Xander held Kiur by his side to help him stand. They held their heads low as the new Reiszer group made their way towards them.
“Sum up the survivors. I want to know the losses.”
The grave tone of the man sent shivers down Xander’s spine.
The Reiszer had black skin and his dark hair was shaved to the sides with the top of his hair being braided with silver accessories and into a long ponytail that reached down to his shoulder blades.
In his arms, he held a young woman, Jorunn. Her leather armour was torn to shreds and her skin was plastered with lesions and heavy wounds from the Scorpion People’s stingers.
Venom was trickling down from her arm, her abdomen and her legs. She was covered with cuts and blood, partly from the scorpion people and her own. Her body was quivering and she was unresponsive to the man’s hand on her cheek.
“Bring a stretcher for my daughter and tie up the escapees. I will talk to them back at the base.”
The man’s eyes were a startling bright green. He had ridges alongside his throat and his forearms which were heavily covered with scars. A tattoo of three crashing waves was inked to the left side of his scalp and reached up to his eye.
They didn’t need to ask his name because Jorunn had already told them at their first meeting.
Ragnar Marcet, Jorunn’s father and a Third Elite like Macnaught who had attacked Kiur’s home city.
Ragnar mounted his horse and led the group of Reiszer away. Kiur and Xander had their hands tied but glanced one last time back at the ridge where Cylia and the Asag disappeared into.
They hoped she had somehow survived but the likelihood was depressingly slim. Both blamed themselves for not being able to do more but Xander even more so because he knew if he had treated Cylia differently—she might have been still with them.
Another group of Scorpion People ambushed them but unlike before they were dealt with swiftly. Ragnar threw his round shield and bashed two of them in the head while skewering the last one with his sword.
Like the last group Ragnar killed all the scorpion people and they continued on their way until dusk came. Not even the Uridimmu dared to approach them while Ragnar was there.
The camp was set up near a cluster of large and three-story high ruins with shallow and dried-up rivers snaking through it and intersecting into several sections. Reiszer guarded the entrance and the perimeter of a colonnade they entered.
There were at least over four dozen, Xander counted—possibly more and too many to do something.
Above them, hung a green carpet to shield them from the sun and higher up waved the green flag with a triangular figure composed of three interlaced arcs.
Xander sniffed, he knew too little about the Reiszer to guess what that symbol meant.
“Rations, don’t expect much.” The Reiszer threw the two into a room of carved stone and closed the cell door made from makeshift wood.
They were given cups filled with water but the Reiszer handing it over spilt it on the ground before she left.
“That’s what I call hospitality. Finally some good Ol’ H2O.” Xander used his magic to return the water to the wooden cups. The food was less to his taste, however. “Flat and unfermented bread. What a last meal, no? I will give them a bad review, you know?”
Reluctantly Xander took another bite from the bread—it tasted like nothing. At least the water refreshed him and his core.
“You should eat something too.” Xander brushed off the sand from the flatbread and handed it to Kiur who was declined against a wall and holding his knees. “Listen, there was nothing we could have done. You tried but the Asag– that monster was too much for us to handle.”
Kiur refused to take the bread and Xander instead reached out with the cup of water. By the way, Kiur’s lips were chipped and parched he wondered when his last sip was. “At least drink something–”
The cup fell to the ground as Kiur slapped it away. He stared at Xander with his red eyes which were even redder than he was used to seeing them.
“What happened between you two?” Kiur asked with a hoarse voice. “She called you a traitor, why? I don’t believe you actually sided with the Reiszer, so what happened? Talk.”
Xander hung his head in shame and sat down next to Kiur who did not go into a tantrum or threw accusations at Xander. He just sat there, waiting for Xander to explain himself which made the wait even worse.
But Xander knew he couldn’t strain Kiur’s patience any further.
“I said some nasty things to her. Some of which I don’t want to repeat,” replied Xander and waited for Kiur’s response who cooly gave his.
“Do that. Tell me what you said to her.”
Xander bit his lip and looked away. “I can’t, I–”
“Say it!” Kiur shouted and grabbed Xander by the collar. His mana might have been exhausted but Xander could see the anger flickering in his eyes. “Apparently you had no remorse to say it to her face, so why can’t you do it now?”
“Because I am ashamed of myself…” Xander admitted. “I said to her that she was useless, a token girl and had no worth. I know now that nothing of it was right to say or correct at all. I am truly ashamed and I don’t know why I said it…”
Kiur nodded and smacked his lips angrily. “You should be ashamed of yourself.”
“Wow, isn’t this the moment you say something like ‘Don’t worry, I forgive you. Try to be better, friend!’ or am I mistaken?”
Kiur shook his head—his eyes remained full of anger. “I will tell you no such thing. What you said was truly deplorable and you shouldn’t forget that. I am ashamed to call myself your friend.”
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“Wow…” Xander nodded before he realized the meaning of the words. “Wait, you still consider me as your friend? After all that?”
“I am your friend,” affirmed Kiur begrudgingly. “Even if that means enduring your worst qualities but it doesn’t mean I accept them. If– no, when we find Cylia, you will apologise to her and beg for her forgiveness, you hear me?”
“Kiur,” Xander shook his head. “You have to understand, she’s–”
“She’s not dead,” Kiur responded with such confidence that Xander believed it as well. “I am sure of it. She is still alive. We need to go back and find her and you will apologise or so I swear to the heavens and the Gods of Below I will throw you into that pit myself, you hear me?”
“Yes, sir,” Xander responded automatically without thinking. The seriousness in Kiur’s tone made him shiver and his statement was so terrifying that Xander couldn’t help but fear incurring more of his wrath. It was worse than with his father. “I am sorry and thank you… for remaining my friend. Not many would do that… not many did.”
Kiur nodded and recalled some of the visions he had of Xander’s past when Noah put them under the spell of a suspicious bowl of soup. He didn’t want to accept this part of him but knew Xander was behaving like that for a reason.
Kiur never felt so angry with someone like this and never with a friend. Not that he had many friends like Xander in the first place.
“Third Elite Macnaught is calling for you.” The door opened and the Reiszer forced the pair up to their feet for an audience they were not looking forward to.
—☽—
Ragnar did not sit on a large throne, guarded by a multitude of soldiers as they had expected. Instead, he was sitting down on a broken stone column with Jorunn tugged to a fur bed on the ground.
She looked far worse than they remembered her to be.
Her forehead was draped with cold sweat, the colours on her previously warm face drained and she writhed in her sheets as her wounds took on a vile shade of purple.
Her condition was looking grim and seeing her like that made Kiur sick himself. He dropped to his knees and he felt bile forming in his throat. His mouth was on fire and his blood felt like poison.
“Hey, are you alright?” Xander held Kiur who was about to drop as sick as Jorunn.
“What is this feeling? WHAT IS THAT!?” Kiur screamed in his head. The pain was excruciating and forced his heart to beat faster.
“Not a pretty sight.” They saw a tear roll down from Ragnar’s cheek. He was unarmed and without armour but they knew he wasn’t someone to underestimate.
He looked dangerously strong in his simple shirt and showed off his muscles while also not being afraid to cry in front of strangers.
“Three stingers pierced through her armour and the venom is now circulating in her system. She will survive the cuts and slashes but we don’t have the medicine to treat her. My daughter is dying.”
Kiur didn’t have the words to reply but he needed to. He held his mouth and gazed at Ragnar. His attempt to villainise the Reiszer didn’t work because all that Kiur could see was a worried father.
A look he knew all too well from his mother.
“I have a favour to ask.” Ragnar began but Xander couldn’t hold back snorting at this. “What’s so funny, sonny?”
“A request from a Reiszer? I understand we are not in a favourable position but why do you think should we do you a favour?”
Ragnar nodded. “That’s fair. You don’t trust us, and that’s perfectly reasonable considering who we are but understand, all of us are in a precarious situation.” Ragnar hardened his expression. “The Summer Solstice is coming all the ways are blocked.”
“Blocked?” Xander assumed the role of asking questions. Kiur wasn’t feeling too well and needed to sit. “What do you mean by ‘blocked’? I mean,” Xander laughed, “how can a desert be ‘blocked’?”
“Scorpion People are patrolling, hunting us like pests, not like prey. They are trying to exterminate us and no matter how many we kill, their numbers don’t diminish.” Ragnar clenched his fist and the veins on his dark arm became more pronounced alongside the ridges. “Our options are running thin as does our time. We need to unite our strength or we don’t stand a chance.”
“Unite? With whom?”
Ragnar paced around the two, keeping them on their toes, and making them nervous which was not his intention so he stopped and looked at his struggling daughter.
“A group of escapees is holding out not far from here. They are mostly Idariens,” he looked over to Kiur who pried his attention away from Jorunn and back to Ragnar. “They are your people, aren’t they? I want you to negotiate terms with them.”
“Me?” Kiur breathed heavily. The pain he was feeling grew weaker but he couldn’t comprehend what Ragnar’s intention was.
“I know you can understand me and I know you have your reasons to refuse but try to understand, we stand no chance dividing our forces like this. You Idariens can use elemental magic to protect us from the Scorpion People and we can plough a way through. This is to our mutual benefit, besides,” Ragnar looked back to Jorunn, his face softened even further. “Our people lack the natural healing magic your people possess. You can refuse my offer of cooperation but I hope you can convince one of them to come and treat my daughter.”
“That’s it?” Xander clenched and unclenched his fists. “Do you think this is something you can ask of him? After everything?”
“I am not asking you,” rebuffing Xander Ragnar went down to Kiur’s eye level. “I am asking you, child. They need one of their people to convey the word, not a Reiszer. Please, would you do this? If not for me but for my daughter?”
Kiur huffed and felt lightheaded.
The pain was getting to his head and memories of his brother sparked back into existence. How he stayed behind to drive the Reiszer Tomoe back. Then to the memories of how his hometown was attacked by Hessian and the other Reiszer.
None of them were pleasant, yet a Reiszer asked for his help? It didn’t sit right with him but seeing Jorunn fighting for her life did something for Kiur.
The scene made him emotional. As if a buried memory was triggered and caused him immense pain.
His vision blurred and he imagined Cylia lying in that bed, fighting for her life. Maybe that’s what she was doing as well, clinging to her thread to live.
“I have two conditions,” Kiur took Ragnar’s extended hand and stood up. The hand might have been calloused but it was gentle. It couldn’t belong to a bloodthirsty warrior who cared for no one. “You won’t persecute us on our escape back home, do you understand?”
Ragnar nodded. “I swear it on our forgotten gods, I will make your people will make it back home. What is your second condition?”
Kiur exchanged looks with Xander who knew what Kiur was about to ask. He didn’t agree but didn’t protest either.
“A friend of ours… she fell with the Asag into the crevice you created defeating that monster. You have to return and search for her.”
Ragnar exhaled and shook his head. “I’m sorry but the likelihood of her survival is slim. She couldn’t possibly–”
“I don’t care if the chances are small or not,” Kiur interrupted and stood up defiantly to Ragnar who had to take a step back. “Return and find her. That’s my second condition. Take it or leave it.”
A moment went by. Then another and then a third. Xander grew restless from the tension. So much so that he was chewing on his nails.
Kiur was having a staredown with Ragnar who by all means could take them out in flash but the man gave in.
“Alright, I will agree to your terms but,” Ragnar turned to Xander who was not eager to earn the man’s attention. “Your friend here will stay with us as our hostage and as a witness, in case you won’t like what we find. Take it or leave it, I guess.”
Ragnar smiled dubiously at Xander and Kiur turned to him as well. Both of them were waiting for Xander’s reply who had the last word in this discussion.
He could either refuse and be branded as a coward or relent to be a hostage of Ragnar’s. “Fine! I will do it but I demand more than a cup of water in this blasted desert. AND NO UNFERMENTED BREAD! That stuff tastes like paper, pah.”
Ragnar couldn’t help but laugh. He smacked his hand against their backs and brought them into a forced hug.