Night had fallen heavy.
The Graywood pressed close around the camp, its trees standing like black sentinels, their branches knitted together to blot out the moon. Beyond the fire's glow, the dark was alive with rustling, with whispers of creatures that never showed their eyes. Every sound was magnified: the crackle of burning wood, the creak of wagon wheels as they settled, the ragged breaths of wounded men.
The fire itself hissed and spat, throwing sparks into the air. Its light cast long, restless shadows across the wagons, across faces lined with exhaustion and fear.
Leo sat apart, bound to a low stump with rough rope biting his wrists. His hands throbbed. Beneath the rewrapped bandages, his palm still burned, faint light seeping through despite the cloth, a secret that could not stay hidden. The guards stationed around the circle kept their eyes locked on him as if a blink would loose him upon them.
The wagon boy huddled nearby, his thin shoulders shaking, knees tucked tight to his chest. His gaze wandered constantly back to Leo, wide and trembling, torn between gratitude and terror. Saved, yet afraid of the one who had done the saving.
Across the fire, the captain stood like a pillar, arms folded, her scar glowing faintly in the flames. Around her, the surviving guards gathered in a knot, their voices low but fierce.
"He saved us," one argued, jaw set.
"He cursed the air itself," another snapped, face pale under streaks of grime.
"Would you rather lie in the ditch with an arrow in your back?"
"Better that than dragging a devil with us into the night."
Their words clashed like steel against steel, suspicion against gratitude, fear against reason. The air thickened with it, heavier than smoke.
The captain lifted a hand. At once, the voices stilled.
Her gaze turned on Leo, unwavering, cold as tempered iron. "You will speak," she said. "What was that?"
The fire popped. Silence deepened.
Leo swallowed, throat raw. "I don't know."
A harsh scoff came from the toothless guard, his grin more sneer than smile. "Liar. You wield it like a blade."
"I don't!" Leo's voice cracked, the sound too loud against the hush of the forest. He forced it lower, steadier, though his chest heaved. "I never asked for it. It… it just happens."
Weak, the shard whispered, curling through his bones like smoke. Begging earns nothing. Show them strength. Make them bow.
Leo shut his eyes tight, grit grinding in his teeth. When he opened them again, he met the captain's stare. "I saved your lives. That's all."
A ripple ran through the gathered men. Some shifted, shame flickering in their eyes. Others glared harder, their fear curdling into anger.
The captain began to move. Her boots crunched over gravel as she paced the circle of firelight, each step deliberate. She circled behind Leo, her shadow sliding long and dark across him, and for a moment he felt her presence at his back like the tip of a blade resting against his neck.
Her voice came from behind, low but cutting clear. "Strange power doesn't walk the roads without reason. You carry danger, boy. If I keep you, I endanger all under my command. If I cast you out, I may condemn an innocent to the wolves."
The words hung heavy, testing him, as though his answer might weigh the balance of his fate.
Leo lifted his head. His throat was dry, but his voice came steady this time, trembling yet unbroken. "I'm not your enemy."
The shard laughed in his mind, soft and poisonous. Not yet.
The captain studied him for a long time. The fire snapped, shadows danced. Then she turned to her men.
"We owe him our lives," she said. "He stays. Bound. Watched. But alive."
Outrage broke at once.
"Captain-!"
"You can't-!"
"He's a curse, not a boy!"
Her head snapped toward them, and her voice struck like iron. "My word is law."
The protest died, smothered under her tone. The camp fell into sullen silence. Some guards spat into the dirt, others muttered oaths under their breath, but none defied her openly.
At last, she looked back at Leo. The firelight carved her scar into a pale brand, her eyes hard as flint. "Earn my trust, boy. Or the next time you lose control, I'll end you myself."
Leo's heart hammered in his chest, heavy as a war drum. He nodded once, though the shard's whisper slithered through his bones, cruel and certain.
Her promise will break before yours does.
That night, when the fire burned low to glowing embers and the guards muttered on the far side of the wagons, Leo sat in the bite of the ropes, his wrists raw. His eyes stared into the heart of the flames, where sparks burst and died like fallen stars.
Do you see? the shard murmured, soft as a lullaby, cruel as truth. They cage you already. Fear is the truest chain. Break it, and you will never kneel again.
Leo shut his eyes, jaw clenched. For the first time, Mira's words returned to him, her warning whispered in the dawn. Maybe the hardest battle was not against the road, nor the bandits, nor the elders' verdict.
Maybe it was against himself.