One day later

Deep in thought, Shinsou’s body passed the trembling limbs of Underwood’s trees, and allowed his mind to wander to two places. The first was to the place he was in, once a hive of activity, a corridor between north and south through which many people passed, but since the calamity it seemed empty. The constant chatter of the birds was the glaring omission, and the Telgradian found the quiet un-nerving as he, Raine, the Gilded Quint and Philomel walked the winding trails. Underwood was never meant to be a little desolate forest that wavered on the edge of existence, like Lindqualme, but it suffered greatly from the ashen clouds from Lornius’s obliteration at the hands of a volcanic eruption.

Shinsou quenched his thirst in the rain with a water bottle, paying little attention to the film it left in his throat from the ashen dust along the rim, as he thought about the second matter, one that Philomel had mentioned before they had left.

Hayate.

The spellsword took shelter beneath the drooping boughs of millennia-old oaks for a moment as the pack stopped to eat, and a wave of guilt washed over him. His apprentice, the Akashiman who had joined his cause some months ago, had been left in a jail cell and the Brotherhood had done nothing to help him. Shinsou, previously oblivious to his actions at the Siege of Radasanth, now knew of Hayate’s actions on the day. His understudy had defied him, but, curiously, he was not displeased.

I didn’t want him or teach him to be a robot, The Telgradian reflected, I taught him to use his power appropriately. All I asked was that he never give up, and he didn’t. We’ll get you out soon, I promise.

Thoughts turned to the journey ahead. Over the hours the day dimmed behind the ashen clouds, until the desperate struggle of night doused the fire of the sun. It took them another two hours to crawl through the hollow, cold remains of Underwood forest, and when at last Philomel’s forest fortress drew close, Raine hung close to her charge. She noticed him occasionally clutching near his shoulder, as if irritated.

“Are you ok?” She asked, a mote of concern in her voice.

Shinsou nodded without reply. He could feel the bullet wound in his chest had closed, thanks to her stitchwork, but the gaping scar still burned and felt as if he was being incessantly branded. There was no point harping on about it now, though, when they were nearly at their destination.

It took only five more minutes for the gathered to reach the relative safety of the forest fortress. Torches dotted the mossy cobblestone walls like fireflies on a still autumn night. Haphazard layers of manned ramparts attested to the Gilded Lily’s growing numbers as stragglers continued to trickle in and join Philomel’s ranks. Some were female mercenaries who had survived the vicious skirmishing in Radasanth, or Lily girls called back from the city brothels. There were others who Shinsou did not know about. The muted murmur of their conversation rolled up the barren slopes.

For the first time, Shinsou felt the impact of the Brotherhood’s siege of Radasanth as eyes glared daggers at him from the grounds. So many had lost their lives, and here so many more had seen their friends fallen fighting and fleeing from the Telgradian’s reach, and many, many more had been struck down by the calamity in the process. He could see it in their stares; as long as the Brotherhood remained, they believed he would continue the cycle, until the world burned or his and Storm’s will was absolute.

There, amongst two hundred or so Gilded Lily survivors huddling against the torchlight, thankful for their lives, Shinsou Vaan Osiris stood and absorbed the hate. Raine could see it in his eyes; the regret, the hurt, but also a certain steel. Shinsou was a man who pushed back when up against the wall. She knew he wanted to make amends, truthfully, but his loyalty to Storm, Hayate and the Brotherhood was unwavering, unshakeable and invincible. The two worlds were incompatible; he could not repent until the Brotherhood had been forgiven.

She reached out, and touched his hand. He turned to look into more forgiving eyes.

“You’ll be okay. I won’t let anything happen to you here.”