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Varnalia
7. The Scarred Road Ahead

7. The Scarred Road Ahead

The carriage moved steadily down the Sable road. The two equids pulling it along at a gentle pace. Grune sat at the front, watching the road ahead as they moved along. It was a stark contrast to the chaos and tragedy that they had endured in the past few days. Grune looked back slightly, through the small opening in the cloth covering the inside of the carriage at the young prince and his wife before turning his attention ahead once again.

Hunuki sat quietly, Illiya beside him. It had been the first time in days that they'd had a chance to be like this. Illiya moved closer, nestling gently into his warm body. He moved his left arm around her resting his hand on her thigh. His thumb gently moving back and forth over it. She moved her head back, against his broad chest, smiling a bit when she felt his chin resting on top of her head. They stayed like this for a few minutes, listening to the Equids hooves clacking against the road below. Illiya looked down, reaching out and taking his hand in her's. Fingers intertwining together. His slightly rougher skin feeling nice against her softer palm. She pulled their hands up, and close to her, looking his over, idly rubbing a finger against one of the silver rings of his wedding brace. She traced her finger down, rubbing against the small scar on the tip of his middle finger. "You got this when we had our first dinner together." She said quietly, bringing his hand up, kissing the scar, lips holding on it tenderly for a moment. "You tried to show off your vegetable cutting skills" She chuckled, lightly biting the finger. "Hey.." He looked down to her. "My cooking skills are great. You made me laugh to much that night and the knife slipped. So that war wound is on you." She moved from the finger to the larger scar that ran across the back of his hand. "This one..." She ran her finger over it. "Sparring with my brother" He said looking at it. "Ah yes, that's right." She replied, kissing it as well. "He got lucky, Hunuki said with a slight scoff. She smiled. "Of course he did Hunu." She looked at the two scars on his third and pinky finger. "These" She paused, thinking. "Aslandus?" She asked, looking up to him. He nodded, looking at them. "That nightmare.. seems so small compared to these past few days." She felt his hand start to shake. She held onto it tighter. "I know. But we're going to your brother to fix this. It'll take awhile but we know he can do it." She looked from his hand to the vine branded into him. It running up his arm, disappearing underneath his sleeve.

He calmed down when she held onto him, sighing. As long as she was with him.. "Yeah I know. We can try and get an airship in Baldir to speed things up." He looked to what she was looking at, at the brand burned into him. It still hurt, though less so than a few days ago. The pain was always there, never letting him fully relax. "At least I have you." He looked to her. She smiled faintly, then looked down to their hands. "I didn't get to tell you this.." She squeezed his hand tighter. "That holy woman. The one who blew up.." She gripped tighter to him, her body shaking. " Hunu.. she..she said I was destined to die." She looked up to him, tears in her eyes. He frowned, pulling her closer. "I won't let that happen. It was an empty threat Illiya." He moved his hand up, wiping her eyes. She rested her head against him more, nodding silently. "That magic though. It didn't make any sense. There was no Dragon Prose to any of it. No words spoken or written. How is that even possible? In all I've learned. Through all of the academies and teachers. Dragon Prose must be used. I've been researching all of this as much as I can but It doesn't add up." She let out a frustrated sigh. He rubbed her arm. "This brand is impossible as well. We may need to go to Gael, and try and speak to the Seeker." She nodded "Yeah... given what happened to Belfeia. They could be risking the entire world if they refuse."

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Illiya sat up from him, looking out to the road ahead of them. "Baldir is only a day away. We can get an airship pilot, get your brother, and then head to Gael. Hopefully get some kind of answers and come back home. Then we can start restoring everything." She looked back to him. Hunuki nodded, looking down to his hand. "I shouldn't need to use that blade." He clenched his fist tightly. "You may have to Prince!" Grune's voice made them both jump. He looked back slightly. "You need to not hesitate if you have to. Its an incredible burden and responsibility, but don't ever hesitate in swinging it." He was silent for a moment. "Your father learned that lesson the hard way back then." Hunuki was quiet, looking down to the gemstone in his wrist, rubbing it lightly. "I understand." He sighed, sitting back against the seat, looking to Illiya. She moved back over to him, laying her body against his, resting her head against his warm chest.

"They are on the move. They will be exactly where you want them to be. Your plans have always been correct. " Lunadea sat on a table, her legs kicking back and forth. She extended her hand, brushing the red hair away from their face, curling it behind their ear tenderly. "Belfeia is in shambles, as you wished. The damage was sufficient. They think it was only the surface, but that was not the true goal." Her finger traced down their cheekbone, running over their nose, smearing a bit of blood on it. "Of course, I do everything for you. I live to serve you gladly willing to die if you desired" She rested her hand gently on their cheek, smiling. The steady dripping around filling the silent tavern. She held the severed head in her hands. Her other hand moving up to the eyes, nails digging into the socket. With a wet plopping noise the eye came out, falling into her open palm. She snapped the optic nerve setting the loose eye down on a piece of cloth. She repeated the process for the other eye. "I will free you my Scarlet King. This world needs to learn your truth." She tossed the head to her side. It bouncing off the tavern floor, rolling and tumbling along the group, coming to a stop against the torso of another. Lunadea carefully patted the eyes dry, then took out a sack, lifting the leather flap, looking inside. Dried, shriveled eyes stared back up at her. Hundreds filled the back, all different colors staring at her like jewels. She dropped the two fresh ones inside, shutting the bag with the metal clap. She hopped off of the table, landing gingerly in the pool of blood under her. "I left them a gift in Baldir.. another experiment that failed. Given that he has the Nail it should be no problem right?" Her head tilted, she stared at nothing in front of her. "Very well then." She moved through the tavern, stepping over the barkeepers corpse, his eyes also removed. Making her way to the door she stopped, turning her head back to the tavern. Half a dozen bodies lay there. Each ones eyes taken from them. A guard was strung up in the rafters. His body strewn out in pieces. She smiled briefly before stepping out. The door shutting behind her. A pool of blood slowly seeping out under it.