Heirs of Hyarch

He hadn't been awake that long, and Myron was already regretting...well, a lot of things.

While Edeline had kept her composure, Myron knew his sister well enough to tell she was quite unhappy that he and Nela had chosen to leave them unguarded. A risky decision, and yet...none of them were in a condition to keep watch. The four of them had all been various degrees of exhausted, and most of the villagers had not seemed much better.

The guilty couple sat meekly off to the side under Edeline's gaze, waiting for the last few people to awaken. Not that there were that many, because when Kalias had learned what his nephew had done, he had let loose on them with an angry shouting rant that put Nela's usual cursing to shame. Galian had mostly sat meekly through it all, and the few attempts of Caroletta to protest only drove Kalias to be louder.

It was a small relief that neither of the two had told anyone about seeing Edeline use her magic. At least for the moment, that particular secret was safe, but that would not last forever. Myron had known that word would spread - they were not the first to see Edeline's thaumaturgy - and yet still it stung.

For now, all he could do was get prepared for the day ahead. Edeline had quietly packed up before the sun had fully rose, as had Hamond. Nela was getting her things in order too, which left him to do the same. Bending over with a grunt, Myron began to roll up his blanket.

One good thing was that, as far as he could see, other than the guilty couple the villagers seemed more lively and alert today as they too gathered what little they had. Would they be this well off if Myron had made some of them take shifts over the night? There was no way he could be sure.

Finishing arranging his bag, Myron shouldered it, stretching. Even facing the issue of having no pikers - Hamond had not found any in that farmhouse - they were so close to Kelshir. A sense of eager anticipation, a readiness to be there, to be done with the road for a time, filled him. The others were certainly looking forward to it as well.

Seeing Hamond talking to a pair of men, Myron started in his direction. There was one final matter to be decided before they set off. Hoping his sister's anger had cooled, Myron beckoned her with a gesture as he walked. A quick glance showed Nela was also on her way over, Jelinia following like a second shadow again.

"You said almost two hextra?" Hamond was asking.

"Right," one of the men answered, warily eyeing Myron as he approached.

"That's not good," Hamond said, then turned to Myron. "You heard all that?"

"Not really," Myron admitted, "Two hextra of what?"

"That's how many people lived in Verdan." Hamond indicated the gathered people.

So many dead or missing. Myron did not hold much hope for many more survivors, but he had to bring it up regardless. "Should we search Verdan for survivors and more supplies, or go straight to safety?"

"We're going to Faehaven, right?" One of the men gave Myron a curious look.

"Faehaven?" Nela asked as she joined them. "Did they actually name it that?"

"I agree it's really strange that they...wait..." The man blinked, staring at Nela. Myron figured he hadn't realized there was an Elefae present.

"Where are you from?" the other man asked.

"A place with a normal name," Nela said.

Myron snorted, managing to hold back a laugh. "The Spellking sends his greetings," he reminded Nela.

"Point taken," Nela admitted with a laugh of her own. Not everyone was creative with names, after all.

"My question still remains," Myron asks, shifting the focus back to more serious matters. "Do we have time to search the village?"

"We probably want to send out a few scouts, even if we aren't looking for anyone," Hamond said, "Just to make certain the knights have left for good."

Right, yet another thing he should have thought in advance. But who could they send... "Are there any hunters from the village here?" They would know the area the best, and could hopefully be relied on to stay quiet as they moved about.

"We had a few of them, but only one's made it here. The problem is..." The man turned and pointed.

Myron let out a groan when he saw exactly who was being pointed at. Of all the...well, that did explain how Galian had slipped by them all without waking anyone. They were not in the position where they could risk giving him an opportunity to get away from the rest of them.

"Well, that's just perfect," Nela remarked, "So now what?"

"I suppose there's nothing to do but set off." Hamond looked over the pair of men. "If their estimate is correct, it'll just take two days. But that's if we have no interruptions."

"Best to assume three then," Myron noted. Aether, it would be a miracle if nothing else went wrong.

"Come on, we can hope for the best. Get them to do the double time march." Nela flashed a smile.

Myron opened his mouth to correct her, say these men and women were not soldiers, but then stopped. If he said as much, brought up their time in the army of Hyarch, it would be handing away a key hint to who he really was. There weren't that many men around here who had fought in the war, that much was sure. Revealing that he had was just too much.

Thankfully, Hamond saved him. "Even if all of them, even the children, were capable of such, any time gained by moving faster would be lost in teaching them this march of yours."

"Shit, you're right." Nela clapped a hand to her face. "Ignore me."

"We'll try to move quickly," one of the man added, and the two turned to go.

Myron appreciated the offer, even if it probably was not going to work out. There were always delays when organizing people. He knew it all too well. When he had originally left Hallowscroft with his men to join the forces of Hyarch, it had been a full five days later than they had planned. And that was with them rushing matters.

"I'll tell Edeline," Hamond said, and moved off. Myron had no objections, since Hamond was more likely and able to calm her down than he was. It was a quality the Remuati thaumaturge shared in common with only one other person he had known - Edeline's now-dead maidservant, Lendra.

Quite fitting in hindsight, given that she was Edeline's birth mother, the long-vanished and carefully hidden Princess Splendora Pelagoin.

As if it had planned for just this moment, a ray of light from the rising sun broke through the trees and hit Myron right in the face. Aether, that stung, he thought as he turned away and rubbed at his eyes, blinking away the dancing lights that floated in his vision. Maybe that was a message, telling him not to dwell on the matter of Edeline's true birthright.

Very well, he could certainly do that.

"Light got you there, didn't it?" Nela asked innocently, using a hand to shade her own eyes. Not that she needed to, since her shorter height meant she'd have to be standing a few paces back in order for it to blind her in turn.

"I could share the experience with you, if you wanted."

"I'd rather not." Nela lowered her hand. "Only thing I want to share with you will have to wait until we...get to this Elfhaven. Uh, Faehaven. Whatever the place is called."

Myron felt his face redden, knowing exactly what Nela was hinting at. Sure, no one nearby would understand what she really just said...probably. But bringing it up with this many people around? He wanted to question it, then he saw that her own face was also a little flushed at her own words. Nela hadn't meant to be quite that direct either, it seemed.

"What does that mean?" Jelinia's voice made Myron nearly leap straight up. "What are you two sharing?"

"It's a secret to everybody." Once again, Hamond was there to aid him. Edeline was following behind, still looking a bit cross. "They won't even tell me."

"Oh." Jelinia's eyes widened, sending a new surge of embarrassment through him. Please, Myron begged to no one and everyone, don't tell me that this girl figured it out just from that. If so...he could think of nothing to say to that. Neither could Nela, going by her silence.

Edeline just shook her head, her expression shifting to amusement. "I suggest coming with me for a bit," she suggested to Jelinia, extending a hand. "They need to go help everyone else get ready to leave."

Jelinia nodded, and took Edeline's hand. Myron wasn't sure which he was more grateful for: Edeline being in a better mood, or Jelinia leaving them alone for now.

"I like her," Nela said suddenly.

"Trust me, I noticed." Myron took a moment to compose himself. To be honest, he would have loved nothing more than some time with Nela. But they could hardly lose themselves in each other when the here and now demanded their attention. Soon, Myron silently promised her.

"Are we ready then?" Hamond asked. Despite the use of we, Myron knew that question was aimed at the two of them.

Myron nodded. It was time to be on their way.