Jen urged her horse ever faster. “No, no!” she muttered. The battle for Talin Grad had already begun and that meant Arturo was inside already. Bodies were piled near the village and from a glance she could see the invaders’ armor was the same as those who attacked Arindall.
At least the fighting was still going on. Jen got off her horse and took out both her short swords. Perhaps she could find Arturo and help him. Foolish man. Coming here without proper support, she thought and moved into the village.
“H-help me,” a young man stammered. His right hand was covering his stomach and he was reaching out his left.
“Sorry, I don’t have anything to heal you with,” Jen said, feeling sorrow for him. His injuries were too severe and he would bleed out soon. “Have you seen a tall man with a huge sword around here?”
“C-can he… help me?”
“Maybe, but only if I find him,” Jen lied. She hated lying, yet she had no choice. Giving the injured man hope was all she could do to get the information she needed.
“Yes… that way.” he raised his bloodied hand and pointed in the direction she had been headed.
At least this confirms my theory. Jen wished she had been wrong. “All right, I’ll try to get you help.” She ran off in the direction and turned the corner to see two of the invaders, who looked at her eagerly. Before either could react, Jen decapitated both with a single strike. Their heads rolled on the ground as their corpses collapsed. It felt good to kill those men, and she wasn’t sure she liked the feeling. But they killed my people. Surely Modric would understand.
She headed toward the yelling. Jen imagined Arturo would be in the thickest of the fighting. When she arrived, a group of enemy archers had shot down a good number of the attackers. None of them were Arturo. Feeling guilty, she silently wished them luck. She couldn’t help everyone. As she turned another corner, Jen found herself facing three archers, who turned and loosed their arrows on her.
Deflecting the arrows was child’s play for her. Jen moved quickly as the archers grabbed more arrows. She was on top of them before they could fire another round. One of her swords cleaved through the bow and slid into the archer’s chest. Turning, she slit the other’s throat and threw her second sword into the back of the last archer, who tried to run.
Yanking her sword out of the dead man, Jen continued moving through the village. Where was Arturo? The sound of metal clashing could be heard everywhere. She hoped the Whispering Mists would arrive soon. If they decided not to come, Talin Grad would remain in enemy hands.
Turning another corner, she heard fighting and yelling. She took a quick peek and saw four men fighting six invaders; they were barely holding their own. I can’t leave them to die. Jen would do anything to save her brother and she almost decided to go another way. I can help these people; I shouldn’t avoid that.
Hoping she wouldn’t regret this, Jen rushed in and quickly dispatched two of the invaders. Her swords cleaved through their ribs and they cried out in pain before being silenced as their throats were torn open.
This distraction was what the other four attackers needed, and they soon cut down the invaders. An old man with a cut across his face leaned heavily on his sword. “Thanks, little o—” he stopped when he noticed the insignia on Jen’s chest.
“No problem.” Jen waved a hand and was relieved to see no other enemies. “I need your help. Have you seen a man with a giant sword?”
Three of the four shook their heads. But one with a dark red robe, short black hair, and green eyes seemed to react. “What do you want him for?” he asked.
“Manners, boy!” the old man rebuked him. “Don’t you see she’s with the Whispering Mists? They’ll save us!”
“It’s all right. Help is on the way.” Jen hoped that was true and eyed the red-robed man. The others were intimidated by her, and rightfully so. She was part of the best clan on the continent. Yet, this one didn’t seem to care.
“Answer my question.”
“He’s my brother,” Jen replied.
A look of disbelief crossed the man’s face. “We’ll see.”
“What do you mean? Do you know where he is? It’s very important!”
“Tell me your full name and I might believe you.”
Jen wanted to slap the man. Why was he being so stubborn? Why would he even care! “Jen Pentori. And yours?”
“I apologize,” the man said. “My name is Tarmon and I am a friend of Arturo.”
“Have you seen him?” Jen demanded.
“No. I’ve been looking for him,” Tarmon said. “I’d heard he came this way and then I ran into these men. Follow me; someone told me he went this way.”
Jen motioned for him to lead and he took a left. The three other men followed along.
They barely avoided one invader when Jen heard movement and grabbed Tarmon. The other three stopped when she raised a finger to her lips. A group of the invaders was holding a few prisoners, bleeding from wounds, crying or begging for mercy. The poor souls wouldn’t be getting that. She didn’t know what the invaders did with their prisoners, but she was sure it wasn’t pleasant.
Several minutes passed before Jen told Tarmon to continue moving. The fighting was intense in this area and they had to kill a few invaders. Eventually they found Arturo and she recognized the man he was fighting. The people of Arindall had seen the fight between Marcus, John, and a man with a curved sword. This had to be him, especially with how Arturo was fighting. Nobody could miss the rage in her brother’s face.
She watched Arturo slam the invader in the face and thought Arturo was about to kill him. Jen froze when she saw the curved sword plunge into her brother’s stomach. She went to move forward when Tarmon grabbed her shoulders and pulled her back.
“Don’t,” Tarmon said. “You can’t take him. I’m pretty sure that’s the man who killed Arturo’s brothers.”
“You expect me to watch him die?” Jen spat and pushed Tarmon off of her. She took out her swords.
“No,” Tarmon said and turned to the other three. “Can you use those bows?”
“Yeah,” the three men said, although the older man looked the least confident of them.
“Good. There isn’t much time. You three, shoot arrows at that man. I’ll throw a spear. Jen, you can then rush forward and I’ll be with you,” Tarmon said.
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Okay, he can think under pressure. That’s good. Jen was disappointed in herself not to think of attacking from range first.
The three men fired their arrows and Tarmon threw his spear. To her shock, the invader blocked the arrows and spears with ease and looked right at them. Two more invaders came up to him and said something that she couldn’t hear. The invader said something in response and they retreated while Jen and Tarmon were rushing forward.
Not waiting to see if they would return, Jen went to Arturo. “Oh no,” she said when she saw all the blood and wounds. He wasn’t in good shape and she didn’t have the skills to heal him. He had passed out.
“You three, watch our backs!” Tarmon commanded roughly and looked at Arturo. “He won’t last much longer. Help me remove his armor.”
Jen helped lift Arturo and Tarmon worked on getting the armor off. “Are you a healer?” she asked hopefully.
“Kind of,” Tarmon said. After some fiddling, he threw the armor aside and held his hands over Arturo. “I hope you can keep a secret.”
So much blood. Jen couldn’t hide her fear at seeing her brother’s wounds. There was a huge hole in his stomach and deep cuts all across his body. Even if Tarmon was a healer, what could he do to save Arturo’s life?
Tarmon began waving his hands over her brother’s body, and then she knew. He could use the power and was using it to keep her brother alive. She realized Tarmon wasn’t a mage and was worried about her turning him in.
Some of the minor injuries on Arturo’s body disappeared, and the majority of his cuts stopped bleeding. Sweat dripped down Tarmon’s face as he concentrated. Several minutes passed and then he lowered his arms. “I’m not skilled enough to do much more. He should survive, as long as we find a proper healer.”
Horns blew in the distance and Jen smiled. “Finding a healer won’t be a problem.”
Dreams and memories of his life flashed before Arturo’s eyes. He could see the time he had trained with Jen and his mother getting mad at him for doing so. The raid on Arindall, where he lost everyone. Recent events. Was he dying?
The world was black, yet he could hear voices around him. Two women and a man. One was giving commands, though he couldn’t understand what was being said. Were they speaking a different language?
His entire body ached. The voices were becoming clearer. “Heal him…” he heard. The voices were fading in and out. With an effort, Arturo opened his eyes and grunted, startling the three people.
“You shouldn’t be awake,” the male said with shock.
Arturo groaned and blinked as his eyes adjusted to the light. A woman and a man were standing over him with their hands hovering slightly above him. They were in a dilapidated building, and he soon realized that the woman and man hovering over him were mages. Slightly further back was a woman with dark red hair who he quickly recognized as his sister.
“Where am I?”
“Talin Grad,” the woman said sternly and pushed Arturo back down. “You’re far from recovered. I’m not sure why—”
“Lydia, that’s enough,” Jen cut in. Surprisingly, the mage nodded and stepped away from Arturo. “Leave me with him, please.”
“As you command,” Lydia said and motioned for her partner to follow. They walked out, leaving Jen and Arturo alone.
“You command mages?” Arturo said incredulously.
“Not really,” Jen replied and moved closer. She eyed his wounds. “You were a fool to come here. If it wasn’t for Tarmon, you’d be dead.”
Tarmon’s here? “Where is he?” Arturo said.
“I’ll bring you to him later. He’s hiding and I’m sure you know why,” Jen said.
The mages. Arturo winced as he tried to get up again. It didn’t take him long to remember how he got injured in the first place. “Kyrad Durmaddon,” he said.
“What?” Jen’s eyes widened.
“The man who killed our brothers.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes.”
“That can’t be,” Jen said and started pacing. “You know the significance of that, don’t you? Did he tell you?”
“Right after he stabbed me in the stomach.” Arturo looked down and was surprised not to see bandages. The wound in his stomach had been healed, although it still hurt. “He was going to kill me, so he told me his name.”
“That explains a lot,” Jen said. “After fifteen hundred years, the Durmaddon family comes back. The attacks make sense. They’re testing our strength and dividing us at the same time.”
“You think they’re behind the rebellions?”
“Yes, but that’s a topic for another time.” Jen looked at him sternly. “How could you come here when you knew I was alive? You could have died before we got the chance to talk.”
“You told me not to follow,” Arturo said. He wasn’t going to tell her the real reason. In truth, he would have made the same decision even if she had told him to follow. No matter how much he wanted to deny it, his desire for revenge triumphed over seeing his sister again.
“Really? I have a hard time believing you’ve changed so much that you would listen to anyone, especially with how strong you’ve become.”
“Strong…” Arturo muttered and felt where his wounds had been. Why did his body ache so badly when the mages healed him? “If I was strong, I would have killed Kyrad.”
“It’s good that you didn’t,” Jen said. “I would like him dead too, but you finding out his name gives us a chance to unite Aidris before the Durmaddon army arrives. We would be in the dark on who our enemy is if you had killed him.”
“How can you say that?” Arturo said with disbelief. “His death is all that matters. Me learning his name changes nothing. That man killed our brothers and led the attack on Arindall! He deserves to die!”
“You misinterpret what I meant.” Jen folded her arms and shook her head. “If you could kill him now, that would be great. But it’s a good thing you learned his name.”
“Whatever. Why did those mages obey you?”
“They’re part of the Whispering Mists. We’re the only clan allowed to have mages, though they can only heal and not participate in battles.”
“Why is your hair red?”
“To join the Whispering Mists, you have to shed something of your identity. For me, I wanted to change my hair because I looked too much like Mother.” Jen stroked her red hair, then stopped when she realized what she was doing and put her hands to her sides.
“Was it hard?”
“The hardest thing I’ve ever done,” Jen said softly.
Arturo truly looked at his sister then. She was dressed like a warrior. Light armor covered her chest and her red hair flowed freely down below her shoulder blades. She had fierce brown eyes, yet she seemed as calm as a stone. Two swords were sheathed on her back and the Whispering Mists insignia was on her chest. She used to look so much like Mother, yet now she looked like a stranger.
“You’ve changed,” Arturo said.
“That’s what happens with time,” Jen said.
He laughed, then wished he hadn’t when pain erupted across his body. “How come the mages didn’t heal me all the way? Surely they can.”
Jen’s composure broke for a moment before returning. Was it a look of regret that passed on her face? “I told them not to fully heal you.”
“Why?”
“Because I don’t want you to leave,” Jen said.
“Really?” Arturo forced himself up and pushed Jen away. Ignoring the pain shooting across his body, he stood up. The room started spinning and his legs wobbled, yet he remained standing. “You can’t keep me here.”
“I didn’t mean it like that,” Jen sighed. “What I meant was I wanted to talk to you about a few things before you leave.”
“You can’t do that when I’m healed?”
“Please, sit down. You’re hurt and there’s no point in showing me how tough you are. I already know.”
Arturo found his anger cooling. “Fine,” he said and took a seat. It felt good not to stand and he forced himself not to grab his head with how much the room was spinning. “Did the invaders leave?”
“Yes. They retreated when my clan blew their horns,” Jen said. She walked up to him and examined his face. “I can’t believe how much you’ve changed. Has our family’s death brought you down such a path?”
When he didn’t respond, Jen continued. “Listen to me. You have a chance to help people without running to battlefields and killing as many people as you can. Join the Whispering Mists. With your skills, we’ll be able to help protect all of Aidris against the upcoming war.”
“Yeah, right,” Arturo laughed bitterly. What a joke this was. Kyrad had bested him in combat and his sister wasn’t allowing the mages to fully heal him. He needed to find Tarmon and get out of here. Jen was fully part of the Whispering Mists and had no desire to leave, he saw that now. “I’m not going to stay here.”
“Oh?” Jen asked, showing her first signs of irritation. “You’ll just waltz on out of here, huh? Leave me again?”
“Come with me,” Arturo said. “Don’t stay here. We’ll find Kyrad and kill him. I’m going to fight in the war. You don’t need to stay here with these people.”
“I can’t leave.”
“Then we’ll be going our own ways.”
“You’re so stubborn!” Jen threw her hands in the air. “We’ll talk later. Go rest and I’ll have the healers take another look.”
With that, Jen stalked off and Arturo let her go. She had changed and he wasn’t sure how he felt about it. The little girl who looked up to him and joked with him was gone. At least she was alive. For now, that was all that mattered.
Arturo remained there, contemplating one thing: Kyrad Durmaddon. That name would haunt him until he had killed him. He had to figure out how to get stronger. Kyrad was far more skilled than he had expected. Images of the fight flashed through his mind. How could Kyrad defeat him so easily? How can I improve enough to fight him?
Even when the mages came back and started the healing process, he couldn’t stop questioning how he would improve enough to beat Kyrad, and that scared him more than anything else.