Shortly after their confrontations the group rode on towards Haden.

For most of the trip southward, Faldrid discussed what had happened over the last few days with Mortis. Sadine chose to keep Kagi close by and talk with her. Though Kagi didn't look comfortable, with her rigid posture. Vale and Thestra also spoke about what they discovered on the previous journey. There were many questions that were raised by the scene that took place shortly beforehand.

The atmosphere amongst the group was still grim. Little words were exchanged besides the aforementioned conversations. The Hands of Morta that followed them barely spoke a word. Morta who still held onto the night didn't utter a word to Mortis, and he didn't try to speak with her. Umbren seemed to be consumed in thought, and remained silent the whole journey.

As they rode down the road, more tenebrage from Sangai joined them. Some were close to flaunting what deeds they had committed, but were stopped short as they read the air. Those who didn't were scorned by their peers.

Though not all seemed too happy about the events that had transpired. However, that appeared to be the minority.

As they rode down the stone road, the land became visibly less vibrant. As if it was slowly dying. As they made their way close to the border. The grass took on a grayish hue, and the trees lacked any color, and looked as if they were already dead.

The party made its way through a dead forest. There were seldom sounds of any animals. Maybe a melancholy song from a bird, or a rustle in the brush, here and there but nothing much.

As they approached the end of the forest, Faldrid had long stopped in conversation, and Mortis rode to Alsarie who was only a little distance away. She would never disappoint.

"How does it feel coming back to your hometown?"

Alsarie perked up at Mortis's words, "My lord!" Though after processing his words, she frowned, "This has not been home for a really long time. I can barely even remember it. After all, I was little when..." She looked as if a bad memory had surfaced, "Anyway It hasn't been a town for some time."

Mortis nodded. Haden had been part of the territory that the luxcians pushed through with surprising speed and force at the beginning of the war.

"Alsarie I need you to do something for me..."

Upon the sight of Haden, Umbren found some relief. The town itself was small, and appeared to be run down, but it was better than nothing.

The few tenebrage craftsmen and other workers had apparently made their way here to await the disciples. It appeared that they had made the place a temporary home.

As Umbren rode through the village with the others. He saw blacksmith repairing blades to the best of their ability, and some other tenebrage soldiers that had escorted them talking jubilantly and looked to be enjoying themselves.

"It almost looks like a town again," Faldrid remarked as he dismounted Dela in the stables, handing her off to one of the stable hands.

Umbren nodded, still not paying too much attention to the world around him.

"Oh, Faldrid, how did it go? I heard from Vale that you guys separated."

The voice sounded oddly familiar to Umbren, who discovered a young man with an ornate horn attached to his belt. His dark blue cloak was covered in ash, and his hair was more disorderly than usual.

"Relam," Umbren let the name slip from his lips.

Relam narrowed his eyes at him, but just as quickly they popped open, "Your alive!"

"I think so," Umbren sounded distant as if in a dream.

Relam dropped down from his saddle and studied Umbren, "Well you don't look to hurt. Where have you been?"

Umbren took more notice of the soot and ash on Relam's cloak, "Recovering...where have you been?"

Relam scratched his neck as if embarrassed by his dirty appearance, "Well Mortis ordered us to attack some city, after it all the sudden went up in flames. You two should have been there! It was like nothing you've ever seen."

Faldrid eyed Umbren curiously as if interested by what his response might be. Though there was also a little bit of pity in his gaze.

“I’m sure it was.” Umbren said bitterly.

Relam seemed as if he was about to continue, but suddenly his body tensed up as he gazed past Umbren.

Umbren turned to be met by a figure in a cloak that matched her dark green eyes.

“Our lord requests your presence.” Alsarie said her eyes fixed on Umbren.

Umbren nodded slowly and started off with the Hand. Faldrid gave a friendly wave, but Relam remain perfectly still until the pair was almost out of earshot, “That woman's a witch Faldrid! I tell you a…”

As Umbren followed Alsarie, he started to notice that the soldiers that had refrained from flaunting what they had done in Sangai earlier, were now in some sort of competition with others as to whose stories were better. They must have found a lot of them funny because he heard a lot of laughter that night.

When Umbren came upon the middle of town he noticed that there appeared to be some sort of park in the center. Alsarie looked towards it and sighed. Umbren did the same but not for the same reason. It was his response to seeing so many unmarked graves. It seems that not all the bodies would make it to Avayev.

After a moment Umbren figured that Alsarie was leading him to the dead forest that they had entered through on their way to Haden.

"I didn't see any other Hands with you or Kagi when you returned. That means that you were the only survivor once again I take it?" Alsarie spoke as they neared the forest.

"Yes...I suppose." He hadn't even taken the time to realize that.

"Odd isn't it? That the only one to survive such an attack was you. A recruit that barely has any experience under his belt. It really makes you wonder..." Alsarie looked back at him to see his reaction.

"What are you trying to imply, mistress?"

"Come our lord is waiting," she said, ignoring him.

Umbren followed Alsarie deep into the woods. A part of him started to regret his decision to follow her, to where no one else was around; Especially after what she had just said. Though there was no going back now.

They came upon a tree that had fallen down, and started to rot. On said tree sat Mortis, who looked almost bored.

Alsarie bowed to him, "My lord I have done as you have asked." She motioned towards Umbren.

"What is it that you want, Mortis?"

Alsarie flinched and looked back at Umbren with fury in her eyes. Umbren was not scared of it. He wasn't going to use formalities with the disciple, not after what had just transpired.

Noticing Alsarie's reaction, Mortis spoke, "It's alright Alsarie he means no harm by it."

Shock spread through her face as she looked back at Mortis, "But my lord!"

Mortis made a motion with his hands as if to try and calm her down.

"Forgive me, I spoke out of turn." Alsarie said her head still bowed.

After she was taken care of, Mortis gave a smirk to Umbren, "I see you remember our last conversation."

"Yes...how could I forget. It was quite shocking."

Mortis gave a hearty chuckle and stood up from the tree trunk, "So? Do you stand by what you said?"

Umbren eyed Alsarie who had now stood straight up again looking at him. He then returned his gaze back to Mortis, "I a sense yes, but also no. I told you that I couldn't meet your expectations. At the time I didn't know what I was going to do. So naturally I concluded that I couldn't fulfill what you wanted of me. Now I know I can."

Mortis arched his brow, "I see so..."

"But," Umbren cut him off, "I know that I will choose not to. I don't care if it's your will or anyone else's. I have seen many things this past week. I have experienced kindness from unexpected sources. Though I have also seen men who live for the enjoyment they find in hurting others."

"So?" Mortis asked

"So if you order me to defend our people I will obey. If you order me to assassinate a general I'll obey. If your order me to follow you to the ends of Anknown I'll obey." Mortis looked pleased in himself, but Umbren's sudden glare threw him off, "But if you order me, or anyone else, to do something like what transpired today in Sangai, I will do everything in my power to stop you Mortis."

Alsarie gave a start, almost reaching for her bow, but Mortis held out a hand stopping her, "So you plan to kill me?"

Umbren shook his head, "No, not kill."

"If that's the case then..." He summoned Tenebrence to his hand and walked to Umbren.

He raised the purple blade so close to Umbren that he could see each individual fang that ran along the blade. Despite this, Umbren didn't flinch. No, more like he stopped himself from flinching.

Mortis kept his sword in the air, "You seemed to keep the cloak, in well enough shape," he brought the sword down on Umbren's right shoulder.

The blow was heavy enough to make the shoulder bleed, but not heavy enough to do anything else, "With this sacrifice to Tenebrence, the sword of the tenebrage, I now pronounce you one of my Hounds."

Umbren blinked in disbelief as he looked at the wound. He did not expect anything like this to happen. Actually he had never even considered it.

Mortis dug some sort of canteen out of his pocket, "After that oath of loyalty what did you expect," he handed out the canteen to Umbren, "For when you find yourself not able to follow through on something. This will make you be able to get past that stubborn voice in your head."

At his words Umbren hastily threw the thing to the ground, "If my conscience tells me not to do something Mortis I won't do it. Didn't you hear what I said before."

Mortis' gaze darkened, "Sometimes there are things that you will have to do. No matter what. You will find that out shortly."

Umbren bowed at his statement and started to walk away, though after his fourth step he came to a stop, "Mortis?"

"Mmm. What?"

Umbren laid his hands on the black scabbard at his waist, "Can you teach me to use this?"

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

Mortis smiled, "It's the least I can do for a new Hound."

Umbren nodded and left the two as he went to exit the forest.

***

"My lord I mean no disrespect, but are you sure you've made the right decision? He is young and naïve, he knows nothing of the world but thinks he knows all. Then there's how he treated you. How could you make him a Hound when he said that he wouldn't follow your orders if he didn't want to. It's blasphemous what he said!"

Alsarie didn't come to say this to Mortis with ill will, but rather from a place of concern. Mortis himself knew this, "I understand, but that boy did say that he would follow me to the ends of Anknown and that is enough."

"He also said he would try to stop you."

Mortis shook his head, "With Morta how she is now, that will be useful."

Alsarie started to fidget with her hands, when Morta's name was brought up, "I'm sure the lady will come to understand what you did was necessary in due time. just needs some time."

Mortis looked at the moon above them, taking in its glow, "But is what I did really necessary..." he said under his breath.

Suddenly an uproar could be heard from the camp, bringing Mortis back to reality, "Looks like one of the prisoners escaped. Please handle it, and make sure the wolves don't get to him."

Alsarie bowed, "Yes my lord." One could see a mischievous smile if they looked close enough.

As Mortis entered Haden, he heard a scream that could rattle one to their very core. Though it just made him run his hand through his hair, "Looks like the wolves got him, or should I say a hound."

***

"So Thestra I would say that I won, what about you?"

Thestra had found an abandoned house with a rocking chair on it's porch. What she had overlooked when she had sat down, was that there was also a second chair, and at some point Kagi had plopped herself down on it.

"And why would you say that?" Thestra asked.

Opposed to Thestra gently rocking back and forth on the chair, Kagi treated it like some sort of ride, "What do you mean! I was with Faldrid when he handed over Night, so I also get the credit for it."

"Did anyone even see you? From what I saw you were hiding behind him."

Kagi bit her lip in frustration and embarrassment, "Well I must get the credit for saving Faldrid!"

Thestra looked over slowly at her with an irritated expression, "Did they even know that he had been captured in the first place?"

Kagi got even more frustrated as she tried to find another reason for how she may have one, "Then it's a tie!" She didn't find one, "Neither of us accomplished anything so it's a tie!"

"No, I won."

Kagi nearly jumped out of her chair, until the two were interrupted, "Well it's nice to see you two getting along."

Morta stood in front of the house. Night was still clutched in her hand, likely due to how dangerous the weapon was, if it were to be used by someone other than Morta.

"My lady!" Kagi exclaimed.

Morta gave a warm smile in response, "I have things I want to discuss with you, so it's great that you two were together."

Kagi looked at Morta with reverent awe, "What might that be?"

Morta walked up the stairs to the porch and stopped next to Kagi, "I believe I gave you a task before we parted."

Kagi abruptly stopped swinging back and forth in her chair at Morta's words. As she slowly nodded.

"I saw Umbren with you. The fact that you found him is a miracle in and of itself, but..." Morta lips tightened, "I can assume the others didn't make it?"

Kagi looked down in almost shame, "I'm sorry my lady. I..."

Morta knelt down and lifted Kagi's chin up, "There is nothing to be sorry about. I'm sure you gave them a proper burial."

Kagi slowly nodded and Morta's warm smile came back, "You've done a great job little one. I'm sure you'll continue to do so in the future."

Kagi's grief was somewhat replaced by overwhelming pride.

Morta turned her attention to Thestra, "Thestra I need to talk to you in private."

Thestra nodded, getting up from her chair.

As Thestra followed Morta away from the house she looked back and saw that Kagi was almost dazed by Morta's words of praise.

Thestra followed Morta to the outskirts of the village. It wouldn't have taken them long to get there if it wasn't for Morta constantly stopping to wave and make small talk with other Hands they passed.

When they finally reached the outer perimeter of the town, where no other tenebrage seemed to be, Morta pulled Thestra into an alley.

Thestra couldn't help, but smirk, "Aren't you being a little overly cautious my lady?"

Morta pointed Night at the Hand, "What did I tell you about formalities when no one else is around. We can at least try to have a normal relationship."

Thestra studied the alley walls, "So what was so important that you had to risk bringing me here?"

Morta began to stroke her glaive, "Where did you find it?"

"Some small village...Lucel I think Faldrid called it," Thestra eyed the weapon, "It really is a rotten thing isn't it?"

"How did it end up in such a place? I thought I..." Morta's eyes widened, "Did anyone touch the blade?"

"Faldrid's the one who retrieved it, so him maybe. Though I think I held it for the longest."

Morta eyed Thestra curiously, "It didn't do anything to me." Thestra said.

"I find that very hard to believe. But I couldn't have asked for a better time to get it back. Mortis is starting to get more...restless."

"Is he now? I guess you might stand a chance against him with that thing."

Morta nodded, staring at the blade, but then glanced at Thestra, "You would have made your sister proud, holding your own against him like that."

Thestra laughed a little, "That woman was never satisfied, let alone proud, of what I did. You saw my shoulder didn't you?"

Morta started to walk past Thestra out of the alley, "It was necessary."

Once Morta was out of the alley, Thestra shook her head, "You're not going to ask how I am at all."

"I already know the answer. I expect nothing less from my daughter."

Thestra gave Morta a sideways glance, "Great..."

As Thestra turned back to the alley, taking in the night air, she spotted a figure move past the alley, "What..."

***

Through much effort Faldrid was able to break away from Relam. Now he walked the streets, letting his thoughts wander.

The first thing that was on his mind was how he was going to procure more Rena Root. When he looked in Dela’s saddle bag, his whole supply was gone. He recognized the need for the three young tenebrage to use it, but not to that extent. Faldrid figured that he had enough Rena Root stocked to last him at least a year or two. He needed to talk to those three about the dangers of abusing the plant.

The second thing that was on his mind was Mortis. With Morta having retrieved Night, the power dynamic between the two has shifted. Morta had been surprisingly meek since the war started. A part of Faldrid blamed himself for that. Though now that Morta was likely to challenge Mortis more, the future of the war was a mystery.

Then there was one more piece of business…

“What are you doing there? Why so late?”

Faldris was on the outskirts of town, away from any other tenebrage, when he found someone seemingly sneaking in.

“Oh! I was just taking my time. I really haven’t done anything like it, so I wanted to enjoy myself,” Loutrin said, making his way towards Faldrid.

“I understand. I suppose I was like that when I was your age. So? How did it go?”

Loutrin hesitated for a brief second, looking up into the left corner of his eye. It was a brief moment, but Faldrid noticed, “Just went around confronting luxcian guards. I guess I got a little to excited because I even confronted Dilem. That did not end well. I barely got out of that alive.”

“Really? Can’t say that was too wise. It's surprising that you didn’t take part in the looting. Relam’s saddle bag was practically bulging.”

Loutrin shrugged his shoulders, “Guess I just don’t care about that.”

Faldrid gave a friendly smile, “I was never into that either, I liked to just take in the scene.”

Loutrin nodded, “I can appreciate that. Well, I better go, or I’m not gonna find a great place to sleep.”

Faldrid waved as Loutrin ran off into the night.

When he knew that the young tenebrage was gone, Faldrid grimaced, “Never knew that you and the general were on a first name basis.”

Faldrid walked off down the road, his steps in sync with his thoughts. That boy needed to be watched. He heard about his success early that day, but he could not be trusted. He hoped that he didn’t have to be suspicious of Loutrin, but he had no choice. As he walked down the road, he saw the remnants of war. Broken buildings, overgrown weed, and rotting wood, he couldn’t let something like this happen. He wouldn’t make any more mistakes.

“Faldrid?”

Faldrid froze where he stood. His thoughts slammed to a halt. He couldn’t bring himself to turn around, and face the women. The reminder of his biggest mistake.

“Mor..Morta…I didn’t see you there.”

Morta had come out of the alleyway behind him, and now wore a smile of pleasant surprise, “Seems like we keep missing each other. If I didn’t know better I would think you 're avoiding me.”

Faldrid gave a weak smile, “It is unfortunate isn’t. Well, I’m quite busy at the moment. Perhaps we can talk another time,” Faldrid turned his back to her and started away, but he felt something grab him.

He stopped where he stood and glanced at his shoulder. A sliver of black mist sprouted from the ground, holding him back, “What’s this for?” He asked with a slight break in his voice.

“Why do you hide it?”

Faldrid held his scarf in place. He wouldn’t have it fall off, “I was thankful when you gave me the mark, and I still am today, but I don’t deserve it.”

As Morta approached him, the darkness reseeded, “You don’t owe me Faldrid, and what happened to me wasn’t your fault.”

Faldrid looked directly into her eyes, the first time in a long time, “Even so…What about the thousands of dead luxcians, tenebrage, and all those who still suffer from the Mortis’s disease? Those are all my fault. Just because I couldn’t convince them of Mortis’s wrath.”

Morta held his gaze with a somber stare, “Still it’s not your fault. You don’t determine who I deem worthy of the mark. Trust me you’re more than worthy of it.”

Faldrid once again turned his back to Morta, he couldn’t bear to look into her purple eyes anymore, “Be that as it may, I do not think myself worthy.”

“When will you.”

“I don’t know, but I will be.”

***

Umbren didn't know why, but he had a desire to be alone. From that desire his legs took him beyond the outskirts of town.

He found himself staring at a clearing in the distance, between two hills that contained what seemed to be a thousand purple lights. He couldn't help but smile at it.

Suddenly he was reminded of the feeling deep down in his soul. The bond that he had made with Alyze. Back when he had almost struck Mortis, it had been the very thing that had saved him. He truly owed her more than he could ever give her, and he was sure he would sink even more into her debt in the future.

He started to fidget with the ring around his finger. The reminder of this whole week. Now after everything had happened he felt the need to just rest, but he knew that would be a long time off.

"So it was you."

Umbren looked back at the source of the voice. Thestra stood over him, as he sat on the grass.

She still had her hood up despite the fact that there was no reason to do so. Umbren realized his own was down, and for some odd reason felt compelled to put it on, but resisted the temptation.

"Thestra...what are you doing all the way out here."

Thestra looked past Umbren at the view before them, "beautiful," She let it slip, but then turned back to Umbren, "You had something you wanted to tell me? Back when we first reunited after Lucel."

Umbren looked back onto the view before them, he visibly looked as if a burden had been placed on his shoulders, "I wanted to apologize for what happened back when...well you know. It was my fault and I wanted to say I'm sorry for whatever I put you through because of it. I can't even begin to imagine what happened in those tents."

After a moment Umbren got no reply, and he was afraid to look behind him, "You can hit me if you want. I'll let you do anything, just don't kill me. I ask you to understand that I can't let that happen."

"You're mistaken. You don't need to apologize." Thestra paused as if she struggled to get out the next words, "Because what happened that day was my fault."

At her declaration, Umbren spun around confused, but found that she disappeared. For a while he stared at the spot she formerly inhabited. Thinking about what she had said, and how it was nonsense. Though why had she said it? To comfort him? She didn’t seem like the type to do that…

He shook his head to rid himself of the thoughts and turned back to the view before him. Obsessing over her words wouldn't do him any good.

As he looked back at the purple lights under the glow of the moon, he couldn't help but wonder if he could keep his promises. His promises to Alyze, and his declaration to Mortis. Could he really keep them or was he fooling himself.

He guessed that only time would tell. Umbren stopped fiddling with the ring, letting his hand fall to his side, as he took in the scene before him.