“Maybe he tripped and fell there after the fact?”
As the two began to speculate, Alistar suppressed a shiver. He clearly remembered his arm being cut off, as well as being stabbed through the stomach and chest by several swords. Currently, he felt fine, and according to the healer he was in perfect condition. Thinking back to what had happened in Aglain’s cave and of the events that had followed the ritual in the forest, the cause for his previous confusion was now evident. Aglain had stated that the curse of immortality couldn’t be broken, but clearly it could be transferred to a new vessel.
“Make way for the bishop!”
A nearby commotion revealed the approach of someone that held substantial status within the delegation. This person could only be the famed Bishop Maels that had been a household topic of conversation for many months leading up to the holy visit.
Eyes still closed, Alistar smothered a frown. Something about the bishop’s aura was alarmingly familiar, though Alistar didn’t piece things together until the man had drawn within a dozen paces of where he was laid out on the pavement.
“Your Grace?”
Relying on his magical awareness, Alistar perceived that the man had stopped in place a short ways away.
“Impossible…”
The moment Alistar heard the man’s voice, his heart sank. This was the man that had tortured him within the clearing, and also the person that had killed all of those black-haired youths. Based on what had happened in that clearing, he was likely responsible for the near-total destruction of the city as well.
Not daring to look at the man, Alistar abruptly flooded his body with swordsman’s aura and leapt to his feet without warning, causing a cloak that somebody had placed on him to fall to the ground with a soft, silky sound. Ignoring the shock of those around him, he sprinted across the soot-stained pavement as fast as his legs could move him, not caring that he was, once again, completely naked.
“A—after him!” came the man’s yell. When his confused subordinates didn’t react, another shout quickly followed. “That’s the boy we found on the road. He’s the one that led us into the demon’s trap. He colluded with the demon to wreak all of this destruction!”
Hearing the bishop’s words, his subordinates immediately gave chase.
While Alistar wasn’t necessarily as accomplished in his swordsmanship and thus in his control over his swordsman’s aura as those that pursued him, he was stark naked and they were hampered by the weight of their weapons and equipment. He managed to outrun them to the western gate, where he followed the pathway to his home out of habit. He didn’t get far, however, when it dawned on him that leading his pursuers to the estate would only implicate his loved ones, so he ignored the bend in the road that veered off toward his home and continued on into the countryside. That was when he sensed them.
The horror in his heart intensified when he cast a momentary glance down the road in passing, where he spotted a handful of local clergymen dragging several bodies away from a mess of bloodstained patches of the pathway. Other corpses had been gathered into a pile and were burning in a fleshy pyre by the roadside, with several guards blocking the gates to the estate as well as access to the road beyond the bend. It was important to note that the fire that burned the bodies didn’t give off the same aura as that which had destroyed much of Mayhaven, meaning that the caster of the spell wasn’t the Inverted man that had killed himself just a short while ago.
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The closest guards stared at Alistar in confusion as he hurried westward, though his eyes had momentarily settled on a stomach-churning sight that saw his steps falter for several seconds.
Lily, Mr. Albeck, Stason and his uncle; all were dead, all being transported by rough, uncaring hands. They hadn’t been burned like the townsfolk. Save for Lily, the bodies of the others were covered in blood, a clear indication that they had been murdered.
Gritting his teeth as tears blurred his vision, Alistar continued on through a grassy field as fast as he could move, as if running could remove him from this nightmare. He didn’t have time to think about what he’d just seen, for his left arm jerked violently as it was nicked by an arrow that ripped away a sizeable chunk of his flesh, courtesy of one of the bishop’s men. Blood streaming down his arm, he kept moving.
Worry and fright fought for dominance in his heart as he sensed several of his pursuers suddenly blow past the others, a panicked glance over his shoulder revealing the image of several horsemen that had just galloped through Mayhaven’s western gates. At their speed, they would catch up to him within a minute or so regardless of how fast his swordsman’s aura allowed him to move.
Sudden hope arose within him as he spotted Star, his beloved palfrey, grazing on some grass behind a small copse of trees that had been blocking the beast from view up until that point. Ignoring the obvious question of why his horse was wandering around outside the grounds of the estate, Alistar pressed his forefinger and thumb to his lips and let out a loud whistle that was a bit shaky due to his current exertions. Hearing this, Star raised his large head and looked in his direction before trotting over just as he had been trained to.
Alistar immediately grabbed hold of the dangling reins, powered his legs and leapt directly onto the horse’s back, connecting eyes with one of the oncoming riders as the man attempted to aim an arrow in his direction. The projectile missed by two paces, though Alistar paid it no mind as he directed Star southward and spurred him on with the utmost urgency.
He’d instinctively planned to continue westward, but it had dawned on him that there existed a perfect place to hide, at least in the short term. So long as he could return to Aglain’s cave, those outside of its threshold wouldn’t be able to detect him. At least, he hoped so, for his memories of his recent visit were very jumbled toward the end, and a nagging voice in his mind told him that this wasn’t necessarily a good idea. Still, with no other options available to him he had no choice but to take the risk.
He was on constant guard against the occasional arrows that flew past him on either side, though thankfully it was very difficult to make an accurate shot while on horseback on such rough terrain, for Alistar had deliberately directed Star across a potato field where the ground was consistently uneven.
The chase persisted all the way over to the southern wall of the county, particularly in the direction of his energy imprint. With this as a marker, he wouldn’t have any trouble returning to the cave.
Alistar grew increasingly frustrated with the arrows that kept brushing past him, worried that one of them might hit Star and cause him to be thrown from the horse’s back. Mustering up as much energy as was currently available to him, he shaped a finger-length spike of ice and hardened it with a basic reinforcement spell.
Looking down at the single spike and feeling that most of his inner energies had been depleted, he was momentarily overcome by a subtle sense of worry. What’s wrong with me? He didn’t feel fatigued in the least, yet this was all that he could manage?
Turning around, he flung the spike at the head of the nearest horse, apologizing in his mind as it abruptly cried out, reared and then nearly flung its rider from its back. Most of the propulsion force behind the projectile had come from his mastery over the element, which told him that he should still have the same capabilities as before. Likely, his lack of available energies had something to do with his recent resurrections.
As he and Star drew up to the southern wall, he leaned his head over to whisper his thanks into the horse’s ear. Slowing to a fearful stop as those behind him quickly gained ground, he leapt from Star’s back, slapped his backside and yelled, “Home!”
Star obediently ran back in the direction of the estate.
Powering his legs with swordsman’s aura, Alistar cleared the walls with a standing jump and landed on the other side at a roll. Feeling a trickle of energy slowly returning to him, he partially mended the injury on his left elbow, doing just enough to stop the bleeding.