Sylvia woke to Afi nudging her. She noticed at once how dreadfully cold and stiff she had become. It was still early in the year and they had not dared to start a fire. If the Wolves saw the smoke, it would be the end of them. She brought her hands to her face and blew warm air into them. Stretching her legs a little as well, she yawned. “Okay. Your turn to sleep.”

“No. He is waking up”, Afi said

Sylvia bolted out of her bedroll. Kneeling at Theodorus’s side, she watched him slowly regain consciousness. Theodorus stared up at the leafy canopy in bewilderment. He turned his head and looked at Sylvia. Suddenly, his hand darted to his face. Realizing his mask was still in place, he exhaled in relief and dropped his hand back to his side. “Where am I?”, he finally asked.

“In the woods near Fristad. Maybe five or six hours”, Sylvia replied.

“Then why are you here?”, Theodorus asked in confusion.

“You fell off your horse.”

“And you stayed?”, Theodorus asked.

“Yes.”

“That is beyond stupid”, Theodorus reprimanded.

“So much for gratitude”, Sylvia huffed playfully.

“It is stupid. Not to mention reckless. You heard the orders. Do not stop for anything. Why would you stop? You are in danger now”, Theodorus insisted.

“Hey!”, Sylvia warned. “Remember who you are talking to, Guard.”

That shut him up for the time being.

“My apologies, Fri”, Theodorus offered.

Sylvia stroked a hand over his cheek. “Do not lecture me for saving you. That is not cute.”

“So I am cute now?”, Theodorus grinned.

“You are insufferable”, Sylvia retorted. She leaned down and pressed a soft kiss to his lips.

Just when she finally felt like she could relax, Afi stood up with a start. “Someone is here. We have to move. Now.”

Sylvia turned her head in time to see two men emerge from the woods. One launched at Afi, who drew his sword. The other readied an arbalest, pointing it at Afi as well. Afi did not have nearly enough armour on to resist the attack. Turning toward the Wolves, Sylvia did not think before she acted. She slid one knee forward in the dirt and raised her hands toward the enemy. In an instant, both men were engulfed in roaring flames. Their scream rang through the woods for a second before they died. A few birds took flight. When the Wolves went quiet and their bodies collapsed onto the forest floor, the silence was much heavier than before. Drops of melted metal fell from the helmets of the dead Wolves, and their armour ran down over their bodies, exposing burnt flesh. Sylvia watched them cook for a brief moment, before exhaling and letting her intent go. The flames died as quickly as they had appeared.

Afi turned to her wide eyed. “Now that was quite something.”

“We have to move. Now”, Sylvia echoed his earlier statement.

She got to her feet and turned around to help Theodorus up as well, but found that he had scurried away a few steps. One hand raised before himself, he was breathing hard. He stared at Sylvia in shock.

“Come on”, Sylvia offered softly. She held out a hand. “We have to go. There are surely more Wolves nearby. The commotion will draw them here.”

Nodding, Theodorus took her hand and let himself be pulled onto his feet. They quickly rolled up the bedroll and mounted their horses.

With Theodorus conscious again, they made good progress and cut straight through the woods back to Fristad without further encounters. When they arrived, the gates were closed, but the guards recognised them at once and opened the wicket. They moved on through the wickets between the districts, and at the main square they were welcomed by quite the gathering. Dana, Yri, Bothilder, Oskar, Tone, Una, and Ida, all did they come to see the dead return to them.

When Sylvia woke for the second time that day, she found Theodorus standing in the corner of her room. Sitting up, she rubbed her eyes. “I keep telling people that you are not creepy, but I am starting to doubt it myself.”

“I came to return your blanket”, Theodorus responded happily, nodding at the washed and folded blanket hanging over the foot end of her bed.

“Bullshit. What are you doing here? You should be resting”, Sylvia scolded.

“I will be fine, thanks to you.”

Sylvia smiled. “Delayed gratitude is better than none, I suppose.”

Theodorus chuckled at that. He crossed the room and stood right beside Sylvia, looking down at her. It was not his usual intrigued look. Theodorus was looking at her in wonderment, like he had discovered a new species.

The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

“What?”, Sylvia prompted.

“You are a mage.”

“What in the world are you on about?”, Sylvia deflected.

“I saw the fire”, Theodorus reminded her.

“Just a bit of alchemy.”

Theodorus shook his head. “No. I may have believed that by the Ader, but alchemy can not explain what I saw today. You cast that fire. You are a mage. I have read stories about the way magicians conjure and control fire.”

“I once read a story about a boy who did not have a soul”, Sylvia countered.

Theodorus tensed. “That is a grotesque children’s tale.”

“Is it?”, Sylvia challenged.

They stared at each other in silence for a long while.

Sylvia sat up on her knees and reached for Theodorus’s mask. He caught Sylvia's wrist and pulled her close, so close that she had to cling onto him to avoid stumbling out of bed. Holding her wrist so hard it hurt, Theodorus glared down at her. Sylvia lifted her other hand.

“Do not dare”, Theodorus warned.

His voice was dripping venom. It seeped into Sylvia, coating a shard of her soul. She gritted her teeth. She felt like an icicle had been thrust into her chest. Ignoring the pain, she met Theodorus’s gaze. Surprised, Theodorus tilted his head a little. Curiosity slipped back into his gaze, but he did not ease his grip on Sylvia’s wrist nor soul.

“Why do you never show your face?”, Sylvia challenged.

“Because it is grotesque.”

“Right. Because you saw a demon and had to carve your eyes out to stay sane, right? Do not bullshit me!”

Theodorus played with the metal in his mouth and then grinned. It was a practised and horrible grin. “Oh, no, it was not quite like that. When I was young my teacher got fed up with me looking for, rather than feeling the movements of my opponents, so he took my sight to get me to focus.”

Sylvia did not look impressed. She raised her eyebrows a little and let her silence speak for her.

“I thought it was a pretty good story”, Theodorus pouted.

“It is because you are hollow, right?”

Laughing forcefully, Theodorus shook his head. “Whatever makes you say that? That is crazy!”

“You should not be alive right now. That bolt should have killed you. I am no healer. All I did was stop the bleeding and keep the wound clean.”

“I do have an uncanny tendency to heal quickly. Must be inherited”, Theodorus said.

“No. You are hollow. You are highly trained, silent as the night, and hide your eyes. But most importantly, you are not here. Even chest to chest, it is as though you do not exist, or at least your soul does not. What remains is a cheap imitation of presence. That is why you creep people out. Everyone can tell something is off, but they do not know what. It is uncanny. And it is all because you are hollow.” Placing her free hand over her soul, Sylvia added, “That is also why you have affinity. I can feel you trying to scare me, you know. It will not work. I know this feeling is your doing.”

Theodorus’s face grew grim, but the biting sensation left Sylvia’s soul. She saw Theodorus’s expression go from angry, to sad, to practised neutrality in the space of a second.

“Never ever tell anyone. Do not even whisper it to an empty room”, Theodorus said. He himself was not sure if it was a request or a threat.

“If I would even consider exposing you, I would have already done so”, Sylvia ensured him.

She reached up again, and Theodorus caught her other wrist as well, holding her tight. Sylvia was balancing on the edge of the bed, leaning into Theodorus for stability. “Theo. Let me see. I will not hurt you.”

At that, Theodorus laughed an honest laugh. “Oh, I am not worried about that. I doubt you could if you tried.”

Sylvia decided not to take offence. She had no idea just how strong Theodorus truly was. As things stood, she barely knew her own power. Before today, she had no idea that she could control a fire so ferocious, so hot and expansive. Yrian’s advise had evidently done more for her than she had realised. Her magic had scared Theodorus, though. To think it was even possible to startle him.

Sylvia smiled softly. “Then what is the harm? I already know what you are. If you are not worried, then why hide from me?”

Theodorus huffed. “Do not say I did not warn you. It is not a charming sight.”

Letting go of Sylvia, Theodorus sat down on the edge of the bed. He unfastened the mask and removed it, revealing his empty eyes. They were completely white, without iris or pupil. The window to his soul was showing nothing but empty space. Now Sylvia could also see the entirety of his tattoos. Above the horizontal line always visible under his mask, was a second one. The inner corner of this second line was parallel to the lower line, but the outer end curled up to Theodorus’s temples. Sylvia had a hard time deciding if she was more intrigued by the markings or by the empty eyes.

“Happy now?”, Theodorus challenged. His lips were curled into a snarl.

Sylvia reached out, hesitated briefly, and then placed a hand on his cheek.

Theodorus tensed at the touch, but he did not pull back. He watched Sylvia more closely than ever before. He was bewildered, and more than a little scared. No one had ever acted this way around him. He could not make sense of it. Sylvia traced a finger along the blue pattern on his cheek. Her hand was warm and soft. Theodorus rested his cheek against her tender touch. Was he seeking comfort? Whatever had gotten into him? Her, no doubt.

Sylvia met Theodorus’s eyes, looking right into that vast emptiness. She thought it would be scary to be confronted with an empty window, but it was nothing of the sort. It was just sad. Everything she had assumed about him was confirmed in a single look. He really was lonely, desperately so. He was not completely barren, though. There was some glint still there, far in the distance. It was but a hint, a shadow, but Theodorus was in there somewhere. He was lost in a vast landscape of nothing. Sylvia came closer, looking into the void of him, searching for him. The tips of their noses met and she kissed him. For just a moment, she could swear she saw him, a glimmer of green.

Theodorus stared at Sylvia wide eyed. They sat in silence for a long time. Sylvia searched for another hint of that green glimmer, and Theodorus simply stared back.

“What are you staring for?”, Sylvia finally wondered.

“You are breathtaking.”

Theodorus spoke with complete sincerity. It was not some line, a tease, or an attempt to get Sylvia in bed. These were his true and unfiltered thoughts. Sylvia could tell. She felt his awe. In this moment, she shared it with him. It brought a smile to her lips.

“See how fascinating you are?”, Theodorus asked.

“You are an idiot”, Sylvia responded.

“I love you too”, Theodorus agreed. When Sylvia did not protest, he grinned and pressed another kiss to her lips.

“For the record, you are definitively a healer. I may be hardy, but you imbued that silverwood leaf with some sort of healing enchantment.”

“I did?”, Sylvia asked.

Theodorus pulled his tunic off and motioned at the blotch of sap and moss covering his wound. Sylvia ran a finger along the leaf embedded in it and saw a shimmer dance along the midrib.

“I must have infused it with intent when I tended to the wound”, Sylvia mumbled. She looked up with mischief in her eyes. “Did you want to stroke my ego, or did you just need an excuse to undress?”