“I see…”

Noah secretly rubbed his sore palms while trying to organize his thoughts. Despite the flying speed the oars had given them, they had still arrived too late. The situation turned out to be worse than he had dared to imagine. His eyes trailed over to the cot where Jessup lay limp. They then moved on to grasp the tired, pale face of Gregor and the death-glares Saya and William were exchanging.

The sight left an unpleasant taste in his mouth. There were dark feelings brewing in his chest – anger, fear, remorse. The current situation was entirely his fault. If he had acted firmer; if he had forced Lorelei back to the castle; if he had left more guards… probably none of this would have happened.

Noah clenched his jaw and his aching hands balled into fists. Enough! There was no time for regrets. He had to act and pray for the best.

“Jess, can you move?” Noah’s tone was stern.

“Yes, master!” The boy perked up, his eyes gleaming. “Just say the word and I’m ready to ride out.”

“In that case, you will immediately return to Ildemar with your brother and Saya.”

“But…”

One look from Noah was enough to stem his protest.

“As you wish, master!” the boy muttered dejectedly.

“Good.” Noah then turned to his steward. “Will, I want you to prepare five groups of our best Shadows and knights. No matter where the real hideout is, we can’t let these monsters run wild. The moment the troops are ready, send four units to the locations detected by Gregor. Let’s hope that the scouts can hold on until then. One group will remain on standby and await my orders. Gregor and the twins will stay here for now and help me track Lorelei. We will join the fifth squad the moment her location is verified.”

“I believe Gregor mentioned something about only him and lady Shana being able to purify a dral.” William, who was sitting nearby, tilted his head. “Even our dear shaman can’t be at four places at once and dispatching lady Shana is also out of the question. Still, without these two, I’ll be sending men to the slaughter.”

Noah’s face darkened but before he could continue one of the binshi twins interjected.

“While it is true that only the turgan and lady Shana can deal with the drals, their powers can’t even be compared. The mere presence of a Star-gazer is enough to subdue dark souls. A couple of lady Shana’s doppelganger-talismans per dral should be enough to render it harmless if not killing it.”

“What are you implying?” The creases on the duke’s forehead deepened.

“Rasha is suggesting to use blood-talismans with lady Shana’s blood as the medium to create spirit substitutes for her. Like this, a sort of barrier can be made that would trap the creatures,” answered Gregor cautiously.

“Are you insane?! Out of the question!” Noah glared at his friend.

“This is exactly why I hoped to avoid it and never mentioned it.” The binshi knight withstood his piercing gaze.

“Why are you two acting like fools?” William clicked his tongue while rubbing his temple. “We are not talking about killing the child, right? It’s most likely only a few drops of blood. Otherwise, Rasha would never even mention it.”

“Not a word more, William!” Noah growled and there was a dangerous spark in his eyes.

“Gregor, tell him.” Unfazed by this animosity, the older de Mar crossed his arms in front of his chest.

“William is technically correct.” The binshi nodded with reluctance. “A few drops of blood on a piece of snow silk should be enough to make a talisman. With enough of them to weaken and entrap the creatures our troops would be relatively safe. But there is a catch. The talismans must be made willingly. Any attempts to force a Star-gazer to use their powers and there is a high chance the magic won’t work at best. At worst it could turn from a purification hex into a curse.”

“If a Star-gazer’s blood is all that’s needed to subdue these monsters, then we’ll just use this.”

With a solemn tone, Noah picked his sword and unsheathed it. A red shimmer ran along the blade when it caught the light of the lamps. All gazes were drawn to the carefully polished surface where wavy red patterns were clearly visible.

Noah’s grip around the hilt tightened. This blade carried the final magic of his best friend. From the depths of his memory, an image re-surfaced – a burning village and bodies lying everywhere; a trembling bloody hand, clenched around his own, driving the sword through a wound-covered body; a whisper carrying Yanosh’s dying breath: “At least… in death… I might be able to… protect you both. Forgive me…little brother.”

From seemingly far away Gregor’s words bore their way through the painful memory.

“Indeed. Red Dawn is an elder-quenched blade that has also been tempered in the blood of a Star-gazer. It can destroy normal spirits and wound a dral. But without the proper incantation, you can’t kill it. Besides, you forget an important thing. You too can’t be in four places at once.”

“And also,” added William while looking his lord straight in the eyes, “the best course of action would be to send our strongest warriors to rescue the duchess. This would mean both you and Gregor. If you just went blindly to one of the locations before properly tracking lady Lorelei, there is three in four chance that you are in the wrong spot. But even as we speak, the scouts are running out of time. Take a gamble and sacrifice their lives for nothing or spill a bit of blood? You know better than I do what the right course of action is.”

A deafening silence fell in the tent. For several painful minutes, Noah was viewing and re-thinking all options. Could he weigh the lives of his men against the wellbeing of his daughter? With a heavy heart, he finally nodded.

“Upon returning to Ildemar, talk to Shana, explain her the situation, and request her help.” Noah squinted his eyes while looking at William. “Let Saya do the talking. If Shana agrees, make sure that only the minimal number of talismans are made. If she doesn’t… there is nothing we can do. I any case, distribute enough regular amulets, talismans, potions, or whatever else is needed to the reinforcement parties. Make sure everyone is equipped with at least one blade that has been quenched in elder-potion before sending them out. Also, take Gregor’s halves of the mimishi. The Shadows should be able to use them to reverse-track our men.”

“As you command.” William agreed without further discussions and stood up, carefully collecting the four ominously glowing pouches. “Let’s make haste.”

Beside him, Saya nodded as well with a determined expression and went to help Jessup up and the three hurriedly left the tent.

With that task finished, Noah turned to Gregor.

“You, Rish, and Rasha will help me look for Lorelei. I don’t want to lose any more time. As soon as we know which of the four locations is the correct one, we will meet with the fifth unit from Ildemar and proceed with rescuing her.”

While talking, Noah pulled out his twin-drop. The little amulet continued to exude a bright, red glow as if it was shrouded by a scarlet mist. The second Gregor saw the small pendant, his eyes became huge.

“Dear Mother Above, would you look at that!” he exclaimed. “Your twin-drop is resonating! We are incredibly lucky! It is extremely rare for this to happen if not at least one of the partners is binshi.”

“So, I was correct to think that you’ll be able to find her with this.”

Noah motioned to put the pendant in his friend’s hand but the man suddenly backed away a bit. The happiness and relief from just a second ago also drained from his face.

“I can’t find the lady.” His blue eyes locked with Noah’s. “You are the one carrying the connection. Your soul is tied to hers, not mine. It wouldn’t work for me.”

“Then…?”

“You’ll have to find her. That’s the only way.”

“You are joking.” Noah drove a hand through his hair as his jaw clenched. “I’m not a binshi. I don’t possess powers like you.”

“I am aware.” Gregor started pacing back and forth. “Our only option would be to soul-merge so that I can guide you.”

“But, Gerash, that’s suicidal!” exclaimed Rasha.

Beside her Rish vigorously nodded in agreement.

“You know even better than us that soul-merging is only possible between binshi. And even then, it isn’t without risk.”

“You are both wrong.” The shaman procured from his bag the small satchel of glittery moon-stone ash and started to draw some shapes on the floor. “It is more dangerous and the success rate is low but it is still doable. That, and it is going to be rather painful.”

He snickered for a second and threw a glance at Noah.

“I bet you can handle a bit of pain, right?”

“Less talking and more hexing.”

Despite brushing off the remark, Noah could feel the distinct weight in the pit of his stomach. If it was any other shaman, he would have denied the soul-merge. He knew better than to take the spirit-magic of Norden lightly. Noah still remembered Yanosh lecturing his then young and oblivious self about the binshi ways as if it was yesterday.

Soul-merge and soul-projection – the two most difficult hexes that any normal binshi could only dream to perform. The later was a skill exclusively inherited by the Star-gazers from Star-path Valley, who were able to separate their soul from their body and materialize it somewhere else in the living world. This was a difficult task since, unlike the Spirit Plane, the world of the living rejected wandering souls without a vessel.

As for soul-merge, only experienced shamans ever attempted it. As the name implied, it meant that two souls had to temporary share the same vessel. This was an unnatural condition and the recipient’s body was put under tremendous stress, very often leading to severe injuries or death. There was always the chance of one or both people performing a soul-merge to get their souls permanently detached and send to the Spirit Plane. What is more, if the two souls remained merged for too long, they started to lose themselves to the point that their personalities could change.

Noah remembered that even Yanosh, with all his powers of a Star-gazer, would always be cautious when touching another living soul and had firmly refused to ever merge with him. The binshi were different than the limerians. Their souls were not so tightly bound to the mundane world, which made it possible for them to use soul-magic. But it also meant that a limenrian and a binshi trying to soul-merge was incredibly dangerous.

In the time Noah was sunken in thought, Gregor sprinkled the last bits of moon-stone powder and dusted his palms. On the floor of the tent now stood something that very much looked like a giant eye. Simply seeing it made an unnerving feeling creep down Noah’s spine.

Under Gregor’s guidance, both men sat facing each other in the center of the eye where the iris was. Rish and Rasha took their places in both corners to serve as anchors and protect their souls from dispersing or wandering of. Gregor stretched out his hands and beckoned to Noah. Both men placed their palms on top of each other. Between them lay the tiny twin-drop. For some reason, Noah thought that it looked like a miniature pupil completing the image of an eye.

“Are you ready?” The binshi’s features were strained as he asked.

“Let’s finish this quickly. What should I do?”

“When my spirit touches you, don’t fight it.” Gregor’s eyes slowly closed and his voice started to become more and more distant. “It will hurt, but you have to remain concentrated. Forget all doubts. Pour all your thoughts into the twin-drop and lady Lorelei. And no matter what happens, don’t let go of my hands.”

Noah nodded and, following the binshi’s example, closed his eyes. He thought he was prepared for what was to come. He was not.

The moment his eyelids dropped a bone-splitting pain ravaged his skull. Bending in two, Noah groaned and his nails dug into Gregor’s palms. It was pure agony! He had never experienced something like this! Not even the pain of his burning face six years ago could be compared to the excruciating sensation spreading throughout his body. He desperately wanted to let go, to break the connection.

His mind screamed.

Was he insane!? Why was he even doing this? For a woman he barely knew? For a shackle, clasped around his wings by his enemy? Why did he need to suffer for her? She was only a burden... right?

Noah’s fingers twitched. The temptation was so big. Just one move and the pain would be gone…

‘But that’s stupid! The infection could also spread throughout your body and kill you!’

Suddenly the image of a thin girl scolding a knight almost twice her size popped into his mind. Back then, she had been so recklessly honest that it had almost made him chuckle. Despite being visibly intimidated, she had kept going, taking care of his wounds. He could still not quite believe that she had dared talk back to him! The person who could end her life with a single blow!

The pain from the hex continued to ravage his body and soul. Noah wanted to scream, to cry, to curl into a corner. Was all this even worth it? Maybe she was already dead. This agony could be for nothing. If his body were to break now, if he died from the soul-merge, he wouldn’t be able to take revenge on the Red Hands. Maybe it was best to stop the magic? Re-group and forge a better plan than relying on a tiny piece of glass to find someone most likely long-gone?

‘What a horrid burn!’

Noah could see through the blinding pain splitting his skull a room bathed in moonlight and two frightened brown eyes staring into his face. His throat tightened. These were the girl’s first words to him after becoming his wife. Just like everyone else, she had seen only the monster in him… No! This was wrong. Unlike with others, there had been no disgust in her eyes. Yes, he had seen fear in them. Of course, there would be fear! She was given as a tribute to an unknown man. Yet, Noah could also remember something else – compassion hidden deep beneath the layers of anguish. For him! Her perceived tormentor!

The man felt tears running down his cheeks. What if she really was dead? Raped and mutilated by those demons like they had done with Orhana and the women in Star-path Valley. Maybe the Red Hands had won this time too. Because he dragged her into this. Because he was neglectful and overconfident. Because he had been enjoying these years of peace…

‘I am happy your appetite has returned, my lord.’

Another memory dug its way through the pain and despair. The ship was swaying under Noah’s feet. His wife, even thinner than he last remembered, was bringing him food. She had looked so frail and worn out after taking care of him for days. Yet, there had been genuine happiness in her voice seeing him awake again. Him! The terrible and scary Beast of the North!

Somehow Noah could feel a slight warmth spreading in his consciousness. It was calm and gentle, nothing like the scorching spasms from a moment ago. It fluttered like a bird’s wings, growing and waning like a tide, rhythmical like the beats of a heart.

‘From a friend for good luck and safe return, your highness.’

As if a thousand needles bore into Noah’s bones. Despite that, a flushed face beaming with gratitude and pride glowed like a beacon in his tormented mind. She had come to send him off. Running kilometers on foot to reach him.

Sweat started dripping from Noah’s forehead and mixed with the tears. His breathing became labored. But strangely enough, his soul felt at peace. His doubts were no more. What he was going through was not meaningless torture. It was all for her. His duchess. His friend. And she was alive! She had to be!

Noah’s fingers dug desperately into Gregor’s palms as a single word escaped his clenched teeth:

“Lorelei!”