As he caressed Kayla and inspected her for any wounds, Vonn slowly caught up.

“My friend, take Kayla to Cord and learn what you have to learn about Aigle. I will be going to Dunhilt, you will surely find me. If you can, contact others and send them my way.” Brand promised to do so and mounted. He felt comfortable again like he found a little piece of himself. The one thing that did not change. With confidence, he held her reigns. “Forwards.”

Soon they dashed onwards. The hooves ruffling like a rumbling storm on the mulled sand. United once more. Something felt off like she missed her old strength. “It will be okay,” he said. “You will be your old self again.” Brand had quickly covered a lot of ground when night came calling. He found an old camp, used by poachers and the like. There was a little heap of dry wood under two large stones leaning against each other. He had set camp here before in one of his many travels. He tied Kayla’s reigns to a birch, making sure she couldn’t run away.

As he peered into the fire, he heard a crack. This time, his sword was strapped behind his back. He quickly got up. “Aaargh!” a shadow knocked him prone. The fire went out as the sun touched the tips of the pine trees. Brand rolled back up and grabbed his sword. Fire burst out of the steel. He focused his senses, scanning the area around him whilst circling the camp. Kayla was almost statuelike. Not frozen in fears, but serene. Brand observed the shadows. The sun’s light disappeared completely, covering the land with a veil of blueish darkness.

The shadow passed again, Brand braced himself turning his sword towards the danger. Again it passed. He heard a caw. “You’re no shadow,” he growled. “You’re a crow.”

A trail of shadow smashed into the extinguished fire and a man rose from its ashes with golden eyes. His face was pale as the moon, it almost seemed stitched together. He opened his mouth and his jaw almost hit his chest. He let out a shriek that chilled Brand to his core. The man turned into a crow once more and flew at him. He swung, hitting the beast in its side. It skittered away in the shadows. That’s when Brand felt his arm. His shoulder seemed torn to shreds. Chunks of flesh it had removed with its sharp claws. He ignored his pain and readied himself.

Caw! The bird flew past him again, this time Brand dashed to the side. Under his eye, a small cut appeared.

“Face me, crow!” he roared. His sword now burning more fiercely than ever. Brand closed his eyes and focused. Caw! He heard it in front of him but felt a chill up his spine. He raised his sword and sliced as he turned around, catching the crow frontally. There was a burst of flames and he felt an enormous resistance like he’d hit a tree.

As the lights dimmed and his eyes adjusted he saw it. The man was on his hands and knees. Brand’s blade was halfway down its skull. His golden eyes still locked with his, though his sword was in the middle of it. But the strangest thing was its smile, haunting him ever since chilling him to his core. He turned his sword. The skull cracked and gave way, Brand released his sword promptly. He panted.

Caw.

Brand turned around and saw more golden eyes staring at him from the darkness. Another chill down his spine.

“Kayla!” he jumped onto his horse when he realised she was still tethered to the tree. He held the reigns in his hands and focused. A smouldering fire within his fist weakened the fabric. “Speed, love, we need great speed!” Kayla pranced and the reigns came loose. Brand clamped his strong arms around her neck as she stove off into the darkness. Golden eyes to his side, appearing and disappearing as they passed the trees. They came to an open area, lit by a full moon. The golden eyes halted in the shadows of the forest watching them as they ran off into the night. He felt their evil gaze piercing his back. Again he felt these shivers. “It’s okay now, Kayla, love. Thank you.”

As he said that, the horse slowed down. Kayla let out a shriek he never heard before, throwing him off her back. Brand ended on his stomach on the cold grass, the air forced out of his lungs. He stared up grass in his clenched fists. “Kayla!”

The horse broke in two like bread. She was filled with maggots and flies, pouring out of her. A black cloud puffed out of her. She fell to her side. Her eyes turned red staring at Brand. Her jaw fell off, her skin peeled back, revealing black bile. A swarm of flies flew out of her flesh. She decayed instantly, before long her corpse was a skeleton clean as chalk. “Kayla,” Brand groaned.

The golden, unblinking eyes approached from the darkness. Closing in for the kill.

Brand turned around, his sword burning between his hands. Slowly the fire spread to his hands, arms, shoulder. He was enveloped in flames. The grass around him started smouldering. He let out a roar that could be heard for miles as he charged the crows. None could resist his frantic attacks or the heat of his flame. The crows scattered, flying up to the moon. Brand threw his sword into the sky, where it exploded in a ball of fire. It rained fire that night. Not a single crow could resist, all burning with him on the field. His eyes grew heavy, his strength left his limbs, he felt dizzy. That’s when all became dark.

Brand woke up and instinctively grasped for his sword. “You’re alive!” A voice he recognised. He thought for a moment. It was Vonn. He opened his eyes, it was midday. The field around him was pitch black of sticky ash, it smelled horrible. That’s when he realised he was stark naked. “Slowly now,” Vonn said. He threw a cape on him. For the first time Brand realised he shivered. Vonn grabbed his arm and heaved him like a sack of flour over his strong shoulders. “I will take you to the stream nearby, the air is cleaner there.”

Brand saw the remains of a battlefield. “I should have died here,” he muttered. That’s when he thought of Kayla. There was not a single thing left, the fire had devoured it all.

Vonn didn’t ask a single question. He just carried him, careful of his steps he made his way to the edges. What they didn’t realise was the perfect circle the fire had made. Some trees were burned but partly to ash. The land was scarred as deep as Brand, and it would never forget.

His mind was as numb as his body.

Vonn carefully placed him on the grass. He went to the stream to fill his flask.

“Here, drink.”

“I don’t have spare clothes, but I have an idea,” Vonn said. He took off his leather armour, underneath which he wore a soft woollen tunic. He took it off as well as he did his thick pants, before putting his leather back on.

“Heave your legs. Good.”

He placed his hands underneath Brand’s neck.

“Up, up. Good. Arms up. The right one first. Good job. Left. Good.”

“Do you want to drink?”

“Sleep now. It will be okay."

"All will be okay."

"It’s okay."

"It’s all okay.”