____ away the lies

“You’re a real coward!” Zane shouted as he rolled out of the way, blades plunging into gaps between cobblestones when the knights aimed to puncture his flesh. They wasted no time attacking the trio—about a couple dozen to three adversaries, not to mention Addison. Albeit, injured. Though Zane might’ve argued sharing in her pain, bearing similar minor burns.

Lucian channeled rage and knocked a knight away before grabbing Zane and administering healing. Two more descended, and Zane shoved Lucian into a knight before sweeping the feet of the other, snatching Lucian back before the two fell limp. Shay ran over, hands shaking as he held his hammer like a shield.

“I’ll get us out of here!” Lucian tapped his scepter against the ground, granting Happiness to their steps, but—

“No!”

Shay threw his arms out. “We can’t let them these bugs outta our sight!”

Addison laughed, the knights falling into formation before her. “Yeah, I was planning on sending these guys to break up her little strike if you didn’t wanna deal with them. I don’t want to; see, I respect her so much, but if you don’t give me much choice? Then oh well.”

“I’ll give you a choice!” Shay tossed some ore towards the knights, and the sparks shot out of his bag to eat it, crawling over a couple knights. They screamed and banged into others, shattering their formation as Zane and Lucian leapt into the fight.

Zane soared high above, aimed his fist, and pounded the helmet off of a knight, throwing it at another as he flipped into a smooth landing. Lucian twirled his Rage-infused scepter around him and knocked out a few knights as he touched ground next to Zane.

“Stay close,” Zane said, “let’s move together on this.”

“Of course,” Lucian said. He granted Zane a jump boost once more, but as Zane took off—

Someone nabbed his foot. The knight grinned and swung Zane like a sack, knocking Lucian down and his scepter out of hand. They handed it off to Addison, who gripped it as though to snap it like a twig.

“Cute toy,” she said. “I know I’m not doing much by breaking it, but it’ll be fun.”

It splintered down the middle.

“Okay, noooow—EEK!” She dropped the weapon, a spark bolting up her leg and situating on her face. Shay crawled under the taller knights and threw the scepter back to Lucian, who held it to his chest and tried to hum with trembling breath.

“I—give me a second, it’s being—” Lucian said, but the knights charged, and Zane threw his arms up to tank their blows. Fabric, even the toughest, hardly stopped swords, and they dug into his arms, clean metal drinking flesh and blood.

“Zane!”

The ding of hammer against metal rung from far away, another cry in the crowd; Zane grit his teeth and kept his arms up. Either he lost his hands, or lost his life. Without someone to get these knights off him, though, he might not have the chance to make a choice.

And as that thought crossed his mind…

Metal met metal—a keening crash which sent the knight sprawling, as calloused fingers brushed against his own and pulled him out.

“Looks like we got here in time,” Effie said. “Woah, your arms are super screwed up. Can you even like, punch people anymore?”

“Maybe if I take them out in one hit… no, just joking…” Zane said, simmering rage pumping through his veins. If Effie hadn’t pulled him by the arms, then he might’ve thrown himself into another fight. Fat chance of that now.

Then again, if he processed his own injuries, he might have snapped out of it on the spot.

The dings of smashed metal ricocheted in every direction. Dockworkers poured in, beating in knights with wrenches, paddles, even smashing boxes over their heads. Anything they might’ve grabbed from the piers they weaponized against the knights.

Addison stumbled back, face red as her tears called more apparitions—two, to be exact.

That must’ve been her strategy: throw all she had at the trio to wear them down, then the second things turned south for her, call her back-up and have the knights finish them off while they were cold and weak.

Smart, Addy. You almost got us.

“Hey, Lucian, get to work!” Effie yelled to her left, and Lucian hurried over, assisted by a burly woman as he applied healing to Zane’s wounds, mustering a gentle melody.

Shay kept fighting, the sparks safe and sound other than a couple bent legs. If anything, he fit right in, busting heads in with bare tools and gumption. “You know,” Effie said, “maybe they learned a thing or two from you about beating up people who deserve it.”

“Nah,” Zane said, “they always had this in them. They just needed something worth fighting for.”

The messy brawl, a blur of silver and rust, of overalls and dented armor, ended with the knights crawling out of the chaos bloodied and bruised while the workers pushed them to run, run away until only Addison remained. She cried, her little sniffles accompanying quick glances.

But nothing came.

No ghosts, no Sadness. Her tears held no power anymore. She put her hands up.

“Okay, fine. You win.”

Effie left Zane’s side. “I’ll meet you guys back there,” she said to the lingering dockworkers. “Let us take care of things, ‘k? And I promise, round of drinks on me tonight.”

The workers scattered, slapping Effie on the back or leaving her encouragement on the way out—even Shay, Lucian and Zane earned approving glances. In the end, though, this wasn’t their fight, and none of them wanted the dockworkers to get into any more trouble.

More trouble than they’d already landed in, anyways.

The fire in Zane’s chest cooled, agony coursing down his arms. Still. Still—he shrugged off Lucian and stumbled forward, closer to Addison.

“…What the hell were you talking about?” he said. “Back here. When I saw you. You knew something about me that I didn’t know about myself. Since I won, can’t you give me this?”

“I said I was joking—” Addison began, but stopped. She wiped her face, a deep-set determination taking over. “—no. Screw that. I don’t care anymore. Honestly, I wanna know too.”

“Know what?”

“About the Disappearance.”

“Disappearance?” Effie hurried over, hand close to her heart. “Isn’t that just some… weird conspiracy theory?”

“Seriously?” Addison huffed. “I thought you’d believe in it. You look the type—and I don’t mean that in a you’re stupid way.”

Zane waited. Despite the chill of her Sadness, somehow she managed to freeze the world with a few words.

“The Disappearance isn’t something everyone’s told about. I can’t really tell you why, but I know Leon knows. Pearce, maybe, but they told me after you left. Nearly three decades ago, a distant continent vanished. It took days to sail there with magic and luck, but we did a lot of trade with them—mostly from here, Orie. One day, though, it vanished alongside anyone living on it. Some survivors claimed the continent had been eaten by darkness.”

Addison snapped her fingers. “The church is interested in suppressing knowledge of it. Maybe it leads down a dangerous path…? Who knows. You’re asking for Effie, though, right? I know her parents were on a trip for Shining Beacon when the whole land mass went under, so they’re a part of the casualties. But they never told her, or anyone. It sucks, doesn’t it? The secrets?”