Keiser thought about the welts that still burned along the backs of his legs and calves... the runes carved into his flesh there had not healed, only lingered, raw and aching with every shift of movement.
But he would not bare himself further, not here, not in front of these people. They already believed themselves condemned, outsiders marked for death, sacrifices to the forest's hunger. If he stripped down further, if he exposed what he'd kept hidden, it would only steep the air in more dread.
The salve Lenko had pressed onto his shoulders eased some of the sting, loosening the tight grip of pain that had locked itself across his back. The bandages held firm, and though they bit against his skin, they dulled the throbbing enough to let him breathe more freely. He allowed himself to lean into that small relief.
When Lenko returned, drying his hands after binding the last of his wounds from his back, neck and shoulder, Keiser wordlessly reached out. The boy's eyes narrowed, sharp and suspicious, as though questioning what else he planned to endure... or conceal. Still, he handed the jar over without protest. It seemed Lenko carried the whole of a lot more in that satchel of his.
Pulling at the hem of his slacks, Keiser grimaced when the fabric tugged against scabbed patches, sticky with dried blood. He dabbed salve onto his palm and rubbed it down his calves by feel alone, unwilling to bare them fully to sight. The ointment was cool at first, soothing, until it caught against open splits where the blood had dried.
He hissed.
Bad idea.
The salve smeared red as it mixed with the half-healed wounds.
When he pulled his hand back, it looked as though he had only painted himself with fresh blood.
"Whoa…"
Keiser flinched at the small, awed voice and turned his head.
It was the boy from earlier... the one who had helped steady him while Lenko bore most of his weight. The child was smiling at him, wide-eyed, as though the sight of wounds and bandages were some marvelous secret rather than something grim.
Keiser grimaced and pressed a finger to his lips, shushing him. The boy only giggled and mimicked the gesture, his eyes sparkling with mischief.
"Lenko will scold you," the boy whispered, as if trading in some forbidden secret. "If he finds out you're still hurt."
That earned another giggle, careless and bright, as though he hadn't just spoken words far too sharp for a child his age. Keiser arched a brow but said nothing. Instead, he noticed the boy's gaze darting to his arm, then the small finger pointing at it, teasingly. The bandage there was already stained, the neat white linen marred with seeping red.
Keiser exhaled slowly, resigning himself. Lenko would see it sooner or later anyway. But before he could decide whether to ignore it or not, something shifted at the edge of his vision. A shadow moved.
Too deliberate.
Too near.
The ease vanished.
He snapped the salve jar shut and pressed it into the boy's small hands.
"Go," Keiser said firmly, his voice low but urgent. "To the back. Stay with the other children."
The boy blinked at him, confused, about to question... until the silence in the clearing changed. It wasn't silence anymore. It was the breathless pause of people sensing something approach.
Lenko appeared a heartbeat later, his face pale and set. He scooped the boy up without a word, his hand firm against the child's back as he hurried him away toward the huddled cluster by the gates.
Women and children pressed together there, their eyes wide and glinting in the firelight, while the older men spread themselves out across the open ground. Their hands shook as they clutched whatever they had managed to grab, rusted farming tools, half-splintered log, stones heavy enough to crush if thrown right.
Lenko appeared at Keiser's side just as he pushed himself to his feet. Across from them, the princess braced against her sword, forcing her unsteady body upright. Though her knuckles whitened around the hilt, her stance was firm... ready for whatever came next.
But Keiser knew better. Standing on the threshold of safety without ever being able to step inside it was no defense at all. His voice cut the silence.
"…We won't survive this."
The words hung heavy, turning heads.
The princess drew in a sharp breath, then raised her voice so all could hear. "Listen! We don't know how many will come, but keep those beside you safe. Right now, we only have each other!"
Keiser sighed, his expression flat as she flicked him a pointed glare. Even Lenko grimaced at his bluntness. He frowned back at them. "…I wasn't finished," he muttered.
Lenko passed him a spare tunic from his satchel, and Keiser tugged it over his head as he added, louder this time, "We won't survive this... if we don't do something about that."
His hand lifted, pointing toward the gate.
Murmurs rippled through the huddled group. An old man with a limp and a bloodstained bandage wrapped around his head let out a sharp snort. "We know that already. Must you state the obvious, young man?"
Keiser studied him for a moment, recognition sparking. He'd seen this one before... part of the poor procession in the forest last night, when the princess revealed the grim truth of the disappearances. Outsiders lured and sacrificed, all to keep Hinnom's villagers untouched.
Bait. Nothing more.
A grin tugged at Keiser's mouth. "Then make sure you live, old man. Long enough to see I'm not just stating the obvious."
The elder scowled at him, but Keiser only chuckled as he strode forward, planting himself at the princess's side. "We'll have that gate open soon enough…"
Behind them, Lenko stayed at the center of the huddle, gripping a smoking, half-charred log in both hands. It was ugly, blackened, but solid enough to break bones. He kept himself between the children and danger, eyes sharp.
"You have a plan?" the princess whispered, scattering her pyre bugs into the air. They shimmered faintly, hovering as though awaiting command. Unlike before, when her core beast overwhelmed her with its influence, she seemed to finally be holding the reins.
"…Maybe." Keiser narrowed his eyes toward the road.
The world was too quiet. Only the wind shifted through the trees, a low, restless sound. The occasional shuffle of nervous feet broke the stillness, underscored by the crackle of the dying fire they had once huddled around. The silence itself was a weight, pressing in from the dark.
Something was coming.
The princess exhaled sharply, drawing her second short blade. Both weapons caught the glow of the flames coursing around her, their edges gleaming with a tempered purple light. It wasn't the same searing blaze she had unleashed against the Arbores... this was steadier, controlled, a calm swish of fire that wrapped around her rather than consuming her.
"…You better make it work then," she muttered, her voice clipped but steady. "Because I'm not sure how long I can last. I've been pushing myself far past my limit."
Keiser hummed at her words, neither dismissing nor affirming them, because he knew she was right. He had seen her fight before, not just as the fiancée of the First Prince during the King's Gambit, but here, in the raw and uncertain battlefield where survival hinged on willpower and chance.
The girl beside him was not the one described in courtly whispers or gilded reports... she had been unshackled by his unwitting hand when he broke the seals she claimed bound her, and her progress since then was staggering, different from anything he had been led to believe.
But even staggering progress had limits.
She was only one person, and behind her were more than a hundred poor folks who could wield little more than sticks, charred logs, and hastily drawn sigils. Many had shallow mana reserves... or none at all. Against the horrors of Sheol, such meager defenses would barely buy them time.
Then, the silence broke.
It came first as a low rush of air, then a sharp swish of wings slicing through the night. Keiser's instincts kicked before his thoughts did.
"Upwards!"
The princess didn't hesitate. In the same heartbeat, she hurled one of her blades skyward. The weapon spiraled upward, now coated in a sheen of purple flame, and struck true... illuminating the sky just enough to reveal what loomed above.
Dozens of Corvus, their wings outstretched, descended in a swarm, blotting out what little light filtered through.
And as their cries split the night, the ground erupted with fresh threats... shadows breaking from the trees, claws raking the earth, the forest road spilling forth with beasts that smelled of rot and hunger.
What followed was chaos, the kind that blurred minutes into seconds.
Keiser's arms trembled with each swing, his muscles threatening to give out as he drove the flaming log into one beast after another. Every impact jarred through his bones, and for a moment he thought his body might simply break under the strain.
Around him, the clash of battle raged... shouts and cries blending into a storm of noise.
The princess cut through the skyborne beasts with relentless precision, her blades carving arcs of fire as Corvus fell shrieking from above. On the ground, the poor folks fought with everything they had... sticks, stones, half-drawn sigils... and somehow, through sheer desperation and unity, they were holding.
But Keiser knew the truth.
It couldn't last.
They were only buying time.
Against Sheol's endless tide, there would be a slip, a break, a single falter that would tear open their defenses.
And it came sooner than he feared.
"Lenko!"
The cry was sharp, young... Wally's voice cutting through everything like a knife. Keiser's head snapped toward the sound. For the briefest heartbeat, his guard wavered as his eyes darted across the mayhem.
He saw it instantly.
One of the beasts had broken through, slipping past a weary man who was barely fending off two others. The beasts, all claws and rancid breath, darted toward the center... toward the cluster of women shielding the children, where Lenko stood alone as their last line of defense.
Keiser's chest tightened. He didn't think... he acted.
Whether is it his or Muzio's impulse, he can't tell.
In that instant, he saw it.
Strands of mana sparking into existence around him, tethering and twisting like threads pulled taut. Dozens of glowing lines stretched across, each one binding him to something, someone. One burned brightest, tugging at the back of his hand.
Keiser clenched his jaw, raised his hand, and without hesitation... he pulled the tether.
Keiser appeared in an instant, dropping from above like a shadow torn from the sky. His body twisted mid-air, legs winding with brutal momentum before he lashed out.
His kick met the beast's snarling jaws with a sickening crack. Pain lanced up his shin the moment contact was made... searing heat branding both him and the monster with a mark that burned itself into flesh.
Lenko's eyes widened, shock written clear across his face.
"Muzio---!"
But Keiser wasn't finished.
He felt it... the flare of heat coiling beneath his skin, the bite of runes carving themselves into existence. A sigil, raw and unrestrained, demanding to be spoken. His lips twisted into a grim smile as the command left him in a hoarse shout.
"Burn."
Flame erupted.
The beast shrieked as crimson fire consumed it, nothing like the princess's calm purple blaze. This was wild, vicious... red flames that clawed and cracked, trying to devour even him. Heat licked dangerously close, and for a heartbeat, Keiser thought he'd be swallowed whole.
Then a hand yanked him back.
"Muzio, you---!" Lenko's voice was sharp, almost frantic.
Keiser staggered, coughing, then broke into a ragged cackle. His grin split through the sweat and soot as he turned to face Lenko.
"…I got it!"
The ground rumbled.
Not from the beasts, nor the clamor of battle... but from deeper within the village.
Even through the haze of fire and smoke, he could already see Lenko herding the women and children out of the danger's path.
A heavy boom split the air as the gates shuddered, splintered, and burst open.
A surge of livestock poured out in a thunder of hooves and bleating cries, scattering into the night like a flood.
Keiser's grin only widened.
Then, over the din, a familiar silhouette cut against the surge.
Lenko's voice cracked in disbelief.
"…Sir McKenzy!"