed it in a pocket in my pants.

We rode in silence for a little while before I blurted out, “It spoke to me.”

I could feel Elias’ harsh breath on my neck as he exhaled. I winced. It felt as if he was trying to compose himself. His breathing felt uneven behind my back. He squeezed the reins tighter.

“What did it say?” he finally asked, sounding apprehensive.

“It knows who I am, that I was trying to follow it.”

“And?” Elias asked.

I hesitated before I answered. “It wants me to stop. It made itself… quite clear.” I gestured to my eyes.

“You said it was a Necromancer,”

I nodded. “It must be but…it must be more.”

“Did it do anything to you…beyond the…eyes?” Elias sounded uncharacteristically contrite.

“Beside the pain, and the intimidation…no. But…”

“But?”

“But…I don’t think it will be so forgiving… if it returns.”

“So, we’ll have to be careful.”

We? This wasn't a one time venture?!

I knew the Lord wouldn’t want to give up the chase, but it wasn’t him facing the threat of internal bleeding.

I pressed my lips together and looked ahead. “What do you plan on doing?” I asked.

Elias sounded curt when he said, “You’ll know when I tell you.”

Yes, that’s how knowledge usually works. I was just hoping you’d tell me now.

But it was clear Elias didn’t know himself.

The sun began to rise, casting a faint rosy hue on the edges of the grass. Petrichor drifted through the warm air. The paths grew more numerous and eventually, we reached the edge of Iloris.

“You said you’d seen it before?” I asked him. Despite my reservations about Elias, if he had, he was the only person who could give me any notion as to what I had just been tortured by.

“There’s no being sure it’s the same one.”

“But they have to be similar. What happened to the last one?”

Elias’ knuckles turned whiter around the reins. “I don’t know.”

My eyes darted from left to right. Then my brows evened out.

If he didn’t know, they hadn’t apprehended, killed, or caught this thing, but if he had seen it, he had survived the encounter, the chances of which, based on my experience, were almost non-existent…then…it had to be?

But I didn’t know Elias well enough to ask the question on the tip of my tongue.

Your leg? It took your leg? That time, your unit died. It was there. It was that?

Some of the Palace’s guards approached us and got on one knee.

“My Lord, we have been waiting for your return.”

As they rose, they cast strange glances at me.

I didn’t want to be placed in this position on this horse either, alright? I would much rather have teleported or walked or… evaporated on the spot.

Elias sounded alarmed as he asked, “What happened?”

“My Lord, there was an intrusion in the Palace…”

“Is Eliel—" Elias’s voice rose.

“The King is safe, My Lord, the intrusion was detected by…trackers.” The guard looked at me.

Detected by trackers.

“It was a sorcerer, My Lord.”

“Have they been apprehended?” Elias asked urgently.

Inside the Palace? A sorcerer?

I couldn’t help but glance back at Elias with a disbelieving look. But his eyes were firmly locked on the guard.

“Have they been apprehended?” Elias asked again, insistent.

“No, My Lord. They escaped. There were no casualties.”

“Then why are you here?”

He was right, the news of there being a sorcerer in the Palace was greatly alarming, for the humans anyway, and it was also highly unusual, but still, since there were no casualties, and the King was safe, this news could have waited until Elias had returned.

The two guards glanced at each other before one of them said, “My Lord, one of the candidates is…” He paused, clearly nervous.

“Is what?” Elias pressed.

“One of the candidates is gravely ill, My Lord.”

“Gravely ill?” Elias sounded distant. “How?”

The second one looked down before he said.

“One of the candidates has been poisoned.”