"We must hunt them down," Mors said.
Maledic turned his head away from the flames in the fire.
"What did you learn from Spesavia about the boy?"
"Besides the fact he hatched from an egg? I suppose I can't prove that. He grows too quickly, has had teeth from birth… and…yet…?"
"Is that all?"
"Isn't that enough? With what we know of the future?"
"We can't know the future," Maledic said. "The fact that the future has become our past may confuse us a little, but we still can't know it."
Mors accepted the point made. Maledic continued pondering.
It's very little, he thought.
To condemn someone with coincidental evidence. If it was a case brought before him where a man was brought to death from these things alone, he would have hung those responsible.
Yes, condemn was the right word.
Condemnation was what Maledic saw in Mors eyes. After Spesavia had spent so much time working his patience to the white bone, Mors would likely live up to his reputation tonight.
And it's a baby.
Vitreum's face came to mind. Maledic accepted it, but chose to put those feelings to the side.
For the children who may have to grow up in the same time as a monster, it may be better to put it down young.
"Heh."
Mors didn't comment on Maledic's change in expression.
Yet… for all his talk of rejecting authority and allowing those beneath him to prosper, Lord Maledic still acted as if it was his duty to make this decision.
Who gave me this responsibility?
He no longer wished to bear it.
Just because he had taken the authority, that had never made it his. After all, the moment he knew the truth of the matter was the moment the baby was already out of his reach.
A future without a monster in it in the first place? Is that what you're trying to achieve, Spesavia?
If she even knew what she was trying to do.
Maledic didn't understand the point of it in the larger scale of things. There would always be monsters in Aeternitus. This tiny room had two. Maledic looked back up at Mors.
I also have responsibility not only to the future, but also to the present.
Mors had come out of his retirement, not for Maledic or any cause, but to protect his own student, Lacuna.
The funeral was a sad thing.
But so was the destruction of Bonumbas.
"We've spent too much time on this," Lord Maledic said. "We need to prepare for Nix's next move. For now, it's enough to know where they are. I'll need to tell our captain to send some men after them."
"I did that."
"Good," Maledic said. "Then you can go to Fluentum."
"Maledic—
"There's murmurings from Nix. In the past, they attacked Bonumbas first. But we can't afford to assume they'll do that in the future. Do you object?"
Maledic saw Mors' jaw clench. In the end, he didn't respond.
"I know this beast caused you great harm," Maledic said. "But one thing we know now is that the beast is a child. With no knowledge or strength that we know of, and in the hands of those who won't be accepted by Nix. It would be better for you to focus on the real threat Nix poses in the present."
"And if you're wrong about these assumptions? What if they trade the life of the boy for a return to their home? And if Nix finds a way to turn the kid into a monster—!
Mors stopped himself from continuing. The strain on his face and body was apparent. For Mors, that was enough of a show of distress. He forcibly unwound himself before continuing.
"I would just be facing the same nightmare as before. Your words are nothing."
Maledic tapped his chair as he waited a few more moments for Mors to control himself.
"But if you go to Fluentem," when Maledic spoke again, it was with soft incisions, "you would be in a position to defend against anything Nix does. And that's a great many assumptions from you as well, Mors."
"Where will they go if not to return to Nix?"
"Aeternitus is large enough to find a spot between Nix and Lapis. I doubt Nix would be their first option after coming so far. But no matter their decisions, you will still be more prepared then you were. Than we all were. That we know for certain."
What had been a new threat was an old one. Caducus and Nix and all of their combined forces and tricks were better known. And instead of decades, as Caducus previously had to prepare, he would have years.
If not less. Maledic would make Caducus' time as short as possible.
"You may be right, Lord Maledic," Mors said, his eyes shining dangerously. "I will do as you say. I can pass by Fluentem on my way back to Bonumbas."
Maledic nodded and went back to looking at the dying flames. Mors left.
He would obey this command. Not because of Lord Maledic's authority, but because he had people to protect there.
Maledic understood Mors' frustration. But to an extent, his own hands were tied. If he didn't want to send Mors to murder the boy, there were no options.
I can't send Aes away right now.
A troubling letter had arrived.
Who even gave Caducus my address in the first place?!
With that "delegation" of Nix's coming so soon, we need more than an immobile king on the board.
It was ridiculous how they came to the Hidden Manor before heading to Lapis City. Maledic knew their intentions couldn't be simple.
Other than that… Maledic's own chasing days were long over.
The fate of those three, should they escape the guards, is in their own hands.
The timing is quite divine for them.
The dying fire crackled and spat. Finding less and less to eat to keep alive.
It was a warm, pleasant room to be in.
———————————————————
The dust settled again.
Aureum looked up at the sky. The stars were just beginning to fade.
Yes, it had taken all night. Aureum hadn't expected it to be short, but living it was different. To see that sky and realize there was still more ground to cover was exhausting.
They were still on the run.
She turned over to Hiems. He had grabbed a sword from one of the guards. It hung from his hand at his side. Gemmo was clutched in the other. The boy shivered a little, looking this way and that.
Other than that, the chaos from moments ago was all stilled silence.
They were dirty. With everything one could imagine from a night like this.
"Let me carry Gemmo for now," Aureum said.
She couldn't even think to swing her spear right now, but she thought if she carried Gemmo, maybe he would fight easier. She slowly unclasped her fingers from the handle and returned it to her ring.
A few heavy steps, and Gemmo was pushed into her arms. Hiems stumbled doing it and then just stood, shaking.
She took a sharp breath. A cold, cutting breeze flowed by her.
Aureum peered up at his face. Dirt and blood with clean streaks of sweat running through all of that, his eyes had a glassy expression.
We can't keep fighting.
And we can't keep running.
"We need to hide," Aureum said.
Hiems slowly nodded.
Maybe they were far enough away that the guards wouldn't find them. They had run for hours.
It's only been a night…
And the guards could just follow the trail of destruction created with every unwanted encounter.
So they had to keep going, for a bit longer. Gemmo murmured here and there, but he was too tired to even struggle or yell.
Their steps were painfully slow.
The sun began to truly peak from the horizon. Aureum felt the urge to hide from it. In the daylight, all the horror would be so much easier to see.
The breezes Aureum rode her mana upon came back to her, guiding her along the trails they went. That is how she found a small cave by a little creek with a big tree overhead.
She didn't know how good it was for hiding, really. But it was out of direct sight, miles from any road, and a ways from the last group of guardsmen.
It would do.
She stumbled down into it. The sand left by when the creek fattened was soft.
She was too dirty and tired to care about anything else. Gemmo was placed in the innermost corner of the small alcove.
There was just enough room for all of them.
"Here…!"
Aureum went to help Hiems lay down, but as she grasped his arm she recoiled in shock.
He's freezing!
Now with some of the earliest of dawn's light, she could see his breath on the air. Aureum pulled him down and touched his forehead and heart.
It hadn't been a cold wind she'd felt earlier. Hiems was emanating cold mana.
His forehead is still warm compared to the rest of him.
But his body around the pearl feels like ice.
It must be some kind of mana rebound. What did Spesavia say about him? His condition.
Nothing specific Aureum could remember to help treat it. She swallowed.
Even panic was difficult to grasp at behind the wall of exhaustion inside her. The only thing keeping her going was forward momentum.
"If I treat it like a normal mana rebound, I can help alleviate some of the symptoms…"
Maybe.
It would be like first aid. She just didn't know if it was the right kind of first aid.
Aureum rested herself on her knees as she leaned forward to place her hands over his pearl. She opened his clothes. There was frost around his chest.
Something had to be done. Anything was better than nothing.
It would be best if I had the same element. Or at least an overwhelming amount of an opposing element.
As it was, she was left to guide mana as solid as ice with wisps of wind.
It didn't matter. She had what she had. She started.
Within moments she was lost in the endless process of shaving at the frozen chunks of mana inside him. She couldn't shove at it, and she couldn't control it. So she broke it down so it could flow again.
The tear that slid out of her eye wasn't even noticed, nor how Gemmo crawled over to her side to lean against her.
Once one lump of mana was done, there was always another.
Another.
One more.
It never ended. Just a frozen landscape that choked out Hiems' shallow breaths.
I can… do the next one…
But she couldn't.
———————————————————
Thump.
Aureum woke up. She didn't know exactly what woke her up, and she couldn't remember where she was.
But it was warm. And she was itchy.
Ba-Thump.
Ah… I can see the daylight.
She heard the sounds of the creek and the birds. It was the deepest luxury to wake so when she expected the shouts of angry men.
Ba-Thump.
It was starting to come to her now. The horrors of last night. So did all of the gashes, scrapes, and bruises from it. Alongside a pounding headache.
Ba-Thump.
She didn't want to wake to such a reality. But no one was shouting, and no one was crying.
She pushed herself up off of Hiems' chest.
Ah. That was what that sound was.
And she remembered the last bit of that dreadful night, the pale and merciless morning.
Aureum put her hand on the pearl over his heart, over his pearl.
As soon as she remembered, she wanted to check. She knew he was alive, but how alive? About to die-alive, or going-to-be-fine-alive? It would be good to know.
It's cold, but it almost feels like what could be normal.
All right, she might be stretching normal a bit.
Sending her mana into it, she could tell she hadn't cleared up the side effects completely. Not even close. Just enough to keep it from spiraling out of control.
Her gaze went from the slowly rising chest of the man to his face. Where she met his open eyes. Two green gems stuck in some kind of carved rock, that's what his face looked like in the low lighting.
Aureum opened her mouth. She was about to make a sharp comment that he should tell her about his condition so she could deal with it better, but she closed it again. She just couldn't.
She was too tired to bring that much fight into the world at the moment.
Her eyes wandered, quite belatedly, for Gemmo. He was there, curled up beside her, dozing off.
Aureum blinked a bit.
There was sand inside her dress. Her head pounded. Scratch that. Every bit of her ached. She was stuck between some boy that was forced upon her and a dangerous man who just wouldn't leave. All of them were crammed inside a tiny little cave where she would have to run for her life in a few moments if there was any chance of staying out of that damn manor, but.
She couldn't have been more happy. To be free. To be out of it all with all of them alive alive and intact.
Well, mostly intact.
Hopefully, Spesavia's word held true, and she would fine.
If she weren't so exhausted, she would have cried with joy.
"You're up," she said instead.
"Of course," he said.
For a moment, that's all that was needed.