They had a single day left before they needed to leave.

Another knock on the door.

First thing in the morning he had gotten a visit from Zachery to apologize for pushing too strongly about the virtues of being a vampire after hearing Ava complain about being weak one day.

After they talked and drank some tea, Harlan thought that maybe, just maybe, he had actually done it just for a normal reason, that Ava wasn’t going to end up as a pawn to be used against him.

When he came back to soulsmith the armors he would have lunch with the man, talk about life for a bit.

Harlan leaned back in his office seat, and he waited for the next person who he could feel moving around the front of his house, talking with Sara.

He told her to send him in.

“Good morning, I hope I’m not interrupting anything.”

“Not at all. Is this regarding my class changes?”

“No, the academy has finalized your classes and you passed the competency tests to join as a second year. We noticed that the rate of drop outs is down 10% for Ragnites, 8% for Confederates, 14% for False Undead, and 2% for Reinoans.”

“And?”

“How would you feel about acting as a teaching assistant? We would ask that you help with setting up some of the work and having students sent to you if they are having issues with segments of their lessons.”

“Why?”

Harlan began tapping his desk.

“You would be given access to facilities on academy premises and other smaller benefits for something which you are already doing. Ah… I feel there is some tension here that I don’t understand. Is there anything that I can help with?”

“I don’t care about the benefits. Why me?”

“It is clear from those who you helped in this last year that the way which we are teaching needs more personal level teaching, but many of the students seem uncomfortable directly approaching the teachers. The other issue with that level of teaching is how the teachers might simply not have the time, due to their other work or just because they are booked out for weeks.”

“How is security?”

“There is not a safer place on the continent.”

“If I was attacked, but I didn’t see who did it, how could you find out?”

The man was ignorant of what shouldn’t be said to Harlan, he was just doing his job.

“I am not privy to the details on account of that being a security risk, I know that each student is tracked through their uniforms, you don’t need to worry a moment.”

“Is this system proven? How long has it been in effect?”

“Roughly 15 years now.”

“Thank you for your answers. Now, return to the headmaster, tell him that any personal dealings are over between us, but I will accept the job.”

“Did I say something wrong, Sir Fomoria? Could I smooth over whatever has happened?”

“You are just doing your job, my issue is with him.”

“Perhaps if I understood the issue at hand I could return with a more friendly message for him.”

“Leave my home immediately, or I will remove you by force. I believe I have been more than accommodating. If you need to rest, go to Tole, tell them I sent you, show this letter, most places will accept you without asking much.”

Harlan kept a drawer of referrals signed and stamped in his desk.

He was trying to get the man out as quickly as he could before something terrible happened.

The shadows in the room grew evermore jagged around their edges, Harlan’s emotions wanted to hurt the man, but his rational side was trying its hardest to hold them back.

Harlan sat in his office for half an hour, then he called Sepul.

“Did you know?”

“I know a lot of things, you will need to be specific.”

“The academy tracks its students through their uniforms. They know exactly who attacked Adina.”

“Then no, I did not know. They must’ve updated the systems after I last taught some 17 years ago, give or take.”

“If I asked, would you confirm that this is real? That the messenger I just spoke to wasn’t just trying to calm my nerves with half truths to fluff up their security?”

“If you find the answer you don’t like, what then?”

“Nothing, nothing at all. I’ll cut off any attempts at them being friendly with me, but I won’t shed blood.”

“Perhaps it would be best to pretend that you didn’t hear anything. The academy is a place, but there are many who consider themselves loyal to it. You would be driving away potential allies.”

“I’ll keep doing business, I am just not interested in Hirum or the staff on a personal level. Maybe when he is gone his replacement can do a better job. I had my doubts about them not finding out in the first place.”

Sepul hung up, giving no judgment on what Harlan would be doing.

When he stepped out of the office he had a clear look on his face, something had happened, but no, he did not want to get into it.

Besides, Autumn would be there with the kids soon for their family going away party.

He knew how most of them would feel about it, if he did or didn’t go ahead with his plans.

What he didn’t expect was to see Redmond and the Blackstone family there.

“Good to see you. I hope you didn’t come back to kick him out.”

“Of course not, me and the children all lov- tolerate him.”

She went in for a hug and Harlan felt that something was off.

He had no idea if he should even mention it, so he didn’t.

He had learned quite a bit, though he was still an amateur regarding reproduction. Maybe nothing would happen, the child might just not live for any number of reasons and nobody would ever know that she was pregnant in the first place.

He figured he would wait a few weeks, then call her.

“Onyx, good to see you. How has the armor been?”

“I don’t care for the feeling of it slithering around. But, that is relatively minor. I am grateful for it. Mother said you were against selling them to other people. Why is that?”

“How would you feel about anyone being able to slip it on, and in 15 seconds they would have a nova spell at the ready? I am aware now of what I’ve made, and how it changed things. Not just reading it. I visited a battlefield once, the land was scarred and shattered. I’ve spoken with widows when my failures got somebody killed. It is hard to look at it in the abstract, just names on a list, while a child grows up without a father.”

“I see you are working through something.”

He just walked away.

The party went well, no fighting or personal strangeness getting in the way of a celebration.

Partly this was a result of Blackstone giving out warnings about what they shouldn’t say.

It was finally time to leave for the academy, again.

Bags packed, goodbyes given, hugs around, so on and so forth.

Everyone decided on taking the carriage ride, worried that Harlan would find himself wrapped up in a mess.

Along the way they met a few magical creatures, but it only took a strong look and a little heightened fear response to make them flee.

“I’m bored, are we going to stop anywhere?”

“Yes, Sable, we can stop at the next town, or you can wait until we reach Borden.”

Blackstone hadn’t forced Harlan to take her, but she asked in a way that told him she would be slighted if he didn’t let her ride with him.

This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

“How long until the next town?”

Harlan’s eyes went black.

“30 minutes.”

“You should learn illusions, your eyes are unsettling.”

“Is that the part that bothers you? Not that I’m asking a god petty questions?”

“You are the one who said she wanted you to rely on her for little things like that.”

It was a large town, six, maybe seven thousand people if the non-residents were counted.

But it had a very large footprint, one could drive five carriages side by side and still have room for people to walk.

Harlan and the rest stepped out to find guards waiting for them.

The pair looked at one another, then to the crest, then they knelt.

“I’m not sure who you think I am, but you don’t need to kneel.”

“Sir Harlan Fomoria. If you hadn’t stopped the spiders… I shudder to think what might happen.”

“Stand up.”

“Of course, Sir.”

“Sable, what did you want to do here to relieve your boredom?”

“Do you have any sparing rings? An adventurers guild perhaps?”

“Yes, of course Lady”

He looked closely at the crest and came up empty.

“Blackstone, she is Sable Blackstone.”

“Let me lead the way then, Lady Sable.”

They wasted an hour watching her challenge anyone who wanted some coin, not much different from what Harlan had done once before.

She thought she was invincible, letting blades skim her armor, fighting without a weapon much of the time.

“You should stop her.”

“Yeah. I should.”

He jumped the line of people wanting the 20 gold.

“Hey you can’t-”

Harlan headbutted the man and he didn’t get back up to argue.

“Sable, I think you should understand that my gift to you is a weapon to defend yourself. Not a toy to be used against people who don’t know better.”

Harlan tossed his jacket to Adina and suited up.

She followed suit.

It was almost too fast for the others to see.

He moved in close, hooked her leg and slipped behind her.

She tried to punch him, but between the awkward angle and him shifting his armor to grab her hand, it was pointless.

In 10 seconds she was out cold.

“Adina, get the others, we’re leaving.”

Harlan threw her over his shoulder like a bag of potatoes and carried her off.

Had anyone else tried to do what he had done, the armor would make a pincushion of them, but he didn’t give it out without being sure that it wouldn’t be used to harm his family or him.

She was back up before they even reached the carriage.

“Let me down.”

“We are going.”

“I still need to…”

“When did we get outside?”

She remained quiet until well after they left town.

“My mother will hear about this.”

Harlan pulled out his amulet.

“Alright, I could call her right now.”

Sable went wide eyed.

“Ah, no, It’s fine.”

“I’m not here to get you in trouble, or to judge how you acted. But, you got cocky, and as our families have trust between us, I consider it my job to protect you as I can. Part of that is making sure that you protect yourself. I taught Adina the same lesson, that armor is a tool, it makes you faster, stronger, and safer.

But it is not going to matter against someone who is more experienced and wants you dead or hurt.

Once we get to the academy, don’t hesitate to call on me as needed, for help with your lessons or personal issues. None of it will get back to your mother.”

“My, how brotherly.”

“Just remember my offer.”

Harlan was just waiting for Borden, he thought if they wanted, he would see about helping them in any ways that he could.

“20 minutes before you find out what has become of that city.”

“That sounds bad.”

“This is the result of what you have done, you must decide if your actions were right and just. I await your reaction.”

Harlan fidgeted in his seat, switching places with Amber so he could more easily look out the window.

No plumes of black smoke, not sighs of anything wrong on the walls.

The others asked what he was watching for, but he didn’t answer.

A massive horn signaled his arrival, he was too far to see inside or to know what the people inside were feeling.

He first heard the sounds, the screaming, just a minute out from the gate.

He put away his weapon, stopped holding his spells, and made his armor slip under his clothes again.

Then he put up the blinders, making sure that they would be able to get clear sights.

Men, women, children.

They cheered for him, waving as he passed by, and he waved back.

He couldn’t just not stop, it would be rude at best, he would seem cold and arrogant at worst.

Once he reached the outer gate he parked the carriages and walked around, finding the mayor and Arrac.

He thought the man was a prick who he had to strong-arm and threaten into shutting down the city, but Arrac was a good man, if a bit dim.

“Sir Fomoria, how glad we all are to have you in my city once again.”

“I’m glad that the damages seemed to be repaired.”

“The full weight of the crown came down on us. Ahem. I mean they offered their full support to the efforts of rebuilding and resettling. Many people wished to leave, but were convinced that it would be best to stay and received a sort of disaster pay for what happened.”

“I’m not surprised, his majesty has a long history of doing the right things, no matter the cost.”

“Yes… Would you and your group be able to have dinner at my home?”

“Do any of you have issues with this?”

There was no disagreement, Amber was beaming with pride for her little brother.

The way he talked about it, she was a little worried that they would look at him like a monster who put down riots with an aura of fear.

“But first, I need to look at the slums.”

“Oh, there is no need for that.”

“Do you want the kind response, or what I really think?”

“Kind.”

“I would like to ensure that there has been no reinfections on account of missing one of them hiding where the least eyes are on them.”

“We ran sweeps through the slums every few days after the lockdown ended. The army stuck around for a month to ensure that everything went smoothly in both rebuilding and wellness checks. You don’t need to visit them, but I see you have little faith in my ability to lead my subjects.”

“If you had done a better job, ten thousand people wouldn’t be dead. You are all free to visit the city, be escorted to the mayors house, whatever, I’m going to check the slums.”

“Harlan, is that really the best choice? You distrust the man.”

“I know he is too much of a slimy coward to harm any of you, he hid in his fancy home while people bleed out in the streets. I’d crush his head between my hands and not care about the consequences. Isn’t that right, Mayor Billows?”

“I wouldn’t dream of harming a hair on the heads of any of your people.”

Harlan and Adina were the only healers, but Amber and Zella went with for combat support if need be.

Really they just didn’t want to be away from him. Openly threatening the ruler of the city you were staying in was generally a bad idea.

Sable went to find a theater.

After three hours they had healed over 80 people, but only of general illness and injury.

The walls of the homes looked better than before the attack.

It was becoming harder and harder to want to kill the king. Even if he had done it just to get on Harlan’s good side, did it matter? Had he himself not already done a great number of evils for the good it would do?

Empathy often felt like much more of a curse than a boon for Harlan.

Many of these people hated Harlan, not for what he revealed, nobody had sympathy for bodysnatchers of any kind. But for how many of them now lacked neighbors, brothers, sisters, parents, lovers.

The spiders hit the slums hard, and many people had been put down or died in the riots.

They accepted his gift of free healing, but many more stood in alleys and spoke ill of him.

He did not blame them, these people were not making selfish demands, they didn’t want gold for blood, they were just lonely, just hurting.

From the outside it was easy to blame him, just as the people in the better parts of the city loved him.

After their time in the slums Harlan felt, at peace, or something like that.

The parade, celebration, whatever it was, it made him elated, he was proud of what he had done.

Then the reality set in.

He saw all of the people who died, all of the ones who he saved.

Harlan pushed away the feeling that he should be happy, he didn’t do it for them.

He did it for himself, that, made him, well, he didn’t know how it made him feel, but it wasn’t bad.

“We should go see the Mayor. I’d like to apologize.”

“Are you feeling lightheaded?”

“A little bit. I need something to eat.”

Harlan stopped and looked down an alley that seemed unnaturally dark for the time of day.

“Stay here, I’ll be right back.”

“Whatever this is you should trust us.”

“Just listen to me, I’ll explain later.”

The boy, ten years of age at most, leapt at him with a dagger in hand.

He was locked in mid air, his eyes full of hate and fire.

“You lost people. Didn’t you?”

The boy struggled against the invisible grasp to no avail.

“Monster, if you never came here, the bombs wouldn’t have gone off, my…”

He tried as hard as he could to not cry.

Harlan set him down.

“I hope when you grow up, you will be able to see that what happened would’ve been much worse if I hadn’t been involved.”

He placed his hand on the boy’s shoulder and he reacted by stabbing Harlan in the stomach.

The dull blade snapped when it hit the armor underneath his clothes.

“Take a few coins, make something of yourself. Make whoever you lost proud of what you are.”

10 gold was likely more than the boy would’ve earned in a lifetime of whatever garbage work he managed to find. Harlan just hoped that he would live long enough to spend it.

He just walked away, the boy’s killing spirit crushed after losing his weapon to someone who didn’t even bother blocking.

The pity he though Harlan had for him was like a spear through the gut, just burning him up.

When he got back out of the alley Harlan asked if Amber could sew the shirt before they got to the mayor’s home.