The town was louder than the forest.
Voices clashed like waves against stone. Merchants called out their prices, children ran between stalls, and the smell of spices and roasted grain filled the evening air.
Naisha pulled the hood of her cloak lower.
Beside her, Arin walked quietly, his steps careful. He stayed close, his fingers lightly gripping the edge of her sleeve so he would not lose her in the crowd.
He had grown since the night they fled the village.
But crowds still made him uneasy.
Naisha slowed slightly so he could keep pace.
"Stay close," she murmured.
Arin nodded.
"I am."
Ishan's instructions echoed in her mind.
Listen more than you speak.
So Naisha moved through the market silently, her sharp eyes watching everything.
Soldiers near the well.
Traders arguing near the spice stalls.
Travelers whispering over mugs of ale.
It was one of those whispers that made her stop.
Two merchants stood beside a cart filled with sacks of grain.
"You remember that serpent village that burned years ago?" one of them said.
The other snorted.
"Of course I do. Everyone does."
Naisha's breath stilled.
The first merchant lowered his voice.
"They say the king ordered it himself."
Arin looked up at her, confused.
Naisha didn't move.
The second merchant shrugged.
"Well, if the rumors about the prophecy were true, he probably saved the kingdom."
"Saved it?" the first man replied. "He wiped out an entire village."
The second merchant crossed his arms.
"Better a village than a kingdom."
Naisha's fingers slowly tightened beneath her cloak.
Arin tugged lightly on her sleeve.
"Sister…"
But Naisha's mind had already begun slipping backward.
---
The sky had been glowing orange that evening.
The soft color of sunset touched the rooftops of their village.
Naisha remembered running along the narrow path that led toward the forest.
Her anklets chimed softly with every step.
Behind her, her mother's voice carried across the fields.
"Naisha!"
Naisha slowed but did not turn yet.
"Bring your brother home before dark!" her mother called again.
"I will!" Naisha shouted back.
But she had stayed a little longer.
Because something strange had happened that day.
She had found someone in the forest.
An injured boy lying beside the stream.
His clothes were torn and muddy, but they were clearly not the clothes of a villager.
Not a hunter either.
Something about him felt… important.
She remembered kneeling beside him, brushing leaves away from his face.
His breathing had been shallow.
Far away in the trees she had heard the sound of armored men moving through the forest.
Royal guards.
They had been searching for someone.
But the boy had been too weak to move.
So she had stayed.
Just long enough to make sure he would live.
---
The market noise slowly returned around her.
Naisha blinked.
Arin was watching her carefully.
"Sister?" he asked softly.
Naisha looked toward the merchants again.
"Who was the king then?" the first merchant asked.
The second man laughed.
"Who else? King Aedric."
The name settled heavily in the air.
Arin looked up at her again.
"Sister… is that the king they're talking about?"
Naisha didn't answer.
Her eyes had shifted toward the center of the town square.
A banner moved slowly in the wind.
Black cloth.
A golden eagle spreading its wings.
The symbol of the kingdom.
The symbol of the man the merchants were praising.
The man they called a savior.
Naisha stared at it in silence.
Behind her eyes another memory burned.
Flames rising into the night.
Her mother shouting for her to run.
Arin's small hand grabbing hers as the fire swallowed their home.
If she had come back sooner…
If she had not stopped to help that stranger in the forest…
Maybe things would have been different.
Maybe—
Naisha forced the thought away.
The past could not be changed.
But the future could.
She knelt slightly so she could look at Arin.
Her voice was calm, but something colder now lived inside it.
"Remember that name."
Arin followed her gaze toward the banner.
"Aedric."
Naisha stood again.
Her silver eyes remained fixed on the eagle crest.
The king might have saved a kingdom.
But he had destroyed her world.
And one day…
He would answer for it.