The Forsaken Hero

Luke’s hand lingered on my cheek. It sent electrical tingles racing through me, setting my heart aflutter. A tear escaped my eyelash, trickling to his finger.

”Tears?” he murdered, letting his hand slip from my face. ”I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to frighten you like that.”

I shook my head, sitting up and leaning against Fable’s side. The wolf’s golden eyes glowed luminously in the darkness, and I glared at him. What was he doing, letting Luke sneak up on me like that? Wasn’t he supposed to be a lot more distrustful of him?

Or maybe I was just being sensitive. The demon’s words were fresh in my mind, and though I didn’t want to believe them, they wouldn’t go away.

I bit my lip forcing myself to look at Luke. He gazed at me, hand half raised, his tail twitching uncertainty.

”It wasn’t you,” I said softly, touching my chest. My heart raced beneath my fingers. ”I just...when you shook me, I thought...never mind.”

I looked down, balling my fists in my lap. Soft satin bundled between my fingers, and I thanked Fate I’d chosen to remain dressed. Just thinking of Luke finding me sleeping in my nightdress was enough to warm my cheeks.

When my heart finally slowed, I looked up again. ”W-what are you doing here?”

He turned, frowning slightly. ”I came for you, of course. When I learned the church ordered you a room in the slave quarters, I almost ended the negotiations then and there.”

”S-Slave quarters?”

I shivered. Fable’s tail curled around me, hugging me.

Luke’s expression hardened. ”You didn’t know?”

Everything made sense. The lack of windows, the location in the deepest basements, and the maids who led us here. No wonder they had a faint sense of Divine Magic around them. They must have come with the church’s ambassadors.

The temperature dropped a few degrees as Luke folded his arms, eyes narrow. Goosebumps erupted along my arms, and I hugged Fable’s tail, fighting tears. What did the church even have to gain from this? Would they ever let me be free?

”Jessia brought me here,” I whispered, squeezing my eyes shut. ”She said she knew the maids.”

”She did?” Luke’s voice was cold. Dangerous. ”I’ll have to chat with her, then. But in the meantime, let’s get you out of here.”

He held out his hand to me, giving me a reassuring smile. I stared at it, trembling slightly, holding Fable’s tail tightly. Luke’s smile started to slip.

Fable’s tail slithered out of my arms, and he rose, nudging me up. Letting out a startled squeak, I clutched at Luke’s hand. He caught me and drew me up, steadying me with a hand on my shoulder.

”T-thanks,” I said, blushing as I stared at the ground.

He led me by the hand, thumb pressing between my knuckles. Fable trotted after us, but he kept his distance. I just stared at Luke’s hand, the hallways and stairwells blurring around us. He was so warm, so confident. His mere touch chased away my shivers.

”Almost there,” he said.

I blinked, startled. How long had we been walking? A slight burning in my legs let me know we certainly weren’t in the basements anymore. I caught a glimpse out a window as we passed and gasped. The sky opened up to the night sky, a glimpse of stars. We were high enough that I couldn’t see the city below, the caldera’s distant floor spreading out in a giant bowl.

”W-where are we going?” I asked.

He squeezed my hand and drew me on, and before I knew it, we were through a heavy iron-bound door. The fresh night breeze enveloped us, driving the dust and oppression of the slave quarters back into the keep. I took a step forward, looking at the sky. The snapshot of the window expanded to fill my entire view with an endless vista of stars. They glimmered brightly, into a cloud to be seen.

”Beautiful,” I whispered. The stars of Haven were comforting, but there was something different, something real, about the stars of Enusia.

”It’s rare to see you smile like that,” Luke said.

I flushed slightly, doing my best to suppress the little wave of my tail. He chuckled, and for the third time, I realized he was still holding my hand.

”Come, the view’s better over here,” he said.

As he pulled me forward, I let my gaze settle, looking around. The door emerged straight from the cliff face of the spire, meaning the passages we’d traversed were dug through the mountain itself. We stood on one of the highest shelves of the spire, a mere hundred feet from the top. All around us were beautiful gardens and fountains, the burbling water shimmering with starlight. Obsidian cobblestone trails wound through flower beds with blossoms of a thousand flowers.

The little stone path led us to the edge of the shelf, a bare fifty feet from the door leading back into the spire. The ground continued for fifty before abruptly plunging away, revealing the wall of the caldera in the distance. My footsteps grew tentative as we neared the edge, tightening my grip on Luke’s hand, but he gently pulled me forward.

My heart crept in my throat as we reached the edge. There was an ornate metal railing along the edge of the garden, which, despite the fourth-level enchantments, was far too flimsy for my liking. A cold draft rose from the nothingness below, washing any sense of stability and warmth away. A wave of dizziness swept over me, and I drew close to Luke, clinging to his arm with both hands.

”Isn’t it amazing?” Luke asked, gesturing with his free hand over the edge.

”H-High,” I stammered in a choked voice.

He chuckled and touched my cheek with his hand, sliding it down my jaw until he gently nudged my chin up. Tingles raced down my spine, and my tail started to twitch.

”Look, Xiviyah, this is the land you worked so hard to save. Can’t you at least see it?”

Slowly, my head spinning, I opened my eyes. We were so high that, for a moment, it felt as if I was trapped on Borealis’s back again, soaring miles over the earth. My eyes squeezed shut again almost immediately.

”There, you can do it,” he coaxed. ”There’s nothing to be afraid of. I’m right here.”

I swallowed hard and looked again, focusing on the caldera’s rim. It was miles away, a dark, looming wall only discernible from the night sky because no stars shone through it.

Slowly, I let my gaze creep to the caldera floor and the jagged igneous rock formations that jutted up like spears. Lights dotted the earth, growing denser as they neared the center until it became a veritable sea of soft, flickering light.

”How many are there?” I whispered.

”Almost a million,” he replied softly.

I sucked in a short breath. It was the second largest city I’d ever seen, just shy of the vast combined sprawl of cities of Roann and the Divine Throne. It hadn’t seemed all that big when we rode through the city. Then again, it had taken us a half hour from the furthest homesteads. With how quickly Fable moved, it shouldn’t have been a surprise.

”Why did you do it?” I asked.

Luke tilted his head. ”Do what?”

I gestured out. ”This. Why did you accept their surrender? Don’t you want to get vengeance on everyone who supported the church?”

”I haven’t accepted anything yet. The signing’s tomorrow, remember?”

I looked down, biting my lip. ”R-right.”

Luke walked from the railing, and I gratefully followed. The gardens weren’t big, but he took his time strolling through them, occasionally stopping to admire some flowers or a particularly beautiful fountain.

”Ah, I was wondering if they had them,” he said, stopping above a small cluster of white flowers.

The blossoms were pure white, save for a red taint in the middle and around the edges. Luke gingerly plucked one from the bed and turned, lifting it toward my face. I shied away at first, and he hesitated, the flower hovering an inch from my face. Slowly, blushing, I lowered my head and allowed him to tuck it behind my ear.

”It’s not as pretty as your wreath, but it’s the same kind, I think,” he said, stroking my hair behind the flower.

My tail swished. ”Y-you remembered?”

He smiled faintly. ”You were wearing them the day you reappeared in Brithlite. You were so beautiful I couldn’t look away. And brave, If you hadn’t stood up to Gayron, he never would have let the water hero escape.”

I blushed fiercely, pushing my face into his shoulder, hiding from his violet gaze. Why did he have to tease me like that?

”A-and you, too,” I stammered.

He chuckled, letting his hand fall from my hair. ”I suppose so, though I wish you’d forget that. There were things I had to do, obligations I had to keep.”

”What about now?” I asked. ”Aren’t things the same?”

Tentatively, I peeked at him, finding him studying the flowers. His tail stirred as the silence drew out, though not near as much as mine.

After a long, tense moment, he sighed, his tail dropping a bit. He forced a small smile and squeezed my hand. ”Come, you must be tired. Let’s find a place to sit.”