Bacorium Legacy (74 page)

The sun would soon be setting. He'd lost track of time. The whole day had just been one long, chaotic blur - what time had it been when they'd started fighting? How long had the battle lasted? How many hours had they been resting?

Outside, he saw the now-familiar sea of yellow tents before him. The only difference was just how fewer there were. Even setting aside the large number the Torachians had taken with them when they'd left, the Saetician and Sonoian numbers were strikingly smaller. Reminded of just how many people had died, Luca felt the regret and guilt threaten to return and overwhelm him. He took a deep breath, and forced those feelings down.

It didn't take Luca long to spot Brand, standing with Tranom at the edge of the camp. He was relieved to see Tranom was alive, too. The familiarity of the sight of them was comforting, until Luca realised that Tranom's many students were with him. Luca approached them, and as he drew near he saw the students wore travel cloaks and had bags on their backs. He also saw that while a few of them had minor injuries, many of them were simply not there.

It would seem even Allma had suffered losses.

“You're leaving?” Luca asked Tranom when he reached him.

The man nodded regretfully. “We are. I hate to say it, but I was wrong. I thought things would be different. I was expecting it to be like the first Acarian war, where the enemy was easily beaten, and Allma Temple achieved glory. Things - were not like that at all.”

Tranom looked regretfully to his students. Their eyes were cast down. They looked afraid. “Many of them died. And they died because I brought them here. They weren't ready - it was too much, too soon. As the leader of the temple, my duty is to keep the name of Allma alive. And I have to do that, even at the cost of my honour and my pride.”

Luca didn't answer. He couldn't say anything. He understood all too well what Tranom had seen out there. He couldn't ask him to stay for more of that.

Brand was quiet. Tranom glanced at him, and said, “I made an offer to Brand. I wanted him to come with us, and to become one of the new masters of the temple. I would have made the same offer to Wiosna, but I haven't seen her.”

Luca looked to Brand. “And...?”

“I declined,” Brand said. “I won't leave. Not now.”

Tranom frowned. “I know my old student well. Part of me already knew what the answer would be.” A glimmer of hope returned to his eyes. “And how about you, Luca? You weren't with the temple for very long, but you trained under the great Master Dori. Only two other people can claim that honour. You're a very skilled warrior, and you have a magick I've never even heard of before. Not to mention that I once saw you shrug off a dagger through the heart. You could teach these kids a lot. So how about it? Why not pick up where Dori left off?”

Luca didn't even consider it. In another life, he would have. But there were more important things - like the person he felt through magick, waiting for him on the other side of the camp.

“I cannot. I'm sorry. I'm sure that the temple will one day return to its former glory. But I have other things I must do, other promises I need to keep.”

Tranom nodded. “I had a feeling you would say that. Your father didn't want to stay with us, so I suppose its no surprise that you don't either. Lodin was an adventurer at heart, or so Dori used to say. And according to that old drunk you and him couldn't have been more alike.”

Tranom offered his hand, which Luca shook. “Take care of yourself.” He then turned to Brand, and instead of shaking hands, the two embraced.

“So long, my former student.”

“Goodbye.”

They broke the hug, and Tranom started off, his students following behind them. Luca looked to Brand, who for once didn't have a reassuring smile for everyone's sake.

“You should have gone with him,” Luca said.

“I could have,” Brand said, with a slight smile. “But that would be running away. I swore I would stick with you and the princess, and that's what I'm going to do. Until my last breath.”

And then Brand walked away. Luca let him go. He looked like he needed to be alone.

Luca sighed, and returned to the camp. He made his way towards the healers' tents, passing various people as he went. He saw King Halt emerge from one of the tents and give him a strange look as he passed. A look of anger. A look of suspicion. Halt whispered something to the general at his side, and they continued on their way, keeping their eyes on Luca until he was beyond their vision.

It would seem that Halt didn't trust him, Luca figured.

He arrived at the small cluster of tents marked with red hearts, where the white-robed healers were still at work treating wounded soldiers. He looked around for a bit, but Emila was nowhere to be seen. He stopped a fair-haired girl as she passed, and asked about Emila.

“Oh, her? I haven't seen her since we made camp.” The girl then excused herself and continued on her way.

Luca looked around for a few minutes, and asked a couple other healers, but no one had seen Emila since after the battle.

“Where else could she be?” he wondered aloud.

After a couple more minutes of futile searching, he gave up. He was just about to leave, when he saw a familiar face standing outside one of the tents.

“Ash?”

His brother looked up, a momentary change in his expression betraying his surprise. “Oh, it's you,” he said in a voice that was neither relieved nor disappointed.

“Why are you here?” Luca asked. Ash seemed to be unharmed, aside from a few cuts and bruises.

Ash tilted his head to the tent he was standing beside. “Jared's in there. He took some wounds in the battle. His life's in no danger, but he needed treatment for a while. He's sleeping now - I've been waiting for him to wake up.”

“What happened?”

“We were both with Selphie when the fighting started. King Zaow instructed us to protect her, and we fell back into the Sonoian lines. I did my best, but - well you know I can't fight for shit. Jared was really protecting the both of us. Eventually, however - some Acarians managed to break through a weak point in the defences. Jared took a few nasty blows and collapsed. I managed to help a little after that, but the truth is that Selphie hardly needed protection in the first place.”

“And Selphie is...?”

“Unharmed. She went off to take care of business with her father. She was really worried about Jared, though. She asked me to stay with him and make sure he's alright.” Ash had a slight grimace as he said the last part.

“I see,” Luca said.

An awkward silence settled over them. They said nothing for a while, the only sounds being the voices of the healers and the occasional groan of someone wounded. Ash's eyes were elsewhere, doing their best to avoid Luca.

“I'm glad to see that you're okay,” Luca said finally.

Ash looked back at him, his expression unreadable. After a long moment, he grunted and nodded.

Figuring that was likely the most he was going to get out of him, Luca moved on to the next thing. “Umm - have you seen Emila around?”

Ash thought for a moment. “I know she was healing during the battle, but I haven't seen her in the time I've been here.”

“I see,” Luca said again. It was what he'd expected, but he was still a bit disappointed. “Thanks anyway. I, uh... I'll see you around.”

After a moment, Ash nodded. Luca turned and left, and Ash watched his brother leave.

Luca felt himself growing a bit worried about Emila. Despite his efforts to remain calm, he felt his heart starting to beat faster, and his breath was short. It was getting a bit harder to tell, but he knew she was okay through the tether, he just couldn't use it to figure out where she was.

“Excuse me, sir?”

He stopped. A soldier carrying a spear and wearing Sonoian armour stood before him, blocking his path. Luca had been so focused on Emila, he hadn't noticed him at all.

“Yes?”

“Come with me. King Zaow requests your presence.”

Luca frowned. “He does?”

“A royal summons is not to be questioned. Come with me.”

The soldier started walking, not caring to see if Luca followed. He did, wondering what in the world Zaow wanted with him.

“There's something familiar about you...” Luca muttered.

The soldier said nothing.

“That's right. You were the guy who took me up to the Elder Hall, all those days ago. I guess your job is to fetch me whenever Zaow or Selphie needs me.”

“I do have other jobs,” the soldier said in a low voice.

Luca was led to the far edge of the camp, to a quiet area away from most of the people. He realised that they were actually walking away from the tent that Zaow had gone. Something felt wrong about it all, and that confirmed it. Discreetly, Luca's hand drifted to his sword. He had his warping magick now, so he could easily escape from any kind of trap if he needed to. Still, he was curious. He wanted to know what this was all about.

Tension grew as the soldier led him farther away from the camp, into the hills. Luca said nothing, and neither did his companion. The man had to realise by now that Luca was well aware that they weren't going to meet Zaow. But he still said nothing, so each was waiting for the other to make the first move.

The sun was beginning to set, and the hills cast long shadows. Finally they stopped, in an area that was far too dark for Luca's tastes.

“So what's this all about?” he asked. “Has Zaow decided to betray me after all?”

The soldier turned around, and gave Luca a low, almost disappointed stare. “You really have no idea, do you?”

Luca narrowed his eyes, and kept his hand on his sword. They seemed to be alone, but he knew enemies could be hidden in the shadows.

“I suppose that means I'm good at this, then,” the soldier said. He then tossed his spear aside, and pulled the helmet off his head. A mane of grey hair spilt out, and suddenly, what was before a generic and unremarkable face was one Luca had seen before.

“Gordon.”

The Acarian nodded slowly. “I told you I would meet you again at the Elder Hall, remember?”

“That was you who took me up those steps...” Luca muttered, unable to believe he hadn't realised it before.

Gordon nodded again. “It was.”

“Why didn't you tell me who you were then?”

“I meant to,” he said. “But after you returned from the Elder Hall, before I could take you somewhere private to do so, Princess Selphie, and then King Marcus and his son appeared. To maintain my disguise, I had to wait. Since then, I've been waiting for a safe opportunity to reveal myself. Unfortunately, I waited too long.”

“Wait - you could have warned us about the trap!” Luca lunged forward, grabbing Gordon by his collar. “How many people died today for your damn disguise?!”

“I swear, I knew nothing about it!” Gordon exclaimed. “I've been away from Acarienthia for so long, I have no knowledge of the traps he'd set! I had no idea that he could teleport his army like that!”

“Why should I believe you?”

“It's the truth!” Gordon pried Luca's hands off him, and took a few steps back. “I told you back in T'Saw, remember? Zinoro has been hiding things from me for years. He keeps things from all of us - even Serpos. He only tells us what we need to know.”

Luca let out a breath. He paced back and forth a few times, thinking back to his meeting with Gordon in T'Saw. “But why did you wait so long to come to me?”

“Like I said, I wanted it to be safe. If anybody caught me - anyone at all, it could ruin everything. An Acarian would tell Zinoro, and a Saetician or Sonoian would tell their own king. I would be captured and tortured for any other information. Even now, I'm taking a huge risk revealing myself to you, but after what happened, I couldn't wait any longer.”

Luca then remembered what Gordon had wanted of him, and he sighed. “I'm sorry. I couldn't take the Rixeor Fragment in Eccador. It wouldn't accept me.”

“I suspected that,” Gordon muttered. “When we spoke at the Elder Hall, I ask you how one could fight someone with a Rixeor Fragment. I was hoping you would say you could kill him, because you had one of your own, but you did not. Still, I prayed that perhaps you had attained it and were merely keeping it secret.”

“I'm sorry. I couldn't get the sword in Eccador, but right after the meeting at the Elder Hall, I spoke with Marcus and he promised that I could use his blade. However...”

“Yes,” Gordon said in a low voice. “An assassin stole into his tent and killed him in his sleep, taking his sword with them. Almost as if they knew... It was Verra. I would bet my last gold coin on it. Zinoro would have known Marcus had a Rixeor Fragment, so he sent her to take care of that possibility.”

“Who is Verra?” Luca asked.

“The last of the five acolytes,” Gordon said. “She's a magus who uses reverse-healing magick as an assassination tool. She is no fighter - no, she's far more dangerous than that.”

“So soon Zinoro will have two Rixeor Fragments...” Luca muttered. “Damn. It just gets worse and worse.”

“We have to plan our next move,” Gordon said. “We have to find a way to stop him. You saw what he is capable of today. That was only a taste. If you hadn't destroyed Serpos' orb, he would not have fled, and what was a grievous blow would have been a mortal one. We have to find a Rixeor Fragment, and you need to challenge Zinoro. You're the only one who can beat him!”

“What about this Verra woman? Perhaps if we find her we can...” Luca trailed off, because he suddenly felt sick to the stomach. His chest tightened up, and he was suddenly struggling for air.

He faintly heard the sound of Gordon calling his name, as though he were underwater. He fell to his knees, coughing violently. Red specks of blood stained the brown dirt below him.

It was a familiar feeling. He'd felt it before - once, a very long time ago. But it was so much worse now. Like a muscle gone too long without movement - the thing being strained was so used to how it was, that it did not want to be broken.

He started to crawl, feebly, like a pathetic infant, it the direction of the dried lake. But he wasn't moving fast enough. The other half was moving away from him faster than he could move towards it.