“Heh, I win. Ha-hah,” Nathan said drunkenly, and then collapsed in a dead faint.

A dulled, rasping voice woke him. "You seem to have a habit of breaking rules, Nathan."

Nathan blearily pushed himself up from the ground on one elbow, staring toward the speaker. "Belias... you came."

The homunculus shrugged and produced a familiar ball of moist clay. It had still been in Nathan’s pack when he’d recovered it from the guardroom. He’d felt like a fool whispering his message at it before pitching it into the open air, but it had never come back down. At least, not near me. "You called. We were too late, yet not so late as I thought."

Nathan nodded, then rose in a sudden panic. "The battle−"

"Is done. The madness lifted when you… When you returned, and the lesser beasts vanished with their master."

"Cain?"

In answer, the homunculus turned, and Nathan followed his gaze to a small, sad figure of clay left in the mud. "Gone."

Belias' dead face betrayed nothing. The cold, skeletal contours of his body were still, his voice blank. Nonetheless the homunculus' grief for his friend was an almost physical weight that seemed to hang on the word.

"Can't you..."

"His face is shattered. That is not so simple as recarving the words upon his brow, Nathan. Even if I had the pieces, I could not−"

The wizard opened one hand, revealing broken shards of clay. "I can."

"Forgive me, Nathan, but I doubt that−"

"I can, but we have to hurry."

A flicker of hope gleamed in the homunculus' eyes, replaced in a moment by something much uglier. "And the cobbling?"

Nathan clenched his other hand tighter, a rough-edged crystal pressing against his fingers. "I'll deal with him."

Nathan stumbled to his feet, moving quickly to the fallen golem's side. The gemstone shivered in his grip but he ignored it, reaching for a pocket he suddenly realized wasn't there. Nathan blinked, still half-asleep, and sighed. "Naked, huh?"

"Another emergent habit, it would seem." The homunculus replied without a trace of humor, still eyeing Nathan's hand as the wizard knelt.

Cain's face was largely intact. The shards that had broken off had lodged in the demon's hand and then found their way into Nathan's. He replaced the pieces and then wet his hand in the runoff from the moat, running it gently over the golem's head. The water seeped into the cracks and Nathan leaned forward.

The demon had filled Nathan's mind with every moment of Cain's fall, hoping to see him falter in grief for his friend. The memories, those of a living coalescence of magic and raw emotion, burned in Nathan's thoughts like dying stars. The alien comprehensions of the demon had been forced on him in a bid to harm, but now...

Now, Nathan closed his eyes and let his senses fall through his hand as the brutal lesson had taught, his mind dancing along the brilliant skeins of sorcery and prayer that formed the core of the golem's being. Cain was not dead, but... inert was the only word Nathan could think of. With the phrase on his brow shattered into pieces the keystone of the golem's construction had been removed, leaving the breathtaking artistry of the ancient work unfinished.

Nathan leaned forward and breathed on the golem's brow, his thoughts drifting to the cracks beneath his hand. His will sank into them and eased the clay apart, massaging the water into the broken seams and slowly working them shut. He felt the cracks slowly disappear beneath his hand, leaving a smooth, featureless face where ruin had been.

The wizard let slip the knot of tension at the back of his mind, power and purpose surging through him in a white blaze. With patient deliberation he spun that purpose along the frayed matrix of thought and light forming the golem's soul, knitting it back together. Nathan felt words slowly carving into the golem's face beneath his palm as Cain finally stirred.

Nathan, drained by the effort, opened his eyes to find the golem's eyeless face staring up at him. He lifted trembling fingers away from Cain's brow, revealing graven words unlike those that had ridden there before.

Joy bled into Belias' voice as he began stammering wonder and praises, for the first time in Nathan's memory sounding truly alive. "The... the words. They are different. What do they mean?"

"Live free," Nathan said, smiling.

Belias shook his head. "Cain is a weapon, an instrument..."

"A slave." Nathan finished, taking a moment to snatch a torn banner from the ground and cover himself, awkwardly juggling the gemstone from hand to hand. "Not anymore. Never should have been. He died for me, so the least I can do is give him his life."

Cain stared up at Nathan, then slowly rolled to a kneeling position, one hand resting on Nathan’s knee. Nathan shook the tears from his eyes and scrambled for words. Finding none, he simply laid a hand on the golem's shoulder.

"Perhaps you should not have done that."

Nathan turned to face a grizzled, lupine man in Morseran armor, the tattered remnants of a company at his back. Cain was on his feet and between them in a moment. A scraping of steel sounded as blades slipped from their sheaths.

"Enough!"

The word leapt from both Nathan's throat and the old man's, mingling in the air. Nathan nodded to him. "He deserves his freedom as much as you, soldier."

"A weapon like that is dangerous in the wrong hands. Now it knows none but its own."

"I don't see a problem there."

There was a faint grinding sound as the golem cocked its head a fraction, all but saying “Well?”

The threat of a smile twitched at the corners of the old warrior’s beard. "I am Mathieu Coras. I was told of your insolence, wizard. It would seem it runs in your servants." He turned to Belias, his face losing all humor. "Where is Greylance, homunculus?"

Belias waved a hand. " What's left of him is over there."

Nathan turned on him. "What?"

"The young lord I used in an attempt to bind the demon."

“What?"

The homunculus took a step back, something uncannily like fright on his face. From the corner of his eye Nathan saw the soldiers doing the same. He smelled ash and realized that the edges of his banner were smoldering.

What does this look like to them? Nathan thought. I'm wearing nothing but a soggy blanket. What's frightening about that?

Think what you have done. Look at the castle behind you, at the golem that just knelt at your feet. Think of the demon you killed.

Nathan dwelled on that, going back to the final moments of the creature that had stolen his body. He thought of the spiraling path he'd taken, the pure instinct of dreams that had guided him back to reality. Back to his flawed, scarred body, pulled from the demon's remains as though his own shape had been only hidden away and not destroyed at all. He dwelled on what they must have seen: the demon suddenly convulsing, its monstrous form wracked with blinding light. The towering figure dissolving like a statue of sandstone, weathered down in moments from something monstrous into the shape of a naked, dirty, exhausted young man, his back a mass of scars and his left hand missing a finger. That young man giggling and then collapsing, looking for all the world like an ordinary person.

Not any more. You’ll never be an ordinary person. To them, you are a legend. You are not one of them. You are peer to gods and monsters, not to them. Never to them. You are alone.

Alone. Nathan dwelled on that and turned from Belias, turned from the soldiers, turned to the people he had ignored until now, unwilling or scared to face them. Hundreds of faces, men and women, noble and commoner, they stared down from the safety of the walls, from where they tended to the wounded on the battlefield, all of them waiting. They watched him, rapt eyes hanging on every word and gesture. Nathan took in the multitude of waiting humanity, wishing he could disappear among them and knowing he never could, already feeling the burden of his singular existence.

Alone until you die, surrounded by your fellow men and forever apart from them. If you leave you will be nothing, one more face in the tide of humanity, but you will never be alone as you are now.

We are all alone, Nathan reminded himself. We die alone, and we die with nothing. I know that better than most. But I also know we meet death on our own terms, whether we like it or not. That's my choice. Stay or go, I will still be alone in the end.

He hunched in on himself, shivering because he couldn't tell. Whether they thought him the hero or the villain, Nathan couldn't tell. A weight seemed to settle on his shoulders and a ghost of Bobby's voice drifted past his ears.

There are many called heroes, but few who chose to be.

"I'll try," he whispered, and stood tall. "Belias."

"Yes?" the homunculus replied cautiously.

"Help Greylance. If you can, bring him to me. If Mathieu is willing, take some of his soldiers with you to carry him." He pointed at the homunculus' single, blade-fingered hand. "I know you can't without hurting someone."

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"Is that an order, wizard?" The homunculus asked.

Nathan just stared at him, and after a moment Belias nodded. "As you ask."

A word from the old Morseran sent his soldiers after the homunculus, leaving him alone with Nathan.

"Crafted beings, witchcraft, demons... Many would say I ought take your head, wizard."

Nathan grinned back humorlessly, nodding at the golem between them. "You are welcome to try."

Mathieu scoffed. "I am no fool, Nathan. Tell me, how am I to know you are not simply the demon in another guise?"

"Other than him?" Nathan pointed at Cain. "Him?" pointing at Belias' retreating back. "And that I haven't eaten you?" He folded his arms. "Nothing. Nope. No proof."

The soldier eyed the golem for a moment. "As you say."

"How do you know my name?" Nathan asked.

"You've a friend in port at Gallowgate."

Nathan smiled. "Swalk? He’s still there?"

The old soldier nodded. "The captain’s an old teacher of mine, should be another week or two in port. He was curious for word of your exploits and wrote me. He also told of a certain assassin in your company. Strange that she is not here."

Maggie.

"Swalk's letter also told that you were going home," Mathieu said. "Is it so?"

”Wizard.”

Before Nathan could reply another voice interrupted, so raw with pain that he couldn’t understand it. It reminded Nathan of the tattered banner he wore, torn by battle to something hardly recognizable. He turned and felt his eyes widen as he beheld Kevyn Greylance.

Like Nathan, he was short and thin but well-muscled for it. He too was wearing very little, though he’d managed to find ragged pair of breeches. He also bore the scars of torture, though in his case it had been recent. Looping whorls of deep, weeping incisions traced his chest, his arms and face with arcane formulae, wounds that would leave vicious scars. Despite the pain and what was obviously extreme blood loss the man was still standing on his own, leaning on a spear and pointedly ignoring the Morseran's standing ready to catch him should he fall.

"Lord Greylance," Nathan nodded, quickly masking his shock at Belias' handiwork. "Your sister speaks well of you."

Kevyn coughed, clearing some of the pain from his voice. "Mari... she is well?"

"Alive and well in the dungeons, with a baby on the way. I suggest you reward her jailer." Nathan smiled. "Jorgesen is actually a pretty nice guy." He bowed his head. "Forgive my... companion. He’s a prick but what he did was the right choice, I’m sure of it."

"No apology is needed, wizard. I permitted this, knowing full well what he intended." The young lord glanced over his shoulder at the unapologetic homunculus, then turned back with the ghost of a boyish smile. "Though he is, as you say, a ‘prick.'"

Nathan nodded. "I am sure we will meet again, Lord Greylance. Until then, know that I owe you a favor." He glanced at the flayed body of the young lord. "A big one. Maybe two."

"I pray you know me as Kevyn, wizard, and that will be favor enough."

"Kevyn. I'm Nathan." On impulse, Nathan stepped forward and offered the young lord his hand. Kevyn took it, the grin on his face mirrored by Nathan's.

"Nathan. You must do my family the honor of a visit, someday. Many will seek to win your favor. Or do you ill. You will need allies." He smirked wryly. "Custom dictates I ask first."

"Your father will not approve," Mathieu cut in. "Lord Titus and your brother, both will−"

"Damn them," Kevyn spat. "Neither stood on the field with me. Neither witnessed this. I stand with the wizard."

Nathan felt something like a blush tingeing his cheeks. "Um... Thank you. Forgive me for cutting this short but I have urgent business to take care of. But as for allies..." he nodded to Kevyn "Yeah, you get first dibs."

"What business, if I may ask?"

"I have to fetch a baby and then kill a friend, Kevyn. That's the easy part."

"Easy?" The young lord frowned. "Then what is the hard part?"

Nathan sighed. "I have to discuss a relationship."

"I know you can hear me, J."

The stone before him twitched but said nothing. The cobbling's body had been torn away by the demon. Perhaps his voice too, Nathan didn't know, nor did he care.

He looked up from his seat in the shadow one of the greater pieces of broken wall, holding Orison close. Cain and Belias had vanished after leaving him another clay messenger-pigeon-ball, while Kevyn and his men had headed into the castle. The only people Nathan could see were tending to the wounded and the dead, the rest having drifted away. The Morserans had insisted on giving him one of their cloaks before leaving, a bit too big but much more comfortable than the muddy banner he had been stuck with. Nathan and his once-friend were alone, but for the baby.

"I saw what happened. To your creat... to your mother. To you. The demon drove her nuts. Whatever else you did with those potions, they stopped it from doing the same to me. Thank you."

"You taught me about magic, about this world, about everything I asked. You cared for Orison, you saved my life. I..." Nathan swallowed. "Even if it was all for... for this... you still saved me."

"I-cared-for-you-young-master."

"I know. That's why I'm going to give you what you want." Nathan ran his hand over a fist-sized chunk of white stone, hefting it.

The jewel rocked feebly. "No-young-master-please-I-don't−"

"You do. Your mother is dead, your reason for being is dead."

"I-exist-to-serve−"

"You exist to become human. In the end, humans die, J."

The cobbling's voice broke. "I... Humans live first. I have never lived. I have never tasted food, never loved, never felt. I was only ever a toy."

Nathan laughed sadly. "Bullshit. You lived for over a thousand years. I've died, J. I know what you take with you, what you remember, and it is not what you feel or see or do. It's who you love, who you leave behind. You loved your mother. You loved Cain and the other cobblings, maybe even Belias, I don't know. You loved. You lived."

The cobbling shivered and lay still, and Nathan raised the rock.

"Thank you," Jabberwisp whispered as the rock fell. Nathan looked at the shattered pieces, watching the light fade from them, and began to sob.

Maggie sat beneath the shade of the old oak, waiting. She knew he was coming long before she heard his footsteps, but didn't turn even when he stopped, staring at her back. He would speak when he was ready.

"How much did you know?"

She shivered. There was nothing in his voice. No hatred, no sorrow, nothing. He might have been a machine. "Only that I had to bring back a wizard. A strong one."

"At the disk, you touched Tyler. You killed him then and there, didn't you? Made him buy the knife, made him come after me."

Maggie didn't bother answering.

"Where were you supposed to drop me off? Tornic's? Wyvern's Run?" Heat bled into his words. "God, Maggie, how much of it was a lie?"

"Nothing!" She answered, turning. "I never lied!"

"You kept a lot of truth to yourself, though, didn't you?" Nathan spat. “It was Renal. He said as much, that he was there on an errand for his lord. He was there to meet you, wasn’t he? Only he was stupid: thought when you didn’t hand me over that he could just steal me away.”

"I was going to... I was going..." Maggie trailed off, growing pale as she watched Nathan's mind slowly close.

"Look!" she pleaded desperately, holding her hand out. "Please, just let me−"

"No."

"Just... just let me send you home." she said at last. "Alcrin's still hiding in the castle, I can find him, I can...I've lost you, I can see that. Just let me send you home."

Nathan shook his head. "You haven't lost me."

"Haven't I?" Maggie said, tears welling up in her eyes.

"Maggie, you sold me. You sold me. You came and picked me out like a... like a fruit at the..." He started to snigger. "A fruit at the... damn it, I can't..." He started laughing.

Maggie blinked, the beginnings of a smile threatening to replace her tears. "What is it?"

Nathan, howling by this point, stumbled over and sat next to her. "Oh... it's... I... oh... ah..." He sniffed, rocking Orison as she fussed. "I had a long, long day. Betrayed, tortured, possessed, dead. Met your dad. Killed a friend. Long day. And now… now, I am fruit." He laughed again. "I needed that."

"Hmm." Maggie's smile crept into uncertain reality. “Wait, you talked to Bobby?”

"I did, but that’s not important right now. Now we uh... we..." Nathan sighed. "We need to discuss our relationship."

"Yay." Maggie said, the word oozing with unenthusiasm.

"You... you're an assassin, Maggie. A killer-for-hire. It’s not supposed to get personal.”

Maggie's face was wooden. "I suppose not. And it did with us, is that what you’re saying?"

"I guess,” Nathan said, clearly fumbling how to get his thoughts across. “What you did with me... what you did to me... it was business at first, and then..."

"Then it wasn't." Maggie nodded. "And I couldn't go through with it. I was supposed to hand you off to Renal. Instead, while you were with the cobblings I worked out who hired me and−"

"Doesn't matter."

"How does it−"

"Doesn't matter," he repeated firmly.

Maggie rushed to him and Nathan met the kiss as though it was their first. She savored the feel of his lips on hers, tasting lust and longing and yes, love, all wound together like wine in their embrace.

"Our last kiss..." She said with a sad smile as she pulled away. She knew what was coming.

Nathan sighed. "Yes, maybe. Maggie, answer me honestly. If you hadn't fallen for me you would have handed me over without a second thought, right? You would have washed your hands of the responsibility."

Maggie nodded, shame plain on her face, and he pointed at her.

"There. Right there, that's your problem. Our problem."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean that until you resolve your issues, I'm breaking up with you."

Maggie laughed. "We were never dating in the first place."

"True. But Maggie..." He took her hand. "About Bobby."

"What about him?"

""He wants you to be happy, and you aren't. I know you aren't. You said yourself, you hate what you do."

"I have to do it," Maggie said in a rush. "I have to, I−"

"You don't," Nathan replied smoothly. "You have a choice too, Maggie. Several of them. Until you met me you were miserable, weren't you?"

"Yes." Maggie replied in a voice that was less than a whisper.

"You told me once that ending life is part of who you are, but not all that you are." He cupped her cheek, smiled and kissed her forehead. "The day you actually believe that, I'll be waiting for you. In friendship, in love..." He shrugged. "I'm here. Just know that."

Maggie sniffed. Whether it was in laughter or grief, she couldn't tell. "Nathan, I can't leave him."

"And you don't have to. Seriously, just talk to him."

"But I..." She shook her head helplessly. "Nathan... just... tell me. Tell me what to do."

"That's not how it works, and you know it."

Maggie sighed as Nathan paused, noticing his pack on the ground. He went over and gathered his things, and his mind flickered with pleasure as he noted his guitar was still intact.

"Nathan... I..." She sighed. "Where are you going?"

"I have a boat to catch," Nathan said. "And then I'm going home."

"I'll get Alcrin," she said tiredly. "He's down in the... a boat?"

"A boat!" Nathan replied, not bothering to hide his excitement. “Swalk’s still in Gallowgate. Maybe he’ll let me back on if you’re not there.” He blinked and glanced apologetically at her. “No offense, but it’s not like you need the ride.”

"I thought we decided you were going home."

"Maggie, you decided. We've fought about this the entire time. Well, I fought. You dictated."

"You never gave me a good answer."

"I have one now," Nathan replied. "I had one then, I just didn't understand it."

"That you have a responsibility to help others?"

"No. To help myself."

Maggie shook her head. "I don't understand."

"Maggie, I..." Nathan sighed. "This is hard to wrap my own head around, let alone yours. I..." He smiled and cleared his throat. "Two roads diverged in a wood, and I, I took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference."

"Robert Frost."

"Yes. If I left I'd spend my whole life looking over my shoulder, wondering what would have happened."

"But−"

"No buts, Maggie." Nathan said. "This... at home, I know how it would have gone. I would have got a job, a wife, a car, and two point five kids. Maybe I'd get mugged, maybe I'd start some crazy, dangerous hobby or compose a symphony. I don't know the details, but I do know the basics. For me, there are no basics here. No roads more traveled, only less. Besides…” He eyed her, weighing his words carefully. “Even if it wasn’t what I wanted, I have to stay. Maggie, you killed someone to get me here. We have to make sure he died for a reason."

Maggie went pale. "You’re-"

“I can’t fault you for it, not after… Not after talking to your father, not even if I wanted to. Maybe it needed to happen, I don’t know. But I owe Tyler. We both do.”

“You’re-”

“If you’re still going to argue, so help me I will burn down that tree."

“I was going to say you’re right,” Maggie said firmly, telling herself as much as him.

“Alright, I… I’m right?”

“You’re right. We… I need to make sure it’s worth it.”

Nathan turned away from the tree uncertainly, lowering his free hand. “Really? That’s it?”

“That’s it. So… You're walking?"

Nathan tucked Orison close. "To Gallowgate, yes. After that, we’ll see."

She smiled hopefully. "Want some company on the road?"

Nathan smiled back and wordlessly offered her his hand.

They walked like that, into the evening and long into the night, handfast, wound together like trees grown from the same patch of earth. As the stars emerged they didn't talk, they didn't even look at each other.

They didn't need to.