There was a long moment of silence as she stared into my eyes, struggling to process the entirety of our situation. She began to take a series of deep breaths in through her nose, exhaling sharply through her mouth after a second of hesitation. The shaking in her shoulders gradually grew still, and her face relaxed until it had shed every sign of the fear that had gripped us. “You’re not alone,” she said eventually, giving me a weak smile. I’m here with you. Her voice in my head spoke more confidently than the one that reached my ears.
“I know,” I answered. I brushed my hand gently along her cheek, experiencing the gesture from both of our perspectives at once. I’m here with you, too. The strength of our shared connection was more apparent than ever as our adrenaline receded, and without the intense focus of battle driving us, I found it momentarily difficult to control my own body without also influencing Lia’s movements as I tried to stand. “I’m going to clean up out here,” I said while we stumbled to our feet. “Can you look after Lyn and Miles?”
She nodded, turning her gaze to the upturned wagon and the scene waiting inside. I gave her a reassuring pat on the shoulder as I turned to go, but she grabbed my arm and stopped me in place. Her hand wrapped up to the back of my head as she pulled my head down towards hers, knocking our foreheads together. Her free hand twined its fingers between mine as she held my head tightly against hers. There were no words shared through our mental link, but I saw a quick series of memories flash in my head. Eating dinner with Elise. Walking with our new friends. Sparring together with Marin. My sleeping head in her lap. Our home in the woods.
I gave her a single word in reply. Forever. She gave my neck a final squeeze before she released me and slipped around my side, glancing at the beast behind us one final time. Her nose wrinkled, and she shook her head and looked away back towards the wagon. I moved to the front of the beast and gathered its dismembered scythes, jammed them into the armored midsection for safekeeping, then returned to its rear to grab its remaining legs and haul it off the road. As I began my jog, I noted with some discomfort that the beast was significantly heavier than it appeared to be, at least three times my own weight. The armored leg felt like plate armor through my gloves, apart from a slightly sticky substance that seemed to cover the entirety of the monster’s shell.
As I ran the body back towards its hollow, Lia climbed to the top of the overturned wagon and peered down into its ruined hold. A terrified scream echoed back at her as Lyn pulled herself further into the wreckage, concealing herself and her husband with a fallen curtain. “Lyn, it’s okay,” Lia called out softly, “it’s me. It’s Lia.” She slipped down from her perch into the wagon’s interior, her boots crunching over a thin layer of glass shards.
The curtain slipped a few inches, and Lyn peaked out over the edge, her kind blue eyes bloodshot and puffy. “Lia?” she asked, her voice cracking as she dropped her cloth shield. “Lia?”
“Yeah, it’s me,” she answered with a reassuring smile. “Are you hurt, Lyn?”
She blinked slowly, looking cautiously around the wagon. “I—I don’t know,” she started. “We were just...driving. And then, the horses screamed, and the...the wagon, it just flipped. Flipped over. And then, there were these…” Her eyes grew wide as she remembered the details of her own story, and her movements became more erratic as she continually scanned her surroundings. “These blades, they came right through the walls, and...and then…” She froze in place for a moment before letting out a pained wail. “They’re all dead! They’re DEAD! Miles, and Gran, and…” she pulled Layne’s body closer to her chest and screamed again, burying her face in his bloodied neck.
Lia knelt down beside the pile of debris that covered Miles and Josephine, pushing aside broken wood and seat cushions until his head and shoulders were clear. She placed a hand on the back of his neck and activated the Healing rune within her ring. A sparkling green light shimmered over his body as it worked to mend the cuts and scrapes on his exposed skin as well as the swelling in his head from the blow that had knocked him out. He gasped loudly as his consciousness returned to him and threw himself backwards, landing awkwardly in Lia’s waiting arms. His chest heaved as he fought to regain his situational awareness, only slowing when he caught sight of Lyn and Layne across from him. “Lyn,” he whispered, stunned.
The sound was lost beneath her mourning cries, but the sudden movement drew her attention. “Miles?” she sniffled, her lips trembling as they formed traces of a smile. “You’re not…” Her breath ran out, and she gasped silently for a moment. “Oh, Miles…”
Lia helped him to his feet, and he limped the few steps across to where Lyn had hidden herself. His shoulders began to shake, and he sank to his knees before her. “Lyn, I’m...sorry. I—I don’t...I’m...this is all because...it’s because I made you come get me...” he choked out as he began to sob.
“No, no,” Lyn replied, shaking her head, “no, that’s not true.” A fresh wave of tears rolled down her face as she reached out and brushed the dark blonde hair from his eyes. She pulled
