Chapter XVI
Broken Vows
The night was still young when Emila and Luca returned to Reven. Despite the late hour, however, the town was well awake from the chaos caused by Trunda's attack. The town guard had been gathered, and they had placed Trunda in chains and locked him up in the small dungeons under the guard's barracks. In such a small town, it was the best they could do, but they were smart enough to not take chances with such a dangerous man. A fast messenger raven had been sent off to T'Saw with news of his capture, but in the meantime it seemed they were going to be keeping him there.
Many villagers were awake and asking about the commotion. The guards were doing their best to send them away as Emila and Luca approached. They spotted Jared standing with his arms crossed by the entrance to the barracks, a sour expression on his face.
"Where is Selphie?" Emila asked him once they were able to get past the guards.
"Inside," Jared grunted with a tilt of his head. "She wanted to talk to him. She made me wait out here."
"Is she alone?" Luca asked, surprised.
Jared nodded, not looking particularly pleased at being reminded of that. "She insisted on it."
Emila frowned. Luca knew why she was worried. He knew better than anyone.
"Where are the others, then?"
"Brand and Ash are back at the inn," Jared said. "Wiosna is... somewhere."
Luca looked around, wondering where Wiosna could have possibly gone. He didn't see the familiar bespectacled girl anywhere close by.
"You did a good job patching him up," Jared said to Emila. "The Acarian did a number on him."
For Jared, that was as close to admitting he was worried as he was going to get. The guard seemed a little more open lately. Perhaps he was finally starting to trust them.
Emila smiled politely at Jared's compliment, but the worry was still there in her eyes. She glanced at Luca for a second, quickly looking away when she saw that he had noticed.
"Begone! Nothing to see here!" A grizzled looking guard had appeared, looking tired and more than a little irritated. It would seem he had been woken from his home by the news of Trunda's capture. He shooed away the spectators, who scattered quickly at his frightening shouts. This man, apparently the captain of the town's guard, approached the other guards and started asking questions.
"You two should get back to the inn," Jared told them. "You need your sleep. These men have the situation under control."
Emila shook her head. "We'll wait for Selphie to be done. Then we can all go back together."
Jared considered for a moment, then shrugged. "Suit yourself."
The grizzly captain then came over to them. "I hear you lot are the ones who caught this man."
"We're Princess Selphie's escort," Jared told him. "We're on our way back to T'Saw."
"So he followed you here, then?"
"So it would seem." Jared didn't seem to like this guy, which was the most shocking twist of all. "This man is one of Zinoro's personal acolytes. He was at Serenite, conspiring with King Marcus' younger son against the throne."
"Royal business," the captain spat. "I keep my nose out of that. We all do around here. You brought this guy here, so you can be the ones to take him back."
"But the letter you sent..." Emila started to say, but the captain cut her off.
"You said you're on your way to T'Saw. Well this man belongs in the T'Saw dungeons, and not here in our small town. The last thing we need is for Zinoro to send a hundred of his men here because we're holding his acolyte. Take him with you when you go."
"You cannot make such demands of the princess," Jared all but growled at the captain. "As Sonoian citizens, it is your duty to hold this war prisoner until soldiers from T'Saw come for him."
"Sonoian citizens, huh?" the captain said, his unshaven face scowling. "It's easy to make demands of us, isn't it? But where were you when the Acarians came here six months ago and slaughtered our people? We were one of the villages in Zinoro's attacks. We sent letters to the capital, begging for aid. We got nothing from you. All we had to defend us against further attacks is the twelve men who work here as the guards, including myself."
The captain took the cloth of his trousers and pulled up, exposing his ankle and lower knee. Instead of flesh, he had an iron prosthetic from the knee down.
"Those damn Acarians were brutal," he muttered. "They showed up out of nowhere; one minute things were fine, and the next screams filled the air. They cared nothing for a human's life, not ours and not their own. They killed anyone they could get their hands on - man, woman, child - it made no difference to them. I lost my leg, but I was able to keep fighting. My wife and son were not. They were slaughtered along with many others; at least a third of our people. The Acarians were monsters. They didn't do this for gold or weapons or resources. They just did it to kill. It was... inhuman."
The captain's face had grown pale. Luca knew what he meant. The Acarians... he himself had doubts about whether there really were human beings under there, or if Zinoro had somehow used dark magick to turn them into mindless servants.
"We don't want that man here, and we don't want you here." The captain pulled his trouser leg back down and glared at them. "You will all be gone by the morning."
The captain walked past them and entered the guard station, completely ignoring Selphie's insistence that she be left alone. Jared watch him go, looking like he was about to go murder the man.
"How dare he...?! He has no right to make demands of the princess like that!"
Emila frowned sympathetically. "He's just doing what he thinks is best for his people. He has a point. The Acarians might come here to rescue Trunda if we just leave him here."
"We cannot take him with us, though..." Jared muttered. "We cannot take the risk."
At that moment, Wiosna emerged from somewhere, appearing as out of the shadows of the night. Her face was flushed, and she was breathing heavily, but otherwise she appeared to be fine.
"Where were you?" Luca asked her.
"N-nowhere!" Wiosna exclaimed. "Just... taking care of something, that's all."
"Okay, relax," Luca said. "You're certainly jumpy."
"Just tired," she sighed.
"Is Selphie almost done in there?" Emila asked. "I think at this point we all need some sleep."
Jared looked over to the door with a scowl. "With the captain having gone in..."
As though on cue, Selphie pushed the door open, looking angrier than Luca had ever seen her.
"The nerve! Who does he think he is? Were we in the capital, talking to me that way would have him in the dungeons...!"
Jared did not go to comfort her like he usually did. He actually moved aside, giving her some space. Selphie stepped out of the guard station, turning to Luca.
"I'm glad to see you're alright," she said, after taking a deep breath to calm herself. "I was worried. I guess I let that get to my head, as I wanted to interrogate him by myself."
"Did he tell you anything?" Luca asked.
"Not a thing," Selphie said sadly. "He was as silent as a statue the entire time. He only spoke once; he said he wouldn't mind speaking with you, if you survived."
"He wants to talk to me?"
"Indeed," Selphie said patiently. "I don't know if he was serious about it. I think he might have been taunting me, but... I guess it's up to you if you want to go in there or not."
"Yeah," Luca decided. "I have a few things I want to say to him."
Emila didn't seem to like that. She was biting her lip, which meant there was something she wanted to say, but was too nervous or uncomfortable to bring herself to.
"Go on back to the inn," Luca told her, placing his hand on her shoulder. "I'll be right back."
"Alright..." Emila gave in. "Just be careful. Don't let him get in your head with his mind games."
What an odd thing to say. Emila herself must have been bothered by something Trunda had said to her back in Serenite. Luca would have to ask her abo
ut it later.
The others gave him reassuring nods, and Luca stepped inside the guard station, closing the door behind him. As he walked in, the captain was seated at a table. He looked up when he heard Luca's footsteps.
"What are you doing in here?" he asked. "I thought I told you all to get out of here."
"The Acarian tried to kill me tonight," Luca told him. "I want him to see that he failed, and there's some other things he should know about me."
The captain studied him for a second, considering. After a moment, he nodded. "Very well. Just don't be a fool and try anything. He's a lot bigger than you, and the doors are locked anyway. You would just be letting him free. Say whatever you want, but let him rot in there."
Luca nodded, and continued on, going down the steps that led to the small dungeon. There were only three cells in it, though they were made of the same iron as any other, and they had the mana-blocking circles that any cell needed. Even a man like Trunda could not escape from a cell like that.
He was sitting there in the middle cell, his legs crossed and his eyes closed. He looked like he was meditating. He did not open his eyes as Luca approached, though the sound of his footsteps echoing off the stone walls were unmistakable.
"So you survived, after all," Trunda said to him. "Those wounds I gave you were no mere scratches. By all the laws of nature, you should be dead now."
"Dreevius thought he could kill me," Luca said. "I killed him instead, and left his body in the mud."
"Indeed," Trunda replied, opening his eyes. "We all know about Dreevius. King Zinoro told me about the present you left for him. He told me to tell you that he appreciated that you returned a piece of Dreevius to him. And that he looks forward to his next meeting with you."
Luca chuckled. "I don't think he will. Because I'm going to kill him."
"Wrong," Trunda said in a perfectly level voice. "My king is a god among men. He has powers that nobody else in Bacoria can even dream of. And you... you are but a child wielding a stick who thinks he is invincible. I have beaten you twice now. How do you think you can kill Zinoro if you cannot even last an encounter with me? I have had two opportunities now to grind you into dust, which you have survived only thanks to my mercy. Do you think the girl's healing can patch you up if you've been torn into a hundred pieces?"
Luca had nothing clever to say to that. He couldn't deny that he had lost to Trunda twice, and Zinoro was far stronger than his acolytes. Until he had a Rixeor Fragment, Luca stood no chance against him.
"Did you kill those guards at the border station?" Luca asked.
"I did."
"Why?"
Trunda smiled. "It was a message."
So Emila was right after all, he thought. The dungeon suddenly felt a bit colder.
Luca asked him, "And what kind of message was that supposed to be?"
"A fair warning. I was showing you what I am capable of." Trunda had not moved a muscle, but Luca felt like he had been drawn closer to him. "We acolytes are all special. That is why Zinoro found us, and brought us together. Dreevius was one of us only because of his gimmick; the ability to take another's appearance. But if you think a self-righteous, pompous weakling is what to expect from the other four of us, you are sorely mistaken. I am not even the strongest among us, and I could kill all seven of you in a fair fight. Against Serpos, you would be as insects on a summer day; an annoyance for him to swipe away."
"Then tell me how you were captured," Luca said.
"I am waiting," Trunda said. "Waiting until I feel like it. This is all just a game to me, you see. If I took this more seriously, I would have just pulled the head off your shoulders and punted it over that waterfall. Or I would have just crushed your skull into thick paste back in Serenite, when you were helpless before me. But why win so easily? There is no fun in it unless the other side at least thinks they have a chance. Just as you do now."
"I know you think it's a game. That's why you went after Emila in Serenite, instead of Selphie, when you knew full well she wasn't the real princess. You were just playing the fool."
Trunda laughed aloud, the sound reverberating off the walls. "Indeed. The fool."
Luca looked around at his surroundings. "Well, it looks like you waited a bit too long. You're trapped now. And while your reinforcement magick might be enough to let you punch through a guard's armour, you're trapped within a mana-binding circle right now. Good luck bending those iron bars with the strength of your arms alone."
"You make too many assumptions, son of Lodin."
"As do you!" Luca exclaimed, feeling that he now had some ground in this verbal jousting match they were playing. "Because you said that you could kill all of us in a fair fight. But you have yet to face me in a fair fight. In Serenite... something happened and I lost consciousness. And earlier, I was so drunk I could barely lift my sword. Some accomplishment of yours this is, to brag about your own strength after having beaten a man in his weakest conditions. Only a coward would choose to duel a man only when it best suited him."
Trunda thought about that for a moment, then smiled. "You're right. Perhaps I have been underestimating you. I would like to see you in your ideal conditions. Would you say you would be there by the morning?"
"After a meal and a few hours of rest, I would certainly put up a better fight than I had before."
"I see," Trunda said, closing his eyes and returning to his meditation. "I will hold you to that."
Luca, sensing that Trunda was ending their conversation and had no more to say, turned around and went back upstairs. The captain was still there at the table, though the six on-duty guards from outside had joined him, and were standing around, impatiently waiting for Luca to be done.
"You certainly got more out of him than the princess did," the captain said to him as he passed.
Luca stopped, turning to the captain. "How much of that did you hear?"
"Not a lot," he admitted. "Just echoes and the sound of him laughing."
"He's pretty confident," Luca said. "I think he has some kind of plan to escape. Make sure there's men watching him at all times. Take no chances. This guy is brutal; his punches break bones. And he's a lot smarter than he looks. Take no chances at all with him."
"You seem like you know what you're doing," the guard captain said. "Very well. Just remember that you're taking him with you when you leave. So get back to the inn and get some rest."
Luca turned back and continued on out the door. The captain waited a few minutes, while his men stared blankly at him.
"What are you waiting for, you blank-faced dolts? Get down there and watch the damn Acarian!"
Three men immediately darted downstairs.
When Luca stepped back outside to the night air, there was a girl waiting for him. But it wasn't Emila.
"What are you still doing here?" he asked.
"Obviously, I was waiting for you," Wiosna said with a big smile. "I wanted to walk with you back to the inn."
Luca raised an eyebrow, somehow not believing that. "Emila went back without me, but she had no problem with you staying behind?"
Wiosna giggled girlishly. "Nooo... Emila doesn't know I'm here. I went back with her and Selphie and Jared, and then I waited until they were asleep, and then I came back here."
"Why do all that?"
"Because I want to talk to you, Luca," she said. "I was worried too when I saw you in the river. We were all worried. But Emila... well, she's so clingy. She tries to keep you away from me. I haven't had a chance to talk to you since we were in Serenite."
That was true, he had to admit. Emila had been rather clingy lately; but after what had happened in Serenite, and again tonight, he understood that she was upset and worried about him. And it was also true that he hadn't spent much time with Wiosna lately, either. There was no harm in walking back with her. Besides, what was he going to do, send her away? They were both going to the same place.
They started down the streets, passing houses on th
eir way, the lights once again off now that the excitement had died down. The only illumination was the stars in the sky. Luca could have used magick to create an illuminating orb, but he could see fine.
He wasn't sure about Wiosna, though. As they walked, she had taken off her glasses, placing them in a case and putting them in her pocket. He couldn't fathom why, but he wasn't complaining, because it reminded him of how much more fetching she was without them.
"What was fighting Trunda like?" she asked.
What an odd question. "Painful," he answered truthfully.
"I know," she said, wincing and rubbing her shoulder. "I remember, back at the library. He put his sword through my shoulder. But he wasn't carrying a sword now."
"No, he was just using his fists," Luca said. "He doesn't need a sword; he's actually better at fisticuffs. He does a lot more damage with his reinforced fists than he does with a blade."
Although, that didn't quite explain how he wasn't breaking his hands at each punch.
"What did he say to you in there?"
"Not much," Luca muttered. "Mostly just bragged about how tough he was. He said he could kill all seven of us at once in a fight."
Wiosna scoffed. "That's a bunch of crap. I was matching him fine in that library before he caught me off guard. "Against all seven of us, he'd have no chance." She then smiled, and added, "Fighting him was fun, though."
Luca silently disagreed with that.
They arrived back at the inn, and Luca went inside, with Wiosna following behind him and closing the door a bit more quietly than she needed to.
"Um... Luca?" Wiosna spoke, her cheeks tinted red.
"Yeah?"
"Well, I have something I need to confess," she said, laughing nervously. "Don't laugh, okay?"
Well, that had aroused his interest. "I won't laugh. What is it?"
"Well... I kind of need your help with something," she continued, looking more and more nervous with each word. "Can you do something for me? It's not very difficult."
"Sure, what is it?"
Wiosna's expression immediately changed, her eyes lighting up in excitement. "That's a yes, then?"
Now Luca was the one who was nervous. "Err... I guess?"
Her pink lips curled into a mischievous smile. "Good."
Wiosna separated the distance between them, wrapping her arms around the back of his neck and pressing her lips against his. Caught completely off-guard, Luca fell back, tripping and fall on his back on the floor. Wiosna followed him, straddling him and pinning him down to prevent any escape.
"Wh-what are you-?!"
"Shh, you said yes," Wiosna giggled, capturing his mouth again with her own.
Momentarily stunned by the confusion and the not-unpleasant sensations he was feeling, it took Luca a few moments before he was finally able to bring himself to push Wiosna off of him. He pushed a bit harder than he meant to, and she hit the polished wood floor right on her behind.
"Ow!"
"What do you think you're doing?!" he demanded.
Wiosna looked like a child who'd been caught taking a cookie. "But... you said yes..."
"Not to this!" Luca said. "If I'd known this was what you were intending, I wouldn't have."
Wiosna looked confused and hurt. She looked down in shame, pulling her knees close to her chest.
Luca stood up, shaking his head to clear it. And that was when he noticed that Emila was standing at the top of the stairs, with a look of shock and betrayal.
"No..." Luca said. "This isn't..."
Emila turned around and ran upstairs.
Swearing to himself, Luca followed after her. Wiosna watched him go, wishing that he would have stayed and comforted her instead. But she knew that Luca cared more about Emila than her. Wiosna made a fist and pounded it against the floor in frustration.
"Why didn't he want me...? I asked him, and he said yes..."
"Because he's a grown-up. I'm not a little kid, and neither is he. This isn't a stupid game. When am I going to learn that?"
"It's that stupid little Emila's fault, it is. If she wasn't around, he'd have eyes only for me."
"I remember when I almost killed her. If she had told him about that... They're both better people than I am. I shouldn't come between them like this. It's not fair to them..."
"No, it's fair enough. She's weak. She's so weak, always clinging to him and sobbing about how hard it is to be her."
"I... I think maybe I should go to bed."
Wiosna stood up, her behind sore from hitting the floor. Now she felt guilty for what she had done.
"In the morning... He'll hate me, too. I've really screwed it up now, haven't it?"
Defeated, and choking back tears, Wiosna went up to the room she shared with Brand.
Luca found Emila sitting on her bed in their room. She wasn't crying, though she looked up at him with hurt eyes as he entered.
"Emila... that wasn't what it looked like."
She took a deep breath, and nodded. "I know. I saw all of it. I'm just... I'm just hurt, that's all."
He sat down beside her, putting his hand around her shoulder.
"I can't believe she did that," Emila said.
"Me neither."
"I don't know why she hates me so much," Emila said sadly. "Everything she does is some effort to hurt me."
Luca frowned. He now had a lot on his mind, at the worst moment for it. He'd just wanted to go back to the inn and go to bed, putting Trunda and everything he'd said out of his mind until the morning. Now he had Wiosna to think about.
"Was that... your first kiss?" Emila asked.
He hesitated. "No."
Emila blinked. "It wasn't? Who was your first?"
"This girl named Arlea, back in the Arimos village my father and I were staying at," he told her. "She was a nice girl. She liked me, but I didn't really return the feeling. She was killed when Zinoro attacked."
Luca realised that a few months ago, he would not have told her that much if she had been trying to pry it from him. Now he was all but offering such personal information up.
Emila looked regretful. "I'm sorry to hear that. But... I'm glad that wasn't your first kiss."
He looked at her, confused. "Why's that?"
"Your first kiss should be in a different situation than that. It should be something you know is coming, so your heart is beating in anticipation. Something you never forget, and not a random attack from someone like Wiosna."
Luca sighed, realising that this conversation was getting a bit uncomfortable. But still, now that he'd told her, he was curious why she felt this way. "So what about you?"
"Well," Emila said, smiling and blushing cutely. "I had a little boyfriend back in my hometown. Nothing serious, just a few kisses here and there. I was still very young then. But I didn't have much time for romance, as I had to train to be the next healer."
Luca had grown quiet. He had realised the direction this conversation was going, and he didn't like it. They were coming dangerously close to saying aloud that thing they both knew, but could not admit to each other or themselves.
Emila seemed to realise this too, for the slight smile of her nostalgia had faded, replaced with a hesitant frown. Her hands were in her lap.
They sat there for a few moments, not sure what to say or do. The tension was so thick it could be cut with a knife.
Luca felt like he just couldn't stare at the floor any longer, so he forced himself to look at the girl. Emila was looking away at something in the room. Her eyes were downcast, filled with disappointment and self-loathing. Somehow, he knew what was going through her mind. She was frustrated with herself, and her inability to just come out and say what she was feeling. She was upset that Wiosna had gone and done what she was unable to do.
That Emila could have any degree of doubt in herself was something Luca found very difficult to understand. Was she feeling like she was losing to Wiosna somehow? Because she certainly wasn't. It wasn't Wiosna that
haunted his dreams. It wasn't Wiosna whose beauty caught his eye in moments when he was least expecting it. It wasn't Wiosna who he eagerly expected to see every morning. And it certainly wasn't Wiosna who was quite literally the very person keeping him alive.
He didn't want her to think that Wiosna had stolen him from her. He didn't want her to think that she wasn't enough for him. Though he had refused to allow himself to accept what he was feeling since he had met her, he couldn't continue to lie to himself. He had already broken all of his other "rules"; so what was the sense in breaking one more?
But then he remembered... he was going to leave her behind in T'Saw, wasn't he?
He was, and he knew that from everything he had learnt in travelling with his father all those years that the closer he was to Emila when he left, the harder it would be on him. And though he was so tempted to do this one thing with her, he knew it would just make things hurt more later. He had known that pain many times before, by getting close to people and then having to leave them behind.
But somehow, he didn't care about that. For once, his mind was unable to overcome the desires of his heart. He was being weak, and giving in. Because he wanted her to know that she meant more to him than Wiosna. That was more important to him than easing his own burden.
He stood up, catching Emila's attention with the movement. Her mouth opened, as thought she were about to ask him what was wrong, but the look in his eyes stopped her. Her own eyes grew wide with realisation.
He drew close to her, sitting beside her on her bed and facing her. She did not move away, or protest, or ask him what he was about to do. His hand moved up slowly, cupping her cheek and gently holding her. And then he leaned in, his lips coming into contact, ever so slowly, with her own.
It lasted for a few moments, neither could be sure exactly how long, before Luca pulled away.
"That was my first kiss," he told her. "The first one I really wanted."
She broke into a happy smile and threw her arms around him, reciprocating the kiss.
Trunda sat meditating in his small prison cell, as still and quiet as a statue.
Three guards stood on the other side of the bars, keeping a constant eye on him. They were different guards now than the ones who had come down after Luca left, as the shifts changed every six hours. They were watching him diligently, as was their job. Commendable, really. But futile.
Trunda could feel the mana-blocking circle around him. He could feel it trying to block his mana. How futile. He did not use his mana outwardly as most people did. His mana flow was completely different, which was the first reason he had been chosen to be one of Zinoro's acolytes.
Trunda could feel the warmth of the rising sun's rays hitting his back. It was nearly time.
"Fuckin' creepy," he heard one of the guards mutter to his companion.
"Yeah," the other agreed.
"He's just been sittin' there, the whole damn time," the first guard continued. "Is he even alive?"
"Maybe he's projecting," the second guard suggested. "Like maybe he's sending his spirit out to Acaria to tell Zinoro what's going on."
"Then we should stop him," the first guard. "If he's contactin' his master..."
"I don't think he's really projecting. Nobody's been able to do that in thousands of years. Hey, wait! No, don't do that!"
Trunda felt something poking at his shoulder. The hilt end of the first guard's spear. The fool was poking him with the back of his spear to see if he was still alive.
"He's not doin' anything..."
In one swift movement, Trunda grabbed the spear with both hands, wrenching it free of its owner's hands. The man only had a single second to look shocked with his stupid face, before Trunda thrust the spear back towards him, the pointed end driving deep between a gap in his armour, into the man's stomach and bursting out the other side. The dumb man screamed in pain, dropping to his knees, and spitting a mouthful of blood out onto the stone floor.
The other two guards started to panic, shouting for the captain. Trunda stood up and started to stretch, his body stiff after having sat in one position for eight hours.
The captain was there, along with three other guards, barking orders and questions. The two guards who had been watching Trunda were trying to explain why their companion was skewered. The guard with the spear in him was sobbing and coughing up blood.
Trunda counted up the men in the room. Seven. Perfect. Exactly the number he needed.
The five guards, the wounded one, and the captain all turned to him. They hadn't noticed it yet, but they were growing pale.
"You Acarian bastard," the captain spat at him. He approached the cell. "You'll pay for this." He swayed as he took the last step.
"Captain... urgh..."
"What's... happening...?"
"My mana! He's...!"
The guards were collapsing one-by-one, not dead, but so drained of life they might as well have been. Only the captain, by far the strongest of them, remained standing.
"H-how?!" he demanded.
"You thought your mana circle could stop me," Trunda said, looking down at the carving in the stone floor at his feet. "And it would have, for a normal human. But I am an abnormality. I cannot use magick, but I have no need to. The mana of others flows into me, making me stronger. And these circles do not stop mana that flows inward."
Trunda grabbed the bars of his cell, pulling them apart from one another. He now had the strength of eight men; the bars bended under his grip like cheap plastic. He was easily able to pull them far enough apart to step through.
The guard captain stared unbelieving at what was happening.
"You freak Acarian bastards... you'll pay for this one day. I swear it... I swear-"
Trunda grabbed him and punched him in the head. The captain's skull burst like a pumpkin dropped from a window. A massive blood stain marred the wall. Trunda dropped the body, which faded into mana a few seconds after hitting the floor.
The remaining guards, who had grown too weak to move, but not weak enough to die, were watching the horror show before them, knowing full-well there was nothing they could do.
Trunda looked over at one. The Acarian's face was caked with the captain's blood, and his eyes were alight with a merciless cruelty. He stomped down on the man's knee, crushing it immediately and splitting the leg in two. The man screamed, trying feeble to crawl away, his fingernails scratching against the stone floor. But there was no escape.
Trunda took his time with them.
Luca yawned. The morning had come far too early for him. Beside him, Emila look rather tired as well. As did Wiosna. And Brand. And Ash. And Jared.
Selphie seemed rather energetic, though.
"Don't you people ever sleep?" the portly innkeeper asked her. "All night, you were running around town, in and out of here, keeping everyone else up."
"Sorry," Selphie apologised, handing back their three room keys.
"Your business is your business, just try to keep it down next time you stay here," the innkeeper muttered. "It's tough enough managing an inn with crazy folk always bursting in-"
At that moment, the inn's wooden door burst, flying off its hinges like it had been hit by a cannonball. The door flew back several metres, landing on the floor before them and shattering. At the doorway, a man stepped inside the inn. Trunda looked different from usual; his eyes were wide and bloodshot, and his clothes were ripped and torn in several places, particularly his arms, where the muscles were swollen up as though he had just put on twice his mass. He was covered in blood, from his face to his arms.
"Fight me now, you all," he all but hissed out through his teeth. "Fight me and die!"
He screamed in pure aggression and punched the stone wall beside him, his fist breaking clean through without a scratch. He withdrew his hand, laughing maniacally.
Needless to say, Luca's company had all drawn their weapons.
"How did he escape?!" Selphie demanded.
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"Forget that!" Brand shouted. "Did you see what he just did to that wall?!"
Trunda cracked his knuckles and started to advance into the room.
"Stop this!" the innkeeper shouted at everyone. "Don't do this in my inn! Take this outside!"
Trunda swung his arm, throwing a piece of the stone wall he'd been holding at the innkeeper. The small piece of stone struck the innkeeper in the forehead, hitting his skull with enough force to shatter into dozens of pieces. The innkeeper collapsed, blood already running down his face.
Wiosna screamed and charged, oblivious to everyone's shouts of caution.
"Don't worry," Trunda said with a smile as she drew close. "I'll go easy on you."
Wiosna swung her sword, which Trunda avoided by jumping back; moving with surprising agility for someone his size. But just as soon he lunged forward, catching Wiosna off-guard. With a single well-placed punch, Wiosna was disarmed. And then Trunda had her by the throat, lifting her off the ground.
Luca and the others were already running to her rescue.
Jared brought down his halberd on Trunda's shoulder, which struck the man's skin and bounced off like it had just hit metal. Brand and Ash's sword were equally ineffective.
Wiosna's eyes found Luca's. There was something in her pained expression; an apology, or perhaps pleading. He couldn't tell.
"Let go of her, you bastard!" Brand shouted to Trunda.
"Fine," Trunda responded. He threw Wiosna aside, the girl's body soaring through the air like the door from moments ago, and hitting the stone wall on the far side of the inn. She let out an involuntary gasp of pain, and collapsed on the floor. She did not move.
The four of them - Luca, Brand, Selphie, and Jared - surrounded Trunda now, their blades ready. Ash and Emila lingered behind; they were not fighters and would only get in the way. Emila had rushed to Wiosna's side, the warm of healing mana flowing from her. Ash was watching cautiously, an uneasy expression on his face.
"I could crush your bones into powder with my very fists," Trunda laughed. "And I likely will, once the fight is finished. But for now I will fight you with my own strength, and show you just how weak you truly are... Luca."
Luca responded by running in and thrusting his sword forth. The blade struck true, piercing Trunda's side. The Acarian groaned in pain through his teeth. Luca tried to pull the sword back out, but Trunda's hands wrapped around the blade, holding it where it was. Luca didn't have enough time to let go and back away before the back of Trunda's hand struck him with enough force to send him flying back.
"Luca!" he heard Emila and a few of the others cry out.
Everything spun. He felt himself hit a table, crashing through the wood and hitting the hard floor. Something inside him hurt badly, and he coughed up a mouthful of blood. For several moments, he just lay there, trying to get his aching body to move again. Nobody came to help him; he wasn't sure if this was a good thing or a bad thing.
Finally, he managed to get back up. Just in time to see Trunda and Brand locked in vicious fighting. Trunda was delivering punch after punch, which Brand was expertly deflecting with his sword. Luca was again reminded of how much better Brand was at swordplay than he was.
The impact of Trunda's fists hitting Brand's sword drew no blood, nor did the attacks of Selphie or Jared at his unguarded back. Only Luca's sword, still sticking out of his side, had done any damage to him. As Luca used the busted-up table to pull himself back to his feet, Trunda managed to slip a punch through, hitting Brand in the gut. Brand dropped his sword and doubled over, groaning, which allowed Trunda to knee him in the face, knocking him unconscious.
Jared's halberd hit Trunda's back once more to no effect, and the behemoth whirled around and brought his fist down in pure rage. Jared managed to jump back, just in time, as Trunda's fist smashed right through the bar behind him.
Things were looking bad; two of their number were down already, and they had done almost nothing to Trunda. Luca realised then that everything Trunda had told him in that prison had not been a bluff; Trunda really could kill them all if he wanted to. That Wiosna and Brand had even survived those punches - which were not even of his full strength - was proof of that.
Luca started back towards the fight. He had to get his sword back.
Jared had lost his halberd in the chaos. He was now matching Trunda with his own fists; which he had used magick to reinforce into solid rock. The two were exchanging blows now in a super powered fistfight. Selphie could do nothing, and she realised it, so she was keeping her distance, and watching the brawl with worry in her eyes.
Jared managed to get a punch through Trunda's guard, hitting him on the side of the face and knocking him aside. Trunda stumbled, spitting out blood. When he rose, he was grinning.
"Not bad," the Acarian said. "You're certainly putting up a better fight than those guards at the border did."
Jared's eyes narrowed in anger.
"They screamed and cried and begged for mercy. One even tried to run. I killed them all like the cowards they were."
"Silence!" Jared shouted. "You speak nothing but lies!"
Jared charged at Trunda. The Acarian kicked at a table between them, which flew up and hit Jared, knocking him back. Trunda used his momentary advantage to close in, grabbing Jared's head and bringing it down into what remained of the wooden bar.
"No!" Selphie cried, her face white.
Trunda tossed aside the unconscious form of Jared, who rolled off. He was still alive, likely thanks to his reinforcement magick.
Selphie's eyes narrowed in rage. She brought her hands up, the room filling with the heaviness of mana. At the spot in the centre of her hands appeared a blue circle of energy, from which a torrent of water sprayed out with the intensity of a high-pressure hose. The water hit Trunda square in the chest, pushing him back against the wall. Under the intense pressure, he was unable to move.
"Emila!" Selphie called out. "Freeze it!"
Emila, who had gone from healing Wiosna, to healing Brand, to healing Jared, looked up at the princess' beckoning.
"Hurry!" Selphie shouted. "This uses up a lot of mana! I can't maintain it for long!"
Emila ran over to them and clasped her hands together, gathering her own mana. She placed her hand as close to the rush of water as she could, and in seconds it had frozen solid in midair, all the way down to Trunda. The Acarian was trapped within the ice, pinning him to the wall.
Selphie gasped, her face whiter than it had been moments ago.
Trunda looked down at the ice holding him and chuckled. "Not a bad strategy. It would have worked against anyone else."
And then, as though the ice was not even there, Trunda got up and started to walk, his body phasing right through through the ice.
Selphie stared, aghast. "How?!"
"My source of power is my ability to absorb mana and draw my own strength from it," Trunda told her. "Magick is completely wasted upon me. In fact..."
He placed his hand on the ice, which started to glow, turning back into mana. It flowed into him, and the prominent veins in his arms seemed to swell up with energy. His muscles seemed to grow just a bit larger.
"...all it does it make me stronger," he finished. "Fool girl, I thought you would have remembered that."
Knowing that he was about to attack, Luca pushed Selphie aside and took her place. Trunda charged, sneering at Luca's efforts. As Trunda reached him, Luca crouched down and tried to grab the hilt of his sword. He came close, but Trunda was faster than he was. He felt Trunda's hand grabbing his wrist, and lifting him into the air.
"Not yet," Trunda told him. "You're last. Wait your turn."
And then Trunda's fist tightened around his wrist, shattering the bones of his sword arm. Luca cried out, and Emila gasped, clutching her own wrist. He was dropped.
"Now... where were we?" Trunda asked, stepping towards Selphie.
He took only two steps before crying out in pain, at the feeling of the sword in his side being dr
awn out of him. Trunda spun around, expecting to find Luca, but instead he saw the younger brother there, holding Siora.
"Leave her alone," Ash said. He swung the sword in a wide stoke, cutting through Trunda's clothes and leaving a bleeding red cut across the Acarian's chest.
Trunda looked down at the wound for a moment, almost surprised. "You little shit," he spat. Trunda stepped towards Ash. The younger brother swung the sword again, but this time Trunda was ready, easily dodging his clumsy swordplay. Trunda kicked Ash in the chest, sending him flying back and hitting the wall. The sword fell uselessly on the floor. One could not be sure if Ash was unconscious or not, but he did not get back up.
"So many little insects biting at me," Trunda muttered. He turned back to Selphie, who stood with a firm expression, and Emila, who was backing away in fear. "And now all that remains is these two girls."
"Do you intend to take me back to Zinoro?" Selphie asked him.
Trunda laughed deeply. "What makes you think Zinoro has any interest in you? We got your letter. We had a good laugh at it."
Selphie's mouth was drawn tight in anger. "But you sent Dreevius-"
"Off to die," Trunda finished for her. "He was a nuisance that we no longer needed. We needed to tell him something, so he wouldn't realise what we were actually sending him for. The fact that he actually managed to destroy the temple, and even briefly capture you, was nothing more than a pleasant surprise. But if those things had been our true aim, we would have sent Serpos instead."
Selphie blinked, confused by his words. "So the attack on Allma was nothing more than a diversion?"
"You could say that," Trunda said, shrugging. "I am now doing what King Zinoro was truly planning. I am going to kill the princess of Sono."
Selphie raised her two short swords. She had no illusions about being able to kill Trunda herself, but at the very least she could wound him.
Trunda attacked, and she struck at the first vulnerable point she could find; the cut on his chest Ash had made. She drove one of her short swords into the small gap between his reinforced skin, burying it up to its hilt in Trunda's chest. He cried out in legitimate pain, but he did not stop. He grabbed her other hand, which held her seconds sword, and then put his other hand around her throat. Selphie struggled, but the sword fell from her hand. When she had passed out from the choking, Trunda released her.
He started to laugh. "Yes, just believe whatever I tell you, foolish girl." He turned around to where Luca was collapsed on the ground, still conscious, but too weak to get back up. In the corner of the inn, Emila was curled up in a small ball, hugging her knees. Tears ran down her face. Her mind was somewhere else; somewhere far away.
"Weakling," Trunda muttered with a spiteful glance at her. He strode over to Luca and picked him up from the ground. "I have already sated my blood lust with those men in the prison. Believe it or not, I'm actually not a mindless killer. Your friends can live, because you're the only one here who needs to die today."
Trunda lifted Luca up off the ground. His reinforced fist was at Luca's throat, his fingers curling around his throat.
"That seer must have been mistaken about you," Trunda muttered. "What threat could you possibly pose to my king? Nothing here but weaklings, the lot of you."
Trunda's fingers tightened around Luca's throat, the pressure so strong, but so slow. Luca could not breathe. He felt like his windpipe was being crushed, but it actually had not even begun to be.
"Prophecies have been wrong before," Trunda continued. "And the one about you will be, because you are going to die right here." After a moment, he smirked and added, "Along with that girl over there. That weak, foolish girl who refused to even fight for herself. She clearly cares nothing for her life, so I will be glad to take it from her. And to think, I truly thought that I could-"
Trunda stopped. His eyes had grown as wide as saucers. He released Luca, who fell to the floor. The tip of Siora's blade was sticking out of the front of Trunda's chest, right where his heart was.
"C-can't be..." Trunda choked out, blood running down his chin with each word. "I thought it..."
Trunda fell to his knees, his eyes staring in disbelief at nothing at all, before vanishing into nothing, leaving behind only his bloodstained clothes.
Standing behind him, holding the sword that had taken his life, was Emila.
She wore a look of horror on her face, unable to believe what she had just done. She looked down slowly at the sword, and saw Trunda's blood on the end of its blade. She threw it aside like it was on fire.
Her hands were shaking.
With Trunda now gone, the town's healers and remaining guards just happened to arrive. They went to everyone that was wounded, using their magick to patch them up. The guards went to Emila, the last conscious person in the room, to ask her what happened, but she was too in shock to speak with them. After checking everyone, they declared that everyone had survived with only minor injuries, except for the innkeeper.
When Luca was healed enough to get up, he saw Emila sitting at what remained of the bar, an untouched glass of water in front of her. He went to her side, and she looked up and saw it was him. She started to cry, and he held her close, knowing why she was as upset as she was.
To Emila, there was nothing more horrible than taking a life. She had just broken her most important belief in order to save him.
Once she had awakened and recovered enough, Selphie met with the mayor of Reven outside the ruined inn. They talked only for a short while, and when Selphie returned she told them they had to leave immediately.
When they stepped outside, it was apparent why. The townspeople were gathered, demanding an explanation for the events of the morning, as well as the night before. The remaining six guards were doing their best to keep things in order, but things were getting tense. A few townspeople had weapons. They managed to hear the name 'Selphie' shouted a few times. It would seem someone had leaked the news of who was staying at the inn. Thankfully, they were able to slip away without anyone noticing.
Back on the road again, they travelled without much to say. Nobody was in a particularly talkative mood.
Jared looked to Selphie but could not say anything to her. He was ashamed in himself, for being unable to keep her safe. Selphie looked up at him, and gave him a reassuring smile, despite the doubt in her own eyes. Though the day's events had been little more than another failure in their mission of peace, there was one small consolation among it that Selphie had told him about shortly before they had left. Though he had not been particularly enthused, it was still nice to know that they would not be separated. He returned the smile, though his heart was heavy.
As was hers.
Emila was just also troubled, haunted by the memory of what she had done. But she was also happy. After thinking about it for a while, she had come to the conclusion that she had done the right thing. Killing a single bad man did not make her a monster. Though she was not happy to have broken her vow of peace, she was happy nonetheless, because Luca, as well as everyone else in the group, was still alive.
They walked beside each other, in the back of the procession. Knowing that no one would see, Emila took Luca's arm and pulled him close, kissing him. He returned it, and she broke away, laughing, her cheeks flushed red.
Little did they know, someone had seen. Wiosna's head was turned, watching their affection with cold eyes.
Her fist was clenched so tightly that her nails were drawing blood.