Rueln Layheart

Much to my disappointment, Cyrus informed me that although the fire I called to my hand was magic, it was merely a manifestation of my magic’s elemental nature. What I had done could not be called a spell. A spell required much more depth and knowledge of how mana moved, the application of soulforce, and would require more mana than I currently possessed. My abilities at the moment were inefficient at best.

He told me to cast the manifestation twice more before calling the lesson’s end and insisting we go inside to rest since I was still recovering. The effort I had put into learning how to control my abilities had lowered my already meager mana supply. I had to admit I felt the difference as I crawled into the pallet Cyrus put out for me while he rested in his bed. I was going to ask him why he was resting too, but he just grumbled about getting old, so I left it alone.

Toga helped himself to laying over my legs, and I got comfortable, closing my eyes to feign sleep. All the while, however, I listened to Cyrus’s breathing slow then drift into a steady snore. I didn’t move, letting the time drag on as I waited to make sure he was good and gone before I sat up.

Maneuvering as silently as I could out from under the blanket and Toga’s weight, I stuffed my pillow under the quilt as if it would help hide the fact I was no longer in it and started for the door. Toga immediately stood and started to follow after me, panting happily as his toenails clicked on the wooden floor. As quiet as it was, every sound he made sounded like they should echo in the small cabin.

To make matters worse, Toga whined. I winced, looking back at Cyrus as he shifted in his bed rolling so he faced the door and me standing with my hand reaching for the handle. My heart jumped up into my throat as I waited for him to open his eyes and catch me. When they remained closed, I tried to hold back a sigh of relief and looked down.

“You can’t come with me, Toga,” I told him, keeping my voice as low as I could. The dog’s ears perked, tilting his head to the side before he whined again. “No. You can’t come.” I repeated and opened the door.

Toga whined again, then woofed at me as if he would argue. I stiffened, wondering if he would bark after I left him inside. That would surely wake Cyrus and he would catch me. Looking down at the dog, then back up at Cyrus, I decided. “Alright, come on,” I whispered and opened the door for Toga to go out. Just before I followed, I took Cyrus’s sword from where he had put it away.

“Sorry old man,” I muttered. “I need to do this.”

Once outside, I ran for the barn where I saw Cyrus kept his equipment and quickly searched the wall for a rope and pulled it off. Catching Cyrus’s horse was easy, to my surprise. He was much better natured than Peach ever was, and reminded me a bit more of Apple. I didn’t even have to bribe him with the handful of feed I had stolen from the barn, but I gave it to him, anyway. Bosco followed me out of the paddock and into the barn willingly enough, nosing my pockets for more snacks, only to find none.

“I’ll give you more in a minute,” I promised as I dropped his lead and went to pull his bridle off a nail on the wall, then the saddle blanket. His saddle was going to be the hard part, but I think I could do it if I found something to stand on. Bosco was taller at the shoulder than Peach, but not by much.

I had to heave the saddle off the wooden rack, then push and drag it all the way back to the horse before dropping it and running around the barn until I could find something sturdy to stand on. I had to settle for a bale of hay, rolling the thing over to the aisle of the barn before leading Bosco over to it. Getting the saddle up was the worst part. By the time I had it over the horse’s back, I felt like mine was close to breaking in half. Master Esra had always helped with this part when it was time to saddle Peach, or Finnley and I worked together to saddle the horses. Doing it by myself was a lot more difficult.

The hard part done, I took care of the straps to hold it in place and stuck my foot into the stirrup and just pulled myself up when the whole thing with me in it started sliding off. I scrambled to unhook my foot and let go before it could come crashing to the floor and stared at all my hard work collapse upon itself. The girth had somehow come loose, although I knew I had tightened it as much as I could.

I looked over at Bosco, who perked his ears up innocently and knew what had happened. While Master Esra had been teaching me how to care for Peach, she told me that some horses would intentionally take a deep breath right before you tightened the strap so it would be loose when they exhaled. If I hadn’t gotten off fast enough, it would have taken the whole saddle and slid it down so it was underneath his belly. I would have most likely gone with it.

I had forgotten my lesson with Master Esra.

“And here I was thinking you’re one of the good horses,” I muttered darkly, forced to do my work over to get the saddle back on straight.

After fighting with the saddle, I tightened the girth, with more success this time after elbowing Bosco in the ribs when he tried to do the same trick. He turned his head to look at me, offended that I would think so little of him.

“Don’t look at me like that. I’m in a hurry and you’re making this difficult,” I told him, only for him to snort at me and pull out a mouthful of hay from the bale I had used to stand on.

With the horse saddled, I started out of the barn only to freeze when I saw Toga laying by the door watching me. When he saw me look at him, his tail gave an ominous wag, and I knew I had another problem to deal with. I couldn’t take him. Which meant that I would have to lock him in the barn. If he barked in there, then Cyrus might not hear him. I lead Bosco out and left him a few yards just outside the door. When Toga followed me out, I hurried back inside and called Toga after me. The dog trotted trustingly at my heels right before I turned and bolted back the way I came and pulled the barn door shut just before he could escape. Paws hit the door, and the wood shuddered before barking filled my ears.

“No more time to waste,” I said, my heart jumping underneath my ribs as I ran to Bosco and climbed onto his back just in time for the cabin door to open. “Go! GO!” I shouted, urging Bosco forward. The alarm in my voice, or my heels in his side, sent the horse bolting forward fast enough he almost lost me. It forced me to cling onto the saddle and hold on for dear life as the old man tried to chase after us.

“Rueln!! Stop!”

I didn’t dare look back, afraid of the betrayal I would see on his face. He had been kind to me and I stole his weapon and his horse.

My father would be ashamed of me.

I didn’t know where I was or how to cut through the mountains to get back to the bandit camp where Finnley and everyone had been, so I followed the river. Bosco kept up the pace when I urged him, not wanting to take the chance that Cyrus could cut through a trail that I didn’t know about and get in front of me. I had to get as far away from him as I could.

Before I knew it, Bosco had worked up a foamy sweat and was out of breath. I knew little about horses, but I could tell I had been working him too hard in this rough terrain. “I’m sorry, boy,” I said, slowing him down to a walk, feeling suddenly guilty about it. His sides were heaving, and it would take some time before he could catch his breath. I thought we were far enough away that Cyrus had no chance of catching up no matter what magic he had, so it would be safe to walk for a while.

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Sitting up in the saddle, I tried to judge where we were. The river was to my left, the smooth surface having given way to rougher water. I wasn’t sure how far the water washed me downstream, but I saw no sign of the cliffs where the bandits caged us. Swallowing, I stared at the water as Bosco picked his way over a few rocks sticking out of the sandbanks. A shiver went through me when I saw several large rocks sticking out of the water.

“How did I survive that?”

I couldn’t remember anything beyond hitting the water. I knew I was awake after for a short time, but I couldn’t guess what happened after. The most experience I had with water was splashing around in the town creek during the summer. I knew I was a poor swimmer. When I fell, I was sure I was going to die.

Bosco and I stayed at a walk for a few hours until the sweat covering him had dried, his fur stiffening as it did, and he looked rested. He complained, trotting for a few feet before he fell back into a walk, his ears flicking back in irritation. “Come on. We have to go,” I insisted, kicking his sides again. Bosco tossed his head, snorting in protest, before he started trotting again without needing to be pushed any further.

The sun was getting pretty low in the sky when I finally saw something that looked like cliffs in the distance. Knowing I wouldn’t be able to ride Bosco too close to it as steep as the cliff side was, so I nudged him away from the river to cut through the trees. I just hoped that I didn’t get lost. As long as I kept the river nearby, maybe I would be alright.

It was darker under the trees; the sun filtered through clouds and leaves, every sound growing louder to me the more nervous I grew. It was only then that I realized how alone I was. There was no Master Esra, no Finnley. I didn’t have Papa or Aleah, or even Eidke. No one was here but me and Bosco.

Taking a deep breath, I reached for Cyrus’s sword and clutched its sheath until my fingers turned white. “We can do this,” I said, lowering my voice as if there were someone to hear. Cyrus had said that the bandits were gone, but I couldn’t trust he had gotten close enough to see. Finnley had been over a cliff, Cyrus could have missed them. I had to see for myself.

I had to make sure they were gone.

Instead of riding up to the camp when I saw it from a distance through the trees, I turned Bosco toward the cliffs and checked there first. When we came out of the trees and started up the worn trail toward where the cages hung, my stomach dropped in my chest when I saw the cage I had been in. It hung out over the water, half of it coated black from where the fire had burned at it.

Kicking Bosco’s sides, I urged him faster, knowing Finnley might be unconscious at the bottom of the cage. I knew it. Cyrus couldn’t have looked properly. I- The cage was empty.

Pulling Bosco to a stop, I stood in the stirrups to get a better look at the other cages, to find them empty as well. Three of them were even pulled up onto the cliff side. They had gotten out. All of them. Cyrus had told the truth.

Slowly, I pulled my leg over Bosco’s back and slid down until my feet hit the ground, forced to steady myself by leaning against the horse’s side as my saddle sore legs got blood to them. Bosco nudged me with his nose before he started eating greedily at whatever grass he could shove into his mouth as I pulled the reins down.

Bosco reluctantly followed behind me as I walked up the path, looking into each cage to figure out what had happened. There wasn’t any blood besides one or two spots. Did they really all escape? Did Master Esra find them? Cyrus hadn’t been clear who could have gotten rid of the bandits.

“I won’t complain about it,” I mumbled, though a fresh wave of guilt crawled up my stomach. If Finnley and the merchants were safe, then I broke Cyrus’s trust and stole his horse for no reason. “Come on, Bosco,” I said, gently pulling on the reins so he would follow me down the hillside and through the trees toward the bandit camp. Maybe there is something down there that could give me a hint of where I needed to go to find everyone.

When we reached the end of the trail and the trees opened into a small clearing full of tents and rickety shacks, I couldn’t help but feel a sense of unease. I didn’t know if it was the eerie silence of the camp or something else, but I pulled Cyrus’s sword down from the saddle and clinched it in my hands before I dared to step any further.

There was an odd smell in the air, like burned meat left out to rot. Crows cawed to each other on the other side of the camp, several roosting on top of tents or buildings. Despite my eyes traveling from one side to the other, I saw no sign of movement. The feeling didn’t disappear, though, staying with me until we reached the center of camp.

Thinking I was just being stupid, I shook my head and stepped closer to Bosco, planning to remount. There was nothing here. I should just go back to Cyrus. I had one foot in the stirrup when a dirt covered man stepped out from a tent and saw me.

My heart dropped, my eyes widening as I struggled to pull my boot free of the stirrup. The man only smirked when he noticed I had caught my foot in the stirrup and couldn’t free myself. Bosco snorted, his head up in alarm as the man withdrew a sword from his side. I barely pulled my foot free when the bandit charged me, just barely drawing Cyrus’s sword out of the sheath in time.

I couldn’t describe what came over me. All I felt was a rush of warmth as my soulforce flared through my body, my fear the driving force behind it. Everything clicked into place for the split second I needed it and Vhal Aairith’s skill with a blade overshadowed my lack. I ducked the bandit’s initial strike, turning my body just enough, so it slid past me. Using the sheath still clutched in my hand, I drove it into the man’s stomach while used Cyrus’s sword with the other to tangle our blades together. It would have been perfect if at the last second my hand slipped and both our blades sailed out of our grip.

“You piece of-” the bandit snarled and grabbed me before I could put any distance between us.

He threw me to the ground, hands tightening around my throat. I tried to scream, but the pressure from his grip cut the air from reaching my lungs. The man only tightened his fingers around my throat, his knee pressing down onto my chest. I panicked, clawing at his fingers and wrists, fighting for air as spit bubbled out of my mouth.

I can’t breathe.

I can’t breathe.

I can’t breathe.

I can’t…

I was too weak to break his hold on me, so I tried the only other thing I could think of. I tried to push his face away.

I’m going to die here. He’s going to kill me.

Fear and panic drowned out everything else. I kicked out at the air. My lungs tried to work past the hands holding my throat closed. The soulforce and Vhal’s memories could do nothing to help me. I was too weak. I was going to die.

My hands suddenly flared to life, fire pouring out of my palms. The bandit screamed, his hands gone from my throat, jerking backwards. It was his turn to put distance between us, only now I went with him. As he pulled away, I didn’t think, only moved with him. I had to keep my hands touching him, burning him, or he would come back. He would come back and hurt me again.

Burn.

Burn.

BURN!

I gritted my teeth as I poured what little mana I had into the fire, watching as his skin melted off his face. The bandit’s scream filled my ears, drowning out everything else. I didn’t let up, refused to stop until they stopped, keeping my palms pressed to his head. My hands stayed there until silence returned to the camp and the fire died. The fading light surrounded me, the image of the man’s flesh pealing away in front of me, his brain sizzling out of his nose and ears before it all burned away.

I stared down at the body, burned human flesh filling my nose, the taste of it in the air as I sucked in oxygen. I threw myself off the man’s corpse and made it only a few feet before I lost everything in my stomach.

I killed someone.

I’m not sure when I pulled myself to my feet or when I walked away from the body. It was dark when something cold pressed into my cheek and a familiar whine filled my ears. Blinking past a haze, I turned my head to see Toga had somehow found me. Reaching up, I tangled my fingers in his golden fur and hugged him just as Cyrus appeared, an orb of light hovering above his hand.

I closed my eyes and cried into Toga’s fur.