Candlelight

Saga blinked, staring at Amos. To the side, Nell and Pell shared meaningful glances, but said nothing. When no one said anything, Saga raised an eyebrow. Despite everything that had happened, she couldn’t help but be struck by the melodrama.

“The red ring of death?” she asked. “I can’t tell if you’re being serious, Master Amos.”

He shook his head. “That’s not the official name for it, no,” he admitted, “but we call it that to drill its importance into our apprentices and journeymen. If you’re going to break the red seal on a letter addressed to the Headmaster, the consequences can be anything, including, yes, death.” He paused for a moment, letting his words sink in, before continuing. “That’s not to say you’ll definitely be killed for opening it, but this seal is only used for the direst of messages. The kind of messages that can cost lives if intercepted or delayed.”

“So,” Saga said, “I shouldn’t let anyone else open or read this, and I should proceed directly back to the city to deliver it?”

Amos held up a hand, palm down, and waggled it. “It depends. If I felt the information was crucial to our immediately survival, I could make my case for having opened it after the fact, but since we’re already so close to the city I see no reason to risk it.” He glanced over her shoulder, towards the Crossroads. “As for heading back immediately, it will likely take time for the Guard to prepare Dorrin’s body for transportation. You could run ahead of it, if you wish. With Haste, you could probably make it back to the City before nightfall, but somehow I doubt you have much Will left.”

She nodded. Already, the headache from before threatened to return, and she attempted to chase it away with a drink from her canteen. “I should probably wait for morning, if I’m being honest. Should we send another runner to deliver it?”

Amos shook his head. “That won’t be necessary. I doubt there’s anything in that letter that can’t wait a day, based on what you’ve told me, and your grandfather will likely want to speak to you immediately after reading it. You’re free to rest in our tent again.” His tone made it clear that it was more an order than an offer, but Saga wouldn’t have declined anyway.

She looked back towards the Crossroads, and she could just barely make out five figures approaching in the distance. The coppery hair of the leader gave Gem away. She was returning with the Guard. Saga felt her tension rising again, and turned back to Amos. “What do I do about Gem?”

“I’ll talk to her, don’t you worry. I believe what you’ve told us, and she’ll have to listen to me.”

“But—“

“I said I’ll talk to her, Miss Rose.” Amos’ voice was somehow both stern and comforting. “You’ve both been through a lot. She needs time to process what’s happened, and you need time to rest safely. I’ll keep her busy for the day. Hopefully, by the time night comes, she’ll have calmed down a bit.”

Saga nodded, then frowned. “So…what did happen? I didn’t notice anything unusual about his body, no injures, and he wasn’t sick that I knew of.”

Amos looked over at Master Dorrin’s body, an unreadable expression on his face. “I have my suspicions, but I’m not at the liberty to grant you that information, not yet. If I’m right, the Headmaster will explain it to you.”

She sighed, realizing that she wasn’t going to get anything else out of him. “Yes, Master.”

“Please, Miss Rose, if you must use an honorrific, use ‘sir’. It attracts less attention in our line of work.” He gave a warm smile that reminded her of her former Master, and tears threatened her eyes once more. Seeing this, he looked to the twins. “Please, escort Miss Rose back to the tent. Put out the lantern, make sure it’s quiet so she can sleep.” Saga heard the unspoken orders there. Stay with her, make sure she stays in the tent.

Nell came over and offered Saga a hand, which she accepted, and the three of them began to walk back to Cristin’s Crossroads. Nell, in contrast to the preceding moments, rambled on about how much of an honor it was to carry a letter with the red seal, and how she wished she could read it. Pell, for his part, quietly remained just behind and to the side of Saga, and she had no illusions as to the nature of his company. She was under guard, just without the manacles.

At one point, they passed Gem and the Guards. Saga stared at the ground and kept walking with Nell, while Pell stayed behind for a moment to whisper something to Gem that she couldn’t make out. She could feel the copper’s eyes on her, but she refused to look back. She couldn’t handle seeing those eyes looking at her that way again.

———

Back at the tent, the rest of the day was a blur for Saga. She couldn’t fall back to sleep right away, not after everything that had happened. The past three days had taken an emotional and physical toll, despite the rest she’d gotten the previous night, but every time she closed her eyes, she saw her Master’s dead eyes. Tears came to her more than once, her body shaking with silent sobs, but she refused to cry out again. She refused to let the pain win.

Nell and Pell each had come in separately to check on her, and even Copel made an appearance, though his attempts at trying to cheer her up only earned him a sullen glare for his troubles. All three of them brought her fresh water, and Nell brought food during her visit, but with the exception of Copel’s jokes, none of them said anything to her about what had happened with Master Dorrin or how Gem was doing. She didn’t blame them. She wasn’t sure she’d have completely trusted someone she’d found standing over someone’s body, either, especially if that body was a member of her family.

Sleep called to Saga, its sweet siren song tempting her to oblivion, and eventually she gave in.

She was awoken by a sound in the night, and she sat upright, hand reaching for a sword that, once again, wasn’t at her side. She looked around at the darkness surrounding her, but nothing moved, and all was quiet except for the faint sound of laughter and conversation outside the tent. “Dapper?”

A familiar series of taps came from the table next to her cot, a reassurance and a warning. Someone’s here, she thought, but he’s not worried about them . Did one of the group come in to go to sleep? Saga held up a hand and focused. The few hours she’d gotten had been enough to recover some of her Will, thankfully. A candlelight appeared on a fingertip, low and unobtrusive.

Gem’s face appeared inches from hers, and even in the dim light Saga could see how red they were. She shrunk away from the woman, gathering her legs against her chest. “Gem?” The other woman just watched her, and Saga find her eyes drifting down until she saw what she’d heard earlier: the rustling of paper.

Gem had broken the red ring and was holding the letter gently in her hands.

Saga’s eyes widened in alarm. “Gem, what are you doing?” she hissed, “Master Amos said—”

“I had to.” Gem’s tone was…odd. Somewhere between anger and grief, though Saga supposed that was understandable.

She hesitated, then softened her voice. “I know, but Master Amos said you’re risking death by opening it. What were you thinking?”

Gem hesitated, lowered her head, then sighed, her shoulders slumped. “I had to know. You don’t understand, Saga. I hated you, but also…” She looked back up at Saga, her eyes glistening. “I don’t know. When we met, you seemed interesting. A fun person to be around.” Her eyes searched Saga’s, then looked away again. “I know we barely know each other, but you made a strong impression. I couldn’t reconcile the hatred and…those feelings.”

Saga blinked. Did Gem have feelings for her? Did she have them for Gem? She shoved the questions aside mentally. “So, you read the letter to see if I was telling the truth, to see if I really killed him or not.”

Gem nodded, then shook her head. “I knew you didn’t kill him, not on purpose, I just…I thought you had gotten him killed somehow.”

Saga remained silent, for a time, letting the moment hang. When she finally spoke, her voice was barely above a whisper. “For all I know, I did.”

“No,” Gem said, shaking her head. “The letter said—”

“Don’t tell me,” Saga said firmly. “I want to be honestly able to say I don’t know what’s in there.”

Gem hesitated, then tried again. “It told me enough, Saga. What killed him…there was nothing anyone could have done to stop it.” She was still visibly holding back tears, and Saga wanted nothing more than to put her arms around her, to comfort her, but she still wasn’t sure where they stood.

“So—” Saga began, but it was her turn to be interrupted.

“I’m sorry.” Gem sobbed, and this time Saga didn’t care what the situation was between them. She extinguished the candlelight, pulling Gem into a tight hug.

They sat there together in the darkness, holding on to each other for dear life. Both of them cried, bitter tears for a loved one lost mingling against their cheeks. It felt like hours passed, though Saga was sure it couldn’t have been more than minutes when she finally pulled away. She reached around her cot, looking for a cloth to wipe her face with, then remembered something. “Hold on, I have something…” She felt around where she knew her pack and coat would be, reached into one of the latter’s pockets, and pulled out Master Dorrin’s green scarf. She’d forgotten to give it back to him after the events in the village.

Gem stared at it for a moment as Saga held it out to her, then shook her head, gently pushing it away. “You keep it.”

“You don’t want it?”

Gem shook her head. “No. I have his flask, that’ll be enough from me.” She paused. “I should clean it before I use it, though.”

Saga chuckled, despite the mood. “Why, you don’t like whiskey?”

Gem gave her an unreadable look. “Saga, Dorrin…he…” she trailed off, and it seemed she wouldn’t be finishing her sentence.

Something clicked for Saga. The letter, Gem’s reaction to it, and now this thing with the flask? She felt her face go pale. “No…”

Gem didn’t respond, moving to put the letter into Saga’s pouch. That’s what she’d been doing , Saga realized. Gem had stolen the letter, read it, and Saga caught her trying to slip it back.

“You’re just going to put it back, with the seal broken?” Saga said. She fought to keep her voice low, but an unexpected anger had filled her. “After all that, you were going to let me take the blame!?”

Gem’s face flushed, and she held up her hands in a placating gesture. “No, please, let me explain—”

“Explain what!?” Saga yelled. Her growing anger caused the fire in her right eye roar to life.

To her surprise, Gem recoiled in shock. “Dragon’s breath! Saga, your eye!” The look on her face gave Saga pause, and as the heat drained out of her the fire vanished, leaving the two in stunned silence.

“What was that?” Gem finally whispered, as if afraid that speaking loudly would cause the fire to return.

Saga looked away, ashamed and, admittedly, still a little angry.

Salvation came in the form of the tent flap opening, letting firelight into the room, and whoever stood in the entryway cast Candlelight. Pell looked from Saga to Gem and back again, confused. “Gem? You’re not supposed to be in here.”

“It’s fine,” Saga said, mentally pulling herself together and giving him her best smile. “We talked it over. We’re okay.” She turned to Gem, and the smile wavered as she repeated herself. “We’re okay, right?”

Gem stared at Saga for a moment before nodding slowly. “Yeah. We’re fine, Pell.” She stood up. “I should go, though. Orders are orders, and all that.” She looked down at Saga, her face a mask. “Get some sleep, kid. We’re leaving early.”

“We?”

“I’m coming with you,” Gem said, heading for the open flap. “I need to present myself to the Headmaster.”

Saga wanted to say something, to ask Gem to stay, but part of her was glad to see her go. They’d had a moment of…something intimate, something vulnerable, but then Gem’s betrayal with the letter, and then…

Damnation, what was that with my eye!? She’d grown used to seeing fire in her right eye when stressed or angry, but people had only ever seen her manifest her fire around her left eye in the past. It was normal for drakes to manifest their primary element around their eyes when using a lot of magic. Even powerful non-drake mages could do it, but her right eye had always been different.

“Saga?” Pell’s voice broke through her rambling thoughts. She looked up at him and saw his concerned face. “You okay?”

“I’m fine, really. Thank you, Pell.” She smiled at him again. “It’s been a long day for everyone, but Gem and I have hashed things out. I think.” She looked down at the green cloth in her hands, unsure of what to do with it, then placed it back in her coat pocket.

Pell gave her a skeptical look, but he eventually nodded. “Either way, you should get some rest. It’s not quite high moon yet.” He turned and reached through the tent flap. “Are you hungry?”

She considered for a second, then nodded. “Yeah. My body’s finally getting a chance to really catch up, and I’m paying for it. What have you got?”

“Stew.” He procured a bowl for her. “Copel made it. He’s been learning from Master Amos.”

Saga accepted it gratefully, then sniffed at it. Her mouth immediately began to salivate, and she had to swallow before asking, “What kind of meat is that? It smells delicious.”

Pell grinned mischievously, a look that was remarkably similar to his twin and yet somehow alien on his own face. “Wolf.” He was gone again before she could reply, and she was left staring at the flap in disbelief.

“Well, I very well can’t be picky right now…” She muttered, taking a bite. To her surprise, it actually tasted good. Not quite as tasty as the vegetables from her last visit, but it was certainly more than palatable. She finished the bowl greedily and, realizing she was in the dark again but not wanting to risk another Candlelight, felt around for her nightstand and placed her bowl there. “Have you eaten, Dapper?” She wouldn’t have put it past her little friend to have forgone meals to watch over her.

Thankfully, she heard a tap in the affirmative and smiled, laying back down on the cot. “Thank you, Dapper. You’ve stuck by me all this time. You have no idea how much that means to me right now.” She heard a chitter, then a familiar, slightly fuzzy weight press against the crook of her neck.

Smiling, she closed her eyes and, for the first time in days, had no trouble falling asleep.