“The testimonies of the interrogated citizens are consistent. They all claim the women are onIshlor,which is, apparently, some sort of willing isolation from society. None of them seemsto be aware of their departure or have any information on their whereabouts,” the soldier continued.
Ranier Uldor knelt beside Freyah’s father, yanking the man’s head back by his hair. He clenched his teeth when he spoke again. “Where are they, Dane?”
Dane’s reply was a defiant spit in the general’s face. Ranier wiped it away with the back of his hand, his expression hard.
“Keilan,” he snapped. “I need reinforcements in Bryniard. Send at least twenty more men for wall duty and another twenty for interrogations. Every person in this wretched place must be questioned. Tear the whole place apart if necessary. We must find out where these women are headed. If they’re as stubborn as this one,” he said, kicking Mr. Weller’s right leg, “this town will have a lot more graves by the time we’re done.”
Keilan was taking notes of each of his general’s words.
“Deploy Iron Claws in every city of Heldraine to conduct interrogations. We need to determine whether Bryniard’s information has been compromised and the impact of their escape on our endeavors. I want active communication with our spies for any sightings of Alissa Kriegen, Freyah Weller, and Eldric Van Myr. We must track their every move!”
The general turned to face his men, a fierce determination in his eyes. “No one must know what happened here, gentlemen. This is the most crucial and classified mission of your lives—the fate of our kingdom rests in our hands. I trust you to uphold the integrity of the realm we vowed to protect. Do not let me down.”
His nod served as a dismissal for everyone except Keilan. Observing that Dane’s head was still held in the general’s furious grip, Keilan ventured, "Perhaps we should leave now, sir." It was an attempt to spare the tavern owner’s life—one that would prove futile.
“You broke the deal, Dane. You let them out.” Ranier shook his head. “Don’t you worry, I’ll say hello to your daughter for you,” he said at last, driving his sword into the man’s stomach.
Dane’s body fell on the floor of the tavern he had dedicated his entire life to building, his eyes once again drifting to Freyah’s portrait. Before life finally escaped his body, he had one final wish: to see his daughter again someday.
The general stepped over the lifeless body and cleaned his blade with a rag by the counter so casually that no one could tell he had just taken the life of a good man.
Keilan’s eyes were shut in sorrow for a life taken with such disregard. He didn’t even notice his general approach until he felt a tap on his shoulder. He could not have predicted Ranier’s words before heading back to the tunnels.
“Turns out you are keeping your tongue, boy.”
Chapter 21
One and the Same
122 DAYS UNTIL DHALIA’S DEATH DATE.
Never in her thirteen years as a healer had Desi met a patient as stubborn as Alissa. She used to believe the old men in Nyfrel were a handful, but Alissa could be worse than all of them put together.
“I’m sick of this stupid potion. It tastes like vomit. Can I have some wine instead?”
“Desi, will you please leave me here in peace with Freyah and take Eldric with you? I can’t stand you two checking on me all the time.”
“Desi, what is your price to let me leave this tent for an hour? I’ll do anything.”
Those were some of the things the healer had to put up with since they came into her life like a hurricane. Eldric had stormed into her medical office with an unconscious Alissa in his arms, panicking. The red-haired woman behind him was screaming for help. From that moment, they had turned her usually calm, peaceful routine in Nyfrel upside down. Although she felt exhausted, both physically and mentally, she enjoyedtheir company for the same reason it drained her: they brought excitement despite the chaos.
Nyfrel was one of the largest cities in Heldraine, but unlike all other towns in the realm, it was mostly occupied by elderly citizens. Desi used to believe that working as a healer and magical researcher would bring excitement to her life. At the beginning of her career, she imagined it would be all about healing gruesome wounds and fatal diseases, and that had been her reality back when she lived in Golheim. However, in this place, she mostly treated common symptoms such as coughs, heartburn, and other ailments that come with age.
When Alissa came in, almost lifeless, Desi secretly felt a tingle of excitement deep inside her, thrilled to finally handle an interesting, different treatment. She had healed other patients with Ferrugia before; it wasn’t a lie that half of her patients had been successfully cured, but she intentionally left out the important note that she had only treated two people infected before, and one of them died.
Mentioning that would have been useless. She was all Alissa had at the moment, so why not boost her confidence in her recovery a little? A patient’s state of mind often directly affected their recovery. With that approach, she had seen Alissa’s fever ease and her muscle spasms disappear little by little. It was like magic, the very reason she had chosen to become a healer in the first place. Desi could only imagine what it must have felt like to really wield magic as people did once upon a time.
Eavesdropping wasn’t a habit for her, but even Desi had to admit she did try spying on her new guests out of curiosity every now and then, as events like this never happened in Nyfrel. What could have possibly happened to bring them there in such a disastrous state? She vividly remembered jumping from her chair, startled by the armed strangers drenched in blood invading her workstation. The man hovered protectively aroundhis friends with the intensity of a mother bear ready to attack anyone who approached her cubs.
The sight was initially terrifying, but surprisingly, she had come to enjoy her time with this odd group of people. It felt good to have someone to care for again. It was a relief to discover that her motherly instincts were still intact after so long spent in a state of numbness. Those instincts, which had faded in the absence of her children, were something she thought she had lost forever.
Desi wasn’t only a mother without her children, she was a wife without her husband and a daughter without her mother. That had become her life since she was forced to leave her family behind to serve the Kingdom of Heldraine elsewhere. It’d been four years since she’d last seen the people who made her heart beat, and since then, she had stopped living to just begin existing.
Life in Heldraine wasn’t always easy, but even during tough times, her parents raised her with strong principles of ethics, honor, and love. It was the kind of love felt by parents who had been blessed with a baby after years of struggle to conceive.
Desi was an only child, and although her family had no ties to royalty, she often felt like a princess because of the way she was pampered. Desi used to sneak into her father’s workroom to pick up some of the jewelry he crafted and wear it in secret for a while. She would stare at her reflection in the mirror, adorned with sapphire necklaces almost as big as her head, and feel invincible. She never learned whether her father was unaware of her mischief over the years or if he pretended not to know because he enjoyed seeing her confidence boost when she wore them.
Knowing her father the way she did, she suspected it was the latter.