Chapter XI
Strange Pleasures
Luca, carrying within his coat pocket the severed finger of Dreevius, made his way back to the Acarian camp. When he finally emerged from the dense forest, he saw the remnants of the camp. The fires were out and the Allman survivors who had saved them were busy looting what was left of the place for weapons and supplies. A large pile of bloody Acarian armour sat at the edge of the cluster of tents.
Quickly enough Luca spotted Emila, standing right where he had left her, by the edge of the camp with Selphie and Jared. He started to make his way over to them, when one of the Allmans approached and spoke to him.
"Are...are you the son of Lodin?" The dark-haired boy addressing him couldn't have been more than year apart from him in age, yet there was a sort of deference in the way he spoke to Luca; like he was speaking to an elder.
"I am," he replied.
"The others say you cannot die," the boy said to him. "They say that back in the temple you received a mortal wound, yet you did not disappear."
He considered what to tell him. The truth? There could be consequences. Already someone had taken an interest in him because of his inability to die; and Emila had only survived the encounter through sheer luck.
But could he lie about this? What had happened at the temple was something he could not hide. Many people had witnessed it, and even though few had survived the attack, already rumours were spreading. He was the son of Lodin, which was something of note to those who knew of his father. As Ash had told him back at the cave, people expected things of him just from that.
He looked to where Emila was. She had not yet noticed his return.
"I did not," Luca said, deciding there was no sense in lying about it. Things were already beyond his control; in fact, they had never really been in his control in the first place. "Dreevius stabbed me through the heart, but I did not die."
The boy had wonder in his eyes. "But... how?"
"I am not certain."
"The others have been speaking of you. When we were on the road, some believed you had died in the attack. I told them they were wrong. I wanted to believe... and I was right."
Luca sighed, feeling weary.
"I will tell the others," the boy said. "I will tell them of the immortal son of Lodin!" The boy ran off excitedly, before Luca could stop him.
He sighed again, wondering what he had started.
Luca returned to Emila after that, who smiled in relief that he was okay when she saw him. He sat beside her, feeling tired from the long and eventful day; hours of travel, followed by the capture at the inn, and their rescue.
"What happened out there?" Emila asked him quietly.
"I found Dreevius," he replied. "I killed him."
That was all he needed to say. No need to fill her in on the details; like how Dreevius had impersonated her, or the cruel way Luca had killed him. She'd been through enough tonight without knowing those things.
"Are you alright?" she asked, the usual concern in her eyes.
"Just tired."
And then, Emila did something he was not expecting. She wrapped her arms around him in a warm hug. She smiled, and rested her head on his shoulder.
"Thank you," she whispered.
He wasn't sure what she was thanking him for, but he accepted her embrace. In any other situation, it would have felt awkward to him, but no one was watching and he was too tired to reject her.
Besides, she was warm, and the night was cold.
After a minute or so, she released him. They sat in silence by the edge of the tent, while Selphie and Jared spoke quietly. Brand was off with Tranom somewhere, and Ash was nowhere in sight. For the moment, it was just the two of them, and that was okay.
Then, a blond-haired girl was suddenly in front of them, beaming.
"Hello," said Wiosna. "I'm glad to see you're all alright."
Selphie and Jared walked over, and they both bowed. "On behalf of the kingdom of Sono, I thank you for what you've done," Selphie said. "By rescuing us, you've likely prevented a war. We are in your debt."
Wiosna blushed and waved her hand. "I wouldn't have just left you to them. Really, it's Ash who deserves the real credit. He found us and told us what happened."
Luca frowned.
That reminded him of something he hadn't had the chance to think on yet. Ash had fled from the inn, likely after realising that the Tranom they were talking with was false. But he had not gone to warn Selphie and the others as he'd said he was. So while he had eventually come across the Allmans and led them to back to save everyone, the question remained as to whether that was his intention all along, or if he had simply found them while attempting to flee and save his own life.
Luca had brought the question up briefly when Ash had saved them, but he had given no answer.
Though he didn't want to admit it, the truth was that Luca simply did not know Ash well enough to trust him.
Wiosna then said to Selphie, "We couldn't let these Acarians run free after what they did, much less after we learnt they took you."
"Are you in charge of this group?" Selphie asked.
"It would seem so," Wiosna said. "After Tranom led us out of the temple, he stayed behind in the woods to hold them off while we escaped. There wasn't really anyone else in our group who was willing to take charge, so I took over while he was gone. Our plan was to meet up with him later, but he never showed up."
"At Kasma?" Luca suggested. "Specifically, at the inn?"
Wiosna nodded slowly.
"Perhaps it was a stroke of good fortune that we got there first," Luca muttered grimly. They all exchanged silent glances, the same thought on their minds.
"It seems Dreevius was able to escape into the woods..." Wiosna said in a funny voice.
"He did, but I followed him," Luca told her. "I took care of him."
Wiosna smiled knowingly. "Is that right? That's fantastic. In that case, we don't need to stay here."
"Do you have a camp of your own?" Selphie asked.
"We do. It's not as big as this one, but nobody here wants to sleep in an Acarian tent. So we're taking what we can and heading back there. I trust you will be joining us?"
"I would be honoured to be your guest," Selphie said humbly.
Wiosna turned to Luca, giving him a strangely warm smile. "Let's get going, then."
He had a strange feeling about her, like she knew something she wasn't telling them.
The Allman company of fifty or so, and Luca's group, finished gathering what they could from the Acarian camp and prepared to depart. Before they left, Luca slipped off on his own one last time, going to Dreevius' now-empty tent.
In the middle, there was a desk where the Acarian acolyte had left various maps, letters, and battle plans. Beside it, on a shelf, was a small caged bird which was untouched by the fire. It fluttered about in its cage, and blinked at Luca as he approached.
On the desk, Luca spotted a half-written letter, describing the attack against the temple, and its success. It was just beginning to get to the part of Selphie's capture when it ended abruptly.
Luca turned to the bird. "I'm afraid you'll be delivering a different message."
He sat down at the desk, discarded the unfinished note, and took a fresh piece of parchment and a pen. He wrote a single sentence across it.
Luca then withdrew the small, severed finger from his coat pocket, wrapped it up in the note, and returned to the bird cage. The raven squawked as he took it out, but he was able to settle it long enough to tie the small letter around its leg.
Luca then carried the bird outside.
"Now go back to Acaria."
He released the bird, which took off into the air. It flew up high, and drifted off towards the mountains in the east.
They made their way through the woods and back to the road, walking in a process of about three or so abreast. Luca walked beside Emila and Brand, with Wiosna,
Selphie, and Tranom before them, talking about the princess' plans to return to T'Saw. Jared strode behind him, as silent as always.
A few rows away, Ash was walking with his arms crossed. He noticed Luca looking over at him, and met his stare. His expression said nothing. Luca turned away.
There was little to talk about as they walked. Everyone was tired, and the Allman camp was a few kilometres from where they were. They made good time, though, and before they knew it, they had arrived.
The camp was much humbler than the Acarian one had been, with only six tents. There was a large fire in the centre, which was watched over by two Allmans who had stayed behind, and around that were many sleeping bags.
Wiosna promised a tent to Selphie, which Selphie in turn offered to share with Emila. Before they left, Emila wished Luca a good night.
Brand muttered the same, and he went to go find a comfortable spot by the fire. Jared and Ash and the other Allmans all went and found things to do, and Tranom tossed his bag down by a tree and used it as a pillow.
Feeling rather tired, Luca was about to do the same when he felt Wiosna's hand on his shoulder. She cocked her head over to one of the tents, with a look that said she wanted to talk with him.
Seeing no reason to decline, Luca followed her over to the tent. Wiosna looked over the camp quickly, to make sure no one was looking, and then she grabbed his hand and pulled him inside. At that moment, it occurred to him that maybe he shouldn't be doing what he was doing.
"What is it?" he asked her.
Wiosna unbuckled her breastplate, and pulled it off, now wearing only a white robe of Allma Temple, soiled by dirt and blood. "You have had a rough night. You deserve to sleep somewhere comfortable."
"No rougher than any of the others."
Wiosna shook her head and said, "No need to be modest. Go on and take that heavy coat off and relax."
"You want me to sleep here?"
"What do you think I invited you in here for?"
A thousand ideas went through Luca's mind. If anyone saw them, there was only one thing that they would think; the same thing anyone thinks when they see a boy and girl going off somewhere alone. But there was no chance that was what she had in mind, she clearly just wanted him to sleep there. Yeah. Definitely.
Which, if he did, would be the second time he had slept in a tent while the other male members of his group were out in the cold.
Wiosna blushed and laughed, looking away shyly. "There nothing wrong with you sleeping in here with me. I know you won't try anything."
"I still don't think this is the best idea," he insisted. "I should go back outside with the others."
"Please," she asked, giving him an adorable pleading look. "I didn't come to save you just so you could go lie in the dirt."
He turned back around. There was something off about what she'd said. "You didn't come back for me. You came back to save Selphie and Tranom."
"They were important, sure," she said. "Especially the princess. But you were the one I was really worried about. When your brother told me they had you, I feared the worst, and it worried me until the moment we found you."
"But... why?"
Wiosna shrugged. "Who can say? Sometimes we feel things we don't fully understand. The 'normal' view of emotion is too narrow, and too often inaccurate. Feeling an emotion whose origin you can't identify does not make it wrong. That's just what I felt. I was worried about you the most."
"I suppose I can understand that." Indeed, too often he felt things like that about Emila.
"Come. Sit down."
He didn't want to insult her, which he realised that his leaving would at this point, so he took off his heavy fur coat and sat down. There were two bedrolls in the tent, he noticed.
"You were expecting me this whole time?"
"All the other tents have two in them."
"Ah."
Wiosna sat down on her side of the tent, stretching and cracking her neck. "There has been talk about you."
"That I cannot die?" he guessed.
"Some of the students claim they saw what happened at the temple," she said, her eyes wide with interest. "Is it true?"
He nodded.
She smiled excitedly. "How?"
"I'm not sure how it works, exactly." It was as much as he could say. He didn't want many people to know about the tether with Emila. After what had happened with Dreevius, he worried for her safety now more than ever.
"So, if I were to stab you and cut you open, you would not die?" Wiosna asked, her eyes full of excitement. Her breath had quickened a bit. "No matter what sort of injury I inflicted, you would not disappear?"
"I would prefer you didn't do those things, but no, I would not."
"That's incredible," she said. "You have quite a gift."
He frowned. It wasn't really a gift. In fact, it was something he shouldn't have at all. If he were a better warrior, he wouldn't continually find himself in these life-threatening situations.
"What... what did it feel like?" she asked bashfully.
"I'm sorry?"
"When he stabbed you."
Luca sat back for a moment, thinking about it. "Well, it was different each time."
"Each time...?"
"Er, yes. He stabbed me again when we were being held, also in the heart."
Wiosna shook her head disapprovingly. "What a piece of work."
"Indeed. In any case, the first time I didn't really feel anything. Everything just went cold and I couldn't move for a while. I honestly thought I was dead for a while, but then I realised I was still breathing. The second time; well, that was just excruciatingly painful."
He remembered Emila, and how she had screamed and thrashed around, feeling the same thing he felt. He hadn't cried out, but she had; likely because she wasn't used to such pain. It hurt him when he thought about that, and he hated that it was the result of his foolishness that had led to her feeling that pain. Deep down, he knew it wasn't his fault, but he could not relieve himself of the feeling of guilt gnawing at him.
"I thought you died back in the attack," Luca said to Wiosna. "I saw your glasses on the ground, half-crushed by an Acarian boot."
"Ah yes, my glasses. I'll have to get a new pair when we get to a city. I mostly use them for reading, but things do look a little fuzzy right now."
"You look better without them," he said.
Her cheeks flushed red. "Oh, stop it."
"You were quite the fighter back there," he continued. "And you've been leading the survivors, as well. I must admit, I'm surprised. When we first spoke I'd thought you just a quiet scholar."
Wiosna smiled. "I have a passion for books. I've read ever since I was a child. It was great, because no matter how bad things got, I always had my books to keep me company. I could escape into them."
"I read a lot, too," Luca admitted. "My father and I were always travelling, and he would always get new books for me when we reached a new town. Mostly fiction, but I did quite enjoy learning the Way of Uro."
She looked up, surprise and perhaps a bit of worry in her eyes. "Are you a follower of the Way?"
He thought about it for a moment, then shook his head. Perhaps once he could have called himself that in truthfulness. But after tonight - after what he had done to Dreevius...
"I once admired it, but it's an impossible ideal."
Wiosna nodded. "I agree. I've met a few who followed the Way so strictly they would die before they violated one of the rules. They were bitter, sad shells who gave everything they had and received nothing in return. People took advantage of their generosity when they wanted to, and mocked them any other time. Nobody cared for them, not even themselves."
"It is certainly a hard life."
"The rules of life are hard enough without making more for yourself," Wiosna said. "Enjoy the things you enjoy, and never feel guilty for it."
He sat back, thinking about that. Simple enough, he decided. There was no sense in feeling guilt over the things you enjoy
ed. People will always judge someone, no matter how perfect they strive to be. Sacrificing one's own joy to appease those people was simply foolish.
"So what do you enjoy?" he asked Wiosna, not sure why he was so curious.
She smiled, and scratched her cheek. "Reading, undoubtedly. But I also like to just go out and take in the simple beauty of the world. The leaves in the woods, the cool breeze, the sound of a flowing stream. The serenity brings peace to the mind. My greatest passion, however... that would be the rush of battle. That's why I travelled to Allma Temple in the first place. I enjoy the excitement of a fight."
Luca remembered the excitement in Wiosna's eyes when the Allmans had attacked the Acarian camp, slaughtering the people who had destroyed their home. Wiosna had screamed for their blood. He had attributed it to the rush of vengeful passion, but it seemed the girl's real passion was for combat. Then again, it made more sense than someone who spent all their time in a library coming to a place like Allma. Everyone there was a warrior at heart; one had to be if they wanted to make it through the training.
"Your turn," Wiosna prodded playfully.
"My turn?"
"Tell me what you enjoy in life. I shared, so you have to as well. It's only fair."
He had to think on that one for a bit. There wasn't really much. Back when he travelled with Lodin, he read, but mostly because that was all there was to do. He cared nothing for the little things that Wiosna spoke of, and he when he fought; it was something he was good at, and proud of, but not quite a passion, like it seemed to be for Wiosna.
The only thing that really drove him in life was honour. Honour was the whole reason he was going after Zinoro in the first place, because he wanted to see the man pay for killing his father. But in his efforts to reach that goal, he had already forsaken it. Honour would not get him to Zinoro; pragmatism would.
Dreevius had no honour, so why should Luca need to feel guilty for fighting him without it? Dreevius really did deserve to die slowly in the mud. But no honourable warrior would have dragged him over to it. But it was what Luca had decided was right.
So why did he feel such guilt? He had felt so satisfied when he had broke off Dreevius' finger, and he had felt even more so when he had dealt the killing blow. Perhaps the guilt wasn't that he had killed Dreevius in such a dishonourable way, but that he had enjoyed doing so.
Wiosna was waiting for his answer with a concerned look.
"I'm not sure," he admitted.
"You don't know what you enjoy?" she asked.
He shook his head.
The blond girl bit her lip. "Er... perhaps I shouldn't have asked."
"It was in your right," he assured her.
"Still, I feel guilty if I made you sad," Wiosna said. She looked awkwardly over to a bag in the corner of the tent. "There's uh... wine in there if you want it."
Luca considered that. A few weeks ago, he would have flat out refused the offer. It was part of the Way of Uro, which he had wanted so badly to be a follower of.
A warrior will resist the vices of the world, as drink and...
To hell with that. Uro has been dead for over a thousand years. Luca deserved to live.
"Thanks, I think I do."
He reached over Wiosna and took the wine bottle out of the bag. The small blond girl looked at him uncomfortably as he did so, perhaps from his closeness. She seemed to relax a bit as he pulled away, and pulled the tight cork free of the bottle.
Luca had only ever consumed alcohol once before in his life. While he and Lodin had been staying at an inn somewhere - he couldn't remember where - his father had ordered a mug of ale. After several minutes of incessant pestering, Lodin had finally given Luca a glass of his own. The younger version of him had been so eager to try it, but he had hated the taste so much he never wanted to try it again.
Luca found himself smiling at the memory of his father's roaring laughter at the disgusted face he had made. How old had he been that day, he wondered. Ten? Eight? Possibly even younger than that...
Shrugging, Luca took a swig of the wine bottle. He shuddered as he swallowed. It tasted about as bad as he had thought it would.
"Is... it good?" Wiosna asked him.
"I suppose so," he said. He took a second drink, and it didn't taste as bad as the first. "I guess I could get used to this."
He offered the bottle to Wiosna, and she recoiled like it was a striking snake. She gasped aloud, and shuffled away from him.
"What is it?!" he asked her. "Are you alright?"
"Y-yes," she said, looking increasingly uncomfortable. "I just don't drink, that's all."
He looked at her, trying to puzzle out what she was afraid of. "It's not going to hurt you." Still, he did not hold the bottle out to her, returning it to his own person.
Wiosna moved back to where she she had been sitting, looking a bit embarrassed at the outburst. "I know. It just makes me really comfortable to even be around the stuff."
"Why did you have it, then?"
"One of the other students brought it with him when we escaped," Wiosna said. "The temple had a whole wine cellar, and he said he was determined to save even one bottle if he could. It's not the oldest the temple had, but it's pretty old."
Luca turned the bottle over, and found the date marked on it. Thirty-three ten. His eyes went wide.
"That's over a hundred and fifty years ago...!"
"That's nothing," Wiosna said, her smile returning. "There's wine in that cellar that was bottled in the age of Markiran empire. The library had one book that was penned in the twenty-five hundreds; it was kept in a glass case, because it would probably fall to pieces if someone tried to read it."
Luca hesitated to take another drink. He suddenly felt like he was holding a piece of history.
"The temple itself has only stood for three generations, but so many people and things found their way there," Wiosna said sadly. "And now it's all gone."
"Just another thing Zinoro has stolen from the world," Luca said bitterly. "He'll pay for all this, I promise you."
Wiosna looked to him, and said, "You should finish that. Otherwise, it'll just go to waste."
Luca thought about it for a moment, and then took a long swig. When he finished, his head was spinning.
Wiosna watched him drink, and smiled.
Emila sighed, turning over in her sleeping bag for possibly the hundredth time. She was restless, unable to sleep in spite of her fatigue. Beside her, Selphie was fast asleep, having drifted off almost as soon as her head hit the pillow. Emila had no such luck. Something was bothering her, but she just couldn't put her finger on it.
Or perhaps she knew exactly what it was, and she just didn't want to admit it.
She looked out at the camp outside, through the small gap between the folds. Dozens of sleeping white-cloaked figures were scattered around the large fire in the centre. Some others were awake, and seated at a table, talking over a drink. Under the faint starlight, and the orange glow of the fire, she spotted Ash and Tranom among the ones sleeping around the camp. Jared was lying on a roll close to her and Selphie's tent - she couldn't be sure if he was sleeping or not.
As her tossing and turning might wake Selphie - which was something she'd feel bad for doing - Emila rose as quietly as she could and went outside. She made her way over to the fire. Jared did not move or say anything as she passed him, so he must have been sleeping after all.
Emila sat as close to the large fire as she needed, and stretched her arms out to warm up.
"Can't sleep?" said a voice right next to her.
She stifled a gasp and nearly jump. Brand was sitting beside her, having joined her without her even noticing.
"No, I can't," she said, trying to calm her beating heart.
"I can't blame you," he said, "after what happened."
That feeling of being stabbed... she had felt that once already, back in the temple the first time Dreevius stabbed Luca. The pain had been unbearable, and she had scr
eamed and screamed in pain and enraged grief at the thought that Luca had just been killed. But that wasn't what was bothering her.
She could possibly talk about it; but she didn't feel like Brand would understand.
"I can manage," she said. "How about you? You're reunited with your master."
"It's good to see him again." Brand put his hands behind his head and sat back. "But I knew he'd be alright."
Emila looked around the camp, wondering where Luca was.
"I have to apologise," Brand said.
"For what?"
"I should have been with you at the inn. If I had stuck with you guys, instead of going shopping with Selphie, I would have realised that the guy you met there wasn't the real Tranom. I would have realised a lot quicker than Ash, and unlike him I wouldn't have run off without telling you anything."
"He drugged us," Emila pointed out. "The innkeeper was drugging all the food served there. We were caught the moment we started to eat."
"You still had time to get away. I could have fought the guy and held him off. He wouldn't have been able to tell his men about Selphie. You would have been able to get to her first, and you all could have escaped."
"But you would have died..."
He didn't answer that. A moment passed before he spoke again.
"Now that I think about it, we should have all stuck together from the beginning." Brand spoke quietly, staring deep into the flickering fire. "We shouldn't have split up at all, at least not until we were certain the town was safe. You and Luca could have been killed back there. We all could have been, once were caught. It's only thanks to that other Acarian guy that Dreevius didn't kill you. He didn't need any of us alive, save for Selphie."
"Brand," Emila said sternly, "don't think about things like that. There are thousands of times where doing something different could result in a better outcome. But unless you're a seer, there's no way to know that when you make those decisions. Don't torture yourself over 'could-haves'."
Brand smirked. "You're right, I shouldn't be moping uselessly like this. That's Ash's job." He sat up and looked into the fire.
Emila looked around the camp once again, trying to spot a particular white-haired figure among the sleeping crowd. "Where is he, anyway?"
"Ash?"
"No. The other brother."
Brand frowned. He pointed over to one of the tents. There was a lit lantern inside it, but the light was too faint to make out anything inside.
"He's in there?" Emila asked. "Isn't that Wiosna's tent?"
"It is," Brand said.
Emila blinked, not quite understanding. "Wh-why he would he be in there?"
"She invited him back to her tent," Brand explained. "They were trying to be discreet, but I saw them. That's all I know. I've been keeping an eye on it since, but I haven't seen anything."
"...oh," she said softly, in spite of herself.
"I'm certain nothing's happening," Brand reassured her. "You know Luca, he's wouldn't do anything with a girl he hardly knows."
"No, this is great," Emila said with as much enthusiasm as she could muster. "It's good he's spending time with a girl who isn't me."
Brand had an expression that said he didn't quite believe that. "Emila, if you're upset, you can tell me. I know you two are very close, and-"
"No, it really isn't like that," she said, more certain this time. "The thing is... the magick that I used to save him is pretty much completely untested. Nobody knows much about it at all; I had no idea it would save his life the way it did. But one of the things I do know about it is that the two connected are drawn together. Any attraction that he and I might feel for each other isn't real. It's not actual affection, it's more like a forced obsession. If he were to have a relationship with another girl, that would help things a lot, because in the worst case scenario, we could become so obsessed with each other that it could warp our personalities and drive us insane."
"So you're not jealous at all?" Brand asked her.
"If I am, it's not real jealousy," Emila replied. "It's the tether pushing me towards him. If I give into it, then things could get very bad. The obsession could lead us to see any interaction with another person as a potential threat. That kind of jealousy is very dangerous. So if I do feel anything, it's wrong and I have to do the opposite of what I feel."
"That wasn't really a yes or no," Brand said.
Emila sighed. "Yes, I do feel jealous. More jealous than I should. But I don't own him, and I know that if he wants to spend the night with another girl, that's good, because that means he isn't as dependent as I am."
"Emila..." Brand sounded very concerned.
"Really, this is a good thing," she insisted. "It's better for both of us, even if it hurts me."
Brand frowned, but he said nothing more. He picked a twig up off the ground, and twirled it around in his hand. Then he broke it in half and tossed one piece into the fire. "If this tether thing is so dangerous, why don't you just stop it?"
"That was the plan, but things keep happening," she said. "His lung was healed the other day, so I wanted to break the tether, but then Dreevius stabbed him in the heart. Twice. If I broke it now, he would die. I have to wait for whatever mortal injuries he sustains to fully heal before I break the tether. And while I can use magick to close a wound, if his body still thinks he's dead, he would vanish if the tether was broken. Time is the only thing that can fix that."
"So when he was stabbed by Dreevius it all started over again," Brand muttered.
"Indeed. But that's just it, though," Emila said. "He keeps getting into situations where he suffers injuries that set him back. How quickly would he be killed if I broke the tether and left him on his own?"
"So you're saying that you have to subject yourself to this dangerous magick because otherwise he would run off and die?" Brand asked. "That's very noble of you, even though I don't necessarily feel it's the right thing to do."
"I didn't save his life in Forga just for him to go off and get killed anyway," she said. "He's gotten too confident after he survived Dreevius stabbing him. He knows he can't die, so he hasn't been trying to avoid it. He even told me after it that he could fight the entire Acarian army if he had to. And if left on his own, he would do that. I have to protect him from himself, and from all the ways he can get himself killed."
"You just said a minute ago that you can't let yourself get dependent on each other," Brand said. "But from what you've just said, that's already happened."
"That's... not the same thing. I was talking about being obsessed due to the emotional draw..."
"I came to ask if you were alright after what happened back at the Acarian camp. Instead of answering that, you've talked about Luca the whole time."
"You're just manipulating what I said!" Emila insisted.
"What's the real reason why you can't sleep?"
Emila hesitated. He knew. He'd backed her into a corner. She bowed her head in shame. "It's because Luca isn't with me."
"Ah," Brand said. "I thought it might be something like that."
"Please don't tell him," she pleaded. "Don't tell him any of this. I don't want him burdened with the knowledge. I don't want him to feel guilty for me keeping him alive."
"It's not my place to say anything," Brand assured her. "That's for you to decide. But you should still rethink things nonetheless. This situation... things like this never end well."
Emila sighed. He was right, and she knew it. But there was nothing she could do. She would not abandon Luca, not after everything she had done to save him, and especially not with what she was risking to keep him alive. To throw that all away for her own sake would be selfish. And yet she couldn't rely on the magick of the tether to protect him - both from Zinoro and his forces, and himself - it was simply a bandage covering a larger wound. Brand's points were valid, yet the situation was simply too complex to just do what one felt was right. Things in real life rarely were.
Luca seemed to have difficulty understanding
that concept. That was partly why he continued to make mistakes that would have killed anyone else.
Luca opened his eyes, finding that his head ached sorely and the bright morning light streaming in from outside did nothing to ease the pain. His head was resting on something warm and soft, which he realised with a bit of a start was the hand of a young girl sleeping beside him.
The events of the night before came back to him, and his momentary bit of panic died away, as he was sure nothing had happened that he would have regretted. Still, things were awkward enough for him, waking this close to a girl he had only known for two days, and would only get more so when Wiosna woke, so he quietly gathered his things and stepped out in the cold air. The empty wine bottle sat forgotten in the corner.
The Allmans were waking gradually. The large fire from the night before had died out, and some of the students still trying to cling to sleep were wrapping themselves tightly with their sleeping bags in denial.
There was something he wanted to do, which he had wanted to do the night before, but had been too tired to. He spotted his brother Ash, sitting alone against a tree at the fringe of the camp, and he stared towards him. Ash made no attempt to escape.
"I need to talk to you about yesterday," Luca said to him.
"Go ahead," Ash said, his voice and expression level and guiltless.
"Back at the inn, you left very suddenly," Luca said. "You said that you were going to go find Selphie and the others. But they were on their way back already, and they never met you. You really left because you figured out that the Tranom we were talking to was not really him."
"That's correct," Ash replied. "Anyone who has known Brand and Tranom long enough would realise what Dreevius' mistake was. I'm surprised you didn't notice it."
"But you left Emila and I there. You didn't tell us, or give us any sign of what was going on. You completely abandoned us to him. We could have been killed."
"Any way I could have alerted you would have done the same for Dreevius," Ash explained. "There were Acarians in the town, and Selphie needed to be warned. Her safety took priority. As for Dreevius killing you, I believe he tried it once already without success."
Ignoring that last part, Luca continued. "You say you went to Selphie to warn her, but she told me you never showed up."
"I wasn't familiar with the town, and I didn't know where to look for them. By the time I found them, the Acarians had already made their move."
"But you didn't try to help."
"There were a dozen of them, and I was still unarmed. All that would have accomplished was that I would have been caught myself."
Luca stared at his brother. There was no hesitation in his eyes. If he was lying about any of this, he was a damn good liar.
But most of that was plausible anyway. So far, his story checked out. The next part, Luca both dreaded and anticipated to ask.
"Very well. After Selphie, Brand, and Jared were captured, what did you do next? Did you already know that the Allman survivors were around and you had not told us? Or were you fleeing from the town, abandoning us and saving your own skin, when you came across them by accident?"
There was no simple explanation to this one. Either he had deceived them, or he had abandoned them.
"You're so certain I've wrong you, aren't you, brother?" Ash said with a faint smile of wry amusement. "I knew that coming to your rescue on my own would be a futile effort. Those Acarian soldiers are machine-like in their efficiency. No prisoner escapes from them, and nobody sneaks past them. So, no. I was not going to simply take up a sword and fight my way in to save you."
"So you were-!"
"Let me finish. Even with the Acarians, there is room for error. Dreevius was a foolish leader. My plan was to watch his camp from afar and wait for him to make a mistake. Sooner or later he would get confident he had won, and would let his guard down. Then I would make my attempt to rescue you. It wasn't the best plan, but it was all I could do at the time. However, while I was buying the weapons and supplies I would need, the shopkeeper mentioned that several people wearing the same white robes as I had come through and bought weapons and supplies of their own. I managed to get him to tell me where they were, and then I set aside my previous plan and went to them for help."
Luca frowned. The story has some holes in it, but it was believable. While he did want to believe that Ash would have tried to save them despite the futility of it, his inner cynicism told him that Ash would not have, and he would have left them behind. There was really no way to know for sure, as all he had to trust Ash on was his word.
"You freed me when Allma had me locked up," Ash continued. "Why would you suspect that I would not do the same for you? I did come back and free you all, so why are you coming to me with this suspicion? Just accept that I helped you and move on."
With that, Ash rose and walked away, leaving his brother behind by that tree.
"Perhaps I should trust him more..." Luca said quietly to himself.
Back in the caves, when Luca had fallen into the lake, Ash had thrown the rope down and pulled him to safety. If he wanted Luca dead, he could have just let him drown there. Ash was certainly quiet and secretive, but that didn't mean that he was untrustworthy.
Still, Luca couldn't help but feel that there was a period, however brief it may have been, where his brother had considered leaving them all to die.
By midday, everything was packed up and the group was on their way.
The three people who were ostensibly in charge - Selphie, Tranom, and Wiosna - sat together that morning to discuss what should be done. It was agreed that the princess needed to return to T'Saw, and meet with the king to discuss what had happened. She had sent her letters earlier while in town, one to T'Saw, and another to Tellador, informing both kings of her safety, the treachery of Allma, and urging them not to act against Acaria. There was no worry of Sono declaring war, but what King Edmund of Torachi would do was still to be determined.
Selphie told everyone that the king of Saeticia, Marcus, would grant them passage in Serenite if they needed it, and as it was right in the path to T'Saw, it would be wise to stop there and seek his aid.
Tranom met with the fifty or so survivors of the attack, and told them that he needed them to accompany the princess as far as Serenite, at which point they were free to go back to their homes or wherever they wished. This was their final debt to the temple. As for Tranom himself, he swore to see Selphie safely back in Sono.
So then everything was decided. Tranom, Wiosna, and the Allmans would go with Selphie first to Serenite, and then to T'Saw. The original plan - of Selphie taking her team into Acaria to reach a peaceful agreement with Zinoro - was still more or less in action. She had back all the original members she wanted: Luca, Brand, and Wiosna. The attack on the temple and the efforts to abduct her may have put the possibility of resolving the conflict peacefully in serious doubt, but until King Zaow himself told them otherwise, they were not to give up on the possibility of avoiding war with Acaria.
But first she had to get back to T'Saw. She now had fifty Allmans to protect her, so the Acarians were less of a threat than before. Caution would still be needed, however.
Luca himself had little hope in this pipe dream actually coming true. Zinoro clearly was not the kind of man who would accept a peaceful solution if he did not want it. His actual motivations for wanting war with Sono was still a mystery, but it seemed he was out to fulfil his father's original vision.
During the rule of Manorith, Acaria had been deep in poverty and plague. Sono, their eastern neighbour, had been wealthy and prosperous, and a land of dream in contrast to their near-dead home. Manorith promised that dream to his people, and set out to take Sono for himself. He had failed miserably, and now Zinoro seemed to want to finish his work.
Regardless, Zinoro would not be swayed by Selphie's words. And whatever it was she planned to do with Luca, he himself was not going to enter Acaria with peace
ful intentions. Luca could not rest until Zinoro was gone from the world.
Luca almost felt guilty for planning to sabotage Selphie's mission, but he had already convinced himself that it was doomed to fail anyway.
As they walked, Luca tried his best not to look at Wiosna.
She had some interest in him, and he could not be sure if it was of an intimate kind, but she had still invited him into her tent in the middle of the night. She had given him wine and they had spoke of vulnerable aspects of their lives. When morning came, he had left before she had awoken. All that was really missing from the situation was actual intimate contact.
At the same time, he was also trying not to look over at Emila. She had been rather distant and quiet all morning. He wasn't sure if she knew where he had been, and was upset at that, or if what had happened the night before was bothering her. He wasn't sure, but he made a promise to himself that when they made camp for the night he would go and talk to her.
Luca himself was confused. He had only known Wiosna for three days now, yet he found the girl very easy to talk and relate to. His time spent in her tent, while awkward, had been enjoyable. Speaking with her had taken his mind off of Dreevius and Zinoro and all the dark little things that usually clouded his mind. Compared to Emila, who he cared for very much but found difficult to understand and relate to, Wiosna was a breath of fresh air. She was a warrior, a student of literature, and there were no magick complications like there were with Emila.
He felt guilty for enjoying it so much, because he felt like he was betraying Emila by going to her.
He wondered if Emila felt the same.