It was two days later when they received word that Tain had awoken. They had spent the days mainly training and listening to all the rumours. The rumours ranged from accurate such as a potential war coming up between Duhnovo and Killian to ridiculous ones like Hellion had fallen in love with Tain’s family and wanted them for himself.

The news had been delivered by Lysa who was one of the lucky ones and only received minor injuries. Her usual prim and proper appearance was disheveled, gone was her cheery personality replaced by bags under her red and swollen eyes.

“How are you doing?” Ilon asked with care. Lysa seemed like a genuinely good person and the world needed many more of those around.

“Not great. Many of my close comrades perished that day.” Lysa said as she took a deep breath, focusing on not crying in front of the boy in front of her.

“You have my condolences.” Ilon said as he gave Lysa a guard salute out of respect for all those that perished that day.

Tears started to fall from her eyes once again, her deep breaths doing nothing to calm her. “Thank you. I also apologize on behalf of our Captain for getting you three involved.” Lysa said as she returned the salute.

“Here.” Ilon said as he handed her a handkerchief.

“Sorry, it’s just someone special to me died during the battle.” Lysa said as she wiped off her tears.

“I’m here if you want to talk about it. We’re probably leaving right after we meet with Tain so it’s unlikely we’ll ever meet again.” Ilon suggested. Sometimes a person just needed to get everything off their chest and sharing with a stranger they’d never meet again was a good way.

After a moment of hesitation she agreed, “I … I think I need to talk about it.” Ilon invited her into his room as he didn’t feel comfortable with a crying lady in the hallway of an inn. “Jeraz died in front of me. I was so close to saving him. I loved him with all my heart.” Lysa said as she broke down crying. She continued talking about him and all the others that she had lost.

Ilon didn’t know how to respond. He felt guilty at the fact that he was the catalyst for the massacre to happen, that if they hadn’t bothered to come back there was a good chance Jeraz and the others wouldn’t have died that day. It was his fault that the girl in front of him was crying her heart out at the death of her lover and comrades.

Wait, didn’t Jeraz have a wife? Ilon shook off the thought. There were some people out there like Tain who were fine with polygamy, maybe Jeraz was one of them. Or maybe it was a one sided love, watching from afar while trying to suppress her overflowing feelings. Ilon felt his curiosity spiraling out of control, but he managed to reign it in and not ask an insensitive question.

“I’m sorry. If only we hadn’t decided to accept Tain’s offer.” Ilon said quietly. He had never really comforted someone outside of the Cursed before so he didn’t know what the best thing to say was.

“It’s not your fault. It would have happened no matter what. The Killian Empire has been pushing us more and more recently, but Tain managed to hold them off. The only reason Tain went through with it was that they ‘moved’ his family to somewhere for ‘safety’ sake.” Lysa said through her occasional sobs. After chatting with Lysa for a bit more Ilon discovered that Tain was originally from the Killian Empire, yet he had never mentioned why he was here in Mazual as a guard captain.

“I’ll take you to him then. Are your friends around?” Lysa said after she had finally calmed down.

“Yeah, they’re in their room.” Ilon said. Quyon had lifted the week-long ban on Maymun and the two of them had spent most of their time together. “I’ll go get them and then we can go.”

Ilon quickly got his things from his room and left with Lysa. He made his way over to Quyon and Maymun’s room and knocked on the door. “It’s me.” Ilon said. He heard some shuffling, but neither of them responded.

After a moment a key slid underneath the door and hit his boot.

“Again?” Ilon asked with a sigh as he picked it up. He unlocked their door and turned to Lysa. “Just a moment.” He opened the door and shut it behind him. He didn’t know how they would respond if another person came in and they were naked.

Ilon assumed that they would be in the bath again, however this time they were laying down, sweaty and panting. They were splayed out on the floor, a similar training sheet to Ilon’s in their hands. The only difference was that the weave on it was visible and less intricate.

“Training?” He offhandedly asked, relieved that they weren’t bathing again.

“Yeah. What’d you come for?” Maymun asked in an exhausted voice. They had been training for several hours straight and were just ending. The only thing they wanted to do right now was to relax and recover.

“Lysa’s here. She said that Tain has woken up and that she’ll take us to him if we want.” Ilon said. He expected them to be up and about at the news but they just laid there silently. “Uhh.” Ilon was lost for words. After everything they went through he expected them to want to grill Tain about everything.

“Sorry to ask this, Ilon, but can you go without us?” Quyon said as she struggled to lift herself up. Her hair stuck to her face as she struggled to get it out of her eyes. “Maymun and I are like this, besides, we talked it over and neither of us don’t want anything to do with him anymore.”

Ilon sort of understood considering that they were used. “Can I ask why?” Yet, he thought it in their nature to at least get some answers themselves.

“It brings up bad memories.” Quyon said as she looked to Maymun who was still laying on the ground. Seeing no response she continued. “A couple of years ago we met a guard who helped us out a lot. He was someone that we trusted and became friends with. And then he tried to drug and kidnap us. He failed of course, it was a drug with obvious signs for someone well versed. We got answers from him, and it turned out most of the guard were involved with human trafficking. It was horrible, seeing what conditions these girls were in. I’d rather fight a Horror any day than have to see someone experience that again.”

“I’ll take care of it.” Ilon said as she looked like she didn’t want to talk about it anymore. “Make sure to get some rest. I appreciate you telling me, I really do.” Ilon said with a small, but sad smile. He turned and left the room, locking it behind him and sliding the key back under the door.

“They’re not coming?” Lysa asked, seeing him slide the key back under.

Ilon shook his head, “No. Unfortunately they were doing some training and completely exhausted themselves. I’ll go alone.” Ilon said with a slight sadness seeping through into his voice. Perhaps it would be better this way anyways, a one on one conversation might allow him to get more information than if they all went together.

“I see. Looks like I came at a bad time.” Lysa said. She sort of felt embarrassed, she had only wanted to give them the news that Captain Tain was awake, but she ended up crying and complaining to a boy who had only just become an adult. The more she thought about it the more embarrassed she got, so she quickly led them out of the inn.

“I heard that the inn is going to be closing pretty soon.” Lysa said. One of her co-workers was friends with the owner of Bano’s Bathhouse and Bano had told them that the owners of this inn would be moving away.

“What, really?” Ilon was surprised to hear that. He hadn’t managed to see Cudlin’s or his family in the past couple of days, but it seemed that was because they were preparing to leave. He felt glad that they had made the decision to move, because it was likely that there would be turmoil in Mazual later.

Many of the businesses and residents of Mazual had decided to leave the town considering what had transpired, whether it was out of fear of the guards or because they knew what the massacre meant.

After walking for a while, they ended up in one of the medical wards for the guards. There was a sense of a calm, yet urgent flow in the ward. Medical professionals and nurses walking at quick paces from room to room, checking on patients. Most of the rooms that Ilon walked by were fully occupied allowing him to get an actual sense of just how many were injured in the fight against the Shamans.

They finally reached the room that was reserved for Tain and entered after knocking. The healers had managed to stabilize Tain to the point that there was no risk of permanent harm, excluding his eye, proving the benefits of having the best healers for several days straight. The room was barren with the exception of several potted flowers near the window and one chair near the bed.

Tain was laying in his bed, covered almost completely head to toe in bandages treated with ointment. Both of his arms and legs were in casts and the left side of his face was completely covered. The man with a strong presence and a confident personality was no longer there. All that remained was someone who looked broken, both in body and mind. His dominating presence was withdrawn and he barely bothered to give them a glance when they came in.

“I’ll take my leave.” Lysa said as tears started to form at the corner of her eyes once again. She quickly left and closed the door behind her.

“She can’t bear the sight of me.” Tain said with a weak voice, his usual loudness gone. He looked away from Ilon and towards the window, gazing at the outside.

“A sight it is.” Ilon said as he looked at the outside of the window. Outside was a garden area with a vast array of different coloured plants, giving the place a magical outlook. It was a place that gave off a relaxing aura, even if one was just looking at it from the outside.

“A pathetic sight is what it is.” Tain feebly said. His personality seemed like a stark contrast with the Tain that Ilon had met before. The man before him seemed so defeated even though he had accomplished what he set out to do.

Ilon nodded slightly. “Indeed.” He truly was acting pathetic.

“You really don’t hold back, do you?”

“Not to someone who caused hundreds to die and even more injured.” A bit of disdain slipped through. He hated what Tain had done, but he understood that it was caused by the politics of two large empires. Even then, it didn’t absolve him of responsibility.

“That’s true. A lot of them were innocent, you know.” Tain said with a choked up voice.

“The Mayor said that most were raised by Duhnovo though?” Ilon asked.

“He’s just trying to find excuses to justify it. Even if they were trained up by Duhnovo, it doesn’t change the fact that they hadn’t done anything.”

“But they would in the future.” Ilon said. He didn’t think Tain was so innocent to believe that when war broke out the Shamans wouldn’t do anything.

“I know. That’s why I came up with and followed through on the plan. I was driven by fear. What would Killian do with my family if I refused. What would the Shamans do in the future to the town that I love? So I made my decision, but that decision haunts my every thought.” Tain was nearly whispering at the end. His will seemingly fading the more he talked.

Ilon had no intention to comfort him. “As it should.” He had no intention to comfort him, but the town of Mazual still needed him. “By making that decision you put a massive weight on your shoulders.”

“The guilt is truly crushing.” Tain said as he closed his remaining eye.

“I’m not talking about that.” Ilon said stoically.

Tain paused for a moment. “What do you mean then?”

“You have the weight of thousands upon thousands on your shoulders. Those whose families were destroyed, those who are scared for the future, those who are just trying to live their lives normally. You now bear the burden of the entire town of Mazual.” Ilon said theatrically. As much as Ilon didn’t like the person before him, he still remembered how all of the guards seemed to respect him and that Tain seemed to know each and every guard personally.

Tain put a bit more strength in his voice. “I suppose I do.” Even though he talked with conviction, his voice quivered. “Yet, my men trusted me and I betrayed them. They are supposed to protect people, not kill the innocent.”

“Did they know what they were getting into?” Ilon asked.

“They knew that we were going to be fighting the Shamans, but they didn’t know what the consequences of their actions were.” By consequence, Ilon figured that Tain was talking about the war. “Their actions will lead to the deaths of hundreds of thousands. All of that is on me.”

Ilon had spent a large portion of the two days thinking over his actions and contemplating. Even though he was used as part of the plan to slaughter the Shamans and potentially start a war, he had come to the conclusion that even if he wasn’t there it was still going to happen. Maybe not on that day, but in the future there would have been a conflict between the two of them, and maybe Tain wouldn’t have won.

“The Killian Empire and the Duhnovo Empire would find a way to start a war anyways. I’m not well versed in politics, but I can at least see that much. Right now, you have an opportunity.” Ilon said as he raised a finger.

“What do you mean?”

Ilon smiled. “You are the spark that lit the flames of war, that means you get to control how big the flames get.” He was honestly winging it because he had no clue if his words were true or not, he only wanted to see if he could light a fire within Tain.

“What are you talking about?” Tain was confused at this point. He was just the guard captain of a medium sized town, he wouldn’t be able to do anything to control how the war went.

“You get to choose where you land. A dry forest that will spread the flames far and wide or something that’s much harder to catch fire.” At this point Ilon was praying that Tain would receive some sort of inspiration instead of questioning him further.

Tain took a moment to think about it before asking, “Can you explain a bit more?” Ilon was internally screaming in regret for trying to act inspirational. He was trying to find a way out of answering Tain’s question before something clicked in his head.

“If you had a legitimate reason to eliminate all the Shamans, you’d be able to prevent the start of the war for at least a little bit, right?” Ilon desperately asked.

“I believe so.” Tain said, a little bit of hope creeping up in him.

“Then I need to ask you a very important question.” Ilon said, using the opportunity to get some information.

“What is it?”

“Did you see what it was that Bi’wan consumed before he faded away?” Ilon tensely asked. Tain took his time to answer the question, closing his remaining eye and focusing on remembering the battle.

Tain’s eye widened in realization. “I remember that I caught a glimpse of it. It was a small violet sphere. I don’t know what it was, but it made Bi’wan’s power increase exponentially.” He had no clue how this would help him delay the war though.

“And the Head Shaman used the highly illegal Horror’s blood, correct?” Ilon asked with a bit of anticipation.

“He did.” Tain answered.

“Me and my friends are pretty well versed in Horrors. Whatever Bi’wan consumed turned him into an artificial Horror.” Ilon said.

“An artificial Horror? Is that even possible?”

Ilon fell quiet, responding quieter than usual. “I didn’t think it was either, but Bi’wan faded into a violet mist didn’t he? All Horrors fade into violet mist when they are killed.” It wasn’t the strongest of evidence, but because Hellion had the Horror’s blood, it was possible to make a case. “Hellion had the Horror’s blood as well. There was also a silhouette with unheard of violet eyes.”

“You think they were working together?” Tain said in realization. “Since both the Head and Vice-head were working together with this outsider, the guards and Mayor decided to look into it and eliminated the Shamans who were working with this outsider.”

“Exactly. I don’t know if that’s enough to stop or delay the war, but that’s your job to figure out, not mine.” Ilon said with a smile. Tain seemed to be thinking up a storm, some of his confidence and presence returning.

It seemed to Ilon that he had managed to reignite the fire to protect that was inside of this Guard Captain, the thought bringing a small smile to his face.

I still don’t like him.