I slept inside the carriage for once. With Ronalt and Ardent gone there was two free beds I could use. Earnest sat on one beside me while I prepared my own. The room was small and barely fit the three beds as it was. If Ronalt were here, even if Ardent wasn't I'd choose to sleep outside. I couldn't see the large man fitting to such a small mattress.
I unconsciously felt Earnest's eyes on me while I got changed, "Umm why are you staring at me?" I was quite sure he didn't swing that way but on further thought I had never seen him take an interest in women outside of swordsmanship.
He didn't move, "I am curious about you Rain."
I finished changing out of my suit and into more comfortable sleep wear, "I could say the same to you." Seriously he was a mystery, aside from the debt he had racked up gambling when he was drunk there shouldn't be any other reason he was with us. Then again he probably enjoyed the journey for the challenge.
"Then shall we play a game? I'll ask you one question and then you. We keep going till one of us cannot answer."
I slid under the blankets of the bed and faced him, "Sure but I'm going first."
"Go ahead," he smirked.
"Okay then, first, what's with your sword? You hardly put it down and heck I've seen you sleeping with it."
He held up the sheathed blade and looked at it fondly, "It's a memento of my family back home also I doubt you'd find a finer blade." True when I had gone against it seriously it had shattered my sword without so much as a scratch. But more importantly,
"Family? So you're not a complete lone wonderer?"
"My turn first Rain," he leaned back on the wall and eyed me. "You're skills with the bow, where did you learn them?"
"My foster father Morgan. He's a hunter in Axel. We've gone hunting together several times." I turned back to him, "So this family of yours, where exactly are you from?"
"I come from Qing. Though where it is from here, I couldn't tell you other than it is across the seas."
"So you're lost?"
Earnest paused, "I'm on a journey. There is no such thing as being lost, but simply wondering in a different way."
"Yeah that sounds like you're lost to me…."
He changed the subject, "I'd like to know how someone like you is skilled in so many different fields. Even in swordsmanship you have shown enormous talent."
I laughed, "Well my parents say I learn quickly but I still put in a lot of effort you know. The reason I know so many different fields though," I smiled thinking about it. "When I was found I was the town's only child. Everyone wanted to raise me so instead every week I'd spend time with a different parent. Being a small town it really didn't make much difference but it ended up being kind of a competition to see just who's path I would follow. So over the years I learnt them all equally."
"That sounds… exhausting," Earnest looked at me sympathetically.
"I loved it. Anyway where did you learn how to use the sword?"
"My uncle taught me."
"That's it?"
"That's it," he nodded in reply.
"That's not fair, at least give me some details," I felt cheated.
"Fine," his expression grew strangely sombre, "I was taught in a school with many others and I excelled. Unlike you the sword is my life, without it I am nothing."
"I could teach you how to cook, I already have two pupils one more won't change much."
Earnest faced me seriously, "Would you like to die?" My reply stuck in my throat. I couldn't tell if he was joking. "When we first fought was that really the first time?"
I hesitated at the question, "What makes you say that?"
"The way you looked at me back then, it was as if you had already seen through me. Thus why I decided to attack you seriously and as a result you defended it."
"I think you would remember if we had fought before," I laughed trying to make it sound natural. "Like I said before, beginner's luck or really it was me panicking."
"Of course…. I think it is time we end this game."
"Does that mean I win?" I asked teasingly.
"This time yes. Good night Rain," he turned his back to me and laid out on top the bed his sword never leaving his side. I was a little unsatisfied. I had hoped to get more out of him, instead I sighed and closed my eyes.
*
Morning came and at first light I had the carriage set off. I wanted to reach Axel by tomorrow afternoon. There was no real reason for it but I was anxious. While Axel was close to the border forest we had never interacted with the demons apart from the occasional sighting. They kept to their side and us to ours. There was no reason for them to attack Axel. What we earned we used mostly for ourselves. We weren't a trading town and our population was only just bordering at two hundred, much less than Greytree or any major town nearby. In fact you could barely call us more than a village. But when I thought about the massacre in the streets of Greytree, how brutal the demons had been and how merciless they had killed the townsfolk, they could do the same to Axel for nothing more than petty want to.
I distracted myself by talking to the others about mundane topics. How the weather was, small titbits, nice and easily going conversations that calmed my heart. By the second night however I couldn't sleep. Now that I was so close and I knew home was not even a day away my body refused to shut down. It was geared to high alert and every small sound caused me to react.
I sat outside the carriage enjoying the cool night air hoping eventually I'd be called to slumber. A part of me was just nervous going home. It hadn't even been a month since I was carted away to the capital but that was in real time. The struggle I had taken to actually arrive at this moment was still gripping my lungs making it harder to breath.
A sound caught my ears, no more than the shuffling of leaves but I responded and spoke in a low voice, "Taylor don't you dare."
"Tch," she clicked her tongue and moved out from the shadow. "I'm surprised you found me."
I hid my surprise that she was actually there. I had only said it on a whim. "I've known you long enough to see it coming."
"Have you though?" she sat beside me. "I mean it hasn't even been three weeks yet."
I looked down unable to reply.
"But I get it," her words caught me. "I feel like the time we've spent together has been much longer. Though I can't quite put a reason why on it."
I looked at her intently. Was it a coincidence? It could easily be due to the way I've naturally gotten use to her and it was just her reacting but maybe just maybe, some small part of the lives I had spent were coming across to her. I shook the thought away. Even if it was true there wasn't much I could do about it.
"You're nervous aren't you?" she poked my side. The sudden sensation caused me to jump. "Let me guess, you're afraid how your parents will react when you bring a beauty like me home." She flaunted herself.
"Far from it," I pushed her away jokingly. "It's just been awhile…."
"You know I'm pretty good at calming people," her hand reached over to my thigh. "Lara's sleeping right now but if we're quiet she'll never know."
"I really wonder what would happen if I say yes," I smirked and picked up her hand placing it back at her side. "After all the times you've come on to me, would you be surprised or disappointed."
"Maybe I'd be happy," she winked.
I smiled and looked off into the direction of Axel. My body was no longer shaking inside and a tiredness had built behind my eyes.
"Thank you Taylor," I stood up.
"For what?" she stared at me confused.
"You really are good at calming people. Goodnight."
"But I haven't done anything yet," she said sounding disappointed.
"No, you did," I smiled to her sincerely. Her expression stiffened and she looked away. I entered the carriage and slid into my bed to sleep.
*
I could see Axel. The small town like a cluster of buildings in the middle of nowhere. To the east and north a set of fields followed the road. The border forest extended from our right all the way past the town and in the North-East a smaller forest sprouted closer. This was my home and just by seeing the familiar slanted roofs a sense of warmth filled my heart. We were still faraway but my goal was in sight.
Taylor, Lara and even Earnest exited the carriage sitting beside me and on the roof as we travelled closer.
"It's smaller than I thought it would be," Lara commented.
"Well compared to towns along the main road of course it would be," I replied with a smile. "We don't have any specialty goods either so there's not much reason to come by."
"I like it," Taylor said from beside me. "I've been all over the Empire and Kingdom but this place has a nice feel."
"Right?" I accepted the compliment happily. "When we arrive I'll show you around. There's not much compared to Greytree but we have our own fun."
"Yes, I'm quite interested," Earnest said a little forebodingly. I knew he was trying to pry into me but he really wouldn't find much. My family in Axel were normal. Though after having thought about it many of them were on the more eccentric side.
We reached the edge of the fields in the early afternoon. It was quiet. Well it was normally this quiet so far from the town centre. The only reason to come this far out would be for work so it was completely fine that no one was in sight. I gazed across the tilled land. There really was no one.
"Is something wrong?" Lara asked me.
"No it's just that I thought I'd see someone by now," I said feeling my anxiousness rise. "Mr Peters owns the land around here. He's usually outside about this time."
"Well it is around lunch perhaps he's on break."
"Right…," my jaw tightened. But it wasn't just Mr Peters, he had quite a few of the townsfolk work with him, to not see one of them was strange…. I calmed myself, it was still in the realms of possibility.
The carriage moved on and I looked to the skies over Axel's buildings. Most the houses and shops were two stories and built up in the centre spreading further apart as you left town. It was a normal day and a clear blue sky hovered between the clouds rolling by.
I frowned, "There's no smoke."
"What are you talking about?" Taylor looked to the sky as well.
"It's winter. Mrs Tiller usually has a fire lit all day but there's no smoke at all."
She placed her hand on my shoulder, "Rain relax. Just because one lady doesn't have a fire lit doesn't mean you need to freak out."
I clasped my mouth shut and nodded. My nerves were continuing to pile up. It wasn't just Mrs Tiller, Tarhand who ran the blacksmith and taught me how to work metal, Marcy the town baker, Nill and Bert who ran the inn, even Margaret my teacher in apothecary, all of them needed some kind of flame. To not see any smoke chilled my heart more than it should.
We were reaching the end of the fields and into the township proper yet still no one came to greet us. The windows facing our way, by now a smiling face should have waved my way. It wasn't like we were hiding. Walter and Lane our town guards, they were quite old now, not that I'd say it to their faces, but for them not to at least do a small inspection and let us roll in was just neglectful. Even if they missed us, the children never would. In the middle of the day the boys and girls would be running all around town playing. Just the simple sight of a visitor would have their hearts flutter in excitement. Yet why? Why was no one showing up? I could only think of one explanation. The town Mayor Sir Mattias the man who raised me the most, he must have called for a meeting. It was the only reason everyone would be in one place and gone.
"Something's not right," Earnest's words drove a spike through my chest.
"Earnest!" Lara snapped at him. "We don't know that."
"No Lara, we can all feel it," Taylor shook her head. "Rain we need to be careful.
My grip on Pina's reins tightened as I forced myself to look ahead. The paved streets of home so familiar to me felt foreign and foreboding. The buildings we passed by, the ones I had seen almost every day of my life, they weren't the same. I led the carriage down to the town centre where I hoped I'd find my family waiting. We travelled at a snail's pace as the other's kept a watchful eye and then suddenly I came to a halt. The path before us blocked by a broken wagon.
No. That was the last straw. I knew that wagon. It belonged to Ms Elena. She had only moved here five years ago to start a new life away from the Capital. She married Henry who ran the general store and together they had a bouncing and beautiful little girl named May. We made that wagon together as a present for Ms Elena's fifth year university in Axel. There was no reason for it to be here broken with no one nearby. The silence of the town usually so full of life finally broke me.
I jumped from the carriage and into the street unable to hold myself back. I needed to know now. Where was everybody? I couldn't stand not knowing for another second.
"Rain!" Lara and Taylor called after me but I ignored them. My heart was beating what felt like ten times too fast as I ran towards the town centre. It was a plaza that could fit everybody, where we held our festivals and celebrations. A web of streets and structures spiralled out from it to create Axel, my home. I cut through the final corner and skidded to a halt gazing into the familiar place.
'Surprise!' those were the words I wanted to hear. To see my family and friends the people of Axel laugh as they welcomed me home. That wasn't what I saw. The sight burnt into my eyes searing through my nerves to my brain and heart. I couldn't believe it.
"Rain don't just-," Lara's words were cut off as she covered her mouth in horror.
I stepped forward wobbling, "I… this isn't real. This can't be real!"
"Goddess be damned," Taylor cursed.
Earnest stood behind them hands on his sword, "What kind of monstrosity is this?"
"It's real," the words fell from my lips like an echo.
I collapsed to my knees before the mound of bodies. There was no blood or smell. The sky was bright as if nothing had changed, as if everything was fine. Yet in front of me was everyone I loved stacked together in some kind of satanic ritual, piled one against the each other creating a pyramid of death. The children, May, Timmy, Ona, Barthi, no one was spared. Mr Peter and his family, Morgan who taught me how to hunt, Margaret my teacher, all my fathers, all my mothers, those who I called brother, sister, aunty, uncle and on the top kneeling with a spear through his chest as if a garnish to finish it all off, Sir Mattias the mayor. Their bodies dry and pale as if hollowed, their screams forever sounding silently in a world I couldn't see.
I screamed. My heart wrenched in pain as if it would tear itself from my body. Why would they do this? Who could have done this? Anger, resentment, fear, sadness, emotions I could barely control struggled to make sense of themselves as I continued to stare at them all blankly. The black oozing paint crossing the ground around them, it circled the town centre like the spiralling of a mad man, crossing buildings, and body alike. The pits of burnt out fire near the bodies. The grazes against the stone ground. All of it I could never forget no matter how hard I would try. My home was gone.
"Rain you need to calm down your mana is going haywire," Lara called out to me, her voice sounded so far away. "At this rate you'll die!"
Ah, that's right. I could just die. There was no point in getting revenge. I didn't need to. I could just go back and fix everything. The people who did this, the demons, I'd find them and make them pay but before that I needed to end it all. A voice inside screamed for me to stop but I ignored it. My hand found its way to the sword attached to my waist. I had been wearing it since we left Greytree just in case. A gift from Ronalt. How handy it would come right now. The metal unsheathed with a satisfying grate against the scabbard. Its steel point directed at my neck. My hand shook. No matter how many times I had died I still hesitated even now. Was it really okay for me to kill myself? Was there another path I could take?
"Gah!" I involuntarily made the noise as the sword in my hands fell to the ground. A knife bloodied by my own blood burst from my chest. I recognised the knife. It was Taylor's. It twisted as if to seal my fate crushing my heart and lungs.
"I'm sorry," her voice was the last thing I heard. I died.