Halved Hearts

Tears ran down Katnir’s face as he fell on his knees. His last chance of going home had been annihilated. No words or thoughts could express his agony. He picked up a piece of the seal from the ground. It crumbled to dust and seeped from his hand like the last remnant of hope he had harbored. For a moment he looked at his hand, charred from the fire spells, his scar bleeding no longer.

He felt Reiny’s hand on his shoulder. With a somber irony, Katnir said:

“I guess I’ll be staying here for a little longer…”

“What did you do?”

“I collapsed the pocket dimension. It no longer exists on our plane of reality… That was the only way.”

“You’re one resourceful human.”

“Not resourceful enough to retrieve the crystals… Have I chosen well, Reiny?”

“What would happen if you didn’t choose that?”

“He was an Eon. I would have no chance against him.”

“I think you have your answer, then.”

“Yeah… What do I do now? I’m not going back.”

Reiny sat beside him, watching the sun set.

“Is it really such a bad thing?”

“What do you mean? How can I fulfill my destiny while I’m stuck here?”

“Maybe your destiny is somewhere else. Satine thought she’d grow old in the monastery, and look at her now. You too need a break. A moment of reflection to decide if your fate really is tied to a bunch of floating rocks. And perchance, you will find that you are in fact where you’re meant to be. The only difference between exile and freedom is the mindset. Are you being forced into restraint or out of it?”

Maybe he’s right – Katnir thought. – And maybe Sonia was right too. At the very least, I can give it a try.

“Sometimes you do say something reasonable.”

“It does happen sometimes when you’re hundreds of years old, believe it or not.”

Both chuckled under their noses. Suddenly, Katnir remembered something.

“How’s Satine?”

“Her ring shielded the blast… mostly. She still got hit on the head pretty bad, but she’ll live.”

The wizard nodded.

“Let’s get out of here.”

***

This isn’t one of the Inquisition’s dungeons – Mina thought. – Where is he holding me?

The cell was modest, but not as barebones as a prison would be. In fact, it was on par with her own monastic cell in terms of accommodation. She had a bed with a straw mattress, a table and a chair. The only sign of involuntary confinement was a thick wooden door and a small barred window letting in a pale ray of light.

She was lying on the bed, her lost duel with Kragavald still fresh in her memory.

Three moves… He disarmed me in three moves…

She did realize her skills might have gone rusty with age, despite frequent training sessions with her students, but Kragavald still hopelessly outclassed her. Albeit an aging man himself, his combat prowess didn’t show a single sign of decline.

Truly, no practice can replace a real combat.

When she swung her sword at him, she saw him setting up for the same disarm he had used on her all those years prior. Anticipating he would try to deflect and grapple her sword, she feigned the same slash, intending to change the direction at the last second, and strike at his exposed wrist. Instead, he evaded the strike completely and pushed her pommel with his hand, driving her sword into the ground. Before she could recover, he punched her wounded side, sending her on the ground, rolling from the pain. He ended the duel without their blades even touching.

She lost consciousness soon after, and woke up in the cell, disoriented, but patched up.

What does he want to do with me? – she thought. – He could have killed me, but for some reason he didn’t.

She knew it was useless to speculate. His mind had clearly become inscrutable to her over the years. Instead, she looked back at her own actions.

I have failed… The order is now under the Brotherhood’s boot. Satine’s on the run or already captured. Liesë lost her mind. Taevine betrayed us and is about to find out why I wanted to keep the Brotherhood away. Katria is caught up in the middle of this mess. And all caresisters are now at de Montfort’s mercy… Truly an unworthy prioress I was.

What will happen to me? And what happened to my daughter? – she wondered as the dim sunlight turned to gold and slowly faded away.

***

Forgive me… Forgive me… Forgive me… – Liesë repeated the words in desperation, almost kowtowing to the roadside shrine.

It was an old sandstone sculpture: a tall pillar crowned with the holy symbol of the sun, some of its rays already broken off from the passage of time. Wreaths of flowers, long withered, were scattered at the base, as were some broken clay censer burners and burnt sticks of incense. Among them, there laid her own offering: an ivy leaf made of catharite. She thought herself no longer worthy of carrying the token of her friendship with Sonia.

She had made her way west, crossing into the neighboring province of Hilgerth, posing as a lone pilgrim returning from the Sanctuary of Saint Enelra near Gath. The good people of Rainhoven gave her food and shelter, according to the custom. None even suspected they were sheltering a fugitive.

While never particularly religious, despite belonging to a monastic order, Liesë found herself flung into a pious fervor, fueled by her overwhelming guilt over the ritual performed on Sonia and her cowardly escape from the abbey. Unable to face the people she had wronged, she turned to God, hoping that at least he would grant her forgiveness.

She heard a carriage approaching and stopping by the shrine. Someone got off it and kneeled beside her.

A fellow worshipper? – she thought.

Suddenly, she heard a gentle clink. When she opened her eyes, she saw Sonia’s amulet, a silver ant with eyes of catharite, lying beside her own. Her heart sank.

“A matching set ought not to be separated, don’t you think?”

When she looked up, she saw a wrinkled face looking at her from beneath an inquisitorial hood.

“You have sinned, child, I can tell.”

“I didn’t… I didn’t mea-“ – she stuttered, frightened.

“Be not afraid. I am your absolution.”

***

Katnir had strictly forbidden her from removing the bandage on her eyes, citing her wounds as being too severe. Unable to see anything, Satine had to rely on Katnir for the time being. While irked by her helplessness, she found his care to be strangely soothing.

She had regained enough strength to ride on horseback again, and was now sitting behind him as they rode east, only a day or two away from the border. The gentle breeze and the swaying of the saddle made her relaxed, despite the sheer madness of the days prior.

“Will I ever come back here?” – she voiced her thoughts subconsciously.

“We’re not even out of the kingdom, and you miss it already?” – Katnir asked with irony.

“It’s just… I’m leaving so much here. And I don’t know what happened to my mother and my sisters.”

“We can come back when you feel you’re ready.”

“Thank you…”

“And I think we may already have some answers. Based on what you told me about Liesë and what we saw in the tomb, it seems clear that the Eon posing as de Montfort was that dark force Liesë was talking about, and it was he who killed Sonia and disguised as her.”

“I can’t believe there even existed such a thing… What even is an Eon?”

“Eons were powerful beings of old. They are told to have gifted humanity with magic millennia ago. They were also believed to have been wiped out, but if de Montfort was indeed an Eon, some of them must have survived.”

“You think there are more of them?”

“He spoke of his master… I’m afraid there might be more.”

“What are we going to do about it?”

“We?”

“We’re working together now, aren’t we?”

“I intend to get to the bottom of it. Are you sure you want a part in it? You saw what that thing was capable of.”

“You told me I’m free to choose. That’s what I choose.”

“Suit yourself, princess.”