Warm morning light shone our way through a snow-covered trail on the Irisian Spine. Baal whistled along with me as he held onto my waist. We had woken up to a beautiful morning today, so we were very cheery. After eight days of traveling through the mountains, Blessed Cael’s Spear was but a mere day away. We could see the top of the mountain from our current trail. Snow was a constant at this height and the air was thinner than in Cordelica. The wintery forest landscape around us contained common pine trees and shrubs ethnical to the area. The cold wasn’t an obstacle for the birds nor the small rodents jumping around the snow. It was surprising it was this lively up here, the last time I had climbed these mountains there were only miles of dead rock to admire.

Baal and I hadn’t really made any progress in our relationship. One day we had gone on a date and the next we were back to normal. It’s not like we pretended our date didn’t happen, we just didn’t talk about our standing. It irked me a little that neither of us was willing to take action on whatever it was we felt. If I wasn’t so anxious about him liking me back and letting him in my life, I would have cleared our relationship status right away. Unfortunately, despite my attempts at boasting my confidence, insecurity ate me up on the inside. There was so much that could go wrong, so many ways he could end up hurt or dead…

“Hey Luke, how much longer until we reach the peak?” Baal asked letting out a yawn afterwards and interrupting my crazy train of thoughts. “We need a second horse, riding together must be tiresome on Ion.”

“Sorry, it just flew right past me we might’ve needed another horse with all the excitement and stuff.” Our last day in Cordelica was unusual. “In a day or less we should be arriving to the peak if our current pace doesn’t change. We’ve covered a lot more ground than I initially expected.”

The weather had been fairly nice to us. Days had been dark and cloudy at worst but not horrible enough to actually pose as an obstacle.

“Cool, finally I’ll find out what your mysterious ‘thing’ is.” I laughed at his words and he pressed his face against my back. It was obvious he was still drowsy. “Soooo, what’s the plan for after we get your treasure?”

“We’re going south. I’ve no idea what my brother plans to do at the moment, but I know someone who might be able to tune with him.” I replied taking a whiff of the air.

Some strange, melancholic scent lingered in the air. The wind must’ve carried it down the mountain since it waned in intensity to a point where it vanished before remerging. I had been smelling it here and there for a few days now.

“Huh, is your friend an oracle then? They’re pretty rare on this day and age.”

“No, he’s an angel.” I replied beckoning Ion to stop, the scent had become constant and I could hear horses prancing through snow further up the mountain. “He’s stronger and more accurate than an oracle when it comes to my brother… There’s people coming down the mountain and they smell funny.”

“An angel? You know one? Why does it even surprise me…” Baal moved a little, I assumed that to look ahead. “I don’t see anyone, how far up are they? Can you tell?”

“They should enter your field of vision in a few minutes. Put your hood on and cover your face. I don’t want to risk them seeing you, just in case.”

My hand rested on my old sword’s hilt while I used the other one to hold Ion’s reins. I ushered the horse to move forward and minutes after, I finally saw the funny smelling travelers.

Their scent was strong now, it triggered a memory at the back of my head and I instantly thought it was impossible. The reason they were weird, I hadn’t smelled something like them in what I believed was an eternity.

In front of us a company of ten men rode on their horses in our direction. Baal tensed behind me and it became evident he knew them. With Baal’s face pressed against my back again, the cavalry men drew nearer. He was holding his breath to a certain extent, he didn’t want any trouble with this group. Huh, he seemed to do just fine against the goons sent to the village. He even stole their horse. What made these different?

The men started passing by us, not taking us into any special consideration… right until the last man.

“Wait!”

The last knight was young and clad in light green armor. When he called out to us, Baal flinched behind me. My partner got tense, ready for any wild reaction. Given the outcome of this man’s conversation with me, Baal was ready to either go for his bow or continue playing damsel in distress.

“May we be of help to you, young knight?” I turned and smiled.

The man had pale, red-orange hair, his face full of freckles and big eyes, green as emeralds. His skin, opposite to Baal’s, was sun kissed and he was about my height. He seemed like a nice person despite the deadly warrior’s air he carried with him.

I looked at his armor closely and took notice of it. A single leaf with a cross underneath it was etched over his breastplate. It was the banner symbol of the Silver Clan, which I thought had been extinct for over two thousand years. Uh oh.

“Eh, I’m sorry for stopping you but your companion smells like a friend I happen to be searching for. It’s truly rude of me to ask this of you, but may I please get a glimpse of your friend’s face?”

I was going to introduce Freckles’ face to my sword’s hilt, but Baal stopped me by taking hold of my wrist. I guessed he wanted me to solve this with words, preferably. He knew this guy. That’s what made these goons different from the ones he fought off at the village.

“He’s very shy and relatively young, terrified of strangers too. I’ll give you a bag of gold if you manage to get him to even look your way. Troublesome kid he is. I was thinking spending time with the priests would fix him if only a little.” I replied while the man looked at the “shy”, hooded Baal.

“Alright… I’m so sorry to have disturbed you.”

I believed the man would leave us as we were, but then he directed his gaze to Baal newly.

“Your Highness’ bow is still the one I gifted him on his birthday.”

I understood their words taking into account they were all Silver Clansmen. The words Baal mumbled at the temple and the language that was probably his mother tongue, they were the Ancient Language but with a very marked accent. Baal remained still for a second, I was wondering whatever was going on in his head. He sighed in frustration as he came to terms with the fact that the man wouldn’t leave us alone.

“Aleksandr, I order you all to leave here immediately!”

Baal had picked up his bow removing his hood in the process to expose his brilliant pink hair. I tensed at his words a little, his voice was commanding and demanded obedience. Baal pointed at the man he had called Aleksandr with an arrow while wearing a very serious expression on his face. His Highness, huh? He certainly looked the part.

“Baal, do you want me to take care of them?” I asked while thinking of teasing him about this later on.

My partner’s dark purple colored orbs posed on me, they brimmed with command. A dirty thought ran through my head as his eyes bore into mine. I wanted to forget our enemies and make out with him right there and then. That wasn’t likely to bother Baal, but these guys had to be taught a lesson first.

“Only if they don’t go away.” Baal replied with a smug grin on his face.

“Your wish is my command.”

Okay, too soon perhaps?

He returned his gaze to Aleksandr, who was looking at him with some sort of pain in his face. An arrow shot from Baal’s bow, grazed Aleksandr’s cheek and landed on the snow. First warning, Baal wasn’t planning on giving a second.

“Sasha, I don’t want to hurt you. Let me be.”

“Your parents asked me to bring you home, and I would love that my best friend came back, by my side, of his own volition. If you refuse to listen, then I’ll have no other choice but to use force.” The cavalry men aligned behind him, they weren’t going to leave here without Baal. Tough luck for them in my opinion, all Baal had to do was say the word and they’d all be crippled. “You! Stranger! You’re free to go. Leave us with him and you’ll have no problem.”

“You sure you don’t want me to kill them?”

“Is that really necessary? We can handle them with both our hands tied behind our backs.”

“If it’s to make sure you’re safe…”

“Luke, chill out seriously.” Baal half chuckled before he returned to his serious mode.

Our exchange took place in whispers. It annoyed Aleksandr and he quickly went about pressing me to leave once again.

“I’ll take the freckled moron on my own, I don’t want to distract you and force you to act out of hand. If you need help just… forget I even thought about that…” Baal said while I got off Ion, unsheathing my sword in the process.

I gave him a wink and he rolled his eyes taking that as my reply to his rather rhetorical question.

“Sorry to disappoint, but I won’t be going anywhere, kid. Pinkie here is my partner and he nicely asked me to take care of all of you.”

I pointed at the men behind the freckled red head, my face showing off a huge, confident smile. If they were wise, they would run away now before I started fighting.

“Pinkie? Of all the nicknames possible, you chose ‘pinkie’?” Baal chortled on top of Ion as he brought it around to face the knights.

“Baal, seriously don’t make me hurt you.” Aleksandr refused to understand Baal was serious about kicking his ass. What was it with these two?

“It’s funny because you’re the one that’ll end up hurt.” I mocked.

The one I wanted to take on was Freckles. Spotty face no longer deserved to be called by his name. Baal asked me nicely, so said idiot would be spared. The others would have to make do for now. The red head was glaring at me. If looks could kill he’d probably erase me from the face of the world with how intense his anger filled emeralds were staring at me.

Freckles took hold of his long sword with both hands and charged towards me. Baal shot an arrow that bounced off the red head’s sword making him change targets.

“You want me don’t you? Are you really going to let me go? I thought you wanted to make me come back home, not let me escape. I’m right here Sasha!” Baal exclaimed and got about shooting another arrow this time aiming for Freckles’ shoulder.

He missed the shot, on purpose, and rode off shooting off a few more arrows that did hit their targets. Horses fell down and their riders found themselves attempting to get back on their feet with all their swords at hand. Freckles went after Baal as the pink head rode away further up the road, I stood between the nine knights and those two.

“So, any of you fought a war hero before?” I taunted as I placed my sword over my shoulder.

The nine men all remained silent as they neared me with murderous intent. In essence, I had to spare them, but I surely wouldn’t be spared by them. Challenge more than accepted.

“You all have no idea who you’re trying to put down.” I spoke and charged at one of the men, aiming to stab him on the chest but knowing full well he’d block. His move gave me enough time to parry and slice his thigh.

The other men were probably going to pair up to attack me. I took up the blunt side of my sword and dodged all their attempts. Dancing my way out of the course of their blades, I picked up their patterns, their mannerisms. In a few minutes, I knew how to beat them without killing them. Honestly, not killing them was easier said than done if I went about getting serious. With a challenging smile plastered on my face, I brought up my sword and feigned I’d slice one of the remaining eight men. He made as if he’d dodge and in no time I changed my blade’s course so as to trip him. I hit him on the stomach with my knee and hit an upcoming knight on the chest with my blade’s hilt. The third knight received a kick on the neck and I used him to push down one of his friends directly behind him. I ducked, dodging a slash from behind and sliced the assailant’s chest. My plan needed three of them to be bleeding so the group would be too busy patching each other up.

Okay, I was down to three out of ten. The guy I had pushed down using another knight was legit frozen in terror thanks to me. No doubt the poor bastard would stay put.

The three remaining knights couldn’t explain how my blade cut through armor, I wasn’t about to tell them I was, sort of, cheating. Life energy wasn’t my forte, but I made up for that with my mastery over angelic energy. Best part about it? Being immortal presented no limits to cut me short. I moved my hand, one of the knights blocked my sword but the other two approaching forgot I could still kick them on the face. That’s what I did.

One of the poor souls I kicked ended up with a broken nose while the other was fairly taken aback. The knight that had blocked me a few seconds before, recovered and tried to stab me again. Putting some more energy into my blade, I sliced the sword in half from tip to hilt. The sword shattered afterwards, giving me the perfect opening to stab him on the shoulder. The man stood shocked for a few seconds before he fell back.

The knight with the broken nose came at me again, in his anger forgetting to mind his defense. I simply dodged his blade and tripped him up. He fell on his face with great force. The snow probably wouldn’t be enough to numb the impact of that fall. Common sense forced the last standing knight to drop his sword.

“Nope.” He whispered and got about tending to the knight I had stabbed on the shoulder.

“That was a good warm up. Now to find Freckles…”