Damian heard early morning birds chirping in the distance as cold breeze touched his young face and woke him up from his untimely slumber, for a minute he was confused as to where he was until his eyes finally cleared and the hazy figure above his face was clear enough to be recognized.
He was in Lucian's lap, looking up at her face.
"Lucian..?"
"Everything is fine, It's just 'mana collapse'. "
It took another few seconds in Lucian's lap listening to birds that Damian remembered everything that happened. His body was completely out of mana, which was the effect people of this world called 'mana collapse'. Usually one just gets sleepy and exhausted as if life was sucked out of them but in extreme cases people lost consciousness for hours till their body regains a few mana points.
"Your wound...?"
"It's fine, It wasn't too deep. I had a health potion." Damian saw a piece of clean cloth wrapped around her waist and exhaled.
"Where is she...?" Damian had to ask before he could even start to calm his nerves.
"Gone..." Lucian said looking away from him.
Damian stood up and walked to the place Rosie was standing when gathering her Esper energy. And only found dirt and charred land. According to Lucian after the big flash of lights she saw no movement from either of them, Damian had just collapsed, while the treacherous maid... Well, either she died or ran away, only god was the witness. The tear stains on Lucian's cheeks however, made it clear what she thought of the situation.
For Damian it was only a 3 year of familiarity and it still made him question as to, what he was doing in the middle of the battle, he could only imagine what Lucian who practically saw her as an older sister was going through.
"I'm sorry..."
"Don't be.... She betrayed us, that's what she will always be – A traitor."
"You are allowed to feel for your enemy Lucian, that's what makes us humans."
Damian gave her a reassuring pat on her shoulder, looked in her puffy eyes for a while and walked away. Gathering his things from the blackened battlefield, Damian thought about what to do next. His sword was nearby, so he picked it up.
Emberlock was just half a day's walk from here, Provided his calculations and directions were right. Damian still didn't know how Rosie controlled the wild monsters to attack them or weather or not the effect was still active but other than moving forward they had no real choice.
Preparing everything and looking around for one last time Damian pushed Lucian up the horse, she was still feeling pain, no matter how much she denied it. After that Damian himself got behind her and pulled the reins guiding the beast on the correct path, and kicking the horse gently to move forward.
They travelled in silence, both lost in their own thoughts. The scenery was just as beautiful as always and not having monsters after monsters in their way made the it even better. Going south towards the main land of Dawnstar was always Damian's plan, but after showing all his abilities to Lucian, Damian thought it better to just leave the kingdom and go as far as possible. Start a new life with new identity. He would never be hundred percent sure that Lucian would never reveal his secrets.
While thinking such thoughts suddenly the forest ended and they came out in the vast open green field with one or two dried up trees here and there, but that was not what attracted their attention; it was the distant form of a stone wall surrounding a lively town where a single red dot was visible above the walls. The red dot was where the place got it's name from. It was a big myrtle beech tree with red leaves, that was higher than any man-made building and thicker than whole single story houses.
They had finally arrived at Emberlock.
"We made it..." Lucian said softly.
"Yes, we did." Damian replied with a hint of temporary relief.
Lucian looked back at him, they were very close on the horseback which made it even more awkward.
"I stand behind what I said before, you have done enough. If you wish to go on your own journey, you are free to do so."
"Thanks..."
"But at least give it another thought, together we can rise as one of the greatest houses in the north, with time I'm sure you can gather strength like never before seen in the history of this kingdom. You can win back your own household through 'Monarch's Trial'... I will do everything in my power to support you and help you..."
"Your intentions are kind Lucian, but I'm not noble material. Scheming all the time and facing unnecessary challenges for feeble pride is not something I desire. Life is much bigger than just noble houses and blind pursuit of strength. I thank you though, for your kind offer."
Damian bowed at her, not because he respected her status but simply because he believed she deserved his respect. Even though she was barely 10, she realized her mistake and even subtly apologized for it. The girl he grew up with, never played with words, if she said she would do something then it would be done. No matter how much she had to suffer for it. Which was why her offer was much more than just empty words of gratitude.
"As you wish." Lucian said softly with a slight hint of sadness, then she faced forward. She was finally home.
Reaching the large gate of Emberlock, Damian and Lucian got down from their horse and walked towards the line which was reserved for nobility and VIPs. When their turn came, the guard of course, seeing just two filthy looking kids in VIP line raised his eyebrows and tried to shoo them away. Lucian though, without even giving him a second glance showed him a small gold badge like ornament that she had in her satchel with her house sigil on it. The guard immediately straightened up and raised his right hand turning it into fist and placing it on his chest, bowing down slightly.
That was how commoners and foot soldiers greeted nobility.
The guards ran in all direction to serve the lady and found a ride for Lucian, taking advantage of the chaos Damian got a blank paper from one of the guards and wrote something on it, then placed it in Lucian's hand after folding it four times.
"Give this to your father. And take care, I will be going now." Damian said.
"You can stay a day or two with me at uncle's villa you know ? Uncle Jonas is a good person, you know that. You have met him." Lucian took the paper anyway.
"Yes, and that's why it's better not to put him in an awkward position. It would be even better if you just say that you don't know what happened to me."
"The guards have seen you, so I doubt he will believe me but I can take my time answering for a day or two." She winked at Damian, which made him chuckle. Lucian was an earnest, serious type so it was really unexpected to see her do such a childish thing.
The carriage arrived and Lucian got on it, while Damian walked away towards a dark alley after looking back at her golden hair and proud face for the last time.
Despite knowing that he was relatively safe for the time being, the first thing Damian did was to ask a pedestrian where passenger wagons were parked and immediately headed that way. The earliest wagon was to leave for Ravensong – the passing village on the border of Dawnstar and Faerunia, it was scheduled for afternoon 3pm.
It was still early morning so Damian had few hours to prepare. Damian did not know much about Faerunia, except what he had heard from maids and knights in the villa.
It was one of the four kingdoms that shared borders with Dawnstar, placed at the end of the map in north. it was supposed to be a major maritime kingdom with their main occupations being fishermen and sailors.