Chapter 1) Flight

It used to be that there were six countries on the Jugdral continent. Well, it could have been more, but the traditional story only says there were six. One of them was called 'Gran', and it was a quiet, peaceful kingdom located in the center of Jugdral. You had the occasional trouble with bandits, of course, or nobles abusing their power, but over all, it was peaceful. It was quiet. You could almost call it the 'ideal' kingdom, truly.

But it all began falling apart in the year 440, Gran Calendar. For reasons unknown, the First Emperor journeyed across the seas to a distant land inhabited by beings of great and terrible power. There, he met Loptyr, the Dark God, a being of shadows and utter hatred, and made a pact sealed in blood in exchange for strength beyond mortal imaginations. With that new power thrumming through his veins, he returned to Gran and slowly began his plot. His followers, the cult of Loptyr, spread its influence like a plague, infecting everything it touched, little by little. Then, when he judged the time was right, he crafted the first of the Deadlords, twelve corpses reanimated and imbued with dark power, and turned them loose onto the unsuspecting country. In the year 447, the Deadlords had destroyed Gran and spread out to the other countries, slaughtering all in their path. In the year 448, all of Jugdral had fallen to the might of Loptyr, and the First Emperor named himself ruler of the ruins.

The new Loptyrian Empire was as bloody and ruthless as Gran had been peaceful. The brutal caste system divided people into sections, with those who refused to join the cult being treated worse than dogs, if they were not outright sold into slavery. Then there were those who were sacrificed to Loptyr, to feed his hatred and let his power grow from the power of spilt blood. Thousands upon thousands died, ripped to shreds if they were lucky. If not, well, they say that the longer the death, the more power granted from the shed blood.

In the year 449, there was the Great Purge, where over a hundred thousand people were killed in a show of power, demonstrating the brutal might of the First Emperor and his dreaded tome. In the year 452, numerous children were sacrificed to the Dark God, leading to the Sorrow of Miletos and the start of the Child Hunts. In the year 453, the Massacre of Edda saw tens of thousands of people slaughtered, in retaliation for the duchess refusing the First Emperor's offer of marriage and alliance. Those are just the more famous ones. There were others, quieter and undocumented, and their stories and deaths will never be known.

In the face of such brutality, people tried rebelling, but the first one to gain any sort of momentum happened in the year 535, almost a hundred years after the founding of the empire, long after the First Emperor's death. Lord Maera, younger brother to Emperor Galle the Eleventh, championed the people and urged his brother to show mercy and understanding, declaring that no empire ruled by fear and blood would last. He even tried to marry the Loptyrian beliefs with the old and barely known polytheistic religion, turning Loptyr into one of many gods, the destruction necessary for life to thrive. However, it was for naught. Emperor Galle the Seventh crushed the fledgling rebellion, and the survivors, including Lord Maera, fled into exile, disappearing into the chaotic west, where warlords bicker and kill each other over petty things like apple trees.

Others tried to rise up, of course, but each time, the reigning Emperor obliterated them with his too powerful magic, and slaughtered more to quell thoughts of further rebellion. That said, however, starting from the year 611, quiet resistance groups bloomed even in adversity, and though they fall, more rise. Hope springs eternal, surprisingly, and somehow, even among all the blood, there are people who can hold onto a sense of right and wrong, and make sure it isn't twisted from seeing constant torture.

It is the year 642, Gran Calendar, third year of Emperor Galle the Seventeenth's reign. That is the year the empire finally began crumbling away.

My feet hurt. No, they more than hurt, but I was so tired and in so much pain that I couldn't think of a better descriptor, though I was delirious enough to try. Agony? Battered? I supposed both could work. Agony might have also taken into account the utter terror I felt, but I truly couldn't think well enough to try and parse it out.

"Gwyneth, how are you holding up?" Hezul slid to a stop and helped me up onto a stump to get my bare feet out of the snow. I lost my shoes in the muck ages ago. "Gwyneth?" he asked, peering at me worriedly. He looked as exhausted as I felt, which made sense. He had actually fought our way out of Belhalla. A scratch on his cheek still bled sluggishly, and the blood dripping in the snow hinted that how much stress he was putting on his other injuries. "Do I need to carry you?"

"Not even you can carry me and the packs, run, and fight," I pointed out instantly. I had to smile at the thought, though. "Besides, wouldn't your armor be very cold right now?"

"No colder than running through the snow with bare, bleeding feet." He kicked some snow over our blood trail for emphasis. We both knew it wasn't to hide it. It wouldn't work against the hunting dogs, though perhaps it would confuse their handlers briefly. Perhaps. "We are probably the stupidest people in all of Jugdral."

"Oh, yes, we most certainly are." Who else thought they could get away from running from Galle? "I am sorry about this, Hezul. You would have a much easier time escaping if I wasn't slowing you down."

"I will not leave you alone in that court." His eyes darted to the side, noticing a sound I couldn't hear. "We have to keep going."

"I know." If we were caught, death would be a mercy. "I can run still."

"I know." He knew I actually couldn't, but that I would because we had to. "Don't let go of my hand."

"Never." Now I could hear our pursuers, tripping through the brush and roots. We made sure to stay off the path for that very reason. "Quickly."

Hezul helped me off the stump and we continued running through the snow. Random briars and thorns stung my feet and legs, and tore at my skirt and cloak. My hair fell out of its bun, my hairpins littering the ground and getting lost in the snow. My arm ached from clutching my pack to my chest, terrified that the Loptyr priests would find us and steal it. Of course, there was an item in there that I stole first, but that wasn't the issue. They couldn't have it again. If they did, more would suffer.

Rushing water caught my attention, and I gasped when I saw we had reached a river, so cold that chunks of ice floated down. I gave Hezul an incredulous look when I saw he wasn't stopping, and instead, led us right to the edge. "Hezul?" I said, a silent question in my voice. His answer was to jump down into the water, deep enough that he sunk to his waist, and reach up to help me down. "Is this going to hide our trail?"

"It'll keep the blood from marking our path," he pointed out. He smiled slightly. "And the hunting dogs hate cold water."

"I don't blame them!" I hesitated and closed my eyes. I trusted him. I always trusted him. But I was fairly certain this cold would kill me. Then again, it would be a far better fate than what awaited me if I was caught. "I am not good with swimming."

"I have you. Always."

"One of these days, I will repay you." Then, before I could think thrice, I jumped down and gasped at the bone-chilling numbness that immediately hit me. I felt like I had been stabbed by a thousand knives at once, and that the cold had replaced all the air in my lungs. The water clawed into my skirt and cloak and would have dragged me down to the bottom if Hezul let go of me.

But, of course, he didn't. Hezul held onto me and got us both across, though there were some near misses with unexpected deep spots and ice chunks that wanted to knock us over. My skirt was practically frozen to my skin by the time we got out, but I knew it had to be worse for him. He was wearing full armor, after all, in addition to his normal clothes and cloak, and I was certain the water had seeped into the joints to chill him further. But he didn't complain, and so, I made sure to keep all my whining strictly internal. It was still a relief when we crawled into a cave and Hezul dragged some of the vegetation in front of the entrance to better obscure it. I honestly could not have walked much further.

"The packs remained dry, somehow," I whispered, taking off my cloak and spreading it out across some rocks in an attempt to dry them. I took Hezul's cloak as well and found another batch of rocks to try and use as a drying rack. "We should get your armor off and get you into a dry shirt at least, Hezul."

"I'm not taking the armor off until we are further away, just in case," Hezul immediately refused. He fussed a bit more with the plants, and stepped back to look at me. "We should bandage your feet."

"We should bandage your wounds." I smiled at him and, after a moment, both of us just started laughing as the reality of our situation finally hit us. "Oh, goodness. My mother would kill me if she were still alive. Running away with my fiancé's best friend is such a scandal."

"Oh, how the bards will sing ridiculous nonsense. If, you know, it wouldn't get their tongues ripped out through their throats to sing of it." He sighed and sat down, pulling a blanket out of one of our packs. I was too tired to determine if it was his pack or mine. "Come over here. We'll need to share warmth. It's too cold."

"She would definitely kill me if she saw us now." Still, I sat down next to him and rested my head against his shoulder as he got the blanket around us. It had been about ten years since I had done this with him, and I couldn't help but be nostalgic. "I was right. Your armor is cold."

"I'm sorry." He rested his cheek against my hair. "Last time we did this… ha, I can't even remember."

"We fell asleep waiting for Galle to get out of lessons. It was a few days before Galle received that damn tome."

"That's right. He joked about what a pretty picture we made. Gold hair, silver hair. Gold eyes, silver eyes."

"He said that when he was better at drawing, he would make a picture." But then he changed. After he received the tome from his father, he changed, and we never had a happy moment, a truly happy moment, with the there of us again. "Hey, Hezul, if they catch us…"

"Here." He pulled a dagger off his belt and passed it to me. "If they catch us, I don't know if they'll let me near you. But they won't suspect you have a weapon."

"No, they wouldn't." I smiled and curled a little more into him. I wished we could go back to when everything was fine, but we couldn't. The armor Hezul wore was a testament to that, as were the scars he and I both bore. "I am tired."

"So sleep."

"You are also tired."

"I can go without sleep for a couple more days. Galle made sure of it." The words were heavy with all the implications, and I was one of the three people who knew just what they all were. I hated it. "You, however, need to keep up your strength. It's only going to get worse."

"I know." Giving up, I closed my eyes. "I am sorry, Hezul."

"We both gave up on Galle going back to normal a long time ago." His words grew softer and softer as sleep took me. "We'll stick together, though, until we figure out what to do."

"Yes, we will." Then there was nothing more to say because I finally passed out and drifted into a dreamless sleep.

We continued on, keeping off the roads as much as possible. Baths were just quick dunks in freezing rivers and scrubbing our skin with sand. Clothes were washed as well as possible for two people who didn't know how to do laundry, and within a few days, we decided to just buy new ones, the cheapest we could find, and to cut down the old clothes to sell or use as rags. I, thankfully, had the foresight to grab as much jewelry as I could hide in between essentials, so we were able to sell little pieces to build up better traveling funds that we desperately needed. We bought the most basic of things and continued on, never staying in a town for long. We hunted for food, when we could, but often skipped meals because we had no idea what was edible and what wasn't. The only bit of 'normalcy' we kept was tending to our personal appearances, but that was mostly so that we wouldn't stand out as much. Unkempt people drew eyes, and we couldn't afford that.

"Well, I always did want to lose some weight," I joked at some point, noticing how thin I had gotten. It distracted me from all the tangles I struggled to brush out of my hair. I hadn't brushed my own hair in four or five years. It was 'improper' of a 'proper lady of the court'. "This is also the first time I have picked my own clothes in quite a while. It is truly an interesting experience."

"Are you attempting to become an optimist?" Hezul teased. He leaned against my back, sharpening his sword. The weak winter sun streamed down through the branches of the tree we rested under, trying to give us as much warmth as it could. "I'm not sure it suits you."

"Well, it could be worse. We could be at the court."

"That is very true." He glanced over his shoulder at me, eyeing the tangles still in my hair. "Do you need me to do that?"

"No, I can manage." Though, my scalp stung from the number of times I yanked on it trying to get a tangle out. Part of me just wanted to cut it all off, but the only thing I liked about my appearance was my hair. It was a conflict, really. "You know; I had thought we would stand out more, but we don't. Everyone's clothes seem ragged and loose, and no one seems to have much of anything." I thought of a little girl we passed by, who had taken to sucking paint chips in a desperate effort to eat. The worst part was that we had nothing to spare to help her. "They're all starving. They're all dying."

"Galle is proving to be an even worse ruler than his father." He finished sharpening his sword and set it to the side before packing up his whetstone and whatever else he used to tend to it. "Isn't it hilarious?"

"I am certain someone is laughing. Perhaps Loptyr?"

"Loptyr laughs only at death and torture. Bad ruling wouldn't even register."

"I suppose that is true." I shivered as the wind blew a fresh bit of cold air, and my feet throbbed in memory of running through the snow. They were still injured, but thankfully, I had avoided frostbite, somehow. "We are near some woods, yes? Perhaps we should take to camping early for the day and-"

Hezul suddenly tensed and leapt to his feet, blade in hand. I immediately began packing up our things, but he shook his head. "You need to run, Gwyneth."

"They are on us, then?" I threw things together randomly and stood, clutching the packs. "Then we should-

"It's not that many, I think. You go ahead, and I'll catch up."

"That's…" I hesitated. I didn't want to leave him. But in a place as open as this, I would only be a liability. I didn't know how to fight. Galle forbade it. "Can we not outrun them?"

"I don't think so. Not at this point."

"I see." I hated this. But I knew I had to. "I will be waiting for you up ahead, then, Hezul. Please, don't be long."

Then I ran, not looking back even once, carrying both his bag and mine. I jumped into the woods at the first opportunity, stepping off the path to make me harder to track. My lungs burned from the exertion, and my eyes pricked with tears at every rock I stepped on and every root I stumbled over. My feet were bloodied and bruised, again, before long, but I didn't stop running. I didn't stop running until I found a large tree with a very large hollow, just big enough for one person to defend, or for two people to rest. Coughing and gasping, I tucked myself inside, and struggled to not pass out as it all caught up with me. I also tried to not wince as I looked over my surroundings. It was dank and molded inside, with fungi crawling all the way up to the top, making me feel like this was actually a dead tree. I could almost laugh at the image of hiding for my life in the corpse of a tree, if I had the breath for it.

Around the time I finally got my breathing under control, I heard footsteps approach. Struggling to not panic, I hunted quickly for the dagger and unsheathed it. I couldn't help but shake, though, as I remembered the last time I had held a weapon. Galle had made me kill Andrea, my favorite maid, because she had 'defied' him by not letting him in my room while I was changing. I still remembered the blood, and I still remembered how she screamed and cried from the pain. I remember how I whispered apologies, and how she had used her last breath to apologize for not protecting me better.

Compared to that, I could probably kill anyone. No matter how much I shook, I could manage it. But, thankfully, I didn't have see if I was correct. The footsteps were simply Hezul's as he dragged his feet and carefully looked around. Blood streamed down the left side of her face, and seeped out of the joints of his armor. The armor on his left side was cracked, and he pressed a hand where there was an outright hole in the armor. His other hand, of course, held his bloody sword. Whenever he drew weapon, he never lost it and never dropped it. It saved his life far too many times for him to do otherwise.

"Hezul!" I called, waving to catch his attention. He looked up at me and smiled in relief. "Come over here!" I held my hand out and helped him inside. I winced at the amount of blood dripping off him. "Oh, goodness… were there priests?"

"Yes, and sadly, one got a spell off before I could kill them," Hezul replied. Despite the blood, his voice was even. I knew it was because the gladiator games Galle forced him into had made him hold onto his calm through just about anything. "I hate Hel. I truly, truly, hate that spell."

"Well, that is neither here nor there. We should get your armor off." I hesitated over the buckles to his armor before fumbling over them. Whenever Hezul couldn't do this in the past, Galle had done it. He would always fuss over the injuries Hezul got. "Ah, I don't think I am doing this correctly…"

"You don't have to-"

"We need to get you bandaged, Hezul. Even you will die of blood loss eventually, and Hel was a spell designed for torture."

"I don't need to be reminded of how that spell is used."

"No, but I do think you need to remember that you are only human." I frowned at the buckles, giving up. "Though, I don't have an idea how you get this off. Will you tell me?"

"I can just-" Footsteps again made both of us freeze. Hezul straightened and brought up his sword and I took the dagger again. There wasn't a lot of room for maneuvering in here, though, so I pushed myself behind him to try and give him a little more space. My heart pounded as the footsteps got closer and closer, and I struggled to not shake.

"Hey, you alive in there?"

Hezul almost lashed out, but I stopped him with a hand on his arm because I noticed the voice was… honestly, it was far too cheerful to be anyone we knew. A quick look proved it as well, since the speaker was a young woman around my age with long brown hair held back by a headband and brown eyes. Her attire stood out, not because of the colors, but because I had never seen a woman wear so short of a skirt before. She was a little cross-eyed at the moment, though, likely because I had barely stopped Hezul from skewering her straight through the face, so the point of the sword was a hairsbreadth away from the tip of her nose. Still, she had a warm smile, the warmest I had ever seen. It was almost enough to blind me.

"Oh, I guess you are," she commented lightly, laughing awkwardly. She held her hands up to show she meant no harm. Hezul and I glanced at each other, not sure how to react. She was not what either of us were expecting. "Hello, there! How are you? Besides bloody and probably in a lot of pain, I mean."

"Noba, what the ever-loving hell?" Another person walked up then, a young man about Hezul's age with blue hair and matching eyes. Some part of me was amused that all four of us had eyes that matched our hair, and another part was amused that the man had twigs stuck in his short hair. "Seriously, who goes up to a person who massacred a bunch of knights and surprises them?" he demanded, facepalming. He then ran a hand through his hair to dislodge the twigs. "I can't believe you!"

"Well, I didn't think he'd have the strength to keep on fighting, Baldur!" Still, the woman continued to smile. "But hello, as I said! My name is Noba, and this is Baldur. Want some help?"

"I am understanding so much why Dain has a near constant 'I am done with everything' air to him." The man sighed, and looked over at us. All exasperation faded when he saw the blood, replaced by genuine concern. "Still, that's bad. Those injuries, I mean. Come on. Our house isn't far."

"And we have lots of bandages and medicine!" This woman was almost unnaturally cheerful considering Hezul almost killed her. Yet, there was something so sincere about her as well. "Do you need help walking?"

Hezul and I glanced at each other, and he nodded at me, silently saying 'you decide'. I hesitated, scared, but based on those injuries, I knew Hezul needed help. So, I turned back to Noba and tried to smile. It felt hesitant and unsure, but it was probably the realest smile I had smiled in a very long while. "No, I can help him walk," I whispered. "But, thank you for your assistance."

It was a good thing Noba and Baldur had seen Hezul massacring knights and their instinctive response wasn't 'run away screaming', but rather 'see if the wounded man needs help'. While I was bandaging Hezul, he actually passed out, thanks to how Hel always brought its target to death's door. Baldur had cursed a thousand times while helping me, but with his help, we finally got Hezul stable and in a bed for the first time since we had run.

"Thank you kindly," I whispered much later, after Baldur left to get more food and Noba had helped me change into properly cleaned clothes. I held perfectly still as she tended to my feet in her lap, picking debris out of the wounds. They stung, but I knew better than to react and thus, kept perfectly still. "Truly, it would have been much harder tending to him without your assistance."

"You're so formal," Noba teased. She smiled; she always smiled. I had never known someone who could hold onto such cheer in my life. "But, it's really not much trouble."

"I would argue otherwise, considering the amount of bandages and medicine we used." I didn't bring up how dangerous it was to harbor people who slew knights of the realm. It was an instant death sentence, and I had no doubts that she knew that. "We are also relying on you for food…"

"Baldur likes grocery shopping. He likes shopping in general, actually." Noba began humming a song I didn't recognize, and I took the time to look around the small wooden house. It felt a bit cramped, compared to the castle, but it was warm. It was warm in a way no fire or blanket could compare, a warmth akin to childhood picnics and bright laughter. I had no idea if it was a 'normal' house or not, but I did notice there were not a lot of personal things on display. The most 'personal' thing would be the medical kit on the table where Noba and I sat, right in the middle of the 'living room', close to the kitchen. "Hmm… though, we are going to have to think of sleeping arrangements. Hezul… it was Hezul, right? The guy?"

"Yes, and my name is Gwyneth." I had been hesitant in revealing our names, but I knew not a lot of people knew us by name, or by face. Galle kept me locked up in the castle, and whenever Hezul had left, he had worn a face-concealing helmet as dark as his armor. "I am sorry."

"For… your name?" She gave me a confused look before she realized what I meant. "Oh, for Hezul using one of the few beds. It's fine. It's not like we can leave the wounded man to heal on the floor." She went back to humming, and I bit my tongue to keep from revealing that it wouldn't have been the first time. "Let's see… Dain and Baldur already share, so I don't see why that wouldn't change. If you don't mind, you, me, and Vala can bundle up. Be nice and warm with the temperature dropping."

"That is fine." The concept was strange to me. Growing up, I had always been told that I was to never share my bed with anyone, save my future husband, even to take a simple nap. "I am-"

"Ah! No more apologies! It'll be fun!" A knock on the door thankfully drew her attention, so I didn't have to think of a reply. "Dain, that you?"

"It is." The front door opened to reveal a man about Hezul's age, with green hair as long as Noba's and brown eyes that were the same shade as hers. He held himself much differently than her, a stillness to her cheer, but his smile was kind as he nodded at me. "You must be Gwyneth," he murmured, closing the door behind him. "My name is Dain. I'm Noba's older brother."

"Oh, so Baldur caught you on the way out?" Noba asked, grinning. Though her hands were bloody from tending to my feet, she held her arms out for a hug, and he gave it without a single hesitation. "I thought you'd still be out doing odd jobs."

"I had just finished when Baldur found me." He ruffled her hair and headed into the kitchen, pulling out various pots and food with ease. "So, cook for two more?"

"Just one, for now. The other one is unconscious."

"I'll set up something that'll keep for him." Dain glanced at me then, eyes narrowed suddenly. I had to fight to keep from stiffening, but soon, he smiled kindly again. "Gwyneth, you look as if you haven't had a good meal in a while."

"Well, Hezul and I have been on our own for a bit," I replied, not quite sure how to respond. I couldn't tell him that we had run away from Galle. That was far too dangerous. "I am afraid that neither of us knows how to cook."

"So, probably something light for both of you," Dain commented. He nodded and continued moving about the kitchen, still with that same stillness. It was as unnatural as Noba's cheer, but at the same time, it fell about him like a warm cloak. "Soup for you, at least. We'll see what Baldur snags. He's good at bartering."

"That's because Baldur will flirt," Noba laughed. She finished picking debris out of my feet and began bandaging them up. "He's charming like that."

"I know why he's good at it. I saw no reason to explain further."

"You know; if you flirted a bit, you'd probably get discounts too. There's been a lot of girls admiring your brooding look."

"If I go out on dates, then who will cook for our little family?"

"Hey, I'm almost as good as you!" She tied off the bandages and helped me stand up. "So, how do those feel? Are they too tight?"

"I am fine," I whispered, looking down in embarrassment. I had no idea how to react. I had never seen siblings like this. Most that I knew either used each other or stabbed each other in the back. It was the only way to survive in the court, if you were not a favorite of Galle. "Thank you kindly."

"So, formal!" she teased again. She laughed, bright and warm, and skipped over to the kitchen and nudged her brother out of the way. "Here! I'll take care of this! You figure out-"

"Dain, Noba, Baldur says we have guests, so I brought extra medicinal herbs!" A new person walked in then, a young woman dressed in a simple dress. I froze, however, when I saw her. I knew her red hair and matching eyes. I knew her face. I had thought her dead, and she was dressed in far simpler clothing than I associated with her, but I definitely knew her. "So, who are they?" the woman asked, not noticing me for a moment. Then she did, and her own eyes widened. She recognized me too. This could be very... uncomfortable. "Hi… there…?"

"Vala, I know she's pretty, but be polite!" Noba laughed. She and Dain weren't paying attention to us, busy in the kitchen as they were. "Though, if you have medicinal herbs, can you set them up near Hezul? Gwyneth can show you."

"Yeah, sure." The woman, 'Vala', narrowed her eyes, but nodded. "Lead on, then."

Relying on long years of practice to hold onto my calm, I quietly led 'Vala' into the backmost room of the house, where Hezul slept peacefully and perfectly still. I drew the blanket back briefly to make sure he hadn't bled through his bandages, and then tucked it around him. 'Vala' simply watched me closely, studying my every movement. Her eyes darted down to the bags stuffed under the bed, and to the armor and weapons piled neatly in the corner, before returning to me, watching and waiting.

Finally, though, I decided it was better to get things over with and turned to face her. "I am pleased to see you live, Fjalar," I whispered. I clasped my hands in front of me and looked down politely. "Ah, I am sorry. It is 'Vala' now, yes?"

"I go by Vala now, yes. It's easier to pronounced, for one thing," Vala replied neutrally. She studied me a moment longer, took the time to make sure the door was shut, before simply bluntly asking what was on her mind. "What the hell are Galle's precious pets doing here?"

"Well, obviously, we ran. We saw an opportunity to escape, and took it." I looked up at her, making sure to hold her gaze. "Though, if you are asking what we are doing in this house, Hezul was injured, and Noba and Baldur offered their assistance. Since he was hit by Hel…"

"Oh, fuck that spell." She rolled her eyes and shuddered. I knew why. Her brother had been broken by it. Casting Hel and then healing the victim to be targeted again was a classic way the Loptyr priests 'interrogated' potential traitors. "And of course they did. They're the ones who saw a girl burning priests alive and bundled her up to get to a safe place."

"Ah, so they are how you survived your family's massacre."

"Yeah." She studied me closely again, eyes narrowed still. "Honestly, I'm surprised. I wouldn't have thought either of you had enough spirit to even think of running."

"Well, I didn't, until I saw the chance." Though that wasn't entirely true, it was close enough.

"I'm also surprised he gave you that chance. Didn't he make you wear bells in your hair so that he could always hear where you were?"

"He did, yes." I didn't need to be reminded of that. "But, with the wedding near, I suppose he thought I wouldn't try."

"Maybe." She sighed heavily. "He's going to kill you."

"Ha… if only." I knew very well that if I were captured, I would be begging for death within a few seconds of returning. I also knew it would be even worse for Hezul, since Hezul had left with me. Hezul likely would be turned into a Deadlord after everything he suffered as well, just so that he could never leave Galle again. "That is all, though. That is why we are here. Are you going to reveal our identities?"

"No. No, I'm not." She finally softened to smile at me. "I, of all people, know what that court is like. You die, you become brainwashed, or you miraculously find a way to run. And I, of course, can't condemn people for running. I did, when I found my own way out." She hesitated before coming over and patting my shoulder. The awkward show of affection was… very strange. "Anyway, sorry for being suspicious. You were not who I was expecting for a guest."

"No, I imagine not." I tentatively smiled at her and, after a moment of surprise, she smiled back. "I am sorry for the trouble."

"Hey, at least you're not threatening to burn people to cinders. It took me a few months to get out of that default reaction." She headed to the door then, and stepped into the hall. She paused, though, and looked back at me. "Hey, I'm going to say this out front, because it took me a year to learn it on my own." Her smile brightened and her eyes sparkled. "You're free, by the way. As free as anyone can be in this hellhole of a world we live in. And now I'm going to run before I turn red from embarrassment!"

She really did leave, running down the hall. I stared after her, not quite sure how to react to such an abrupt departure, before quietly closing the door and returning to Hezul. I sat on the bed beside him and, hesitantly, brushed the hair out of his face. I used to do it all the time when we were children, because his hair had a habit of falling into his eyes, but I had to stop when Galle…

"Strange for you to not wear gloves." Hezul opened his eyes and looked right at me. I smiled slightly, realizing he had likely been awake as soon as I had moved the blanket, if not when I had walked in. "Is everything all right?" he asked. He made to sit up, but I stopped him with a hand on his shoulder. "We should get…"

"I know we should," I whispered. I readjusted the blanket on him and shook my head. "But you are truly too wounded, Hezul. I know you can make it, but…" I smoothed out the blanket, not quite sure what to do. "But you don't have to, and I would rather you try to heal." Noticing he looked skeptical, I nodded to my feet. "I also need to recover. My feet can't take much more."

"Of course." He smiled bitterly. "We should have bought you shoes."

"Shoes that could hold up to our flight were too expensive." Shoes also required one to linger for fittings, especially with conditions as they were. "So, we shall stay here for a short while. When you aren't bleeding so much, we will continue on to figure out…" I hesitated and got off the bed to crouch down and snagged my bag. With shaking hands, I searched through until I reached the bottom, and then pulled out a dark purple and red tome. A shadowy dragon, the sigil of Loptyr, flickered on the front, and even now, I half-felt like it would reach out to devour me alive.

I hadn't left just because there had been an opening. I had left because Galle had, for reasons unknown, left the Loptyr Tome, the shadows of domination, the weapon that allowed the empire to maintain its strangle hold on everything… he had left it behind when he went to deal with whatever problem had come up. I had been left alone with it, with barely any supervision, and I had stolen it. I had hidden it in my bag, and stolen it, taking away Galle's greatest weapon. Some part of me hoped that if I found some way to destroy it, Galle would go back to normal. But, even as my heart ached at the thought, I knew that even if that was possible, I had suffered too much to truly love him anymore. I had seen too much, been subjected to too much, to ever forgive him. As Hezul said, we gave up long ago at 'getting him back'.

"We need to make sure this never gets back into their hands," I whispered, tucking it back into my bag and sliding it under the bed. "So, perhaps we should find some place with a huge hole to drop it down?"

"We could just throw it into the water," Hezul pointed out. Tentatively, he took my hand, and I smiled at the gesture. "Go to the ocean and just throw it in. It's paper, after all."

"That is very true. Perhaps we should do that." I sat back down on the bed, and my smile grew. "Though, perhaps we should first figure out where exactly we are. I certainly have no idea."

"Neither do I. I just focused on getting us away from Belhalla." Hezul smiled back before he looked towards the door. "Is someone cooking?"

"Dain and Noba. Dain is Noba's brother. You can meet him later." I stood up again and reluctantly pulled my hand from his. "I shall let them know you are awake. Do you think you can eat?"

"Yeah, I think so." He pushed himself up with a gasp of pain and a grimace, but none of his injuries reopened from what I could see. "…I don't think I can get out of bed, though."

"I would stop you if you tried." I headed for the door, and smiled at him over my shoulder. "Just rest, Hezul. We can finally rest."

It was a very strange concept, to be able to 'rest' safely. But it seemed our mad flight had led us to it. I could only hope that it would not lead these nice people to their deaths. That tended to be the fate of those who crossed Galle, and Loptyr, after all. But for now, we had our rest. I would be content with that.

Our Group:

· Gwyneth

o 19 years old

o Betrothed to Galle the Seventeenth at a young age, and childhood friend of both Galle and Hezul

o Known as the 'Quiet Princess' to the populace due to her never appearing in public. This is because Galle locks her inside the castle, to prevent other people from 'admiring her beauty'.

o A proper lady, through and through, with a quiet strength even she isn't quite aware of.

· Hezul

o 21 years old

o Best friend and bodyguard of Galle the Seventeeth, and a childhood friend of both Galle and Gwyneth

o Known as the 'Black Knight' due to his dark armor and is feared by the populace for his ruthless fighting. Galle likes to have him compete in gladiator games and the like to show off how strong 'his' knight is

o Quiet and stoic, except to those who know him well, due to too many harsh battles.

· Noba

o 18 years old

o Dain's younger sister, and a childhood friend of Baldur

o Knows some lance work to protect herself, and she teaches other women in the village in the hopes that they can defend themselves when knights try to rape them.

o Cheerful and bright, always willing to lend a helpful hand

· Baldur

o 20 years old

o Childhood friend of Dain and Noba, an orphan who lost his entire city to Imperial troops

o Knows some swordsmanship, but is entirely self-taught. He teaches some of the locals, mostly the children to give them something to look forward to

o More pragmatic than Noba, but also not one to turn away from someone who needs help

· Dain

o 22 years old

o Older brother of Noba, and a childhood friend of Baldur

o Though he knows lancework like his sister, he mostly does odd jobs for the village, such as carpentry. He's the best cook of the group.

o Quiet and calm, as if he is always ready to adapt to the situation

· Fjalar; Vala

o 17 years old

o Once the youngest daughter of a prominent noble family, the entire family was put to the sword two years ago, under accusations of rebellion. Somehow, though, she survived, and was taken in by Baldur and Noba.

o A very skilled magic user, specializing in fire magic. She learns herbal remedies from the locals in order to help repay everyone for taking her in.

o Kind and understanding, willing to give second chances. Never third chances, though.

Author's Note: Welcome to Memoirs of the Crusaders, a story of the first Holy War. It takes place a little over 100 years prior to the start of Memoirs of the Holy War, though I will go ahead and state that I will be playing a bit loose with the official timeline, mostly by shortening the time between the 'Miracle of Darna' and the fall of the empire (which is a total of 16 years according to the timeline). This is mostly for my own sanity. I wanted to write of the Crusaders before the Miracle, but didn't want to cover sixteen years worth of war. That said, all the years and events mentioned in the introduction are from the official timeline, with the biggest difference being that the Miracle of Darna did not occur in the year 632 (it'll occur later in this story). For context, by the way, FE4 starts in the year 757.

Since FE4/FE5 are in this strange middle ground with some localizations and some not, I'm going to try and stick to the names as I first introduce them, but I apologize in advance for any accidental changes in names. I do a lot of research for these things, and unfortunately, sometimes this leads to me using the 'newest' translation. All ages for the Crusaders are arbitrarily assigned, as are their personalities. There's not much on how they acted, after all.

Next chapter – Quiet Healing