Missteps of Adventure
Chapter 81 – A Cramped Sleepover
When Lia and Jennavieve arrived back at the meeting tree with their fairy entourage, they weren’t surprised to see that the boys weren’t there. However, they were surprised to see a large man in an open vest waiting for them, a familiar blond-haired fairy sitting on top of his head.
Mavi saw the girls first and gently pulled the stranger’s hair in their direction. When he saw them, he broke out in a large grin and held up a hand in greeting.
The man slowly stood up. “Are you Lia?” He asked as the elven duo got within speaking distance. The fairy flew off his head and zoomed to meet his family.
Lia nodded. “And you are?”
“Harlin,” The man answered. “Iados and Ander sent me to get you. They ran into some trouble and got delayed.”
The blonde elf’s eyes widened. “What kind of trouble?”
Harlin grinned and raised his hands up in reassurance. “Nothing bad; they just took a swim and needed to warm up.” The grin vanished. “However, they did mention that their ranger friend got picked up by a shadow and taken to the swamps.”
“Tch,” Jennavieve rolled her eyes. “Sounds like your Carric managed to find his way back.”
“It appears so,” Lia reached up and gently massaged the bridge of her nose, a headache beginning to form behind her eyes. “I suppose you’d better take us to Iados and Ander; sounds like we have a rescue to plan. Where are they?”
“At my Aunt Peggy’s house,” Harlin advised.
Jennavieve groaned. “It seems this is where we part then.”
The big man shook his head. “No, I think you should come with.”
The pink-haired Kavi flew up and got into the big man’s face. “Why? So that what’s remaining of the villagers can sneer at her?”
Harlin crossed his arms and stared down the little fairy. “Word is that all this mess started when she came out of the swamp.” He leaned over and looked at the pink-haired cleric. “Instead of screaming at us to run away, why don’t you help fix whatever you did? See if there’s a way to save the valley instead of abandoning it?”
Jennavieve stepped out in front of Lia and motioned for Kavi to come towards her. The small fairy blew a raspberry at the large man before she turned and eventually settled on the elf’s shoulder. “Harlin, there is no way to save the valley.” The cleric admitted. “The valley is dying, and the only choice you and the other villagers have is to either die with this place, or leave.”
The man went silent for a moment as he crossed his arms over his chest and appeared to think over what she said. Finally, he looked up, a quizzical look on his face.
“Who says the valley can’t be saved?”
The elven cleric raised an eyebrow. “Tali of the fairies.”
Harlin scoffed. “The fairies never leave the forests, and they haven’t been to the swamps. Who knows what secrets Tyren left behind there? I say until we check the place out, maybe she left something that could save the valley?”
As Jennavieve’s jaw dropped in shock, Lia laughed.
“How about we join back up with Iados and Ander, and then we talk strategy.” The druid smiled warmly at Jennavieve. “The boys and I have to go into the swamps after Carric regardless, but Harlin’s right; there may be something there that can help. At the very least, we may be able to find out what happened to your team.”
Jennavieve took several moments to consider the offer before she finally nodded. With that, the two girls and their posse of fairies followed Harlin back to the village.
As they walked, Harlin mentioned how the boys had been forced to bathe by his Aunt Peggy, and if they wanted, he’d draw up a couple of baths for the girls too. No sense in just the boys getting special treatment.
It took a little over an hour, but eventually they arrived at the dilapidating village and scurried quickly over the crumbling bridge. The fairies, except for Mavi and Kavi, refused to enter the village and instead wished them luck on getting Carric back.
Harlin paused at the threshold of one of the homes and took a deep breath before turning the knob and walking in.
The scene was not one that any of them expected.
“Get it off!” Iados, wearing a wool nightshirt that went to his knees, screamed as he desperately clawed at something on his back.
“If you’d stop moving, we can.” Standing near him, a woman with brown hair stood ready, a broom clasped in both her hands.
Ander stood on a small sofa, clothed in a similar nightshirt to Iados, and held a large basket against his chest. “Where did it come from?”
Peggy growled. “Who knows?”
The akudaem finally stopped squirming, and the party that just walked in could see clearly what was on his back.
It was a hand, and it had a tight grasp on the back of the nightshirt.
With a large swing of the broom, Peggy managed to dislodge the hand, and it went careening across the room.
Unfortunately for the druid, the hand managed to grab a large chunk of her blonde hair when she tried to move out of the way.
“What the hell! Get it off me!” Lia screamed as the hand tried to climb up the hair towards her face.
Harlin deftly reached out, grabbed the offending appendage, and tossed it into a wooden bin next to the door. As soon as the lid had closed, he sat on it.
Silence filled the room for several minutes after. The group that was already in the room breathed sighs of relief that the threat was gone.
That relief didn’t last long as Peggy finally came to realize who had just walked into her home. She brandished the broom at the pink-haired elf. “Come to lecture me again?”
Jennavieve rolled her eyes and sent a scathing look toward Harlin. “Trust me, I didn’t want to come here, but he,” She inclined her head towards the vested man, “insisted that I do.”
Peggy turned her attention towards Harlin, keeping the broom pointed towards the elf. “What’d you bring her for?”
The man tried to stand up, but as soon as he did the lid moved, so he immediately sat back down. “I was thinking that she might have some information on the swamp that we could use.”
The middle-aged villager groaned as she lowered the broom. “I thought you’d finally given up on that ‘going to the swamp’ nonsense.”
“You’re the one that’s given up!” Harlin countered. “I get it that it’s too dangerous for me to go alone, but I can just tag along with these guys!” He pointed towards the remaining members of M.A.
Peggy was about to respond, but Lia cleared her throat.
“I really hate to interrupt, but Harlin, I think I’d like that bath now.” The elf’s face was twisted in disgust as she examined a putrid slime that’d been left on her hair by the hand. “Do I even want to know what this is?”
“Not unless you want to go bald.” Peggy assured her. She turned her attention to Harlin, her eyes narrowed. “Go fill up two more barrels, but this discussion is not over.”
Harlin didn’t move.
The older woman scoffed. “What are you waiting for?”
He rolled his eyes. “I’m waiting for someone to take my place, unless we want to chase down the damn hand again.”
Iados, who by this time had ripped off the nightshirt that was also covered in that gross slime and stood in only his boxers, quickly skipped over and traded places with Harlin, who then left the room.
The tension in the room between Peggy, Jennavieve, and the pink-haired fairy was palatable. Mavi hovered behind his sister; his arm linked tightly with hers as he gently pulled her towards the kitchen table.
It was the akudaem who spoke first. “So, glad you could make it.”
Lia reached out and smacked him on the arm.
“What was that for?” Iados whined.
“How could you let Carric get kidnapped?” The elf accused.
“We didn’t have a whole lot of choice.” Ander confessed from across the room. He set the basket down on the floor before he climbed down. “We were all pretty tired when that shadow creature came out of the sky.”
The druid crossed her arms. “Why were you tired? Too much exploring?”
“Kind of,” The former pirate admitted as he scratched the back of his head. Between him and Ander, they told the story of their harrowing fight against the Morgen. Even as they talked, Peggy and Jennavieve still stared each other down.
The staring match was only broken when the boys got to the part about Morgen once being a part of Jennavieve’s group.
“What do you mean by that?” The pink-haired elf cried, her head turning like a swivel between the halfling and akudaem.
“According to the Water Women, the elves left behind in the forest had their spirits torn out of them by the Fey.” Ander explained. He spoke slowly, slightly concerned about the panic that had sprung into the elf’s eyes. “Then the spirits were torn again, part of them being kept by the Fey, part of it being turned into those shadow creatures.”
“Morgen said that the bodies were even twisted.” Iados added. The bin shook under his butt. He grimaced, “Can’t help but wonder if the hand was part of it too.”
Jennavieve’s legs gave out from under her as she collapsed on the ground. Kavi immediately flew towards and gently cradled her face. Tears began to form and gather in her eyes. “I didn’t know,” She whispered. “I thought they’d just been killed.”
Lia knelt down next to her and gently gathered her in her arms. The sobs that erupted out of the elven cleric were loud and mournful. For a long time, that was the only sound in the small room, as no one knew how to comfort her or if she could even be comforted.
Jennavieve peeked out from Lia’s shoulder, her eyes red and puffy, and looked at Iados. “Do you know who Morgen was? Was it Ves or Ilrune?”
The akudaem grimaced. “She didn’t say, I’m sorry.”
“She wasn’t your friend, not anymore.” Peggy announced as she settled herself down in her rocking chair. “From what these boys say, she even admitted that she wasn’t the same person; she was something twisted.”
Jennavieve pushed Lia away as her sobs finally ended. Mavi brought over a cloth napkin from the table, and Kavi used it to clean the elf’s face.
“You said the fey split their spirits?” The cleric asked the boys.
Ander nodded. “It sounded like he kept one part and then turned the other part into those shadow creatures somehow.”
The pink-haired elf looked up at Lia. “We have to get them back. Both the shadow creatures and the part that the Fey kept.”
“How do you suppose we capture shadows?” The druid asked.
Jennavieve shook her head. “Not shadows, spirits.” She clarified. “All we have to do is create four spirit stones. That way, we can take them with us when we leave and return them to the Crann Arbora.”
Iados raised his hand. “What’s a spirit stone?”
“It’s a special kind of stone that can hold an elven spirit.” Lia explained. She turned and reached for her bag, pulling out a small, wrapped package. Inside was a smooth, purple stone with veins of light blue running across its surface. “No elf leaves their forest without one, in case we die away from the Crann Arbora.”
The akudaem frowned. “Why didn’t you mention before that you had one? Kind of important information.”
Lia grimaced as she wrapped the stone back up. “My uncle gave it to me before I left. I don’t exactly trust it.”
Both Iados and Ander nodded in understanding. Between what tidbits Lia had dropped about her changed memories and the fact that he’d put out a Marriage Bounty on her, no one in M.A. had a good impression of the man.
This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.
“How hard is it to make a spirit stone?” The halfling asked. “Can it be any stone?”
Jennavieve bit her lip. “Technically, it’s supposed to be a stone that’s been blessed by a priest at the foot of the Crann Arbora.” She sighed. “Like Lia, everyone in my group had one, but I have no idea where our gear is. I lost mine when I shoved out of the swamps.”
“If that’s the case, then maybe Tyren or this Fey scooped them up.” Iados suggested. “We can add that to our to-do lists for the swamp.”
Peggy grunted from her rocking chair, where she had settled down as Jennavieve had had her breakdown. “It won’t be as easy as just walking in. Besides these new ‘shadow creatures’ you all keep talking about, Tyren used the place as her own personal play space. She wasn’t a woman who just sat around twiddling her thumbs.”
Ander crossed his arms. “How close were you to Tyren?”
“I was the only friend she had in the valley.” Peggy admitted. “Pretty sure I was the only one she trusted too. After her little sabbatical after she and her friends cast that spell, she came back paranoid and distrustful of everyone and everything.”
“Hence creating her own pocket dimension that kept out everyone, including the gods.” Ander supplied.
“Wait a minute,” The former pirate held up a hand. “Then how come that wandering portal is out there letting people like us and Jennavieve’s group just walk in?”
Peggy didn’t answer.
Harlin walked back in and announced that the barrels were ready for the girls.
The old woman (who only looked middle-aged) stood up and rubbed her hands together. “Harlin, take the boys over to Geraldine and get some things for a meal. Pretty sure it’s her turn to cook. I’ll stay here and figure out beds for everyone. You’ll all need to be well-rested if you’re truly going to tackle the swamp.” Before anyone could countermand her, she walked briskly upstairs.
While Kavi followed the girls out back to the waiting baths, Mavi went with the boys across the street to another two-story structure (after Iados had been given another nightshirt).
Like Peggy’s home, this one didn’t show any signs of disrepair, except for a front windowpane that looked like it would fall off at any moment.
Harlin gave a quick rap on the door before he opened the door and walked in. Instead of a furnished living room, this space opened into a large kitchen. In the middle of the room sat a cauldron suspended over a fire pit. Wooden tracks had been laid over the dirt floor that led to various stations around the room.
Seated on a stool at a far counter was a rather rotund woman with closely cropped black hair. She painstakingly cut away moldy bits from a mound of vegetables.
“Afraid food’s not quite finished.” The woman announced, her eyes not leaving her chore. “This patch is thoroughly infested, so it’s taking a bit longer.”
Harlin winced as he led the way towards the counter. “You’re not gonna like to hear that we have more mouths to feed.”
The woman looked up, then gasped at the two visitors. “Tell me you are joking.”
“Afraid not, Geraldine, and there’s another two besides them.” The big man settled on top of another stool. “You can at least put us to work.”
Geraldine shook her head. “Unless you can scrounge up more food, you’d just make yourself hungrier.”
Mavi flew over to the countertop and settled next to one of the moldy potatoes. “Maybe I can help?”
A huge smile broke out over the woman’s face. She quickly dropped the knife and gathered the blond fairy up in her hands. “I was so afraid we’d chased you off forever!”
The fairy grinned before he flew up and gently kissed Geraldine on the cheek. “It’ll take a lot more than hurtful words to frighten me off.” He proclaimed proudly.
Iados chuckled to himself as he thought back to how the fairy had hidden in his shirt from Peggy.
Mavi turned his attention back to the pile of pathetic-looking vegetables. He hovered above them and gently twitched his blond wings as he chanted an incantation. Gold dust sprinkled down on the mound.
Geraldine gasped as the moldy bits visible vanished, and all the produce perked up.
The fairy wasn’t done. As the last of the dust settled, he started another incantation, this time forming various symbols with his hands.
Ander watched the fairy with an inquisitive eye. He was able to make out some of the incantations, recognizing some of the arcane wording that was specific to elven societies. The symbols made by the small hands were unfamiliar to him, but the result was.
One by one, bundles of luscious red berries, heads of lettuce, plumb tomatoes, ears of corn, and other produce appeared on the countertop.
Tiredly, Mavi flew over and sat heavily on Iados’s shoulder. “If we get Kavi over here, we can make more food.”
Geraldine, with tears in her eyes, looked over the bounty of food that was before her. “Thank you,” She pinched off a berry, hopped off her stool, and handed it to the fairy. “Thank you.”
The fairy nodded and began to chew on the fruit.
With more food now available, the black-haired woman wasted no time in putting the men to work. She even produced some flour and, with Ander’s help, whipped up a quick fry bread to accompany a hearty potato soup and salad.
By the time the boys arrived back at Peggy’s with the food, the girls had finished their baths (and had been supplied with similar nightshirts). Blankets and pillows had been haphazardly tossed in a pile on the couch.
Peggy herself didn’t join the group around the table for their meal. When Harlin went to bring her some, he found her hunched over something at her desk. She didn’t answer his inquiry into what it was.
The group supplemented the blanket and pillow supply with their own bed rolls and settled down in the living room.
“Why are we doing this?” Ander whispered to Lia at one point. “We have a tower with actual beds.”
The elf shook her head. “Besides that being bad manners, don’t you think that a magical tower suddenly showing up would draw some unwanted attention?”
With a sullen frown, Ander dropped the subject and went to curl up on the couch.
***
Lia sat at her desk in her uncle’s study.
The man himself sat in a large armchair near a fireplace where a large, roaring fire burned. Outside, snow slowly floated down from the sky.
The elf didn’t even notice the snow however, as she focused on translating the dwarven runes. The parchment flaked under her fingertips, and she knew she had to get the wording right the first time because there wouldn’t be a second.
A door suddenly slammed open, and two men she knew to be in her uncle’s employ walked in. They dragged a third man into the room as he cursed at them and tried to twist out of their grasps.
Lia heard as the man was thrown onto the carpeted floor. She kept her eyes on the parchment.
“Where did you find him?” Himo asked.
“Making a break out of the forest.” One of the men answered. Something jangled.
“Tsk, tsk, Brevin. I thought you were smarter than to steal from me.” Her uncle’s voice had a hard, icy edge to it. The armchair moaned as Himo stood up.
“You told the Circle that it’d been destroyed.” The third man, Brevin, accused. “You know what that item can do.”
“And that’s precisely why I told those buffoons at the Circle that it’d been destroyed.” Lia could hear Himo’s voice getting closer to her as he walked around his prisoner. “We can’t trust that they won’t use it for their own selfish purposes.”
“And we can trust you?” Brevin asked. His tone held no trace of any trust for his interrogator.
Lia felt Himo pause right behind her. He bent down and put a hand on her shoulder while he reached around with his other hand and pointed towards one of the runes she’d already translated. “That one has a secondary meaning.” He informed her softly. “It can also be read as ‘to will it so.’ Don’t forget, one must always be on the lookout for the double-edged sword of language.” He chuckled softly, clapped her shoulder, and continued his stroll.
“Brevin, I promise you that my motives are for a greater purpose.” Himo continued. “And for that greater purpose, I need certain artifacts.”
“What kind of ‘greater purpose’ requires the ability to open a door anywhere in the world?” Brevin asked, his voice laced with distrust. “You know the history of that item; you know what it’s been used for.”
Himo laughed as he settled himself once again in his armchair, the chair moaning as his weight settled. “Oh I know everything about it. After all, I was the one who originally commissioned it.”
Lia’s pen stopped scratching on the parchment.
“What do you mean you ‘commissioned’ it?” She heard the captive man ask in a low voice.
“Exactly what it sounds like. I have somewhere very important I have to get to, but the way there is blocked.” Himo tsk’d. “Unfortunately, the mage I hired the work from got robbed before I could retrieve the item. Oh well, at least I didn’t have to finish paying him.”
The elf heard Brevin gulp as the gravity of the situation dawned on him.
She sighed softly as she went back to work. From the moment he’d been dragged in, she knew in her gut that he wouldn’t leave.
As she focused on the runes, she tuned out the rest of the conversation. She tuned out the man’s arguments and eventually pleading. She tuned out her uncle’s harsh words and sentences, said in that same sickeningly sweet voice he’d used to placate so many.
She wished she could have tuned out the sound of blood as it splattered against the wall and the heavy thump of the body against the floor.
Most of all, she wished she could have tuned out of the voice of her uncle as he called her over to his chair.
She averted her eyes as she stepped around the men as they wrapped the body up in the rug, one of her favorites. She followed her uncle’s instructions to sit down on his lap.
He moved her hair away from her neck, and she felt something cold press against her skin. Her final thought was that she’d have to start the translation all over again.
***
Lia’s eyes snapped open. With shaky arms, she sat up, letting the blanket fall into her lap. A quick look around her assured her that none of her companions had awakened. Quietly, she slipped her boots on, grabbed her cloak, and went outside.
She made her way to the water’s edge, not really seeing anything. Instead, she pondered on this latest memory.
The night in question had only been a few years before she’d been inducted as a member of the druidic organization.
So far, there didn’t seem to be any rhyme or reason to which memories came to her unblemished. In some of them, she was a child, in others, a teenager. In others, she was a witness to the cruel acts of her uncle. The worst of them was when she was his victim. A common thread in all of them, however, was her reaction. Her cries of disbelief, her feeling of betrayal, her innocence of her situation.
This memory had been different. In this one, she hadn’t been able to put into words the feelings that churned in her gut. In this one, she instinctively knew the outcome.
She knew to keep her head down.
She knew to keep quiet.
She knew that she’d forget.
Was that the first time she’d had those feelings? How long had it taken her uncle to break her so completely that even without the vivid memories, she was still his victim? His prisoner? How many hits, kicks, or broken bones had it taken for her body to instinctively know how to protect itself?
When did she stop fighting?
She took in a haggard breath as a wave of nausea washed over her. She barely had time to collapse to her knees before she threw up.
The nightmare forced on her by Bymer took on a whole new meaning now. Before, she thought her uncle was just too strong. Before, she’d been reassured by Iados’s words that her friends would be by her side, that she wouldn’t have to face her uncle alone. She took strength in the fact that she wouldn’t be alone.
She realized now that her greatest fear wasn’t her uncle.
No, her greatest fear was that even with her friends by her side, she still wouldn’t be able to fight against him. At some point before the nightmare, they’d all had to have faced him. At one point, he would have offered the deal: a marriage for their freedom. At some point, she’d agreed.
The nightmare wasn’t about what Himo would do to her and her friends; it was about what her own weakness would do. It was about how she wouldn’t be strong enough to fight back.
Eventually, she realized that someone was gently rubbing her back. When she looked over her shoulder, she saw Peggy knelt on the ground next to her.
“Feeling better?” The older woman asked as she held out a small waterskin.
Lia didn’t say anything as she took the vessel and rinsed out her mouth.
“Don’t suppose you want to talk about it?” Peggy asked.
The elf shook her head as she sat back on her heels. “Honestly, I don’t want to even think about it.”
“Been there.” The brown-haired woman sat down. “That’s the curse of a long life, too many memories to shift through, and it’s always the bad ones that stick out the most.”
Lia’s eyes widened as she looked up. “How did you-?”
Peggy chuckled softly. “Only a memory could provoke such a physical reaction. Your body despising something so completely that it needs to feel any sort of release.” She reached out and gently smoothed the hair on Lia’s head. “Trust me, I’ve been where you are.”
“Does it get better?” The druid hated how small her voice was but was desperate to hear the answer.
The woman smiled softly as her hand dropped. “Depends on what it is you’re running from. For some things, time is the answer. For others, you’ll have to face it head-on and confront the issue before you’re able to work past it.” She sighed. “I’m still working on some old issues of my own.”
Lia visibly deflated at the answer. She turned her gaze towards the river and was mildly shocked to see that they weren’t alone.
Further down the river was a thin, gaunt figure hunched at the edge. As the elf watched, the figure wavered between dipping something in their hands in the river and rubbing it furiously against a stone.
Lia stood up and took a step towards the figure, but Peggy’s hand shot out and held her firm.
“Leave her alone,” The woman advised her grip tight on the elf’s arm. “She’ll leave in a few minutes.”
The elf looked quizzically at her but did as she advised. Together, the two of them stood there and watched as the thin figure repeatedly scrubbed and rinsed what Lia finally saw to be a piece of fabric. Finally, she folded the garment, hugged it to her chest, and morosely walked away from the river.
“Who was that?” Lia asked as the woman vanished from sight.
Peggy sighed heavily as she let go of the elf’s arm. “If I had to guess, one of those twisted bodies of Jennavieve’s friends. She didn’t start to show up till recently.”
The druid’s eyes softened at the news. “Have you ever approached her?”
The woman shook her head. “Not I, but when she first showed up a few others did. They saw that she was cleaning blood stains out of the fabric, but each of them saw a different garment. One person saw a tunic, one a pair of pants, but the one thing they all had in common was that the garment belonged to someone they knew. Shortly afterward the garment’s owner died from the illness.”
Lia’s jaw dropped. “Was she making them sick?”
Peggy shrugged. “I don’t know, but I’d rather not risk fate, not with so few of us left. On that note,” She reached into her blouse and pulled out a rolled-up piece of parchment. “It’s been a while since I last visited Tyren at the swamp, but this is how I remembered it being laid out. She’s got a few pets and surprises, but hopefully it hasn’t changed much.”
The elf unrolled the parchment and took in the crude designs. A few circled areas had accompanying tags that warned of potential dangers. “Thank you for this.”
“I figured this was the least I could do.” The woman sighed heavily before she reached up and scratched the back of her head. “Something else you should know; some of Tyren’s pets aren’t from the valley or your world. She liked to experiment with portals.”
“Really? Seems like an odd hobby for someone looking to hide.” Lia stated as she rolled up the map.
“She started looking into it because I asked her to.” Peggy admitted. “The valley was starting to get overcrowded, and I became concerned about the valley’s ability to support us. Not to mention that some of the ones who’d been born here were desperate to leave. So, I went to Tyren and asked her to find a way out.”
“That’s why there’s that wandering portal.” The druid surmised.
The brown-haired woman nodded. “I don’t know if Tyren meant for it to wander or if she just lost control of it, but it’s my fault that others unknowingly walked in and got trapped.”
Lia reached and laid a comforting hand on the woman’s shoulder. “If it helps any, we talked to one person who’d wandered in and was guided back out by Jennavieve.”
Peggy smiled softly. “It does, a little.” She reached up and took the elf’s hand in her own. “Before you and your group go to the swamp, I have one request of you.”
Lia tilted her head questioningly.
The older woman continued. “Promise me that you’ll take Harlin with you when you leave this valley. Even if you have to bash him over the head, hog-tie him, or drag him kicking and screaming, promise me that he will leave.”
“If he doesn’t want to leave-”
“The only reason he won’t leave is because I won’t.” Peggy interrupted. “For some reason, he feels that he must stay by my side. He won’t accept that I won’t leave the valley. He won’t accept that I intend to die with the valley. Me and the others who are left, we were all here when the valley was created. We’ve had countless children here, and we were forced to watch as most of them all died here. The moment the sky changed, we knew the end was near, and we decided to see it to the end.
“But Harlin is still young. He still has that desire to see a world he’s only ever heard about. It’s only his loyalty that kept him from going through the fairy’s portal, and it’s his loyalty that will kill him. Please, promise me that no matter what, you won’t let Harlin die in this valley.”
All Lia could do was nod.