Chapter 49

“Hells man! I told you! I told you not to look! I said it didn’t concern your safety, but you didn’t listen to me. You should have listened to me!” Wallace rubbed his throat. Aris’ choke had taken more out of him than he’d expected.

He wasn’t a young man anymore.

He turned to look at Aris who had collapsed to the ground in shock. He hadn’t moved yet.

“Why do you have to take every cursed burden upon yourself!” Wallace knew that chiding was the last thing that Aris needed right now, but the words flew from him. He was furious at the General. Aris should’ve trusted him. He should have let it go. But he hadn’t and now he had to live with the earth-shattering consequences of his curiosity.

“She was his,” Aris finally said after a long silence. “She was Van’s.”

Wallace plopped down next to Aris. He put a hand on the younger man’s shoulder. He had chided Aris Ravenscroft enough. Now was the time for companionship.

“Does she know?” Aris asked. His stomach twisted as he awaited a reply. He didn’t know if he could handle it if she had known all along but had never told him. How could he maintain a relationship based on a lie? “Does she know?” he repeated.

“No. Not as far as I can tell. Her memories have been wiped clean. I’ve never seen a Taker’s work done so completely. Everything related to Van is gone. It was only by blind chance that I stumbled onto the one memory that I did,” Wallace responded. “I’m sure she was taken from your memory too.”

“Than it could have been someone else?” Aris knew the question was idiotic but he had to ask.

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“No.”

Aris deflated upon hearing that word. The last shimmer of hope that the vision he’d seen in Wallace’s mind had been a mistake was shredded.

At least she didn’t know. Aris thought and immediately regretted it.

What sort of monster would celebrate their beloved having cherished memories ripped from them, never to be returned?

“You’re sure that she doesn’t remember anything?” Aris asked his old commander.

Wallace nodded. The Taker had been thorough. It was only due to his extensive history with Van that he had realized just who the Memory Mage had stolen from the minds of Sephira and Corrine.

Sephira.

It seemed his thoughts strayed to the girl at the same time as Aris’ did. “What does this mean for Sephira? Is she my daughter? My half daughter? Just who am I to her? Am I capable of being a father to her? She’s lived with her mother since her father died, but I’d always assumed Van’s wife had left. That she’d ran away like a coward. Why didn’t I remember her? Why couldn’t I remember Corrine?”

Wallace squeezed Aris’ shoulder. The cool night air enveloped them, but the General didn’t make to move. He sat erect, straight like a statue.

His skin was cold to the touch.

Aris didn’t move to speak anymore. He sat in silence. Fiell shimmered in torchlight beneath them. The flickering of the lights made it seem as if the city were alive. As if it crawled over the valley like a millipede walking in circles.

A burst of wind assaulted the duo. Wallace thought it would lessen, but the winds only seemed to grow in power with every minute. Soon the mountains became a thousand howling giants.

“We need to leave. It’s getting dangerous,” Wallace said.

Aris still sat silent.

“Did you hear what I said?” the old soldier asked.

Aris ignored him and stared straight forward despite the wind whipping his eyes and causing them to water.

Was it the wind?

“Curse you,” Wallace said to Aris and made to grab his arm to lift him to his feet.

“What’s that?” Aris broke his stoic silence.

“What’s what?” Wallace asked.

“That.” Aris pointed to where the Trout River met with the White Mountain river.

“What? I don’t see anything,” the words had barely left his mouth by the time he caught what had demanded Aris’ attention.

A building was on fire.

Then two.

Then a few more on the other side of the river.

Soon, the whole riverside was on fire.