Kernak hobbled through the forest, clutching his side. Around him, his fellow shadow guard members did the same. While he was fairly certain that nothing was broken, his whole body hurt beyond rational belief.

He glanced viciously at the massive blonde-haired oaf who’d wiped him and his squad mates out with his… his… his massive metal bat? Whatever it was, it had been fast and vicious, smashing right through any defence they could put up. He realised that it was a blessing that they were alive.

Up ahead, leading the group was their ever-silent Shadow Captain – Alena, and the strange man that they had ambushed. Both were communicating in sign language far faster than he could follow, using way more signs than he’d thought even existed. Even with all the diligence he’d put into learning it from the Captain, he only recognised one sign in nine, if he was lucky. And unlike her usual self the Captain was smiling. Captain rarely ever smiled.

Nothing made sense. Were they enemies, or were they friends? If they were enemies, then why escort them to the village? And if they were friends, why attack them? They were heading to the village, of that much he was sure, even though it wasn’t long since he’d first started living here himself.

Were they bringing these two men to the Lord? Was that it? Was that the reason why Alena had gathered up all available squad members and set an ambush?

Come to think of it, he’d never actually seen the Lord in person. Would this be his chance? He’d only ever heard stories and rumours. Most rumours spoke of him as a monstrous demon made of shadow and fire, an unrivalled guardian of the forest. The villagers described him as a king clad in shadows crowned with a wreath of flame. Alena simply described him as ‘Lord, unbeatable, quick, man, ghost.’ All stories had two things in common. He was powerful and that the forest was his domain.

Kernak glanced once more at the two strange men. Just who were they?

*****

Alena walked beside her Lord and Master, revelling in the feeling of the bond once more between them. She could feel again! A tension, that she’d never realised she’d had, released itself. The constant strain of the bond had affected her more than she thought. It was alright now. The Lord was back.

She glanced back at the members of the shadow guard, wishing that she could send one ahead to inform village chief Cairn and the others of the Lord’s return. All of them were limping, clutching various body parts. None of them complained though and all of them had managed to hold on to their weapons. It was a testament to their training, not that she would slack off on their training in the future. Now that the Lord was back they would have to prove their worth more than ever.

She’d thought that the training she’d put in was enough to beat the Lord. It was a foolish assumption. He’d grown stronger, just as she had. The gap remained. It left a feeling of lingering feeling of disappointment in her, but also reaffirmed her belief in her Lord and Master’s strength. Losing against him was acceptable, if unpleasant. Though she would work hard to close that gap. She glanced at the big man who accompanied her Lord, then at the defeated members of the Shadow Guard. Losing against any others was unacceptable.

All the while, both she and the Lord spoke, her finger-speak far more fluent than when he’d left. It was small talk, neither one yet breaching bigger topics. That was ok though. They would have plenty of time. She wasn’t going to let him leave her like that again.

At some point his finger-talk faltered, before stopping entirely. She looked up. They had arrived at the village.

*****

Azrael halted his conversation with Alena, his full attention on the village, or at least what one was ‘the village’. Now it was… well, it was still a village, but just a far larger one. What had once been seven houses and some small gardens and fields had expanded to almost thirty houses. Trees had been cleared to make way for gardens, fields and paddocks. All of it was still well hidden within the vast depths of the forest, having barely touched any of the almost infinite green expanse. Unfamiliar faces looked up from their fields, wary at the two new strangers, but smiling at Alena and her scouts.

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Was this his village? Was he really in the right place? Who were these people? Why were they here? All the while, Alena led him down the main road that led to the village square.

Two familiar features stood out, definitively marking this as his village. The first was the status plate, embedded in the stone pedestal. As far as he knew, it was the only one that existed, unmistakable. The second feature was the large stone stele, a definitive landmark that bore his name scratched into its base by his own hand. Except, stele was no longer the right term for it. It was a statue, carved from what had once been the stele. It was a statue of him.

Whoever had carved it had an excellent eye for detail, each feature carved with exquisite care. The large statue of him loomed over the entire village, easily two or three times the size of the surrounding houses. One hand was raised, pointing to the heavens, as if summoning a great power, the other was extended downwards, palm open, towards the status plate, as if giving a gift. A crown of flame adorned his head, the statue’s eyes looking down on the people, stern and regal.

‘Who made, who carved?’ he signed to Alena.

Her fingers spelt out a name, ‘D-U-R-K-O-V’.

Azrael recalled that Durkov had the [Stone Mason] class. He had to give it to the dwarf. It was an amazing piece of work, even if he thought some of the features were a little exaggerated.

A male voice interrupted his mental critique.

“L-Lord?”

Azrael turned to face the voice. It was Cairn, the elderly village chief, who had emerged from his own house at the center of the village.

“Lord Azrael?” He asked again.

Azrael gave him a smile.

“Hello, Cairn,” he said.

Cairn walked up to him, still obviously not believing his eyes. His hand moved upwards, almost unsure of itself, to touch Azrael’s arm. A moment later tears appeared in his eyes.

“THE LORD HAS RETURNED!” He cried out loud.

It was a proclamation of such joy and volume that every head in the village turned to face the village square.

“TONIGHT,” Cairn announced “WE FEAST!!”

A cheer went up amongst the original villagers at the first proclamation, with several unfamiliar faces simply turning to look at Azrael, unsure of the situation. More joined in at the mention of a feast. Azrael could relate to those who stood there, looking hesitantly. This was not how he’d expected the village to be like when he returned.

Azrael excused himself from the over joyous Cairn, only briefly stopping on his way out of the village to greet Hugh.

He left the village, with Alena and a small contingent of curious people following them. He didn’t care, really. He just wanted to go home, home to his cabin in the woods.

Through the forest, through the woods. Despite all the changes that had happened in the village, the forest trails remained the same, a little bit more worn, but with all the familiar twists and turns. Despite the wear, they were the same trails he’d walked so many times. Each step brough him closer to the end of his journey, each step closer to his little cottage. He wasn’t sad though. The adventure, however unwillingly he’d participated in it, was over. No man, God or beast would be able to draw him out from his home now.

With a final few steps, he broke through the forest and out into his clearing. And there it was, his home, serene, unchanged.

Little bits of moss and lichen had begun to grow at the base of the white-grey stone walls, as if the forest was embracing his home. Though spring had already passed into early summer, small flowers of white, pink and purple bloomed in the clearing, though only within his stone ring. Both the ring and the stone lanterns that stood either side of the paved path to the door were also covered in moss, lending his house a quite air of ancient serenity.

Walking up to the door, he opened it, finding his house just as he’d left it. Alena really had kept it clean all this time. He turned to her, tears prickling in his eyes. He saw her fingers flash as his vision went slightly blurry from the extra moisture.

‘Welcome home’ she said.

He smiled at her.

“Yeah, I’m home.”

It was such a great feeling of joy and relief that flooded through the bond to Alena. The moment was shattered by James. Leaning his massive sword against the wall outside, James pushed into the house, ducking under the doorframe. In his excitement to arrive home he’d completely forgotten the surprisingly silent giant.

“Ooh, nice house!” James exclaimed, immediately setting to exploring the small building.

He found Azrael’s room quickly, opening the door before either of the two could properly make a move.

“A bed! Perfect!”

James plonked himself on the bed, the entire frame groaning at his enormous weight.

He turned to Azrael. “You don’t mind if I crash here for a while, do you? Dibs this bed.”

Azrael speechlessly, looked at the giant of a man, who now occupied his bed, eyes closed. He’d completely forgotten about him.

James opened his eyes again, turning to Azrael “Got any grapes?”