Chapter 129   - Dusk

Flynn looked lost at his own blood-stained hands, standing over Tridel’s lifeless form. Kai tried to speak, but his body refused to obey. His panicking heart slowed down, and he could only stare silently.

“You know your knots kind of suck.” The cheeky boy moved his focus on him, and a smug smile lit his face. “Like really, really bad.”

Oh, sorry. You know I don’t have the habit of kidnapping people and stashing them in my basement.

Flynn read the look in his eyes and let out an amused chuckle. “I think you’re the only person who can glare at me like that after I just saved your life. It took me less than a minute to get free. Then I had to run after you.

“You took the straightest path to Sylspring, so that wasn’t hard to follow. You move pretty darn fast, but hoping to outrun an expert hunter was stupid.”

He knelt to examine his wounds. The four grazes were little more than scratches, though Kai wanted to cover his face in shame.

I can’t believe I didn’t realize I got poisoned. Not that Tridel would’ve given me the time to drink an antidote. And I would have had to reveal the ring. Shit! Just ‘cause that jerk had a few decades on me.

When each arrow contained enough power to kill him twice over, poison seemed overkill. The rush of Empower surging through him had overshadowed his physical sensations.

I’ve never considered that drawback.

“I’ve told you our only chance was to take a detour. But did you listen to wise ol’ Flynn? No, obviously not,” Flynn began to clean his cuts with expert movements.

“Don’t worry they’re just superficial wounds, the poison should wear off in about an hour or two. Lucky for you, Tridel’s shots were anything but subtle. Sounded like lightning had struck a tree. I admit, seeing you dodge those was a tiny bit impressive. You must teach me that.”

Sure, just have a butler torment you with pebbles for a few years. Nothing much. Then get thirty Favor and a skill that predicts the future.

“And what was that thing you did at the end with the twigs and water? Was it magic? It was so cool! For a moment I thought the great spirits had come to your aid.”

Flynn completely ignored his glances. Kai was forced to hear him ramble, unable to twitch a muscle. He had an inkling the cheeky bastard would start drawing on his face if he had a marker.

Guess he already knows about it anyway.

Even paralyzed, his mana could flow freely. Colorful motes were already streaming toward him to refill his reserves. Kai searched through his spatial closet, making the cherry wood casket appear beside his hand.

Flynn paused, staring blankly at the chest and then at the ring. “So, that’s how you broke free!” He slammed an enthusiastic slap on his chest.

Damn, asshole, wait till I can move.

“I can’t fucking believe you’ve got a spatial artifact. You must be the luckiest bastard in the archipelago.” He reverently examined the silver band on his finger. “I admit it doesn’t look like much, was it really your father’s gift?”

Kai took a smidge of mana to cast a water jet to his face. Flynn spluttered in surprise.

He wiped the water from his eyes while his hands rose in surrender. “I get it, I get it. No need to be so possessive. I was just looking. Damn! You truly are a freaking mage, I can’t believe you didn’t tell me.”

Flynn's attention moved to the casket. “And what’s this? Looks fancy. Is it going to strike me if I open it?”

Kai rolled his eyes.

“What? I never know with you.” He carefully opened the lid, marveling at the sight. “They look so shiny… I wanna drink one! Hey, I’m just kidding. How can you glare like that without moving your brows?”

Help me already? You’re enjoying this one way too much.

“So which one do you need? Oh wait, there are labels…”

Oh, no, no, no. Please, don’t read them!

Kai tried to manipulate a vine to shut the lid, but Flynn had already picked a vial containing a golden liquid.

“What’s this? Kai’s Vigor.” He enunciated each word slowly, looking at him with a judging gaze.

Even though Kai couldn’t move, his ears were burning fiercely. Improvisation offered suggestions to save his face, but they were all useless when he couldn’t utter a word.

“And this is Kai’s Fearlessness, Kai’s Rejuvenation, Kai’s Dashing Determination…” Flynn burst out laughing, tears already in his eyes. “Cocky much? And people say I’m boastful.”

I didn’t choose them, okay!

Kai tried his hardest to speak, only achieving a convulsed hum. He felt the overwhelming urge to hide in a hole and die, but he couldn’t even do that. The best he could manage was to avoid his eyes. Flynn struggled to read the names out loud amidst the laughter.

“I guess we can exclude Kai’s Might, maybe it’s Kai’s Endurance, what do you say your majesty?” He gave him a shit-eating grin. “Should your lowly servant feed them all to you.”

Maybe it would have been better if Tridel killed me. Life is suffering.

Visualizing a clear image in his mind, Kai conjured the water to form three words.

“Neat trick! Nullifier, one drop. I should have guessed that was the one.” Flynn picked up the white pearlescent vial. “Here’s the medicine, your majesty.”

He gave a dramatic bow before letting a single drop fall between his lips and raising his head to help him swallow. The wave of cleansing fire washed through his body, his fingers twitched, rapidly gaining strength.

I should brew more antidotes.

Dora's main focus was on healing and enhancing elixirs, she never purposefully taught him about poisons. His ring contained antidotes for the most toxic plants and animals that could be found in Veeryd, but he hadn’t considered those other people might create. An oversight he would need to correct.

“It was my teacher who chose the names,” Kai summoned one of his own healing potions and a balm to apply to his wounds. Dora’s remedies would be wasted on a few scratches, and they were extremely limited. “Maybe you haven’t gotten it yet, but we’re in a bit of a hurry.”

He was still busy refilling his mana, but he was too sour about the unnecessary embarrassment to admit that. Kai grabbed the vial from Flynn’s hand and put it back in the cherry casket. All the potions were present, so he stashed it away.

“You know, I could have just robbed you blind and lived my whole life in luxury,” Flynn stood back up. Any hilarity was replaced with an apathetic expression. “No need to thank me. I only saved your life after I told you exactly that you’d die if you ran away. No biggie.”

“You are the reason I was kidnapped in the first place,” Kai snapped. That quickly doused the flames on Flynn’s gaze.

“Yeah, you’re right…”

Okay, now I’m being an ungrateful prick.

Kai took a deep breath to get a grip on himself. Despite the potions, he was still exhausted. This had been the craziest day of his life, and it wasn’t over yet. He’d need a month to go over the shit pile that crashed on him.

“I’m sorry, Flynn. I know you were just trying to help when Tridel got in the way. And, that you’ve risked a lot for me. I owe you for saving my life and I’m thankful.”

Flynn peered at him, impassive, before breaking into his usual grin.

“Come on, friends don’t keep count. But if we did, I’d probably be winning right now.” He offered him a hand to stand back up.

“You’re one of my best friends.”

The only one I have apart from Reishi.

Flynn beamed at him. “If you really feel the unbearable need to return the favor, I wouldn’t mind a bag of silver mesars,” he paused. “Or two.”

“I’m not that rich yet.”

And I don’t know if I ever will be if they destroy Sylspring. Shit, I hope Reishi is fine.

“Sure… you’ve got a potion that can erase a poison with one drop and a spatial artifact that’s so expensive I can’t even fathom how much it’s worth. No matter, I was kidding anyway.”

Okay, that might look a bit bad.

“Those are goodbye gifts from my teachers.”

“So… wait, they left? Are you okay?”

“It’s fine.” Kai avoided a hug. If he allowed the insanity of the day to catch up to him, he would break down. “I’m over it. They needed to go back to the mainland.”

“Still, that sucks. I wish I came back sooner.”

“Yeah, it does.”

Every problem could be solved with the snap of a finger if Elijah were here.

Kai checked if all his limbs worked correctly and went to fetch his sword, “We should go.”

There was barely any light left in the sky. His eyes fell on the lifeless body of the hunter. Flynn’s knife was still stuck in his back.

“Are you okay?”

“Fine and dandy.” The answer came far too quickly.

Flynn had been forced to kill someone he knew to save him. Even if Tridel was a crazy piece of shit, that must not have been easy. Flynn carefully avoided looking at the body.

No, he isn’t fine. How could he be, he’s still fourteen.

Kai wanted to press for more but now wasn’t the time.

We can’t delay any longer.

Kai retrieved the knife, cleaning it on the wet grass before handing it back. Flynn put it away without a word.

He fueled the spell with Earth and Nature mana. The ground opened up to swallow Tridel, while vines and weeds rapidly grew over it. Even if the man had tried to kill him, he couldn’t bring himself to leave the body for the scavengers, and probably Flynn wouldn’t either. Hopefully, it would help him a little.

“We need to go.”

“Kai, you almost died. Even healing potions take a toll, you probably haven’t eaten for almost a day. I can go ahead. I’ll do my best to make sure your family is safe.”

“I’m fine, I can eat on the way,” Kai summoned a sweet roll stuffed with cream from his ring to make him happy. He always kept a snack for emergencies. The first bite made him realize how famished he was. “Lead the way, I’ll tell you if I can’t keep up.”

Flynn shook his head but relented. They began jogging, increasing their speed till the jungle flashed past them.

“You can go faster.” Kai drank from a water flask. At this speed, he managed to absorb as much mana as he consumed with Empower. The endurance boost the skill provided kept him going.

His thoughts turned to what awaited him in Sylspring.

If he just recklessly ran into the streets, he’d likely become one more person in need of saving. No matter how much of a genius he was, the gap between him and those with a profession wasn’t easy to bridge.

He also lacked experience, the fight with Tridel had made that abundantly clear. Most of his battles had been against beasts, not humans.

They’re going to be fine. Moui can protect them better than me.

With how unpredictably he behaved, it would take more than one day before people began to worry about his disappearance.

They’ll think I’m running late at the lab.

Soon they reached the gatherers’ paths. Kai increased their pace, he didn't have the energy to think and worry. A scant few rays of light peered through the canopies.

The trees grew sparse, his strides wider. Flynn struggled to keep up, heaving behind him. They emerged from the jungle onto the farmland, aghast at the sight that presented itself.

Dark columns of smoke rose from the fields and the town beyond. The raging flames of the rebel’s fires and the final shades of dusk painted Sylspring in red.

Are we too late?

“What the fuck did they do!? We need to go.”

Flynn stared blankly at the burning city. Kai grabbed him to continue running. The boy had lost all color, letting himself get dragged.

~~~

“What’s your goal with this madness?” Zerith demanded. They’d been chasing rebels through the outskirts of Sylspring for the better part of an hour, always arriving a moment too late.

An enforcer pressed her sword against the man's neck.

Despite the blood pooling at his feet, the rebel laughed. “Glory to the ancestors!” His eyes shone with a crazy glint.

Before Zerith could react, the man slit his own throat against the blade. The newbie enforcer stared like a fool at her weapon.

“I’m sorry, I—”

“Go make sure the fire doesn’t spread,” Zerith ordered. He waited to be alone in the abandoned building before cursing out loud. That man had been their only lead. They couldn’t keep running like headless chickens, something was up.

What do they hope to achieve?

There had been eight fires, and three more out in the fields. He might understand their logic if the rebels tried to burn poshtown or the merchant district—though they would have been stopped much sooner if that were the case.

Why some random houses in the outskirts? Do they hope the fire will spread and torch the whole town?

He massaged his temples. This didn’t make sense. He’d chased enough madmen and rogue killers to know that even they followed their own internal logic, however twisted it may be.

What do they gain from this?

They had destroyed the homes of some poor sods. So far there had been a dozen injured and one dead. All the fires had started inside abandoned buildings, giving enough time to react before they spread.

People were uneasy, gathering in the central district for safety. All the personnel had already been deployed to control the crowd.

Zerith walked outside, the sun had set, and four moons dominated the sky. He drew a circle over his heart.

May the gods bless us.

The mark he left on the boy had reappeared a handful of minutes ago and was approaching town at a frantic pace. He found it weird when Kai had suddenly left town without using one of the gates, but then again the kid had always been an odd one. Even if he was running away, he wouldn’t stop him.

Higharbor still had to send an answer regarding the case. It meant they didn’t give it much importance, but still some.

Can he know something?

Zerith made a mental note to check on him when this was over. Right now he couldn’t afford another futile hunt. Chasing the rebels had already wasted enough time.

Shit!

Zerith ran outside, leaving broken floorboards in his steps.

“Gather any officer available,” he ordered at the first enforcers he saw. “We need to head—”

An explosion from the docks lit the night sky, rocking the few windows present. He’d seen those blasts too many times to not recognize the work of a fire mage. Not something the rebels could do.