At some point, Arawn had to have fallen asleep, for he woke up a few hours before sunrise. The world was still dark, but he could no longer remain in his bed. Careful not to wake anyone, he stood up and went out.
On his way, he saw that all six beds were taken. In the last one, Mutallu slept peacefully, or at least pretended to do so. Arawn didn't care if that was really the case and left the room.
Outside, he wandered around the quiet village until he reached its end. Standing by the last house, he thought he heard movement behind a nearby hill. It wasn't like he had anything to do, so he ventured over there to check it out.
When he crested the hill, he saw a familiar sight. Corwal had his sword out and was moving to a rhythm heard only by him. He stepped forward and stabbed with his blade, then raised it to block an invisible attack. Shifting his weight to the other foot, he parried another attack and slashed at his opponent.
In the darkness, he looked like a shadow dancing in worship to the night. Arawn sat down on the hill and watched it for a time. He didn't know why he didn't leave straight away, but at the same time, he knew it all too well.
After a while, Corwal finished, and his eyes went up the hill. Without a hurry, he walked up and sat down by Arawn's side. "What are you doing here?" he asked.
"I was about to ask you the same," Arawn said, his gaze still on the plot of land below.
"Were we supposed to sleep in the wild just to avoid you? This is the only village reachable in an hour."
The conversation died with that, and they sat in silence. There was so much to say and ask that Arawn could not open his mouth. Where would he even start?
And was it necessary anyway? In the morning, they would go their separate ways, probably to never meet again.
"You knew it would end this way, yet you did it anyway. Why?"
Corwal shifted his head to him. In the moonlight, he was as pale as a ghost that could match Val. His irises were strangely large, and the shadows under his eyes were ocean deep.
"What does it matter? You've already said your goodbye."
With those words, Corwal stood up and left in the direction of the village. Arawn watched him for a moment, then lay down on the side of the hill. The waning moon seemed to echo his feelings, slowly shrouding itself in darkness.
When Arawn returned with the rising of the sun, Corwal and Mutallu were already gone. Rain sat at the priest's table, eating while chatting with Betty.
"How's Val?" Arawn asked. He came to the table and picked up a boiled egg.
"Could be worse," Rain said with a look back at the room where they had slept. "He was panicked at first, but then calmed down and asked for some time alone."
It was a small blessing, and Arawn sat down to eat the egg. When the priest offered them tea as well, he didn't refuse. It hadn't been warm to lie on the ground in the early morning.
"What are you going to do now?" Rain asked when he was done.
Arawn sipped his tea, not answering. He had no idea what he should do next. His only goal was to learn more about the world and get better at protecting himself, but that sounded like a pipe dream at that moment. Every time he trusted a person, he got betrayed.
There was no reason for him to stick with Rain, Betty, and Val, but at the same time, he didn't know anyone else. If he set off by himself, would he faster find other people or starve to death along the way?
And even if he reached some village or town, what would he do there? Although he had learned how to count coins and their general value, he didn't have any with him. Corwal had collected everything from the caravan and kept it with himself; it had never occurred to Arawn to ask for his share.
He didn't have anything of value to trade either. His only option would be to work, but who would hire such a scrawny kid like him? And if he showed his abilities, someone would want to exploit him, or worse, would report him to the authorities.
"You're still going to the capital?" he asked Rain instead.
She nodded. "Although it seems unlikely now, I still want to catch a hound and question them. If we find a weaker one, we—"
"Won't work," Arawn told her while shaking his head. "You will never know who is one and who is not. That plan is useless now."
"Why suddenly not? Do you think we're blind just because we lost your bastard friend?" Betty asked with distaste on her face.
Arawn looked at her for a moment, wondering if he should share everything he knew. Yet Corwal hadn't told them about his weaknesses.
"But we are blind. Corwal was an officer of the king, so he would recognize some hounds by sight. For us, they are no different from normal travelers. They wear no emblems or tattooes to prove that they're hounds."
His words dampened the already abysmal mood. Rain sighed, seemingly having expected something along those lines, while Betty stared at him in anger. It almost looked like it was his fault that hounds hid themselves so well.
In the end, the buffy woman heaved a loud sigh and fell on the table. While halfway lying on it, she turned her head to Rain. "What are WE going to do then? That was our only clue."
The door to the adjacent room burst open at that moment, and Val walked into the room. His hair was a disheveled mess, and he was standing unsteadily, but a fire burned in his eyes. "We're going to the capital."
"We are?" Rain asked with a raised eyebrow.
"I'll contact my father's people and find out what's happening. I'm gonna bring my sister back home no matter what it takes." His lip quivered a little when he looked down at his stump, but he gritted his teeth and repeated himself. "No matter the price."
Rain watched him for a moment, then stood up and went over to him. "All right, we're going to the capital then," she said while patting his shoulder. "Let's get ready."
Upon seeing Val, all Arawn's doubts faded away. Whether he could survive on his own lost all meaning. It was his fault, directly or not, that Val had lost his arm. If that prevented him from saving his sister, it would be all on Arawn. He couldn't leave the man to fend for himself after taking away his ability to do so.
They quickly collected their things and left the house. However, before they could reach their horses, a mob stopped them. The four people were surrounded from all sides, and the looks of the villagers weren't good.
Most of them held pitchforks while a few had brought heavy hammers and scythes. They were holding onto their weapons with death grips while aiming them at Arawn.
"Kill the monster!" a woman screamed and lunged forward with a butcher's knife.
Before Arawn could even react, Rain stepped forward and caught the attacker. "What—"
Her voice faltered when she saw that the attacker was the noble woman they had saved the day before. It was unbelievable that she was already walking, let alone holding a knife, but even more surprising was her antagonize to them.
"Why did you attack me?" Arawn asked.
The gaze he leveled at the woman was glacial. He was not in a good mood to begin with, and being reminded of his nature didn't help.
"You're a beast! A beast! Just like my husband! You're one of them, one of the monsters!" the woman screamed while struggling to break free of Rain's grip. When she couldn't, she turned to her companions. "Everyone! We need to kill him before he kills us! Hurry!"
The villagers' faces twisted with fury, and they hoisted their weapons, ready to rush forward. Arawn sneered at them and called to the ether. They wanted to play with him? He would act his part then.
"Stop! Don't kill them!" Rain shouted, releasing the woman and making a grab for Arawn.
He avoided her reaching hand and coalesced even more ether around himself. With derision on his face, he sent a dozen ether blades crashing all around him. They dug out an uneven circular pit around the four of them, and blood drained out of the villagers' faces.
They trembled like leaves in heavy wind and dropped their weapons. Some of those at the front, who were a hair's breadth away from the ether blades, even lost control of their bladders.
As the rancid smell of fear wafted around to the group, the villagers bolted. They ran away like hell itself was after them, disappearing into their homes without a glance back.
Arawn smiled at their departing backs and turned to Rain. "If I killed every person that called me a monster, half of Ayersbert would already be dead."
The looks the others gave him were almost comical, but they all soon focused on the noble woman within their circle. She was standing wide-eyed, her face a mosaic of the thousand shades of fear.
Her legs suddenly gave out, and she fell to the ground from which she didn't get up. Instead, she grabbed Rain's leg and hugged it while looking up with pleading eyes. "You have to kill him! You have to!" she begged in a shaky voice as tears rolled down her face. "He's one of them! I'm certain!"
"I'm not," Arawn said crouching down. His action terrified the woman, and she tried to pull away, but he clasped her shoulder and kept her in place. "Now tell me, what gave you that bright idea?"
The woman struggled with herself. Her eyes looked everywhere but at him as her tears increased in volume. "Save me! Please!" she pleaded Rain, looking up at her with desperate hope.
"Answer him," Rain ordered instead.
Her cold words shook the woman, and her hands lost their strength. She trembled again, then looked back at Arawn. "The hair, your hair is the color of them all. My friend's father and son had it, and they both turned. My husband had it, and he also became like that."
The more the woman spoke, the stronger her voice grew. She suddenly even gained the courage to grab a loose lock of Arawn's hair and raise it up like proof. "See! You're cursed, just like them! This unnatural ash color is a warning for us! The gods are caring; it's just us that are blind! You're monsters hiding in human skin!" She hiccuped, losing voice suddenly. "And I spent twenty years in marriage with one…"
Arawn let go of her when she started to sob uncontrollably and stood up. He lifted a strand of his hair toward the sun, but saw nothing unusual. It was a hair like any other. Its color was a little unusual, but calling it unnatural was a bit too much. Most of the people in the mountainside villages had it.
And it wasn't a new thing. It was always like that, and people with ash blonde hair could be found all over the continent. After all, anyone with a bit better than average talent for ether would leave their home in search of a better living, spreading all over the country.
If all of them were hidden beasts, someone would have realized that long ago and wiped them out instead of letting them live peacefully. It was impossible for them to have survived if there was even the slightest truth to that claim.
"She's crazy," he decided.
Val gave the woman a pitying look. "My grandfather had hair like that, and he never turned. I buried him a human."
With a frown, Rain freed her leg and stepped away. "Let's go then. We shouldn't waste time here."
Once they left, the priest came out of his house and helped the woman up. She was still sobbing, and he listened to her stuttering speech while leading her back into his guest room.
"You sure you're no beast?" Betty asked when they were by the horses.
Arawn met her eyes. "Would I tell you if I were? You'll know when I turn and tear you apart."