Six of Ruin (Heirs of Irenwell #1)
Chapter 46: Free Man of Gaddir

Despite my wishes they’d go away, Torvald’s skin remained full of black veins, even once we stepped on Orathian soil. His muscles seemed to turn bigger by the minute. The memories of the giant in front of Dahn came to mind.

Perhaps he would, too, turn into a large, inhumane beast.

The ride across the Frozen Sea took two whole days and once we finally reached the ground, we were freezing, starving and tired of each other’s company. The dragon bid us farewell once he dropped us in the forests of Orathia; the strange land with unfamiliar flora and fauna. Strange creatures crossed our path as we walked over natural, tree-free pathways. Small mice with ears too big and squirrel-like tales. Birds with wing-spread twice as large as their bodies. Blue and purple bugs with snake-like heads.

The trees were different, too. Misshaped, disproportional, and emitting a fruity, overly sweet, thick smell.

Aside from the animals, a strange emptiness loomed over the land. If it was just a forest, I’d say it was quite lively and vibrant, but the ruins along the way proved otherwise. Every now and then, we’d stumble upon an empty town left in a hurry. The doors still gaped open, tools were still scattered around; shovels, rakes, axes, and even an occasional ladder.

We gathered everything we could, just in case an axe proved more useful than a sword.

“It’s not as cold here.” I mumbled, careful not to step on a bug.

“Abazmakiel dropped us off in the southern part.” Rixen said. “The Kingdom of Orathia was situated on the southernmost peninsula. It’s way colder up north.”

“How long until we reach the ruined city?” Danilo asked, stepping slightly away from Torvald.

Torvald becoming... eloquent... messed up our dynamic. No one knew what to do with him, partly because we used to regard him as dim, and that’s not what he was.

He knew everything about everything. He said people weren’t careful around him, they talked about anything, because they were certain he couldn’t understand them.

“A day or so.” Rixen answered. “Uphill.”

I grunted my complaints, “Why couldn’t Abe drop us off there?”

“Too high.” Ace murmured, flipping the pages of Ars Magica. “Soterios would have seen him flying over. It’s better if he thinks we weren’t able to reach Orathia.”

Saying Ace turned into a madman would discredit his previous obvious insanity, but he certainly turned more restless and more demanding. Somehow, for some reason, he was certain he could save Torvald from the curse. It made him collect plants around Orathia, sacrifice tiny animals to gather their blood, and flip through pages of Ars Magica.

I approved his behaviour, because it at least meant he had a heart underneath the cold exterior, but it scared me nonetheless.

“Ace, don’t you think we should rest for a moment?” I glanced at the sky, gradually turning darker as the night fell. “We’ll be too exhausted to fight.”

The Star of Orath rose to the night sky, illuminating Orathian peninsula like silver sun. It made Orathia seem less threatening.

“No rest for the doomed, Princess.” Ace spotted a plant he liked and almost broke his ankle as he tried to climb a tree. “Floran, up you go! That pink thing, I want that.”

Nickeltinker grunted his protests, but listened and jumped up the tree.

“We haven’t eaten anything in days!” I complained. “I’m starving and my feet hurt. At least here we can hunt something.”

“I agree.” Danilo nodded. “Perhaps... uh, Torvald and I should hunt down our dinner. You can set up a fire.”

Torvald stepped forward, “The boar flesh in this area is regarded as a specialty in eastern Bastia. Danilo is right, we need rest.”

“I’m sorry, but this is so weird.” Nickeltinker hopped off the tree. “The fact you can talk, I mean.”

Torvald offered a small smile, “It is weirder not to be able to talk, my friend.”

A crow’s caw pierced our ears. Three birds burst through the dry branches and slammed straight into Ace’s face. The mage shouted and waved them all off.

“Mathilda, Gertrude, Thomas!” He yelled. “Off!”

The birds landed on the ground, each loudly cawing at the mage.

“One by one!” Ace raised his finger. “Like we practiced.”

One bird cawed.

“Mathilda, what is it?”

The bird cawed some more.

Ace’s eyes roamed all over as he listened to the bird, “News of the ruin of the town of Dahn reached the rest of the world. King Bernard is presenting us as villains.”

“What?” My mouth fell open. “How dare he?”

“He’s spinning his own narrative.” Rixen sighed. “What did he say?”

“That we turned rogue.” Ace met his eyes.

Mathilda cawed.

“That we’re conspiring with the cultists.” Ace pinched the bridge of his nose. “They call us Six of Ruin now.”

“Well, I can add enemy of the kingdom to my biography.” Nickeltinker murmured.

“You already were the enemy of the kingdom.” Danilo raised his eyebrow.

Another bird cawed.

“Thomas, speak.” Ace commanded, causing loud, obnoxious sounds coming from the bird. “Uh-huh. Of course. Very predictable.”

“We don’t speak birdish, come on.” I crossed my hands on my chest.

Ace lifted his gaze from the bird, “There’s a price on our heads.”

“Oh, Goddess.” A whisper fell off my lips.

“How much?” Nickeltinker pushed me aside and asked the bird. “Tell me, Thomas, how much for the floran?”

Thomas cawed.

“One hundred silver pieces.” Ace answered.

Nick raised his fist in the air, “Yes!”

“One hundred for the giant, two hundred for the shadowman, and one thousand silver pieces for the mage.” Ace’s face distorted into a frown. “What a crying shame, one thousand silver pieces. My head is worth at least ten thousand.”

“What about me?” I looked at the birds.

They all cawed at the same time.

“Shh, one by one!” Ace pinched the bridge of his nose. “King Rodrig protested the claims, he said there was no way Princess Irina knew anything about it. He spun his own narrative, you’re the victim and we stole you from your precious Kingdom.”

“Oh.” My eyebrows jumped up. “That’s better.”

“There is no price on your head.” Ace said. “As well as Danilo’s.”

The knight came closer, “What does that mean?”

Ace kept quiet for a moment, “I believe it means only you two can safely return home.”

At the same time, I felt both relief and regret. On the one hand, I was allowed to go back home, where there were no insane mages and large armies trying to kill me, where the only thing that bothered me was whether I had the right dress for the ball.

On the other hand, my companions wouldn’t be able to return. And somehow, with everything we’ve been through, we became more, we became friends. We faced our enemies together, we stood together against the forces of evil, and returning without them would feel like betraying them.

Rixen broke the silence, “I think it’s time to rest.”

Ace sighed, “And discuss our next step.”

The last bird, however, wasn’t done talking. It cawed loudly.

“Gertrude?” Ace looked at the angry, black crow.

Gertrude’s caws were way louder than Mathilda’s or Thomas’s.

Ace leaned against the tree, “King Bernard is building an army.”

“What? Why?” Danilo’s eyes slightly widened.

Perhaps he still didn’t want to believe King Bernard was the bad guy.

“He says it’s to protect his people from the cultists.” Ace said. “People support him.”

“But-” I stuttered, “Aren’t the cultists following us?”

“King Bernard knows the cultists won’t attack him.” Rixen clenched his fists, his gaze firmly set on the ground. “He’s gathering his army to fight someone else.”

“Gertrude, replace out where King Bernard is going.” Ace commanded the bird. “Mathilda, go check where Soterios is currently, let us know when he reaches Orathian shores. Thomas, stick around, there are a few more messages we’ll need to send.”

With a few begrudging caws, the three crows flew through the dry branches, up in the night sky. For a few moments, while the crows disappeared, we kept quiet.

“Torvald, let’s go hunt dinner.” Danilo sighed. “I can’t deal with this on an empty stomach.”

“I know exactly where we can replace good boar.” Torvald chirped while they walked away. “Very juicy and tasty. My father taught me how to catch boar, you know? I remember one time...”

“Now he’s never going to shut up, will he?” Ace dropped on the ground and sat cross-legged.

I joined him, replaceing a nice tree-trunk to sit on. Rixen sat strangely far away from me. I assumed it had something to do with the fact here was a price on his head and there wasn’t on mine. I could return, he couldn’t.

Nickeltinker snuggled against the warthog, who licked his face.

It might have been the longest we’ve gone without speaking a word. Ace spent his time flipping the pages of Ars Magica, cursing every now and then, and punching the tree with a fist three times. Nickeltinker dozed off, along with Frank.

“Ace,” Rixen mumbled, “About the curse that’s on Irina and me...”

My eyes shot up.

“You want it off.” Ace muttered, his gaze still glued to the book.

My heart missed a beat.

Why would he...?

“Yes.” Rixen answered. “It’s not useful anymore.”

“Hey, hey!” I protested, swallowing the sudden panic. “Why wouldn’t it be useful anymore? Soterios is still after us, the cultists might replace us... We- we don’t know what might happen! It’s still useful. Ace, tell him!”

“It’s not useful anymore.” Ace mumbled.

My eyes narrowed to slits.

“Irina.” Rixen finally looked at me. “We don’t need it anymore. You’ll be going back to Irenwell and we’ll stay here. Even if you were in some kind of danger, there’s nothing I could do about it. It would only be a distraction.”

It felt like he stabbed my heart with a dagger. Painful, yes, finite, yes, but I should have seen it coming. I understood him, in a way.

Our paths crossed on this strange journey, but our lives were elsewhere. He would go on to do whatever he wanted, and I’d return to my throne. The last thing I needed was a constant reminder of him in my mind.

And if he found someone else, I wouldn’t want to witness it. I wouldn’t want to be pulled in each time he felt something, when he inevitably fell in love, or moved on, or forgot about me.

“Alright.” I nodded. “Take it off.”

Sharp pain spread through my heart. For a moment, I was certain it was mine, but upon further evaluation, I realised I felt what Rixen felt.

He didn’t look at me while he stood up and disappeared in the forest.

Great, how much more complicated could this get?

“We could disappear.” Ace said suddenly, and I realised we were once again alone. Nickeltinker was soundly sleeping and the boys were still hunting.

“Where would we disappear to?” I leaned against the tree behind me, feeling it’s rough surface against my head.

“Abazmakiel could take us west to the unknown lands.” Ace shrugged. “We leave the fight behind, let Bastia and Irenwell fend for themselves.”

“Soterios wants to destroy the world, Ace.” I reminded him.

“He hardly wants to destroy the world, only perhaps Bastia and Irenwell. Gods, you people are so self-centred.” Ace chuckled.

“We are not!”

“You call yourself the Middle Continent.”

“So?”

“The world is round!”

I grinned, but the smile was short-lasting, “We can’t just let him do whatever he wants. It’s our responsibility to stop him, any way we can.”

“We’ve only agreed to lock Ir-kaal. No one mentioned anything about fighting an angry fire mage.”

My brows furrowed, “That is so like you. Always looking to use the situation to your advantage and bail the moment it doesn’t go your way.”

Ace’s wild, green eyes settled on me, “Well, I stayed alive for almost eight hundred years.”

“We cannot leave.” Torvald’s voice came from the cover of the trees, starling me.

He dropped the dead boar on the ground. He seemed even taller now; like he was gradually turning bigger and bulkier. The veins on his forearms looked darker and more protruding now. His skin was paler and greyer, but his eyes clearer, more alert.

He was coming into his own, but the very same thing was slowly killing him.

“Sure we can.” Ace grabbed a liquor flagon, an item I was now certain he conjured out of nothing. “We leave, return in a couple of years when things have settled down, and start a new life.”

Danilo sat next to me, “It doesn’t seem like a bad idea at the moment.”

Rixen stepped out of the forest, “At least you don’t have a price on your head. It seems King Bernard truly wants to keep you around.”

“Oh, boo-hoo, Rixen.” Ace rolled his eyes. “Your daddy doesn’t love you. I hope you’re alive long enough to realise that it doesn’t fucking matter.”

Danilo spoke before Rixen managed to lose his shit, “King Bernard only wants me around because he thinks he can control me. That’s why he prefers me over you anyway.”

I smiled despite the situation, “Look at us, we’re growing up, accepting our flaws, I’m even wearing boots!”

“Anyway,” Ace continued, “We have a ride to the west, if that’s the road you’d like to take.”

“We cannot leave.” Torvald cleaned the dead boar. “It is not what noble men do.”

“Fuck nobility.” Ace saluted.

“No.” Torvald’s dark eyes gazed up. “This world is unfair, and cruel, and full of malice. But it is our responsibility to do better, to be better. If we die as cowards, we will not have done anything for the world. But if we die trying to do better, we will remain forever etched into the mosaic of life, we will have done a service to mankind.”

No one said anything after that. Even if we had second-thoughts, they all disappeared. We’ve come too far, sacrificed too much to give up now.

Torvald was right, the Orathian boar was delicious.

It was also the last meal the six of us had together.