Bacorium Legacy (10 page)

Thankfully, aside from a few small creatures, likely jakalopes, they encountered nothing. The reason for this was clear enough; the local vampires were at the top of the food chain.

“Let's move a bit faster,” he urged Emila.

She looked at him with concern. “Are you sure you can handle it?”

“I'll be fine.”

Without waiting for any consent from Emila, he took off at a jog. After a moment of hesitation, he heard her pace quicken behind him.

They ran for a few minutes. Forga had vanished behind them, and the moon seemed to grow brighter in the sky. Or perhaps his vision was simply adjusting to the dark.

Emila laughed suddenly. “You know, I'm rather enjoying this. The forest is beautiful at night.”

He grunted in reply.

“I have no regrets about this, you know,” she told him. “We were going to leave in the morning anyway. So this doesn't make a difference. Aside from the fact that we weren't turned into raisins by that vampire.”

“We might still get turned into raisins if we don't get out of here.”

“Yes, yes,” Emila said. “But it'll take at least a few hours before the other vampires come looking. You said so yourself. I'm sure we'll be far from Forga by then, even at a walking pace. It's possible we might even make it to the next town at this pace, before the night is over.”

“It's possible that the vampires may not come for us at all,” Luca said. “It's even possible that we could run and dance and sing our way through this forest without a care in the world, and make it to sunrise alive. Don't count on possibilities. There's a reason your parents lock the doors at night. The stories they tell you about the demon Ekkei might be nothing but legends, but there are monsters hiding under your bed, make no mistake.”

“But-”

“What do you think happened to all the people who lived in that town? Vampires aren't born like other monsters - they have to come from somewhere.”

Emila grew quiet at this, and they continued on in silence.

<> <> <>

Roughly two hours after they had set out from Forga, the sky was just beginning to turn orange. Unable to run any longer, Luca collapsed beside a tree.

Emila, hearing the sound of him hitting the ground, brought herself to a halt and turned to him.

“Goodness!” she exclaimed. “You're so pale!”

He forced himself up to a sitting position, and his hand was on the hilt of his father's sword. “I'm fine,” he muttered, though it was clear from the strain in his voice that he wasn't. He struggled just to keep his eyes open. As Emila drew near him, he could see fatigue in her eyes, as well.

Despite Emila's protests, he fought to rise to a standing position. His body ached, and grew number by the moment. He tried his hardest to rise, but his legs gave out underneath him, and he collapsed against the tree.

“Luca!” Emila cried, rushing to him. As her hands touched his skin, he felt a flash of rage. He pushed Emila away, more roughly than he had meant to, and she stumbled back and fell on the dirt road.

“Enough!” he shouted. “Enough of this coddling! I'm not your damn child!”

There was a flash of pain in Emila's eyes. Her lip trembled briefly, and she looked away from him in shame.

A moment passed in silence.

“I'm sorry,” she said quietly.

He felt guilty, seeing her like that, but he wasn't about to back down. With no small amount of effort, he drew himself up, leaning against the tree while he found his balance.

“We can't stop yet,” he said firmly. “The vampires will not be out anymore, so we're safe from them. But we're too vulnerable right now to rest until we find a more secure location. The monsters are no longer a concern, but human bandits may roam these areas. We'll go into the woods, and find a place to make camp. We'll take turns keeping watch. Is that alright?”

She finally looked up at him, surprised by that last sentence. Her eyes were tired and shone with unshed tears.

“I - yeah, that's fine.”

He offered his hand to her, and helped her up. They left the path ahead, and entered the thick forest. Emila was quiet, and refused to meet his gaze.

Finally, they found a place isolated enough to be safe. They laid out their respective sleeping bags, and made up a makeshift camp.

“I'll take the first watch,” Luca told her. She gave him a brief look, but didn't argue. She was clearly upset by what had happened. They both knew he needed rest more than she did, but his sense of chivalry wouldn't let him do so. He felt a sick feeling in his gut as he thought of that. How could he claim to follow chivalry when he hurt her for trying to help him?

“I'll apologise to her later,” he said to himself under his breath.

A quiet moan came from Emila. He turned to find she was already asleep. She must have been more tired than he had thought.

At her side, her bag had popped open from being dropped, and a few things had spilt out from the top. As quietly as he could, Luca went over and began to pick up her things, placing them back where they belonged. Within her bag, he caught a glimpse of some sort of small package, wrapped up in paper. Suddenly curious, Luca gently tried to pull it out, only to find it resisted him with a surprising weight. He gave up, realising he couldn't possibly take out the wrapped object without removing everything else in the bag.

He set his curiosity aside, deciding it would be rude either way to rummage through Emila's things. He put the rest of the spilt belongings back in the bag, and placed it upright so it wouldn't spill over again. Perhaps he would ask her about the wrapped thing later, if he remembered.

Some time passed, and he continued to watch her, thinking about his circumstances and how he had ended up bound to this odd girl. When he thought about it, he really didn't know much about her at all. But she also knew nothing about him either, save for his plans to go to Allma Temple.

Perhaps if he told her that his father had just died, she might understand why he was so short with her.

Luca shook his head at the thought. He couldn't get close to this girl. As soon as his lung was healed, and he no longer needed the Soul Tether to live, he was leaving, and he would never see her again. He would prefer that to happen before they even got to Allma Temple.

He thought of Arlea, and the guilty feelings grew. He could not give into the comfort of being close to anyone, especially not a beautiful girl. Death was now a companion of his, always walking behind him, and looking over his shoulder. His path would inevitably take him to places where somewhere like Emila could not follow.

Like to Zinoro, who waited for him in Acaria.

Emila stirred, but she did not awaken. She muttered something, clearly dreaming.

Despite himself, Luca leaned in closer to hear what she was saying.

“M-mother - please, don't - leave me.”

Hating himself, he turned away from her and held his sword like a lifeline.

Chapter IV

His Father's Sword

Luca drew himself up, and took a deep breath.

“C'mon - ten more metres...”

He moved in slow, careful steps. His body shook and ached, and every now and then he would have to stop, lest he be driven to his knees by a coughing fit or a wave of dizziness. Beside him, on the trees standing at the margin of the road were numbers that he and Emila had carved in the bark earlier. These numbers continued on for some distance, the final marked tree being still too far away for him to see. They had left such numbers for a good three kilometres in preparation for the test.

And he had not even made it more than a kilometre away from her before the symptoms started kicking in.

He swore under his breath. He didn't know how much farther he could go, but if he went too far, he might hit a point where he was unable to even go back. Emila would return for him if he took too long, but there was no sense in pushing himself too hard. His condition had only gotten worse after his attempt at fleeing Forga, and when that was coupled with the fight against the vampire, he had been so drained he could hardly carry his own sword. And he had been like that for days.

He simply couldn't go any farther.

Damn it all...

Luca turned and started back, where Emila would be waiting.

The results had been expected, but he was still frustrated. At this rate of recovery, it would take him months to be independent again, not just weeks, as Emila had initially predicted.

Some part of him hated that she had saved his life.

<> <> <>

“How far were you able to go?”

Luca collapsed on the log opposite of the one she sat upon. A small fire crackled between them, providing a bit of light and warmth as the sun began to fade behind the horizon.

“Not far at all,” he muttered sorely. “A kilometre and a half, and even that was pushing it.” He bowed his head, closed his eyes, and massaged a sore temple.

She frowned. “Really? That means - wow. You're actually getting worse.”

Luca's eyes shot open, and he looked at her with an intense gaze. “How do you mean?”

“When you tried to leave Forga, you made it about two kilometres out before the symptoms kicked in,” she told him. “I know this because you were close to a signpost that pointed out the distance to town.”

Luca bowed his head again and swore.

“That's not what's really bothering me, though,” Emila continued. “My side of the tether has been getting stronger. At first, I could only sense your presence as a kind of feeling at the edge of my mind. That feeling fading was how I knew when you were leaving Forga. When you were fighting that vampire, I was woken up by a feeling of pain in my left hand. I later found out that was the same hand in which you inflicted a wound upon yourself.”

“Right,” Luca said. “I made myself bleed, to distract the vampire.”

“I feel none of the things you feel when you tested the connection,” Emila said. “But I'm guessing that's because those things are caused by the tether being strained. When the tether is strong, I feel the same pain that you do.”

“Yesterday you stubbed your toe on a rock,” Luca added. “I felt that, but only a little bit.”

Emila's eyes widened. “The pain goes both ways? I didn't know it could do that...”

“How much did you know about this spell before you used it?”

“Not much, unfortunately,” Emila sighed. “Actually, not a lot of people do. It's not a well-known technique, and what little research has been done on it varies wildly. It is known that if the two people connected are too different in personality, it can produce negative reactions.”

“Negative reactions?”

“People have killed each other to get out of the tether,” Emila said quietly, staring into the fire. “It's driven people insane. There's a good reason I was so hesitant to use it.”

She grew quiet after that. Luca stared at the fire as well, thinking to himself. Around them, the light of the sun faded and the shadows grew bolder, closing in around their small sanctuary of light.

“Thank you, though,” Luca said to her. “I would be dead if you had not done what you did. I'm starting to see what a risk you took to help a total stranger, and I want you to know that I appreciate that.”

Emila met his gaze and smiled.

Luca did not return it.

Instead, he unfolded their map and checked the roads, looking for the one they had just crossed.

“Here we are...” he muttered. “We're close. Allma Temple is only another day's walk away.”

“What will happen when we get there?”

“I have someone to meet,” Luca replied.

“Yes, Master Dori.”

Luca blinked, a bit surprised she remembered. “Indeed. Hopefully, he can give me some of the answers I'm looking for.”

“Answers...”

Emila sighed, and turned away from him.

“He still hasn't told me anything,” she said under her breath. “Who he is, where he came from, how he ended up in Forga with an Acarian and covered in snow... He's so...”

She looked over at Luca, whose back was turned to her. The man whose soul was linked to her own, and yet she knew nothing about.

“...distant.”

<> <> <>

They reached the top of the hill, and looked down at Allma Temple below.

The temple itself was a large stone sanctum built into the side of the hill. Within the temple was a large garden, through which a river ran. Many buildings were built on the left and right sides, making up something of a small town. And finally, a large stone wall ran around the temple, enclosing all of this from the outside world.

“Well, that's it,” Emila said. “Allma Temple. The most prestigious training facility in Torachi. Many of the greatest swordsmen and warriors of the past century were taught there.”

Luca nodded. “And that's where Dori is. Let's not waste any time. I'm eager to meet him.”

He started down the hill, but Emila hesitated. He noticed this, and turned to her.

“What is it?”

“Nothing,” she muttered. “But - do you really want me coming with you?”

Luca gave her a puzzled look. “You have to come. You know this. I can't live without you.”

Emila looked down at the ground for a moment, before nodding and following him down the hill. She was glad Luca wasn't looking at her, because that last sentence had made her cheeks burn red.

They followed the path, nearing the gates of the temple. As they drew closer, the walls seemed to grow larger, until they finally stood above the height of ten men. The gates themselves were a set of wooden double-doors, guarded by a pair of young soldiers in armour. The insignia upon their armour was not that of the Torachi nation, but rather the crest of Allma itself.

The kingdom of Torachi would often hire warriors trained by the temple, but Allma had always been neutral in times of conflict.

“Halt,” ordered the guards once they were close enough. “State your business.”

“My name is Luca, son of Lodin,” he told them. “I've come to see Dori.”

The guards exchanged glances.

“Better let him know,” said one of them.

The other guard nodded, and knocked three times on the heavy wooden gate. A moment later, there was the sound of chains being pulled, and with a deep groan the wooden gate slowly swung open.