“Perhaps we should get a horse or two”, Veduca remarked after they had walked for some time.

Lodwin rubbed his index and thumb together.

“Too expensive, I know”, she replied and took a deep breath.

He watched her for a few moments, then continued to look ahead. Currently, they were walking along an ancient road made from fieldstones smoothened by time. The road was framed by tall trees and low shrubs. Some birds sang between the branches, but their song seemed distant and halfhearted.

“I remember the gardens of the east”, Veduca mused after some time. „The way the birds sung there was like music, but then again there was always someone there playing an instrument or singing. There had been a boy. I think about ten years old or so. He was very sick and his parents, luckily very wealthy and utterly devote and caring, always allowed him to stay within the gardens for as long as he wanted as the clean air seemed to help him. I played him music and even taught him how to play the flute. He was quite the talent.“

Go on, Lodwin signed her, as she didn’t immediately continue.

“I… I wanted to heal him, you know. With my magic, this was just as easy as making music. But I wasn’t certain and asked father what he thought about it. He told me to leave things be. That I shouldn’t involve myself and continue to make music with him for as long as the child could. I ignored his advice and healed the boy. A week later, he was killed by a fire in his house with his family.“

Lodwin stopped and looked at her with a frown.

“You’re asking yourself why I tell you this story, right?”, she asked with a sheepish expression.

He nodded.

“I don’t really know, to be honest”, Veduca replied after a moment with a sad smile. „I guess talking about kindness back at the inn made me remember. For some time, I had thought of healing the boy as a waste of my ability. But, after some years, I started to realise that, no, this act of kindness wasn’t wasted at all. I gave him a few days free of pain and true happiness. Yes, he died just a week later, but he had been happy and that’s what counts.“

Without another word, they continued on their path. Lodwin thought about her words for some time. While he had to admit that she was right, he didn’t felt like he could take this story as an allegory for his own situation. He wasn’t going to save Rosomil, the thought alone enough to make his anger rose again. He had tried to save his brother but…

I should’ve burned this rotten tome instead of letting it consume him, he thought and stopped dead in his track.

While still in the Order once, for a few moments, he had had the very same thought. Burn the book. Take it away from him by force and set it ablaze. But the tenants of the Order as well as the orders of those higher up had held him back.

Angry, he tightened his fists and moved on faster than before.

“Lod? Is something the matter?“, Veduca asked, alarmed as she caught up to him.

He signed her that it was none of her business.

“Did I say something wrong?”, she continued, insistent.

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

He shook his head.

Suddenly, he felt something off.

Without warning, he stopped and caused Veduca to run into him. While she managed to catch herself, he drew his blade and looked over the shrubbery. Something in the thicket moved.

“Lod?”, she whispered, uncertain.

At the same time, Lodwin felt her weaving a spell around them.

Not a second too late as they were ambushed by at least six men in worn and damaged, mismatched armour and clothes. Their weapons were no better, and their ability to wield them barely rudimentary.

Lodwin disposed of the first two men without thinking. His blade cutting through thin leather and flesh. In the past, he would’ve tried to merely disarm them, but now he didn’t felt like they had any redeeming qualities.

The third man stopped his attack for a second, as he saw what Lodwin did to his comrades. Then anger took over him and caused all caution to be thrown out the window. Lodwin used this mistake and killed the man with cold precision.

“Stop right there!”, one of the remaining ruffians bellowed.

Lodwin turned around and saw the man grabbing Veduca and holding a knife against her throat.

“Big guy, you’re going to lower your weapon, or your bitch dies!”, the man threatened while licking his lips.

Lodwin continued to glare at him and the other remaining men, who kept their distance for now. A moment later, he dropped his sword.

“No words to spare, huh?”, the ruffian asked, grinning like an idiot. “Kill him, you morons!”

With that, the other men were suddenly upon him. One even managed to get his sword into Lodwin’s abdomen. The pain was immense, but nothing against what he had already endured.

Using the power Azazel had bestowed him, Lodwin smashed the face of one of them with his bare fist and immediately went after the next, by slamming his other hand flat against his chest. He could feel the bones shatter underneath his palm while the man was going down, regurgitating blood.

The last one was smart enough to get some distance between himself and Lodwin, only to fall over his feet while doing so.

That moment, the man, who was holding Veduca, was suddenly thrown off her and slammed by an invisible force into the road. His bones broke like dry twigs. The remaining man scrambled to his feet and ran away screaming.

“Lod!”, called Veduca and went to him. “How bad is it?”

Miffed, he looked at the side where he instinctively pressed his hand against a spot of burning pain. A normal man wouldn’t die from this immediately, but from the infection after days, if not weeks of pain and misery. But to him, it was nothing more than a deeper scratch. The thing, which annoyed him, though, was the gash in his clothes as well as the blood ruining the fabric. He was running out of something proper to wear.

“Let me have a look”, Veduca said and pushed his hand away.

Impatient, he let her and looked around while she healed him. Judging by the laboured gurgling sounds, the man, whose face Lodwin had crushed, was still alive. Veduca seemed to notice too as she followed his gaze and frowned.

“I should heal him too”, she suggested, and moved towards the man.

Lodwin held her back and shook his head.

“But he suffers!”, she protested.

Again he shook his head and gently brushed his fingers across her throat.

“I-I know”, she admitted and cast her gaze downward. “They would’ve killed me after doing much worse if I were a normal woman, but I’m not.”

Angry, he pointed toward the man she had killed.

“That was a reflex!”

Lodwin narrowed his eyes.

“You’re right. Sorry. Shall I relieve him or…”

He pointed at himself and picked his sword back up. At the side of the dying bandit, he took measure for a moment, then plunged his blade into the man’s heaving chest. The bandit twitched for a second, then he went just as still as the others.

“We should burry them”, proposed Veduca, with an expression on her face that hid her sadness behind determination.

Lodwin made his dissatisfaction with her idea clear by making a few polite but firm gestures.

“I know you want to move as fast as you can, but we can’t leave them like this”, she objected.

Impatient, he gestured after the man who had fled.

“You think he’ll return after what he saw?”

Reluctant, Lodwin shook his head. A moment later, he pointed at her staff.

“Did you seriously think I would make you dig holes with your hands?”, she asked, amused.

He gave her a deadpan stare.

“Oh, Lodwin!”, she chuckled. “You’re such a bad judge of character!”

He rolled his eyes and started to clean the blood from his sword with a piece of clothing from one of the bandits. Veduca, meanwhile, took care of the burial business. Once they were done, they continued on the road towards Eldebourg.