Heirs of Hyarch

Misery couldn't begin to describe how she felt.

Her head still ached from the blow that knight had dealt her, but that was little compared to the empty feeling in her gut. Jylania was out there somewhere, alone and unguarded in a city none of them were familiar with. And with the knights out there in force...a young elven girl stood very little chance on her own.

Nela wanted to be out there, looking for her apprentice, but she was in no shape to do so. Even with a couple of healing spells she'd thrown at the lump on the side of her head, she was still shaky on her feet. She'd told people to get rest with similar injuries and wounds, and now she had to tell herself the exact same message.

Hamond had been busy cleaning up the place, keeping an eye on Sedat and Zerendel. Sedat...Nela still had trouble believing it had been the bird girl that had saved their arses, Sure, most of the people of the kingdom had never seen anything like Sedat before, but the knights were supposed to be the best armed men in all of Hyarch. Nela had seen it on the battlefield, or at least she thought she had.

Ronny...she hoped he would hurry back. Right now, she just wanted him to take her upstairs to their room, lay beside her, and make everything else forgotten. Of course, Nela knew she ought not push herself to do that either. Maybe simply a good night's sleep with Ronny at her side...no, it was still late afternoon. He wouldn't be injured, and not nearly tired enough for joining her in bed.

The inn's door slamming open was a welcome interruption to Nela's thoughts. She looked up to see Edeline standing there, looking around the place. "What happened?" Edeline demanded, striding forward.

"Knights attacked," Nela said, her voice sounding rough to her own ears.

"I can see that," Edeline stated, "So can everyone else, with those bodies stacked outside. We...I should've been here."

"You didn't know," Ronny said, coming in after Edeline. "Hamond would....shit, Nela!" He'd spotted the strip of cloth she'd wrapped around her head as a bandage.

"They got me good." Nela almost reached over to try to embrace Ronny as he hurried to her side, but another surge of dizziness came over her. Shit, she'd probably have to be carried around like a babe for the rest of the day.

"Where's the others?" Edeline paced around, face tight with fury.

That question was almost immediately answered, at least in part, by Hamond rushing down the stairs dangerously fast. "You made it back," he said to Edeline.

"You thought the royal knights might have also found us?" Edeline shook her head. "Thankfully, no, although...what we got done today had better be worth it."

"That depends, because we have a bigger problem that might get in the way of you meeting the lord," Hamond told Edeline, "Jylania's missing."

Nela was torn on Hamond outright saying it. She wasn't sure she could be the one to tell them what had happened, but hearing it stated so plainly hurt her. Still, they knew to be honest with each other when it mattered the most, and this mattered so much to her. Jylania was her apprentice, and Nela had sworn to keep the girl safe. What a failure she was proving to be at that.

"Shit," Ronny swore after a moment.

"Did the knights take her?' Edeline narrowed her eyes. "If they did..."

"No, but they might have her now," Hamond explained, "As far as I know, she climbed out one of the windows to escape when the knights showed up. One of them did make it upstairs, but Sedat dealt with him. I think...she must have assumed that meant we'd already fallen or been captured by them. I don't blame her, since we almost lost the fight."

"How?" Edeline said, eyes widening.

"Sheer numbers," Ronny said, "It's often what it took to bring down the Spellking's thaumaturges. They would know that tactic, of course. Even so...how did you fight your way out of it?"

"Sedat came down and frightened them into running. However, with my spells they had no chance of escape." Hamond hung his head, "Of course, that's what left Jylania alone, and...that's when she ran for it."

"My fault," Nela muttered. She'd told Jylania to flee if the battle got too close or too fierce, all too important a lesson after a man from Lasfont pointed a spear at her apprentice. Nela was pretty sure Hamond had told Sedat something similar. The one time not following her advice would've worked out better for them...

"Don't blame yourself." Ronny knelt down and gave Nela the embrace she'd been wanting. She let herself go, her weight falling entirely on his shoulder and arm.

"It's still light out, so we can go outside and search the area around the inn," Edeline said. "If she avoided the knights, she's probably nearby, waiting for a chance to return."

"I agree, but do we dare separate?" Hamond replied. Even with her eyes closed, Nela knew he had to be looking or gesturing at her. "She's not in any shape to do anything, and the knights could make a second attack at any point."

"I doubt they would send that many men a second time," Ronny said, "But they probably would send one or two when they didn't get word back. And with you piling the bodies out front, they'll know just what happened."

"I had to get them out of here, and no one else was there to help me," Hamond said, "This place doesn't have another outside door either. I don't see what else I could have done, other than tie up the few survivors. I didn't think we'd get any new answers from them, since we already know why the knights came to Melyn."

"Either way, they know we're here." Edeline clapped her hands together. "And it won't take long before Lord Melyn figures out the same after what happened with us. There's not much point in secrecy any more, so we may as well start openly searching for Jylania as soon as possible. When we find her, we leave the city."

"If we don't find her tomorrow, we'll also need to find a new place to stay." Ronny shifted beside Nela. "I'm not counting on us being as fortunate as we were with Lord Melyn."

"What, did you already meet him?" Hamond's question surprised even Nela, who had only been half paying attention. That seemed too simple.

"We did, and we were able to secure the aid for Lasfont. However..." Edeline trailed off.

"If you were wondering how they thought me dead, now we know," Ronny finished.

"I was going to say that they know the truth of my birth, which is more important." It almost sounded like Edeline was rebuking her brother, but then her voice softened. "You are right, though, in that the death of Myron Hallowscroft was part of their plans. Nela, if you had not saved him...I suppose I owe you even more gratitude."

Nela looked up, not sure what to say to that.

"Wait," Ronny said, "That's not what Lord Melyn said. It was just that the message got-"

"If there was no message, why did Lord Winterscroft send out the missives informing everyone of your death?" Edeline scowled. "He had to know something, or at least believe he did. What if one of his loyal men was there to observe that battle?"

"He couldn't have...Aether, he could have gotten word back first. While Nela and I were making our way back through the wilderness...if such a man had a horse and knew the route, he could head straight to Winterscroft."

Nela was still trying to put it together. That sounded a lot like betraying the kingdom, something she wouldn't have thought most of the lords would do. Sheltering Edeline when she was a child wasn't anything like this. It almost sounded like...

"Did he set the whole lost battle up?" she asked.

"What do you mean by that?" Hamond responded with his own question.

Nela had to stop a moment to think through what she had just said. It was nothing but nonsense, having sounded better to her before she spoke. "Just...that he set it up so the Spellking's men would be able to overrun our camp."

"I don't think that's possible." Ronny pulled back so he could look into Nela's eyes. "That would require his man to be working with the Spellking's forces. I don't think I mentioned it, but we had a few people on alert for that."

"Unlikely, but possible," Hamond added, "I don't think it matters to us now though. Whatever this Lord Winterscroft did or did not do, it doesn't change that Jylania is in danger at this moment. We can speculate on the further secrets of the kingdom after we find her."

Nela supposed that he was right yet again. It had been a mistake to even mention her stupid idea about Ronny's supposed death. After all, both he and Edeline were still from a noble family, and Hamond had been part of the Spellking's court. They all knew more about this shit than she did.

Edeline took notice. "I know this is hard on you," she told Nela, "You've done so much for all of us, and helped so many people. Let us take the burden from you for now. We will find Jylania, and we will make anyone who dares to harm her pay a dear price."

There was no doubt that Edeline meant every word, and had the power to back them up. Even if power wouldn't be that much help finding a lost girl in a city like Melyn, Nela was beginning to feel a little more hopeful. After all, they had faced far worse threats than anything the knights had. They'd made it this far, and they could solve this too.

At least, after she recovered from the blow to her head.

"I need to go lay down." Nela leaned forward, resting once against Ronny's chest. "Can you help me upstairs?"

"Right," Ronny lifted her up. Not quite what she wanted, because it only served to make Nela dizzy yet again. "I'll return in a little while." Another thing Nela didn't want, but they did have to plan for tomorrow and such. Maybe she could talk Ronny into putting that aside.

He slowly walked over to and up the stairs, carrying Nela almost like she was a child. She knew that while Ronny was strong, this couldn't be easy for him. All the same, she wasn't sure she could've made the climb on her own. She might could've leaned on Ronny, but one misstep would give her a second knock on her head.

"So you got back?" Sedat had just came out of one of the rooms, turning awkwardly to make it through the doorway. "Know how bad you feel about Jylania. Wish I could've stopped her from jumping out the window, but nobody can be in two places at once. Not even magic can-"

"Sedat," Ronny said with more patience than Nela had right now, "Why don't you go down and see if Hamond needs any help?"

"Right, understood. I'll leave you two alone." Sedat shuffled back a bit, allowing Ronny to step into the room along with Nela. The winged girl then hurried past.

Nela let herself relax as Ronny set her on the bed. He turned and closed the door, then returned to her side. "Nela, there...there's something I ought to tell you."

It could be about him learning spells, or it could be something he'd learned from Lord Melyn. Nela didn't really care which. "Tell me tomorrow."

"Are you sure?" Ronny sat on the bed beside Nela, reaching out a hand to touch her cheek.

Nela nodded. "Just stay with me."

Ronny immediately understood, and lay down beside her, taking Nela in his arms. She tried to let the worries about Jylania fade away, and focus on the here and now. Ronny was safe, she was safe, and tomorrow they would be able to act to make sure Jylania was safe too.

At least, she hoped they could.