Cedric turned to Faunia, “What was originally your plan after rescuing me?”

She smiled. “I kinda figured you'd take the lead.”

Cedric smirked and tossed himself over the brown horse beside him, pulled the reins tight into his hands. “And if I didn't?”

“Cromer isn't such a bad idea.” She patted the horse beside her, threw her gaze to the men gathered nearby. “Meet us in Cromer, fast as you can. We don't know what kind of situation to expect.”

Viltar was lugging a heavy-looking barrel out of the covered wagon they were leaving behind. He smiled to Faunia, “We'll be there!” Then he turned to Cedric. 「Godspeed, King Lorik, and may the pantheon provide you suitable overwatch.」

Cedric nodded. Then Faunia was on her horse, and they both kicked their mounts into action.

There went their steeds, galloping hastily through the thick of Siln, navigating the terrain like skilled weavers manufacturing a masterpiece. They would be far less hindered than the wagon through this terrain, and much faster to the city.

Cedric slapped the reins, leaned down close, and remembered. Not only did he remember riding into Nelreign by dark of night, but riding as cavalry in Rog’s fearsome army. He remembered the vicious pack he led, the way each of them was massacred by Rog in Siln.

And Faunia took Rog’s life.

He shook his head and gripped the reins tighter.

Jorg and Krom. My lieutenants. Once upon a time. Once upon a dream…

“You okay?” Faunia asked through the whipping wind.

He shut his hanging mouth. “Can you use Tirolith to speed us up?”

“Yes,” she said, and it was done. “It won't be long to Cromer now, sir.”

“...Sir?”

Faunia's face entirely turned red. “I—I mean…”

“It's okay—giving you commands is just as uncomfortable for me as I'm sure it is for you.”

“No, it's just…” Her mind connected to his; he understood at once the strange dichotomy of their relationship, even stranger that she'd silently pushed for him to be king of a country at war. For once, he saw clarity at how she viewed him: a free man, someone who follows his own will with conviction and resolve. Someone who is unflinching in what has to be done.

I'm sorry that I've let you down. I'll be better. I won't back down from this final challenge—we will kill Kogar. And we will save our realm. Together.

And their steeds broke free into the northern plains…

X

“Cedric—this is it. Isn't it?”

He turned to her in the dark. Her eyes were still shining with the last throes of the setting sun.

“We're going after the last members of The Twelve.”

He nodded. “This is it. We've struggled against this for too long… There were too many times when I thought it was over. Not to mention, how much did we learn about our world? Etherians, Antithesis, the twice-ley barrier, Alisa, Aeon… I can't begin to fathom it all.”

Their saddles and kit rattled, but not louder than the gallop of the horses. But that didn't mean they needed to shout; their Etherians threaded the gap of communication for them.

Faunia looked down to her horse's mane.

“I couldn't have done it without you, Faunia.”

She looked back up to him in astonishment.

“When we went against Hemah, I thought I was prepared. We've been through this, we've practiced, and trained, and… it wasn't enough. Kogar took us by surprise, it was just like that time when Rithi… If you'd been there, we could have done it. More than just saved Serkukan, we could have taken a few of them down right there.”

“It hardly matters now. All we have left are Rykaedi and Kogar.”

“And Jirtu, if he shows up again.”

“...Okella, too. She lived, didn't she?”

Cedric let out a long sigh. “I don't know. Ivalié was just hanging on last time I saw him, too. We had a chance for peace with him… They want a Second Dyosius. Rykaedi, I think she's at a loss as far as what to do to complete it. She seemed desperate for my help when she approached us in Aeon.”

“I wonder what a Second Dyosius would do for us, if we had it.”

“...Me too.”

Then the shadowy Cromer began into view, those tall stone walls with the brightly gleaming torches.

Cedric finished his thought: “...I think Dyosius was the key to Evra all along.”

And Faunia shivered. A cold chill ran through her, cooler than the wintery night air.

…Then her body warmed. She gasped—a red glow had enveloped her entire figure. One glance to Cedric confirmed her suspicion: he'd used Serkukan to heat her up. So frivolous… it's like he's forgotten the weight of the very powers he's afraid of…

But Cromer was nearing too fast for her to be worried about that. Faunia swallowed the lump in her throat. She held the reins as tight as she could through the sweat on her palms.

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

“Who goes there?” came a call from atop the wall. They stopped their horses just as they reached the center path, facing up against the barred steel door of the grand darkstone city.

“My name is Cedric Castelbre. This is…” He looked to Faunia. She was shaking with fear—this was the place where Kogar first sentenced her to death. This is where it all began for her.

He looked back up to the gate with newfound confidence. “This girl is my subordinate. We come from Calamon…” Another pause. “...Where I am king.”

Then the gatemaster was quiet.

Faunia said, “They're not going to let us in.”

“Not alone, they're not.”

As if cued by Cedric's nod, the gate began to squeal as it rose up from the ground. They exchanged a wary glance before they began toward the city.

It was the red, shimmering eyes of the gatemaster which gave away Cedric's second use of his ability. Faunia was stunned that she hadn't even noticed it.

“It's like a muscle,” said Cedric. “I've been training mine for a while. Ever since I left.”

The gates slammed shut behind them, the metal rang out a fierce, vibrated cry for long seconds after they were sealed into the city… and then all was silent. There were sparingly few torches lit all along the castle walls, and almost no candles lit in windows. Smoke rose from only some of the many chimneys…

“It's almost like… a normal town.” Faunia said, perplexed.

“What's the catch?”

A guard lumbered over from the gate in all of his clattering fanfare, gave a phony, weak salute. “Cheers. ‘Spose you're wondering what's happened here, then?”

Faunia nodded.

“Those Calamonians came by our walls from the first, since the Rejoining had just happened and all. There was talk of war, talk of siege, talk of a loss of our way…” He struck his helmet twice like a coconut. “Then came this man, big fella. Looked like one of them northerners, I reckoned. He preached and prattled on and on about us opening the gates, told us that we could find peace together. Away from Calamon, away from Kylinstrom. Called us the Third Country. Not sure I understand that, what with Aeon and Alisa and the Jin and all… But anywho…"

The man repressed a violent burp. He stumbled in an attempt to keep his balance. Cedric and Faunia exchanged a sarcastic, half-cocked smile.

“Cromer opened her gates. The men came in… and now we've found a place of considerable peace.”

Cedric raised his eyebrows. “And what did you say the name of this man was? The big… fella?”

“Think it was… Bor, or… Tor…?”

Cedric winced.

“No, no, it was Tol! Yor Tol.”

They looked again to each other. The name sounds Sylvet, but…

“Is this city affiliated with the Sylvet?” Faunia asked the guard.

“Sylvet? Haven't heard that name in quite a time…”

That's a no, then. Unless they took up another name when they vanished.

“Thank you for your time, sir.” Cedric hopped down from his horse. “Is there a stable nearby?”

The guard provided their directions, and they were off on foot, their horses in step with them.

It wasn't long before they began to approach the wooden stalls where horses slept, and the stablemaster began into candlelight view. A fierce look of anger and disdain began to grow over Faunia's features the closer they neared.

There was a young man, his face sheathed behind a wide-brimmed straw hat, his feet kicked up jovially onto the counter and his hands casually stuck behind his head. A piece of straw dangled high out of his mouth, twisting and turning as he lazily ground his teeth against it. It looked like he was smiling the closer they approached, though the rest of his face's details were obscured by the shadow of night.

“Faunia, isn't that…” Cedric began, and the man suddenly dropped the chair out of its balance, slammed his palms against the counter and his boots against the big flagstones below.

“By Evra herself, what happenstance…! If it isn't my good friends—”

Faunia drew her rapier and stuck it at his throat. The man tensed up, raised his hands in sardonic surrender. Faunia hissed, “It's you, you fuck!”

He poked the blade with one of his raised fingers, gently shoved it away. “I find myself inclined to agree. Is that any reason to do as such?”

“You didn't help me in Alisa!”

Cedric approached slightly, “Faunia…”

The arbiter waved him away. “Didn't I? You were ready to give up before I showed which steps led to Dyosius. You're welcome, by the way. You have me to thank for your defeat of Tartys, after all.”

Faunia's rage still fumed. Her teeth crunched against each other.

Cedric said, “Thank you. Faunia, stand down.”

And her sword slid back into its scabbard.

The arbiter rubbed his neck.

“What are you doing here?”

“I thought my tasks were concluded after Alisa, where I guided Faunia to Evra’s dictation. It turned out she needed one last thing from me before I'm to go.”

“And that is? Or can you not tell us?”

“My lips are sealed, else the fate does not come true.”

Cedric nodded. “I understand. We'll pretend we never saw you.”

“Don't pretend too well,” smiled the arbiter, “that'll cause a problem all its own.”

Cedric took Faunia by the shoulder and led her away. She gave one last grunted sigh, shook her head as they left him to his shadowy stable.

Cedric changed the subject immediately, “We'll have to see how things are in the morning. I'm overcurious to know how things have changed, and who this new Yor Tol leader is.”

“Then we'll need to find an inn for the night. And fast, lest we want to sleep in the street.”

“I… have an idea as far as that goes.”

And Cedric seemed to lead the way like he knew it all along. Down the main road, through an alley, past the manhole with the engraving of a horse’s head…

Then were the steps. Like the steep steps which led into the cellar where Thelani had been located. A dark wooden door with thick steel bindings sat at the bottom of the dark hole…

…And a sigil of crossed swords was carved right over the rusty steel handle.

Cedric's anxiety swelled like never before. He reached a shaking hand for the handle...

But Faunia reached it first. She turned back to him with a gentle smile.

And they stepped through the door...