Elnor fought beyond Palu’s walls. The suicide knights had been caught unprepared, not by a surprise attack but by how Akar had attacked them. The Akar sorcerers had rapidly created an enormous pillar that dwarfed the emergents. It happened too quickly, and they fired their first volley of cannons before the warning horn had even been blown.
Now, most of the suicide knights fought alongside Elnor in the rainforests. Their targets were the pillars. Elnor had ordered her knights into a V formation. Like a drill, with her at its point, carving through the incoming enemies. As she faced the lightning and metal sorcerers, dodging and ordering her earth elementalists to create moving shield walls, she noticed that those unusual sorcerers were cripples.
Elnor dashed forwards and swung Peacebringer, slicing through a metal spear that had been the arm of a metal sorcerer. The metal sorcerer’s cheeks sunken immediately as she transmuted tenaga to grow a new arm. Elnor did not allow that to happen and decapitated the metal sorcerer.
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Nevan swung his arms in the ocean, the waves threatening to swallow him if he faltered. He could feel the whirlpool underneath the surface begin to pull him under, but he held on and kept pushing himself. Every movement of his muscles ached, but the numerous regeneration stone had already started to heal him, and he could feel himself regaining his strength.
A rogue wave engulfed Nevan, dragging him below the water surface. Nevan felt himself swallow the salty water as he kept swimming towards the surface. The current underneath was strong, and he was running out of air. He needed to breathe. He needed air. Nevan transmuted as much tenaga as he could, and he thought he felt the pores on his skin widening as he tried to take in more tenaga. He kept swimming upwards towards the sunlight, and he took in a deep breathe when he broke the surface. The sea was suddenly calm, no longer filled with raging waves. Nevan’s vision was blurry, but he could make out the greeneries of Palu. He was closer than he thought he would be; the water current must have had dragged him closer to shore.
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Elnor saw the giant pillar as she approached from underneath. It looked far more intimidating from this distance, and she was not even that close to it yet.
“Spread out!” Elnor yelled.
The knights behind her expanded their formation and pushed forward like the wings of a bird about to flap. The suicide knights from both sides advanced into the pillar. The suicide knights earth elementalists pushed their walls forwards, protecting the sorcerers that moved behind them. They shot fireballs and ice shards towards the Akar defenders, and the visioners and air elementalists took to the sky.
As her knights on both flanks made it to the base of the giant structure, Elnor joined in, leading the rest of her army forward.
“Forward!” Elnor yelled.
She transmuted tenaga. Most augmenters at her level would become larger and turn into beast-like humanoid creatures, but not Elnor. Her bones, muscles, and skin hardened, and the strength and durability it provided her was immense. A lightning bolt from an Akar sorcerer struck Elnor, but her augmented body brushed it off. The lightning sorcerer panicked and began to run, but they were too slow, and Elnor caught up quickly. With a single swing of Peacebringer, the sorcerer’s head tumbled to the soft mud.
The clouds above the suicide knights began to darken, and rain began to fall. The Ronans were right underneath the enormous dirt column, cutting down the defenders. One of the aerial suicide knights managed to detonate a power stone at the center of the pillar, and it began to crack.
“Clear the area!” Elnor shouted.
Most of the suicide knights, including Elnor, began to retreat. They have done what they were there to do, to clear the defenders of the pillar. However, a few sorcerers stayed behind—those who already knew what they must do. One of them burst, and the rest quickly joined them in death until one was left. The master earth elementalist, with tens of cracked power stones attached, took in the vast amount of tenaga and formed a hill, burying himself at the center. The small mountain slid towards the pillar, smashing through it. Some Akar sorcerers tried shooting fireballs, and their earth elementalist attempted to counteract the Ronan’s power to no avail. The artificial hill kept moving towards Akar’s camp, where it finally broke down. And the power stones detonated.
The force of the explosion that occurred was powerful enough that the surrounding trees were uprooted, and most of the retreating suicide knights were thrown off of their feet.
“Retreat to the walls. Protect the docks. Go!” Elnor yelled.
Although Akar’s camp had been destroyed, their knights still kept coming. Elnor held the line with a few other sorcerers while the fallen suicide knights gathered themselves up. She bashed an enemy knight’s face in with her pommel and sliced another in half. Elnor’s helmet must have had fallen off sometime during the fight. An enemy augmenter tried to use the opportunity, swinging their sword at Elnor’s head and was shocked to find that their blade could not cut her skin. Elnor grabbed the blade's edge with her bare hands and crushed it before breaking the enemy augmenter’s neck.
“The master augmenter!” A voice from Akar’s side shouted. “Bring her to me! Dead if you must!”
Elnor recognized the voice, and she turned to the source. It was the Akar General, and the woman was pointing at Elnor. ‘Good,’ Elnor thought.
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Nevan continued to swim towards the shore, fueling himself with tenaga. He felt someone drag him out of the water and onto the docks. They were a suicide knight.
“Get up!” the knight shouted as Nevan retched the saltwater he had swallowed onto the ground. “Get to the walls!” the knight shouted. Nevan was unsure if the knight was yelling at him or someone else.
“Where is General Elnor?” Nevan muttered, too soft for anyone to hear due to the noise of the current battle.
Before Nevan could ask again, the suicide knight leaped towards Nevan, throwing him backward almost back into the water. A body fell from the sky and landed where they both were standing a moment ago.
“Where is General Elnor?” Nevan shouted into the knight’s ear as he lay on top of Nevan.
The knight got up and pointed towards a giant cylindrical pillar. “She went to take down that tower!”
Although it was difficult for Nevan to see far in the current rainstorm, the magnitude of the pillar stood out. Nevan ran towards the direction of the column. Then he saw the column collapse and run even faster, which he did not think was possible.
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Elnor, along with a few similarly built suicide knights, ran into the forest, leaving the main army. Hundreds of Akar knights chased after them. Elnor and the suicide knights with her had cut their hair to shoulder height and covered it in mud.
“You all have full power stones?” Elnor asked as she ran.
“Yes, General!” They all replied in unison.
“Alright. On my mark, we’ll split up. Take out as many of them as you can.” They continued to run, increasing the distance from their enemies that were after them. “Die Living!” Elnor shouted once they were in the thickest part of the forest, where even rain found it hard to touch them.
“Bury me alive!” The suicide knights shouted and split in different directions.
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Nevan jumped through an opening in the outer walls. He saw the suicide knights forming an orderly retreat. He dipped his finger in the wet mud and drew a line on his forehead before making his way through the trees. He reached the front lines and joined the fight at the left flank.
Nevan ducked, dodging the sword slash coming for him, and slammed his hammer onto the enemy knight’s helmet. The enemy knight fell to the ground, convulsing uncontrollably. Nevan quickly stomped on the knight’s head, ending their misery.
“Where is General Elnor?” Nevan shouted to the suicide knight on his right.
The suicide knight shot a fireball at an incoming enemy before replying. “The Akars are after her. She split up with us to draw their most powerful sorcerers away.”
“Where?” Nevan yelled as he smashed the chest plate of an incoming foe.
“There!” The knight pointed towards the right side of the forest.
An explosion erupted close to the direction where the knight had pointed. Nevan did not wait and immediately raced towards it. The knight yelled something at Nevan, but he did not listen, too focused on finding Elnor. He bashed the chest of an Akar knight, caving the enemy’s chest in. He rolled, dodging the incoming slash of an Akar augmenter. Nevan kept moving, weaving and dodging towards where the explosion was.
“Ishan!” Nevan heard someone shout as he made it to the right side of the front lines. He recognized the voice. It was Commander Alzam. Nevan only glanced at the smiling man before turning away and running into the forest.
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Elnor dashed through the trees. Akar had sent their master sorcerers after her. She had not needed to use her power stones; it was only to be used if she was about to be captured. A knife zoomed towards her back from the sky. Elnor swerved towards the left, dodging the incoming blade.
Elnor had changed directions so many times that the only way she knew she was getting further from the main path, where the battle was taking place, was the sound of the war getting fainter and fainter. An ice shard smashed through the tree next to Elnor, forcing her to change directions again as the tree fell, blocking her initial path. Elnor felt an immense heat coming for her back. She had felt it too late, and the fireball struck her back. She was not burned, but the force of the impact threw her off of her feet. Elnor landed with a roll, unsheathing Peacebringer as she got back up and faced her pursuers.
The enemy sorcerers paused, and Elnor used the opening and rushed towards them.
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Nevan kept running deeper and deeper into the rainforest, with Commander Alzam on his tail.
“Ishan!” Commander Alzam shouted at him, stretching his palm out and firing a fireball towards Nevan.
The fireball struck Nevan’s left foot, causing him to fall face-first into the wet soil. His foot burned, and every raindrop that landed on it sent a ripple of pain.
“Or is it Caro? Or maybe someone else now?” Alzam rhetorically asked as he approached Nevan’s fallen form. “It doesn’t matter. You won’t escape me this time.”
Nevan waited for Alzam to come closer before throwing the mud he had clenched in his fist towards the man. Alzam was startled and fired fireballs towards the incoming dirt. Nevan used the momentary distraction to jump to his feet and began running again. Nevan turned right, behind a large shrub, when he saw another explosion occur further in the distance. The blast took place near an emergent, and Nevan memorized the single tall tree's highest two round-shaped groups of leaves.
Commander Alzam followed the escapee as he turned right behind a large bush. But as Alzam turned the corner, he saw that the escaped prisoner was far ahead- too far for a non-sorcerer to cover in the short time. ‘How did he manage to limp that far?’ Alzam grunted to himself.
Nevan had seen that Alzam was far away and had paused to place one of his regeneration stones into the shaft of his left boot. As he continued running, the tree he had memorized seemed to be getting further and further away after every step he took. Another explosion occurred further behind the tree, and Nevan fought against the pain to keep moving.
“You can’t run away from me!” Nevan heard Alzam shout behind him.
Nevan did not turn back, and it was a mistake. A fireball struck his left shoulder. The force of the impact caused him to tumble onto the ground, mud entering his eyes. He was not wearing any armor, and Nevan screamed in pain as his skin burned. He forced himself to stand, wiping the dirt out of his eyes with his sleeves and continued to run. ‘Why must it be so far away?’ Nevan cursed.
Alzam dashed as fast as he could to where the escapee had fallen, but he saw that the escaped prisoner was even further away when Alzam reached there.
“Stop running!” Alzam shouted in frustration and anger.
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Elnor sliced through the sword and then the shoulder of an enemy augmenter. She had to continuously dodge the incoming blades sent by Akar’s air elementalists and visioners in the sky. She had begun to strain herself. She could use the power stones to fuel herself, but she could not finish herself if captured.
“Surrender,” an eight-foot-tall augmenter said to Elnor. She did not reply, readying her blade instead. “So be it.”
The Akar augmenter charged towards Elnor. She slid between his legs, slicing the back of the man’s knees. The augmenter fell to his knees, and Elnor decapitated him. The headless body fell to the ground, joining the hundreds of dead bodies. Akar had found her position and had sent even more sorcerers to surround her.
The other Akar knights hesitated as they saw their master augmenter fell. Elnor returned to her fighting stance, eyeing the enemies around her. A storm of arrows and bolts came at her from all directions. Elnor moved rapidly, deflecting, dodging, and cutting the incoming projectiles. However, one sliced the side of her right cheek, and it drew blood.
The Akar sorcerers smiled as they saw that Elnor had begun to weaken. Elnor screamed and transmuted tenaga, strengthening her body to full strength as the enemies charged at her.
The Akar knights came at her with newfound confidence, rejuvenated by Elnor’s weakening state. Elnor felt blood pouring out of her nose as she fought the incoming knights. She sliced, decapitated, disemboweled, and crippled the incoming knights. At the same time that she fought on the ground, she dodged the incoming knives Akar’s airborne troops fired at her.
An arm that had penetrated through her defenses touched Elnor’s chest plate. She realized too late that the limb was made of metal. The metal sorcerer pulled, and the chest plate flew off of Elnor. She kicked the sorcerer away and took a step back. Her tunic was soaked with sweat and the blood that had continued to pour from her nose and ears.
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A fireball shot at Elnor. She tried to lift Peacebringer to block, but she found that her limbs were too weak and failed. The fireball struck her torso and knocked her down backward. She heaved in pain, and her vision began to blur. Elnor removed the power stone from her pocket and gripped it in her right arm.
“We’ll spare you,” said an Akar sorcerer. He was old, Elnor noticed. But his blue eyes were filled with strength. “All you have to do is touch this.” He held a golden ball in his hand, stretching it towards Elnor as he approached.
Elnor knew it was a trap. She doubted they would let her live after the lives she had taken. And if they did let her live, they would probably torture her for the rest of her life. In her mind, she asked for forgiveness from Hua, Safia, and finally Nevan. For the things she had done and the things, she would no longer be able to do. She waited for the older man to come closer before muttering the suicide knight’s adage.
The older man stood close to her now, about to place the golden sphere on her hand.
Elnor gripped the power stone in her hand, ready to crack it. “Bury… me… al- ”
“Elnor!” Nevan’s scream caught everyone’s attention. He appeared through the thick trees from Elnor’s left. He swung his hammer, crushing the skull of the old sorcerer. He kicked the golden sphere away before touching Elnor and lifted her onto his arms. The Akar knights were surprised and failed to react quickly. Nevan ran as fast as he could away from danger. He swerved left and right, dodging the incoming projectiles aimed at his back.
“After him!” Commander Alzam shouted from behind.
An arrow pierced through his and Elnor’s hands, but he managed to keep his footing. Nevan fought through the pain, transmuting tenaga until he began to bleed from his nose, ears, and eyes.
“Let me go,” Elnor weakly said.
Nevan did not reply and simply grunted. He did not know how far he had run and how much longer he could keep it up. The shouts and stomping boots of the Akar knights behind him grew louder and louder. Nevan saw an entrance to a small cave and dashed towards it. He ran inside and gently placed Elnor on the ground.
Nevan quickly examined Elnor’s wounds, removed all his regeneration stones, strapping them onto Elnor’s injuries.
“You’ll live,” Nevan said to her, relieved. “I made it.”
“Why?” Elnor muttered, her consciousness beginning to fade.
“You’re going home to Hua and Safia. I’m not breaking that promise,” he said gently to Elnor and placed the letter she had written into her hands.
Nevan readied his hammers and made his way out of the cave. Elnor watched him cover the entrance with leaves and branches.
“Take this,” Elnor said to Nevan, stretching out her power stone towards him.
“I don’t have a core. It’s useless to me.” Nevan replied.
“Just in case you get captured,” Elnor said to him.
Nevan hesitated but denied the power stone. “Use it to strengthen yourself,” he said as he finished covering the cave entrance.
Tears had begun to flow down Elnor’s cheeks. She did not want him to leave her. She did not want him to go and die.
“Come back to me,” she said to Nevan’s back before he could leave. It was an absurd request. The kind of request she knew he could not fulfill, for he would soon be dead.
Nevan turned his neck to face her and smiled. It was the smile that Elnor had missed. The smile he had always gifted her until lately. When he spoke, his word was filled with confidence that Elnor had not expected. “Always.” And she lost consciousness.
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Nevan ran towards the noise of the Akar knights. He saw the emergent he had memorized in the distance; it was in the opposite direction from where he had run towards while searching for Elnor. Nevan smiled to himself.
“Alzam!” Nevan shouted as he got close to the pursuers.
“You!” Commander Alzam and the rest of his knights stopped when they saw Nevan.
“Come.”
Nevan rushed towards the knights that were also now dashing towards him. He slid on his knees, dodging a fireball, and smashed the knees of the flame elementalist that had fired at him. Nevan got up and swung his hammer down onto the head of an augmenter. But the master augmenter did not flinch and took the blow. The augmenter only smiled as her skull stopped the hammer in its track. Nevan had to roll back, dodging the mace that came for him.
A fireball struck Nevan’s burned shoulder as he got up from the roll, and he grunted in pain. An arrow buried itself in Nevan’s gut, and a shield bashed onto his nose. Dizzied, Nevan did not see the large war hammer that swung for his legs, shattering his bones.
Nevan laid pitifully on the wet soil, staring up at the sky. He gripped his hands but found that his hammers were no longer there. Alzam strolled towards his fallen form.
“What was that supposed to be?” The smiling Commander chuckled.
Nevan wheezed on the ground.
“Anyhow,” Alzam continued. “Tell me where the master augmenter is, and I’ll give you a quick death.”
Nevan spat blood.
“Or,” Alzam brought his face close to Nevan. “We can have fun together again,” Alzam whispered.
Nevan muttered words softly.
“What? Say that again.” Alzam brought his ear close to Nevan’s lips.
“I said,” Nevan muttered weakly. “I just wanted to know if I actually had a chance of winning the gauntlet.” Nevan smiled a bloody grin. “I give up.”
At that moment, Nevan gave up. He gave up ever returning to Nirvana. He gave up any hope of ever finishing Ayu’s final task. He gave up on his revenge. He gave up on trying to hate Elnor. He gave up on ever killing the noble thief. Then Nevan remembered something. Items that he had forgotten that were always with him—Nirvana’s gifts. He felt them call to him at that moment. And he gladly accepted them. The karambits appeared out of thin air on his empty palms. They were silver the last time he saw them, but now they glowed orange like the warm glow of a sunset.
Alzam jolted backward as the karambits suddenly appeared on Nevan’s hands. The orange glow engulfed Nevan’s body. Alzam fired fireballs at Nevan, but the flames dispersed before making contact.
Alzam’s smile vanished, and he rushed back to join the line of Akar knights. “Defensive formation. Fire everything you have at him. Now!”
Fireballs, ice shards, arrows, crossbow bolts, shot at Nevan. But they turned into dust as the projectiles got close. Nevan felt power entering his body, and his wounds began to heal. His shattered bones began to reform with a snap. The crossbow bolt in his gut fell onto the ground, and the wound sizzled close. A glowing orange robe clothed Nevan, similar to those he often saw in Nirvana.
“Time to die,” Nevan said, jumping to his feet. He charged towards the Akar sorcerers, and all it took was a single leap.
Nevan had never come close to mastering knives or dagger combat, but the karambits he currently held felt natural. He danced, swirling through the enemy ranks. When his blades met an opponent’s mace, the mace did not fall into two. It shattered. A visioner in the air sent a knife at him, and Nevan did the same, throwing one of his karambit in return. The karambit struck the incoming knife and continued, piercing through the sorcerer. Nevan’s blade did not stop there, however. He willed the karambit to kill all the sorcerers above, and it obeyed. The knife swerved in the air aiming and killing the sorcerers one after another, and the dead bodies fell alongside the rain.
At the same time as Nevan’s blade massacred in the air, he did the same on the ground. A sorcerer sent a metal wall towards Nevan to slow his advance, but Nevan simply crashed through it with his body. A large augmenter swung a two-handed sword down, Nevan sidestepped and punched the man with his empty fist. His fist went through the back of the sorcerer.
Alzam watched the slaughter unfold. He had not felt fear in a long time, not since he had joined the army of the Garuda. He did not know what kind of sorcerer was the man they were currently facing or if he was even human. The man could not be a sorcerer; he had no core. Nevan met Alzam’s eyes amid the battle, and Alzam knew he would die if he stayed. So Alzam ran.
Twenty fire elementalist shot a stream of flame towards Nevan. But his robes protected him. Nevan dashed, faster than he could ever imagine, towards the elementalist closest to him. He grabbed the sorcerer’s face and squeezed. The head popped.
The other flame elementalists kept firing, and blood began to pour out of their eyes. But it was useless, and their target could not be injured. Their killer granted them the mercy of a quick death.
Bodies of Akar sorcerers burst, and Nevan felt the sudden increase in tenaga. He turned to face the source. A woman, surrounded by the remains of her fallen allies, opened both her palms out. The rain droplets in the area froze, and when she closed her palms, they collided together on Nevan. The ice dispersed into steam as it reached the glow of Nevan’s robes, and he did not let the woman finish. Nevan’s karambits zoomed through the air towards the water elementalist from both sides and sliced her into two.
The curved knives flung back into Nevan’s palms. He eyed the remaining Akar knights that had chased him and Elnor. They were all afraid. Good, Nevan thought. They should be. None of them were going to leave this place alive.
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Alzam ran through the forest; his fear fueled his legs to keep running. The sound of battle had died out, so the others must already be dead.
“Alzam!” The Ronan’s voice boomed from behind.
Alzam turned, surprised that Nevan had reached him so quickly. Alzam shot fireballs at Nevan, but the fireball dispersed as it touched the glow of Nevan’s robes. Alzam tripped over a branch and fell. He tried crawling, but Nevan was somehow already right next to him.
“What are you?” Alzam fearfully asked, silently praying to the Garuda for help.
Nevan stared at Alzam impassively, not answering, and swung both knives through the Commander’s neck.
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Nevan walked through the forest. After he had killed Alzam, his robes had immediately begun to evaporate. His knives had lost their glow and returned to their original silver color. One moment he felt like a god, and the next, his body felt weak. Nevan felt his blood dripping out of his nose. Thankfully, however, the wounds that he had received before remained healed.
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Elnor did not know how long she had been asleep and almost jolted to her feet in search of Nevan, except that he was already lying down at her side. He was staring at the ceiling, and she noticed red streaks on his nose and mouth.
“You’re awake,” Nevan said to her, still watching the ceiling.
“And you came back,” Elnor replied.
“I did.”
“Our pursuers are dead, I assume.”
“Yes.”
Elnor believed Nevan when he said that their enemies were dead. “How did you do it?”
Nevan shooked his head. “I’ll tell you later.”
Nevan turned to face Elnor, and she saw his eyes were moist. But she could not stop looking at his black eyes. Although the cave and sky were dark, his eyes were glistening again.
“I don’t think I want to do this anymore,” Nevan said slowly. “I don’t think I can.”
“It’s okay,” Elnor replied to him gently. She scooped Nevan’s head and placed it on her lap, brushing his scalp gently. “I’m going with you.”
Nevan closed his eyes, falling to sleep in peace.
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The pair exited the cave and walked through the forest. They walked in the direction of Ronan; traveling through the sea was no longer an option. As they passed through the rainforest, they momentarily stopped. Hundreds of bodies were scattered in the area, and Peacebringer lay at the center.
“Should we fetch it?” Nevan asked.
“No,” Elnor replied.
Nevan nodded and took out his karambits from his pockets. The blades were mundane now, no different than what he would be able to purchase from a blacksmith. He threw the karambits. They tumbled and landed next to Peacebringer.
“Let’s go.”
Nevan explained to Elnor about the sixth pillar, Nirvana, and Nirvana’s gifts as they walked. They strolled through the rainforest, cautiously at first. But after a while, the two realized that they were alone. They stopped when they saw a single horse grazing in a small opening. The horse neighed as it saw the two.
“I’m glad you found me again,” Nevan said to the horse.
“You know the horse?” Elnor asked.
The horse neighed at Elnor.
“She’s a friend,” Nevan spoke to the horse.
The horse neighed again.
Nevan stretched a hand to Elnor. “Shall we?” And Elnor accepted it.
Although there was no leash, Nevan assured Elnor that the horse knew it was doing. It had saved him once before, and now it had come back for a second time. The rainforest seemed to be never-ending to Elnor as they rode. The sun had begun to shine again, and the soil was now much drier, but the trees continued. They continued to ride for three days, stopping twice at night by a river to allow the horse to graze and rest. Even then, they still have not made it out of the woods.
On the third day, under the full moon, the horse stopped. Nevan tried to nudge it forward gently, but the horse refused.
“It’s not going to go any further,” Nevan said to Elnor.
Elnor watched the surrounding trees and greeneries. They were familiar to her. The more she observed the environment, the more sure she became. “I think I know where we are,” she said, dismounting the horse.
Nevan also dismounted the horse and walked towards Elnor. “You do?”
“Yes, I’m positive.” Elnor saw a small light source not far in the distance. “We should follow the light,” she pointed towards the bright source. “We should take the… horse with us.” Elnor had turned to where they had left the horse, but it had disappeared.
Nevan turned to face where Elnor was gazing. “I wouldn’t worry about it. We should go.”
Elnor nodded slowly. “Alright, let’s go.”
To Elnor’s surprise, or maybe unsurprised, the light source was the torch of Sutra’s city gate. The guard was initially suspicious, but once Elnor revealed her Commander’s badge, the guard immediately apologized and allowed them in.
“Where’s the rest of the third army?” the guard asked as Elnor and Nevan entered. “Ma’am,” the guard added nervously when he saw Elnor glaring at him.
“Soon,” Elnor answered. “We bring valuable information for the council, and my General had sent us in advance.”
“Shall I inform headquarters then? To let them know that you’re coming?”
Elnor knew what the guard was doing. He was already in his midlife and thought that this would bring him the good graces of the council. In layman's terms, he wanted an easy promotion.
Elnor stared down at the guard. “Do you think I can’t do that myself?” She had spoken normally, but the guard gulped.
“Yes, ma’am. I mean no. You’ll do a much better job than me. I apologize for overstepping.” The guard lowered his head.
Nevan never knew Elnor could be that terrifying.
“Good,” Elnor said and left with Nevan at her side.
It was already late, so the streets were empty, but the two continued to walk. They did not want to bring any unnecessary attention to themselves. They had stripped whatever remaining armor they had and hid it in an empty alley. It took them a couple of hours to reach Elnor’s estate.
Elnor did not have any keys for the gate, and she doubted Mrs. Sari was informed about their early return. She jumped over the gate, and Nevan climbed over. Elnor knocked on the door, softly at first but louder when there was no reply. Before she was about to break the lock open, the door opened slightly.
“Elnor!” Mrs.Sari said in surprise and opened the door wider with one hand.
The older woman was holding a kitchen knife in her other hand, Elnor noticed. Elnor appreciated the gesture.
“Sorry for surprising you, Mrs.Sari, but we need to hurry.” Elnor did not know when the third army would be arriving, and she would like to be gone before then. “Gather your things. We’re leaving.”
“May I know what happened?” Mrs. Sari asked, first looking at Elnor, then to Nevan, then back at Elnor.
“I’ll explain later. But you need to gather your belongings now. Leave anything unimportant behind.”
The older woman was still confused but nodded and left for her room.
“You should get the children,” Nevan said to Elnor. “I’ll pack our things. Anything important other than our basic needs?”
“I have a bag of coins in my cabinet. It’s locked, so break it open.”
Nevan nodded and left for Elnor’s room.
Elnor walked towards the children’s bedroom. She opened the door slowly and saw the two girls fast asleep. She bent down close to Hua and shook the girl gently.
“Hua,” Elnor whispered.
Hua slowly opened her eyes. “Hmm?”
Elnor smiled at her sister, and Hua’s eyes grew wide when she saw her.
“Elnor!” Hua yelled, embracing Elnor. Elnor returned the hug. Safia must have had woken up too, as Elnor felt another pair of hands around her. She brought the other child into the embrace.
“You’re back,” Safia said.
“I am,” Elnor continued to smile and the two children. “I’m sorry to cut our reunion short, but we need to leave. So let’s pack your things, ok?”
Hua and Safia nodded.
Elnor took an empty bag, filling it with clothes, Safia’s necklace, and a few of Hua’s favorite storybooks.
“Can I bring this?” Hua asked, holding Elnor’s old sigil. “A messenger sent it to us not long after you left, along with the rest of your personal items. I thought you were dead.” Hua frowned a little as she said the last sentence.
Elnor grimaced inwardly at the sight of the sigil. Then she realized what Hua had just said. Elnor brushed it off of her mind. It was no longer her problem.
“Bring it,” Nevan said outside the bedroom door, holding a large bag filled with his and Elnor’s belongings. He knew how much the sigil meant to Hua.
“Okay,” Elnor muttered, staring at Nevan.
“Ishan!” Both girls yelled. They ran and hugged him.
“It’s great to see both of you too. Wow, Safia, you’ve grown these past few weeks have you?” Nevan embraced the two children.
Safia laughed embarrassedly.
“Hey, I’ll grow taller than her one day, you know!” An annoyed Hua said to Nevan.
“I’m sure you’ll grow as tall as your sister one day, or maybe even taller,” said Nevan. “Everything ready?” He asked Elnor, who was watching the three.
“Ready,” Elnor replied, beaming.
“Me too,” Mrs.Sari walked behind Nevan, carrying a bag of her own.
“Alright,” Elnor nodded. “Let’s leave.”
Elnor hired a carriage that night with two gold coins. It was more than enough to convince any coachman in the city to take them in the middle of the night. She spent another gold coin to bribe the guard of the side gates to let them through and keep their mouth shut.
“How many coins do you have in there?” Nevan asked quietly, looking at the bag in Elnor’s hands.
“Quite a lot,” Elnor answered. “Ever since… the disease. I’ve been saving up for emergencies.” She gently brushed the hair of the sleeping girls on her lap.
“I see,” Nevan nodded at her answer.
It was quiet for a while until a loud snore came from Mrs.Sari. Nevan and Elnor had to cover their mouths to stop themselves from laughing.
“Does she always snore this loud?” Nevan asked.
“It’s the first time I’ve seen her asleep,” Elnor whispered and smiled at Nevan. He smiled back at her.
Mrs.Sari sat at the edge, and her face was facing the window. But if anyone could see the older woman’s expression, they would also see a smile.