Heirs of Hyarch

It was like a hexty held breaths exited Nela's body all at once. She had to reach out and catch herself on the nearby crate. Ronny was probably going to think she was still hurting from yesterday's fight, but her healer knowledge told her otherwise. It was just pure relief that Jylania was alive and unharmed.

"There she is," Edeline said. There was a bit of irritation in her voice, and Nela couldn't blame her.

"Do you need any food or water?" Hamond offered. Shit, Nela hadn't thought about that. Jylania could conjure water for herself, but she'd likely had nothing to eat.

Jylania mumbled something under her breath.

"What was that?" Hamond asked.

"I stole some fruit, alright?" The confession was surprising. As good at sneaking around as Jylania could be, she'd never done anything like that. Nela hadn't even told her to avoid thieving or such, because...to be honest, they'd never though it would be a problem.

"I can understand why, but that's not the best idea." Ronny frowned at the girl. "Were you that desperate?"

"What else was I going to do? I thought..." Jylania trailed off.

You thought we were dead or prisoners," Hamond finished. Jylania nodded, tears in her eyes.

There had been too many knights for them to stop one slipping upstairs, that much was true. Hamond maybe could've stopped it with a spell, but the knights would've responded with a sword through his gut. If Nela had her crossbow, maybe, but that would...shit, there was no way around it. They depended too much on Edeline for fights like that, something that had to change.

"So I shouldn't have run away then," Jylania said.

"No, you absolutely should've," Nela told her apprentice. "If Sedat hadn't come down to save us, that would've been the end of it."

That was the wrong thing to have said, because Jylania tensed up, taking a step back away from them. Sure, there were still sore feelings between her and Sedat, but...wait. Shit, how had she not seen it? How had none of them seen it?

"Are you jealous of her?" Nela asked, staring hard at Jylania.

This wasn't a good place to work that out in, surrounded by empty boxes and dust. Then again, dealing with this where Syrkonel or his men could listen in probably wasn't any better. Either way, the question was spoken, and they'd have to work with whatever Jylania did next.

Jylania slowly nodded, reluctance obvious to Nela.

"My fault then," Sedat immediately said, "Just wanted to talk about how things were going with me. Not like there was a lot else to talk about, or many other people to talk to. Didn't think it would make you feel bad. Sorry. I won't bring it up again around you."

Jylania shook her head again. "It's not really that. Not all of it."

If that wasn't the problem, then what could it be? Nela thought back over everything Jylania had been through, but the only thing that came to mind was Jylania's reaction to learning what Sedat had to do in order to survive. Which was disturbing, to be fair, but that didn't explain any of this.

Ronny suddenly knelt down next to Jylania, so that their faces were more or less level. "I think I understand. But if you're going to be angry at anyone, it should be me."

Nela was completely lost.

"You aren't the only one who wishes they could go back and make things right," Ronny continued, "My mother died of illness when I was far from home. There is so much I regret not being able to tell her, to share with her. All I can do is keep moving forward, and keep her in my memory."

Oh...right. Jylania's mother at been struck down by Ronny, after the woman had decided to charge at him with a blade despite him being armed and ready. At the time, Jylania had seemed all too happy to be done with her mother and father. Nela hadn't pressed Jylania on the matter afterwards, figuring whatever bad blood mother and daughter had ought to be left buried along with the former.

Instead, that old wound had festered out of sight, until Sedat getting to make peace with her mother shortly before they left Lasfont reopened it. All the while, Nela had no idea her apprentice was struggling with this shit. There'd been a few warning signs in Lasfont, but this...shit, how did it get this bad?

"My mother died saving my life." Edeline strode over to stand in front of Jylania. "Hamond's is dead too, and Nela...she probably already told you."

"Sort of," Nela admitted, steeling herself. She'd just wanted to leave it behind her, and not have it poking at her constantly. She could live fine without her mother's disgust and rejections, even if she did miss her grandfather. Not that he was perfect either, but the old man at least had tried to be kind to his apprentice. And now, it was time have to figure out a way to do the same.

"What do you mean, sort of?" Edeline asked.

Taking a moment to check that her hair was still tied up, Nela ignored the question. Instead, she went to face her apprentice. This was going to be a talk they'd long needed to have.

"I'm not your mother. That's not what I thought I had to be when you came along with us. I just thought what you wanted, or needed, was someone to teach you the skills to get by when you got older. All that I had to do was give you everything I knew about healing, spells and treatments and all of that. But that wasn't what you really wanted, was it?"

Jylania just stared at Nela.

"I don't know if I can even do that for you. It's not like I have the best experience with this myself. So it's the same deal all over again. If you think you'd be better off learning from some other healer who can take better care of you, that's fine, we'll find you one. If not...I'll just try my best, but you've got to tell me about this shit."

"No." Jylania didn't hesistate. "I chose you. I'll stick with it."

"Then again, you've got to not keep this thing to yourself." Nela put a hand on her apprentice's shoulder. "Same way I told you about how I get sometimes." Even now, Nela didn't know exactly how to describe the days when she didn't feel womanly.

"Never told me," Sedat said.

Nela was about to retort, only to stop when she realized it was true. It wasn't a case of her and Sedat not talking - the bird girl talked to everyone - but there'd never been a point where it had come up. There probably wasn't going to be a good time to talk about this either, at not before they left Melyn. Maybe here and now was the best choice.

The storehouse door creaked open, telling Nela it wasn't so good a choice. "We've got guards coming," Tayfel said, slipping inside before pulling the door shut.

"Did they see you?" Ronny asked.

"Uh...maybe?" The sheepish look on the Elefae's face told Nela that the actual answer was yes.

"We should hide," Hamond suggested.

"I doubt we have time, and they would find us anyway." Edeline drew her sword. "We can fight past them, or distract them long enough to run. I would not oppose either decision."

Someone started to pull the door open again, only for Tayfel to grab the handle and hold it shut. "Whatever you're doing, do it now!"

"A fight it is," Ronny concluded, readying his weapon.

"Let them come!" Edeline's voice rose as she called on her magic. "Corpus volt!"

Stealth never seemed to last all that long with them. Oddly enough, Nela felt fine with that. They were going to end up battling the city guards or the knights in the next few days anyway. What harm was there in getting started early, especially for Jylania's sake?

Tayfel ducked out of the way as the door swung out. In a blur, Edeline was right there, the glow of her spell flickering around her. She caught the man there straight to the chest, pushing him back as her sword pierced him.

Ronny and Hamond immediately followed, with Tayfel behind them. Nela held back for a moment, then motioned for Sedat and Jylania to stay behind her. She'd have thought Hamond would be helping keep the two girls safe, but he was probably more worried about Edeline right now. It wasn't that surprising to Nela, simply...annoying.

She came out right as Ronny cut another of the guards down. Edeline had already taken down another, and was now advancing on the remaining pair. Five guards seemed to Nela like a lot for a regular patrol. They could've been searching for Edeline...and unlucky for them, they'd found her.

"What do we do?" one of the remaining guards asked.

"Can't just run. That's the traitor right there. Who knows what will happen if she escapes?"

"You speak as if I was not here." Fury filled Edeline's voice. "And if anyone was betrayed, it was me."

"You know how many drunk fools tried to tell us it was the other man's fault? Try again." The man leveled his blade and took one step forward.

He didn't get a chance to take a second step. "Lithoistos!" The stone spike Hamond summoned pierced the man, and he sprawled face first onto the street.

"I...I'm not paid enough to end up like Lord Melyn!" The man turned and began to run away, letting his weapon fall to the ground abandoned behind him.

Wait, did that mean Lord Melyn...was dead? Nela stopped, looking to the others in stunned disbelief. They looked just as astonished at her, all of them not knowing what to make of this.

All except one, that was. "Ventus fugit!" Sedat called out, and a gust of wind sprang up before the fleeing guard, knocking him tumbling back towards their group.

This was enough to shake them all out of their shock. Loading her crossbow in case more men showed up, Nela watched as Ronny trotted over to the fallen guard. He pointed his sword down at the man. "Are you saying that she killed Lord Melyn?"

The man didn't say anything, but he must have nodded or given Ronny some other response. Ronny stepped back a step, still keeping his blade steady. Edeline and Hamond began to walk ahead themselves, both still looking a little dazed.

"What in the name of Aether's dark blood..." Tayfel muttered, "It couldn't be...does this mean the city is ours now?"

"Don't think it's quite that easy," Nela said. The knights and remaining town guard certainly weren't going to turn and kneel to Syrkonel.

Ahead of them, Edeline joined her brother in pointing her sword at the guard. "You are coming with us. Someone we know is going to have a lot of questions for you."

Syrkonel probably would. Shit, Nela had just as many, and she wasn't the one running a rebellion here. But there was one answer Nela was sure of, despite having no proof of it being true. Even if the others probably wouldn't believe her, it had to be the only possible explanation.

The Witch of Wrath had to have been the one who had killed Lord Melyn.