“Sometimes it is those who save us,

    Who are the ones who betray us in the end.”

X

It’s been a week since Sean had been wounded. Jack was fairly sure that it was infected. And much to all of their irritation, Sean refused to let anyone, other than himself, tend or look at it. Jack had offered him every medicine that they had in their packs. And the old fool promptly refused them. Fortunately, they were close to Alaxi. Sydnie had picked up on a few words. She was easily impressed and aloof, completely unaware of anything. 

 Sean stayed in the saddle, his right eye, which was above the wound, had turned milk-white and the lid always half-closed over it. During the entire duration of the trip, he remained in a sort of daze. As is if he had been struck by a club in the back of his head. Uncharacteristically, he spoke only when spoken too. Jack couldn't blame him. 

They traveled on a dirt road, which bordered both a white oak forest, and a field. Love birds sang in the budding trees, while sleepy animals forage in the undergrowth. The troupe was no longer in the southern territories of Ebnight, which were of higher elevation and were still thawing. Even though it was the beginning of a new month, Dawn’s Bloom.

 Sydnei cocked her head to the side, quizzically. She tapped her ear. Jack rolled his eyes. She did that any time she heard anything. Last time it was a rabbit. The other time it was a bird. The time before that it had been a cricket. Jack waved it off. Sydnei frowned at his expression, as she gripped the horn of her saddle. She rode her horse closer and tugged his sleeve. She pointed at the thick bushes ahead. 

 “There's nothing there.” Hissed Jack, over-exaggerating the annoyance in his voice to get the message through to her. Sydnei tugged his sleeve again. “Fine! Fine! I’ll go look!” 

 Jack dismounted. Sydnei followed suit. Jack stalked toward the bushes, and kicked a pebble. Sydnei followed a few steps behind, as one of the horses bayed softly. 

Jack bent down and pushed the bushes and branches aside. 

 “See just another normal bush!” 

 “J-ack!”

 There was a sudden boom, and a quaking in the ground. As if a mighty tree, so tall and ancient, had collapsed. A loud sound like cloth tearing- being torn to shreds by talons- deafened the calls of love birds. For a pounding heartbeat, the world blackened. Everything shifted into a green shade. The air felt damp and heavy.

 Jack looked up. His heart staggered. A thug was falling from the tree’s branches, armed with a crude rusty sword. The blade was arched to decapitate him. The thug’s fall was slow. As if time was working against him. Jack staggered back, and tripped on a tree root. On the ground, panting, he scrambled back. 

 There was another boom. Time corrected itself, the shade, and heavy air clicked back to normality. 

 The thug landed on his feet with a heavy thud. Landing on the forest floor instead of on top of Jack. His sword hit the ground, leaving a slash mark in the soft dirt. He looked momentarily confused, then smiled, flashing his yellow teeth. He darted forward, brandishing his sword at the young Nameless hunter. 

 Sydnei jumped onto the thug’s side. One of her feet kicked his wrist, making him drop the sword. Then she wrapped her legs around his waist. Her sharp nails elongated, becoming claws that dug them into his shoulders. Steam spiraled from the impalings. Throwing his head to the sky, the thug screamed. 

 Sydnei’s green eyes glowed; they were a glimmering green- the colour of the Rift. She snarled; opening her mouth wide and brandishing a set of fangs. 

 She bit down. 

  The jumping, thrashing, thug stumbled. His eyes were wide, glassy and filled with the clear clarification of self reflection. She sank her teeth deep into the exposed flesh of his throat. Steam hissed from the contact. Sydnei yanked her head back; ripping flesh, tendons, and veins. She leaped off of him. 

 The thug gagged. Blood squirting out of his fatal wound. He fell to his knees. Brown eyes wide. His leathery brown skin pale. He slumped forward, falling face-first into the reddening foliage. 

 Jack glanced at Sydnei. Her lips were quivering. 

 Her lips, teeth, chin, and neck were crimson. The glow of her eyes were gone. Her nails were back to normal. Sydnei grabbed Jack's arm and tugged him to his feet, as her sage green eyes watered. Tears fell down her cheeks, washing away lines in the blood. 

 There was a clatter. They both turned to Sean, who had dropped his sword in disbelief. It laid on the dusty dirt road. His jaw was dropped. Sydnei shuddered, as she succumbed to a fit of sobs.  Jack glanced at Sean. His mentor glared and mouthed ‘Don’t you dare.’

 Jack pulled Sydnei into his chest, hugging her tightly, as he stared at the dead thug. She rested her head onto his shoulder, crying out in her language. Jack, without Sydnei seeing, raised his middle finger to Sean. 

~

“She’s a human Démora.” Slobbered Sean. Jack grimaced at the grotesque sight. Sydnei was asleep on the other side of the campfire. Their horses were secured. 

 “I know… what are we gonna do with her?” Asked Jack, as he drew in the dirt with a stick. His shoulders were tense, and too many bad memories swam through his head. “I mean she saved my life.” 

 “But she’s also Demora.”

 “She’s also human.”

 “What are you suggesting, boy?”

 “What are you suggesting?” Snarled Jack, as he glared at Sean who took a deep swig of his liquor. “Are you saying we treat her like a.. a monster…? What about her humanity? I thought you just said she was a human-Démora?”

 “There's no point in talking to you when you're like this.” 

 “You started this conversation. How else did you expect it to go? She’s still human, you know. She saved my life!”

 “We know nothing about her!”

 “So!” Jack balled his hands into fists. 

 “She froze time! She had claws! She ripped the guy’s jugular out!” Slurred Sean. His grip tightened around his flask. 

 “He was trying to kill me!” 

 “I'm just saying... why don’t we wait till we see what Clara has to say.”

 “Wait till we do, what!?” 

 “I bet the Rift girl views you as her hero. She fell out of the Rift and into your arms. She may be human. May appear human. But she is still Démora. So, we should bring this-her up to the Elves or an Ebnight Nameless Captain.”

 “Let’s- let's wait until we hear what Clara has to say.” Jack glanced at the sleeping girl, and his gut twisted. He rubbed the silver shackle on his wrist. “What do you think the Elves will do to her?”

 “I don’t know,” Sean glanced between the dying flames and Sydne, “She could be given to the Ebnight Hold.”

 “The Ebnights? Anything that they'd do to her wouldn’t be good.”

 “That's not our decision. And such a thing of her being able to live happily ever after, is something you need to get out of your head.” Sean sighed, and leaned back. His skin was pale and waxy in the light of the flickering flames. 

“Why are you against me being friendly toward her?”

 “Cause we don't know what she is…” Sean tiredly rubbed his good eye, as his shoulder slumbed. He looked utterly exhausted. His now pale eye lazily rolled in its socket. Jack cringed. “And next time you decide to raise your finger to someone else who isn’t me, expect to get it lopped off.”

 Jack tossed his drawing twig into the campfire, and watched as sparks flew. “I’m a good shot with a crossbow.”

 “Any man with half a brain can be good with a crossbow.”

 “Right, and I’m the man with a full brain.” A weak smile spread across Sean’s grizz;ed face. 

 “Your forgetting that the challenger doesn’t get to decide the terms of the competition.”

 “That’s just dumb.”

 “Let’s say you happen to challenge a guy good with a longbow.” Jack opened his mouth. “Sure you can shoot, but it ain’t a pretty sight. You’ll lose your middle finger. Like I did mine.”

~

A large silver smear against a golden field, beside a glistening river. Alaxi was in the distance. Its citadel was high and stabbing the sky with its watchtowers. 

  Sydnei muttered something in her language. Jack looked back one last time at the forest. His eyes following the winding path that leads to the gates of Alaxi. Without saying a word to his companions, he nudged his horse down the trail. After a moment they followed.

 The passed a lone watchtower. Perhaps once part of an estate. But now that estate was just a few crumbled stone walls, and a lone crooked tower. A pale green banner, emblazoned with an upside-down gold crown, hung from the watchtower. The pale green color of the Elsh kingdom, the kingdom of the Elves. The crown for the Tairrsen kingdom. The banner was symbolic, claiming that this was a neutral diplomatic zone for the two countries. 

 “State your business!” Shouted a guard from the crest of the tower. His voice slurred with a Salkrain accent. The tip of his halberd gleaming in the sun. “All borders are closed.” At the last word, the guard’s voice wavered, as his cough split the air. 

 There was no question on why borders were closed. Ashlum a deadly plague was sweeping through many countries. It first struck down the entire Royal family of Limpeth, then continued its attack. Destabilizing the entire country. Some say that it came from the belly of a cursed durain. Others say it was the sickness that killed the gods. 

 “Nameless Hunters. We’re reporting to Sun Square!” Shouted Jack, his hands cupped around his mouth. 

 “Nameless?!”

 Jack groaned. There were a thousand different names for those demons. “Rift Creature hunters!”

 “What?!”

  Jack facepalmed. “I can’t believe that I’m gonna use this name.” He craned his neck upward and shouted. “Demora hunters!” Jack ignored the sputtered laughter from Sean.

 “Ah. Demora hunter! Continue on!”

 Jack dug through his saddle pack and tossed Sydnei a green cloak. Slowly, she clipped it on. 

 They continued riding on the trail, that cut through great golden fields, and toward the city. 

 “Make way!” A sweaty shirtless man crested the top of the hill, and paused. He adjusted the ropes that were tied around his shoulders, and grunted. His weathered skin was hanging from his bones, and nats swarmed, buzzing, around his head. Sweating dripping from his forehead; he trudged on. Grunting as he pulled a creaking cart over the hill. 

 Sydnei gasped, and Jack pinched his nose. Sean moved out of the path, his expression stoic. A reeking stench of death rose from the cart. Jack tugged Sydnei’s horse’s reins, so that they would move out of the way. 

 In a swarm of flies and maggots, rotting corpses were piled onto the back of the cart. 

 The shirtless man grinned, showing his missing teeth, “My old horse collapsed dead, at the bottom of the hill,” he wheezed and coughed, “Not much further to the burning pit though…” He carried on, step after step, pulling along the dead. 

 Jack watched the man pass and glanced at Sydnei, “Those are the victims of Ashlum.” 

“Recent ones at least.” Grumbled Sean, as he unhooked his flask of ale and took a deep drink. Sydnei just stared at the man and his cart. 

 Her face was pale and hollow, and a look of remembrance held her eyes glossy. She ran her fingers through her clear hair, “Worse… sicknesses.” 

 Jack shook his head and gripped his reins, “Let’s go.” They continued on. And sure enough, at the bottom of the hill was the corpse of a horse worked till death.