Chapter Fifty-Four: ‘Fierce blade, be well...’

‘Just focus on the road,’ said Garovel. ‘It won’t do her any good if you crash the damn bike.’

Helmetless, clothes in blackened rags, blood all over him, Hector tried to take the reaper’s advice. He knew it was the intelligent thing to do. But he couldn’t tell anything about Lynn’s condition. Over the wind in his ears, he couldn’t even hear her. ‘Just... Garovel, please tell me...’

‘She’s still breathing. I can’t see the wound. It’s obscured with your metal. Don’t get rid of it, though.’

‘Where do I go?’ he asked. ‘Can we really just take her back to the bunker?’

‘For now, yes.’

The bunker was still almost an hour away, and right now, that seemed like an eternity.

‘I don’t understand,’ said Hector. ‘Why couldn’t she stop the lightning? I mean, she could stop those crystals and... weren’t they stronger?’

‘No,’ said Garovel. ‘It has to do with the nature of soul-strengthening techniques. Karkash’s soul power is clearly much more potent than Andres’. If I’d realized, I would’ve had you warn her.’

‘I still don’t follow...’

‘Soul-strengthening techniques only increase the physical attributes of something, so even though Karkash’s lightning is made more powerful, that still doesn’t prevent your metal from conducting it. Andres’ crystals, on the other hand, have no such interaction, so they can plow through your metal despite being objectively weaker.’

‘Gah...’

‘That’s what makes these fights so volatile,’ said Garovel. ‘When soul power is thrown into the mix, it’s difficult to predict how abilities will react to one another.’

He spent most of the ride back in a state of punishing anxiety. He tried not to relive the battle, to not dwell on what he might have been able to do differently, but it was impossible. And gradually, all of his confusion and worry evolved into anger. That familiar feeling, boiling in his chest. His physical enhancements wore off after a while. Garovel held back the pain, so only the exhaustion hit him, but he was still more pissed off than tired.

‘You need to call Gina as soon as we get back,’ said Garovel. ‘A lot has just changed, and we’ll need to act very quickly.’

When they arrived, they found the King waiting for them in the garage. The look on his face was of relief until he saw the state Lynnette was in. “Is she okay?”

Hector annihilated the metal around her and said, “Lynn, can you hear me?”

Her eye opened slightly, and she took a long breath. “Yeah...” She tried to get off the bike by herself but tensed up too much.

“It’s okay,” he said. “I’ve... got you.” With a little more help from Garovel, he lifted her off the motorcycle. He carried her into a back room and rested her on a bed there.

“What happened?” the King said.

“Ah--” And Hector abruptly realized who he was talking to. He’d been lucky enough to not actually have to speak to the Queen very much, but there was no avoiding it here. “We, uh... well... y-you... ergh...” And he must’ve looked more frustrated than he thought, because the King took a step back. “S-sorry. I’m not gonna... hurt you or... anything.”

William looked about as uncertain as Hector felt.

Garovel was busy inspecting the smote cloth and flesh on Lynnette’s arm, just above the bone gauntlet.

Her arm, Hector realized, blinking. Not her torso. That was good news, surely, but he waited for Garovel to speak. The King lingered closer, and Hector had to press him back to ensure the reaper had a good view. “Sorry. Just wait a minute, please.”

‘There’s no cut,’ said Garovel. ‘Her shadow provided some protection, it would seem, but she still took a nasty shock. Ask her some more questions. What hurts and so forth.’

“Lynn,” he started again, drawing her squinting gaze, “can you tell me what hurts?”

“I’m fine,” she said breathily. “It’s just my arm. And my ribs. Ugh, and my head...” She tried to sit up but quit right away. “On second thought, maybe I’ll just lie here for a while.”

‘Hmm,’ said Garovel. ‘Might be a bit early to say, but I think she’s alright. Ask her where her family is.’

Hector cocked an eyebrow. ‘W-why?’

‘Because we should find them and make sure they’re safe. Quickly, ask her.’

“Uh, Lynn. We need to find your family. Because--” And he blinked again, knowing where this was going. “Abolish probably knows who you are, so. We have to, um--”

“My parents live in Sescoria with my little sister.”

He looked at Garovel.

‘Maybe Gina can help us with that. Get the address and give her a call.’

He retrieved the address from Lynnette and got up to leave the room.

“Wait,” said William. “Please! Explain what is happening!”

‘There’s no time for that,’ said Garovel.

“I’m sorry, Your Majesty, but I--I have to go.”

“It’s okay,” said Lynnette. “Go. I’ll explain everything to him.”

And he left the two of them there. His cellphone was in the rear pocket on his motorcycle. He made the call.

said Gina.

He started changing clothes in the middle of the garage. “Gina, I need you to get Lynn’s family out of Sescoria. Can you do that?”

“They could be in danger. Please? I don’t think I’d be able to.”

“Right now.”

“Uh. I don’t know. It’s an emergency, though, so.”

“You’re really smart. I’m, uh--I’m sure you’ll figure something out.”

“I’m sorry, but I really can’t talk right now.”

He frowned at Garovel as he mounted the motorcycle again. “My mother will be in danger, too.”

“Sorry.”

“Right.” He gave her the address before hanging up and heading back out again, this time with a fresh pair of pants, riding jacket, and helmet. It would have been nice to catch up with Gina during the journey to Brighton, but he wouldn’t be able to hear her over the road noise. If he could’ve driven a car instead, that might be different, but it was a bit late to be fretting over such things. At least he would have plenty of time to talk to Garovel. ‘How certain are you that they’ll go after our families?’

‘I’m not certain at all,’ the reaper admitted. ‘We’re just taking precautions. Taking hostages is a common tactic for them to employ. Up to now, we didn’t really pose much threat to them, so they wouldn’t have wanted to expend very many resources trying to find and eliminate us. But now, considering we just took a metaphorical dump on their dinner table, I’d say all bets are off. No telling what they might do in order to get to us.’

‘Hmm.’

‘By the way, I have a confession to make.’

‘Confession?’

‘This past week, whenever you were sleeping, I went to Brighton by myself in order to keep tabs on your mother.’

His hands twitched, and he nearly swerved off the road. ‘What?!’

‘I knew we’d probably need to go get her if we survived the battle, so I went ahead and tracked her down.’

‘By yourself?!’

‘No offense, but finding her was a lot faster on my own.’

‘But! Agh!’

‘I thought about having you kidnap her before we attacked the castle, but if we’d ended up dying there, then she would’ve been kinda screwed. And besides, I wasn’t in a hurry for you to meet that awful woman again.’

‘That’s my mother you’re talking about.’

‘I know. I don’t like her.’

‘Garovel...’

‘Hey, I understand that she’s important to you. And even if she wasn’t, we wouldn’t just let her get taken hostage. But that doesn’t mean I have to like her. I still think she’s a terrible mother.’

‘Don’t... don’t talk about her like that.’

‘Why shouldn’t I?’

‘Because she’s my mom, you asshole!’

Garovel fell quiet a moment. ‘Fine.’

A while of silence passed until Hector said, ‘...So how is she?’

‘She’s not living in your old house anymore. She’s still in the process of moving out, but she’s staying in a hotel at the moment.’

He’d seen her on the news, though not recently. All the media attention he’d gotten had of course spilled over to her. Hector could only imagine what she’d had to endure over these past few weeks. Even if time would have somehow changed her opinion of him, he knew that not nearly enough of it had passed. There wasn’t a chance in hell that she wanted to see him again.

‘She changed her name, too. She’s Vanessa Cole, now.’

‘I guess that’s why the reporters have stopped hounding her so much...’ He hesitated with his next question. ‘Did she... lose her job?’

‘I think so. Though, I imagine she quit. Just being related to a criminal isn’t grounds for being fired. Or at least, I’d hope it isn’t.’

‘Maybe, but... I’m not just a “criminal” in the public’s eyes.’

‘True.’

He took a deep breath. ‘Garovel... what do I even say to her?’

‘I don’t think you should lie to her, if that’s what you’re asking.’

‘No, I mean... I just... ugh...’

‘There might be nothing you can say that will make her listen.’

‘I guess so...’

A beat passed, and the reaper said, ‘Well, we’ve still got a few hours. Let’s come up with something.’

-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-

Navigating the ruined hallway, looking for any kind of assistance, Luther began hearing muffled cries. And at first, he thought it was someone trapped beneath rubble, but when he followed the voice, he instead discovered his brother Nathaniel, encased in metal but safe.

The sight brought a smirk to Luther’s face. “Oh, Nathaniel. I see you met the Darksteel Soldier in person.”

Only Nathaniel’s eyes and nose were visible, everything else being covered. He could just barely move his head, though, so he gave a kind of twitching nod.

Luther supposed it only made sense. He hadn’t been certain who was responsible for all of this destruction, but there weren’t many people crazy enough to attack Belgrant Castle. And in broad daylight, no less.

Luther’s expression spoiled and darkened. Instead of attempting anything with his bare hands, he began searching the overturned chamber. The desk by the far wall was largely untouched, and he found a thin blade therein. An antique letter opener was all it was, but it would suffice. He returned to his brother with it in hand.

“A pity that I was the first to find you,” said Luther. And at Nathaniel’s confused look, he added, “A pity that you were also killed by the Darksteel Soldier.”

He jammed the blade through Nathaniel’s eye socket.