Bacorium Legacy (95 page)

That was enough. She stirred, moaning softly, and opened her eyes. “Ah... Good morning.”

“Sorry, I guess I was really tired. I've been out since yesterday afternoon.”

She smiled. “You have the right. You did a great thing.”

“Stopping Zinoro? I guess so, but it wasn't that that saved the city...”

Emila sat up, and yawned loudly. “I'm hungry. Are you hungry?”

“Starving, yeah.”

At that moment, the door slowly opened, and in walked Jared, his halberd slung over his shoulder. He took a few steps into the room, and stopped as he spotted the two of them in a single bed.

“Ah, so how long has this been going on?”

Emila's face turned red, and she looked away. Luca just chuckled. “Just since the Elder Hall.”

“Really? Selphie had thought it started earlier.”

Emila stared at Jared in disbelief. “She what...?! Never mind. Let's talk about something else, please.”

“How are Brand and Wiosna?” Luca asked.

“Brand had some broken ribs, which the healers treated,” Jared told them. “He's fine, he'll just have to take it easy for a few days. As for Wiosna, her injuries were a bit more severe, but she's okay. The healers treated what they could, and the rest will heal with time. She'll be able to attend tonight's feast, at least.”

“Tonight's feast?”

“Indeed. In celebration of out victory. And in your honour, of course. It's quite a historic thing that's happened?”

Luca frowned, confused. “Historic? What, winning the battle?”

Emila looked to him, and tilted her head to the side. “Luca, don't you remember?”

“Remember what?”

“What happened after the battle.”

“I can't remember anything about that. I was so tired, I could barely think straight.”

Emila grinned mischievously, looking to Jared, who smirked and raised an eyebrow.

“What is it?” Luca demanded, starting to get irritated. “Tell me what happened.”

Jared said, “Luca, right after you handed Zinoro over to King Zaow, he took out his sword and knighted you, right there before everyone.”

“He - what?”

“There aren't many knights these days, you know,” Jared continued, still smirking. “In fact, you're the first knight of Sono since the rule of Zaow's father. It's quite an honour.”

Luca was agape. He turned to Emila, silently pleading with her that this was some sort of weird joke. But she was grinning, and she giggled, and said,

“My boyfriend's a knight.”

<> <> <>

Drip
.
 

He closed his eye, and did his best to filter out that aggravating sound.

Drip
.
 

He could feel his mana within himself, but he could not reach it. It lingered forever, just beyond his reach, like bread dangled before a starving man. It was an unbearable frustration. So close - yet impossibly far.

Drip
.
 

Really, would it be so difficult for them to fix that damn leaking pipe?

Zinoro opened his eyes, giving up on his meditation. It was pointless, really. Even without that aggravating dripping sound, the mediation was useless. His mana was cut off from him by the ornate circle craved into the stone floor he sat on. The circle was similar to the one outside his city, which he had used to teleport his forces and launch his various surprise attacks.

Drip
.
 

It occurred to him that perhaps it was intentional. A form of torture, to slowly drive the prisoners insane. Well, he would not break. He had a will of iron.

Though it was so easy to lose time in the cell, Zinoro made a point of keeping track of the days. Three had passed since he had been imprisoned. He was nearly as cut off from the outside world as he was from his mana, but he knew a little of what had happened in the city in the aftermath of the battle, from listening to the gossip of his gaolers.

A lot of people had died, and a lot of the city had been destroyed. The people were hard at work repairing the damage Zinoro's army had done. But despite the sombre mood one would expect from this, the people of T'Saw were considering it a victory.

The people of T'Saw were well aware of Luca having defeated him, and they were proclaiming him a hero. Unlike his father, Luca was not denying his noble deed. Though some were angry that he had spared Zinoro at all, most people of T'Saw were already telling stories of the son of Lodin, and his great victory over the invader.

Gordon, Zinoro's sole surviving acolyte, had initially sat in a cell across from him. But, likely at Luca's request, he had been freed and pardoned for his help in Zinoro's defeat. In the small amount of time they had spent together, Zinoro and Gordon had not exchanged a single word.

Aside from that, Zinoro knew nothing, though there really wasn't much to know. The battle was over. Sono had won, and while they had suffered losses, they were still strong. Acaria, on the other hand...

There was no one there now. Acarienthia was empty, and would almost certainly remain that was forever. It was a tragedy, but Zinoro was finally realising that nothing he could have done would have prevented it. His campaign had not been to save Acaria, but to annihilate Sono and turn it into the same wasteland. And it had failed.

A part of him - which grew each day that passed - was glad it had failed.

“You've got a visitor,” said the gaoler.

Zinoro looked up. “Really? You would actually let someone come and see me?”

“I would not,” the gaoler said spitefully. “But Sir Luca insisted upon it.”

Sir? So he'd been knighted. Normally that would have been quite surprising, even after such a victory. The kings did not knight their men anymore these days. But Zaow was an old-fashioned man.

The gaoler stepped aside, and Zinoro looked, expecting Luca to come into view. He did not.

Instead, the petite form of Eva stepped in front of the cell.

Zinoro found himself turning his single eye away. His missing eye - which had a new patch over it, but without the magick glass eye was just covering an empty socket - was what faced her.

“A little privacy, please?” Eva demanded.

The stern gaoler replied, “My orders are to keep watch on him at all times-”

“Which you can do from the other side of the room,” Eva said. “Or would you like me to let Sir Luca know that you didn't listen to his orders?”

Grumbling, the gaoler left them.

“He's already been given that much authority, has he?” Zinoro muttered. “Have you come to set me free?” He was only half-joking.

“No,” Eva said, her voice unusually cold. “I came to ask you a question.”

“Ask away.”

“Emila says you killed our mother.”

He waited a long moment, before he said, “I did.”

Eva scoffed. “I knew it was true. I just wanted to hear it from you. When you first took me in, you told me you had just attacked the town to bring her back. You told me her death was a mistake - an accident.”

“It was only a half-lie.” He could not look her in the eyes.

“You really are just a madman, aren't you?”

“It would seem that way,” he said. “It's funny, really. Ever since I was put in this cell, I've been seeing things differently. It's almost like I've woken up from a dream. The obsession is gone, and I can see clearly just how mad everything I've done really was. I can't explain it...”

“It's too late for apologies,” Eva said.

“That's not what this is.”

“Then what is it?”

Zinoro sighed. “I know what you're thinking. You think I was just using you - taking advantage of your abilities to create my army. And at first, that's exactly what it was. But our mother's final request - that I would spare you and your sister - I took that to heart. My madness was of a twisted view of honour, so even through that I could not bring myself to break an oath.”

“You're lying.”

“Not to you. If I lied to the whole world, I would still tell you the truth.”

Eva balled her little fists. “But you told me you did not kill Mother!”

“In truth, I never actually said that,” he muttered. “I just told you the things you repeated a moment ago. I did attack the town with the aim of bringing her back. And my madness did bring me to kill her, and I later saw it as the mistake it was.”

Eva looked away, sobbing a bit. “If you didn't want to do it, then why did you? Why did you do any of this? Why didn't you just go to Sulin and be with us - we could have all been a family together...”

Zinoro closed his eye. “I truly don't know. I was just - so lost in my own obsession. I didn't want any of this. I just - couldn't stop myself.”

“Nobody you tell that to is going to believe that.”

“I know,” he said. “I can hardly believe it myself. But as I said, I would not lie to you.”

For a while, neither of them said anything. Zinoro broke the silence, asking, “Do you hate me, Eva?”

“I don't know.”

“I hate myself,” he said. “I wanted him to kill me. I wanted somebody to stop me. Death would have been a release from this insanity. But living with this guilt - this is what I deserve, I suppose.”

Eva glanced at the clock on the wall. “I have to go soon. King Zaow is having a feast to celebrate the victory. I need to go get ready.”

Though he didn't want to, Zinoro finally turned his head and met her gaze. “Go on, then. Go be with your sister.” Eva's eyes grew wide, and she drew in a sharp breath. “What? What is it?”

“Zinoro, your eye...”

“What?”

“...it's green.”

<> <> <>

The sun drew close to the edge of the horizon. Gordon stood at the bottom of the city steps, dressed for travel, staring out into the orange rays. A cold wind blew through the Markira Fields, and he shivered. Autumn was on its last breath.

“Are you really sure you don't want to stay for the feast?” Luca asked him. “Zaow has promised a seat for you.”

“I'll respectfully decline,” Gordon said. “The hospitality has been - amazing, but I don't think I should be staying in T'Saw too long. Pardon or not, I was still one of Zinoro's acolytes. I don't think the people of T'Saw would kindly welcome me.”

“I'm sure it wouldn't be that way...” Luca started, but even he didn't quite believe that. Emila and Eva's identity as Zinoro's sisters was being kept a close secret among the people of the palace. The public could never know, for fear of what they could do.

Luca glanced over at Emila, who stood beside him, bundled up in a wool coat. She stared at Gordon with an amused smile.

“I feel my place is elsewhere,” Gordon told them. “I don't know where yet, but I guess that's part of the journey, isn't it?”

He let out a long sigh. He could not go back to Acaria, nor could he stay in Sono. He had passed through many placed in his travels before, but he had never had any home besides Acaria. Now that was gone, as was his prior obligations. Indeed, for the first time in his life, Gordon was a free man.

Emila then spoke, for the first time. “Gordon - you didn't give me your name when we first met.”

Gordon stared at her for a moment, and then chuckled. “I'd thought you'd forgotten, actually. You never said anything before.”

“There was so much going on,” Emila said. “I actually recognised you the moment I saw you, but with Eva there, and all the fighting after that...”

“I understand.”

Emila stepped over to Gordon and embraced him. “Thank you,” she said. “Without you, none of this could have happened.”

“I wish I could have freed your sister, too,” he said, a touch of regret in his voice. “I could have, I suppose. The choice was between preserving my identity, and keeping the two of you together. I chose the former - I suppose because I'm a coward.”

“You're not. It was very brave of you to do what you did.” Emila pulled away from Gordon, and returned to Luca's side.

“I agree,” Luca said. “You're the unsung hero of all this.”

“And let’s keep it unsung.” Gordon chuckled again. “I'm not a hero. Not in that sense, anyway. I could have done more.”

He looked back out at the sunset, his eyes filled with memories.

“That's why I'm so eager to get out there. I may be getting old, but I still have time to write my own story. Perhaps I could be that sort of hero yet.”

And with that, they said their final goodbyes, and Gordon set off down the road. Luca and Emila watched him until he was just a small speck on the horizon, and the sun had set too much to see him. And then they turned around and made their way back up the steps to the city.

They passed through the gates, the two guards bowing their heads to Luca as he passed. The streets were beginning to empty, as nighttime was drawing close, but the occasional person here and there spotted them and would clap or bow or smile as they passed.

“It's hard to believe this is all over,” Emila said.

“I know,” Luca said. “For the past few months - ever since I met you, really - finding Zinoro and getting my revenge was my only focus in life. All I could think about was Zinoro, and how much I hated him - and my father. I thought if I did not avenge him that I would be shaming his memory. But now, I feel like I chose right in sparing Zinoro. I think that's what he would have wanted.”

“I never knew him,” Emila said. “But he sounds to me like he valued life. I don't know why he made the decisions he did, but it seems clear to me that he cared about you, Luca.”

“I know he did.”

He looked up at the sky. Regardless of whether he had made the right choice, Luca felt that Lodin could rest in peace.

Emila then grabbed Luca's arm and looked up at him, wearing her cutest expression. “But was that really the only thing you could think about?”

He couldn't help but laugh. “No, of course not. I fell for you pretty quickly, to be honest. But I denied it, for all my dumb reasons. Not wanting you to get hurt, not wanting to be weakened by attachment, not wanting to have to choose between you and Zinoro - really, anything I could bring myself to think... I just wasn't ready for it.”

“I wasn't, either...” Emila muttered. “To be honest, I still don't know if I am. I still have so many issues to sort out. I need to learn to be able to face my problems, and not bottle up my feelings. But I have you, and I have my little sister, and I no longer have the fear of the Acarians lingering over me. I feel like everything is going to be okay.”