"We found seven bodies of Ancients," Runir reported to the duke and king. It was the morning after Jessmei's kidnapping. No one had slept, and a tight melancholy tension hung in the air. "I," the blonde man paused. "I believe we discovered the body of Kaiyer, it was hard to identify though."

"No!" I blurted out before my mind made sense of is words. Everyone turned to look at me with pity in their eyes. "He's not dead. Why do you think so? What do you mean, 'It was hard to identify?'" My voice squeaked out at the end past the tightness in my stomach. I glanced at Nadea and she slumped down in her chair. There sat a plate of breakfast food on the table but she hadn't even touched it.

Runir walked over to me and put his hand on my shoulder. I felt myself sob and I tried to hold it in so they wouldn't hear.

"I am sorry to tell you this news." He squeezed my shoulder to comfort me. "I know he was your friend, but he died protecting us and Nia. It's all that we Knights can ask for, a death serving Nia."

"Where did you find the bodies?" The king gestured to a small model of the castle and city. Runir walked over and placed small red tokens on the model. After a few minutes of careful consideration, he stepped back.

"We found them here. Kaiyer's was over there." He pointed to a marker by the edge of the west wall. "It was burned to ashes, cremated beyond recognition."

"So you don't know for sure it is his body?" the duke said in a haggard voice.

"No, we don't know for sure. This one's face was smashed into the stonework, his weapons were taken, which is why I think Kaiyer killed him first." Runir then pointed at the marker next to one closest to the castle. "This one had a dagger embedded in her throat."

"How about the others?" Maerc asked with interest.

"He moved through the city toward the west wall killing them." He gestured to the various markers on the map. "In the end he was exposed in the open and one used their magic to incinerate him. Then they escaped over the wall and met up with the three that kidnapped Jessmei. That is why they took extra horses with them."

Before the young man could say more, a knock sounded at the door and Greykin walked in. His pants were coated with dirt and mud. No one seemed to care that he tracked it into the Planning Room.

"I found the spot where someone jumped off the wall. Looks like they ran to the road, but the idiot guards made a mess of the scene with their boots. The trail led west and then we lost it going north." The big man stroked his whiskers with his left hand. His right strayed down to tightly grasp the handle of his axe.

"What if he isn't dead? What if the ashes were someone else's?" I asked again. I knew what they thought. I saw the pity and condescension as they looked away from me. But it was not just naïve hope that kept me believing he was alive. There was no real evidence he was dead. The ashes could be those of an Ancient. Why were they so quick to give up on Kaiyer, to give up hope? Grandfather's hands lay on my shoulders where Runir's had been. I looked back and saw that his blue eyes were misty.

"Sorry Paug. If he is alive then why isn't he here?" Runir sat down in one of the free chairs and sighed in exhaustion.

I didn't have an answer. The tears just slid down my cheeks like warm rain. I didn't want to cry in front of them, but I couldn't seem to stop the tears from their trek. I looked down at the ground so they wouldn't see my sadness and Grandfather wrapped his arms around me from behind.

"It's okay Paug," he whispered to me. The tears started to fall faster and my lips quivered beyond my control. I looked up through my lashes at Nadea across the room. She had propped her elbows onto the thick dark wood of the table and covered her face with her hands. I couldn't see if she shared my tears, but I imagined that she did. I hoped that she had cared about him as much as I did.

He'd been the only one that had seemed to want to listen to me talk about my stupid life, unlike the other adults, he didn’t consider me a boy, he viewed me as an equal. His gentle smile flashed through my brain when I recalled how he had asked me to join him whenever we went somewhere in the castle. I remembered the banquet, when he had tried to convince me to talk to Tanya Gettil. I wished I would have followed his advice. He would have been proud of my bravery, even if I had only gotten a cold shoulder from the beautiful singer. And he was right. If I had done it, maybe she would have been nice, and I could say I had spoken to the famous woman. If she had ignored me, I would have been no worse off than I was now. I vowed to choose bravery from now on, to honor his memory by behaving like him.

He was going to save us from the Ancients. How would we prevail without him?

"It pains me beyond measure to make these decisions," the king said. He stood up and paced around the room. It was large enough for all of us, including the prince and three of the king's generals. "We must focus on defending the capital against Losher. I will have to hope that they wanted my daughter alive for some sort of political leverage. I'll have to pay that price at a later date. But I cannot pay it without a kingdom. How soon can we recall our troops from the North?"

"It will take them a month and a half to get here if we send messenger crows. Two months if we send a courier,” one of the generals answered. The king nodded.

"Send both the crows and a courier. We'll need to withdraw half our forces from the frontlines. I want separate couriers addressing our envoys up there so they can smooth relations."

"Sire. It will be difficult for our men to traverse that distance in the winter months, especially through the mountain passes. We might lose many lives to the cold," another general said.

"What are our chances of withstanding the siege until spring?" Grandfather asked. I didn't understand that much about warfare, but Greykin had already hinted to me that we might be unable to guard a city as big as ours against the Losher horde with the amount of men we had.

"It's possible we could hold out all winter. We need to start stockpiling food now in case we are forced to relinquish the city. The castle walls will hold for a long time though," Maerc said with a frown.

"Maerc, take your son and make this your top priority." Runir and the general saluted and made for the door.

"Nosa, send the messenger crows to the Northlands. I don't care if we lose some men on the way back. They won't have a kingdom to defend if they don't get here soon." One of the generals nodded and stood up straight.

"Tonas and Polunt, brush up on our siege training. It has been many years since we have practiced, but I want all of our troops and the citizens ready to take this challenge. Get the walls fortified, the citizens trained, and I want every farm within twenty miles of the city stripped and burned."

The men nodded.

"Nadea, I need an accurate headcount of their forces. You are not to leave the castle, but I know you have a network of people in the city that have gathered information for you. Can you get this?"

"Yes Uncle," she said behind her hands. She didn't get up from her chair.

"Our walls have never fallen, and they won't on my watch. We may be outnumbered but that doesn't mean we are beaten. We will overcome this challenge through our cunning, discipline, and strength. Our friends, family, and those that will live in the future are depending on our success. Dismissed."

The soldiers left in a hurry.

"Go help Maerc," the king told his son, who nodded and left with a blank face.

The duke leaned over his daughter and wrapped his arm around her shoulder.

"I'm fine,” she said when he whispered something in her ear. Then she stood suddenly. "I need to get to work." She almost spat as she walked quickly to the other side of the room and out the door. She looked down and her hair covered her face.

Greykin, the two royal brothers, Grandfather, and I were the only people left in the room.

The duke looked at Grandfather and me before he smiled painfully.

"My friends, I'm afraid that I am going to have to relieve you of your duty and ask you to return to your home. With Kaiyer dead, I don't think it worth both of your lives to stay here. Your home is a two week's ride to the southwest. If the kingdom falls, it is possible that they will come for you, but you will definitely be safer at home. I will issue you some gold notes you can redeem with the castle secretary and then leave in the next few days."

The duke flipped open a small book and began to scribble into it with a quill.

"Thank you, sire. We were delighted to assist. It is a shame that it turned out this way with Kaiyer. He was a remarkable man," Grandfather squeezed my shoulders.

"Yes he was. He didn't seem to understand our ways, but perhaps we should be more like him." The duke handed two notes across the table to Grandfather.

"Thank you for your help. I look forward to the four of us meeting again under better circumstances." The king nodded and held out his hand. Grandfather kneeled and kissed it, and then I did the same. As I stood up the king's hand brushed the top of my head. "Be safe, Paug. The world will always need thinkers and dreamers, no matter who rules it." His eyes met mine and their blue orbs relaxed my storming emotions.

The confidence faded when I got to my room and began to pack up my things.

It wasn't supposed to end this way. With Kaiyer dead, the Losher army invading, and Nia outnumbered. It felt like I was running away. But what could I do? My only purpose here was to translate for a man that didn't really need me for more than a few weeks. Now he was dead. I was no warrior; I couldn't defend the castle against our enemies. Even the sight of blood made me sick. I was a teacher, a scholar, I was soft and weak. That's why my brain worked so well. This wasn't my fight anymore.

Why did I feel like such a coward?

I put down the book bag I was packing and lay face down on my bed. The tears started to come again and I pushed my nose into the pillow until they seemed to burn my skin.

I wanted to be brave like Kaiyer. He wouldn't be running. He would stay to protect his friends.

I suddenly got mad at him. Why had he chased after that Ancient? Didn't he know it was going to be a trap? He was too valuable to us, he represented so much hope. It was now all lost. I slammed my fist into the pillow and screamed. I shouldn't be angry with him. His relaxed and gentle smile came to my face in memory again.

The smile reminded me of my mother.

Her favorite pastime was to walk down from the lighthouse to the shore of the beach. She would bring a blanket or a small wooden chair and watch the waves all day. I would run up to her and show her a pretty rock or piece of seaweed I had found. She would smile at me in the same relaxed way Kaiyer had and would compliment my find. Her easy grin was the only thing I still remembered of her. She had died so long ago that her voice had faded from my memory.

There was a light knock on my door. I wiped the tears from my eyes and bid them to enter. The door opened and Iarin walked through with two large flasks of wine and a tray of breads, fruit, and breakfast meats.

"Heard from your grandfather that you would leave tomorrow. Thought we should eat a bunch of good food and get shit faced drunk before you left." He set down the feast on my table. "Well, come now. You look like someone cut off your left nut and made you use it as fishing bait. Cheer up! It's not quite the end of the world, yet. Let's eat and enjoy while we still can."

The woodsman sat down at a chair opposite me, popped off the cork on one of the bottles and took a long swig. Then he stacked a fistful of meat and cheese on dark bread before he took a gleeful bite.

I nodded and slid across the bed to the chair on the other side of the table. He was right in a way. I wouldn't be able to get food like this back at home, where most of my diet consisted of fish, eggs, cabbage, and whatever meat we traded for. Living here in the castle had been the best few weeks of my life so far, particularly from a culinary standpoint.

"You know," Iarin said across a mouthful of food, "I never told you about the Spirits of the Forest."

I looked up at him in question. I didn't try to open my mouth because it was full of delicious food.

"Remember in Vanlourn, when I told you that they protect us? When we climbed up the cliff in the darkness?"

"That's right. I forgot to ask you about it. I guessed you just said that to make me relax." A long swallow of bitter red wine helped the bread and cheese go down to my gut. The alcohol was dry and made the inside of my mouth sting in pleasure.

"I did in a way, but the woodsman, rangers, survivors, and nomads like me sense the powers of the earth, trees, sun, and moons. We believe that each living thing has a spirit that tries to protect people that are good and punish those that are evil. Sailors think the same things about their ocean." He took another bite of meat and bread; this time it was slathered with grainy brown mustard.

"Since we are good the trees try to look out for us?"

"Yes. It takes a lot of trees to do anything though. Their spirits are weak alone. Just like you need a lot of water in the ocean to make a wave." He drank a long swig of the red wine. "I've always tried to be good. I never cheat when I gamble, I honor my contracts, I give thanks when I hunt and kill for my food, and I have only broken a few women's hearts. I was sad every time that happened though." He gave a light laugh and smiled at me.

"Will you stay here?" I asked in worry. Iarin was as much of a friend as Nadea. He was just easily forgotten because of his silent companionship.

"I haven't decided yet. My contract officially expired with Nadea last week, I don't think she realized so I was enjoying some high quality free food and shelter. It was also interesting to watch Kaiyer train so I wasn't in a hurry to leave. But honestly, the thought of dying while cooped up in this castle like a starving dog doesn't sound that tempting to me. I'm sure Nadea will talk to me about it. But once you and Janci leave, I'll be moving on." He took another large bite and stared at the other side of the room at my window.

We were all splitting up. Scattered to the four winds. My heart grew heavy again.

"Do you really think he is dead?" I asked. He looked back to me and considered for a moment.

"I heard from a servant, who had a soldier friend, who had another soldier friend that said they found his body this morning." I nodded at his words and fought back the tears again.

"Runir said it had been burned to ashes with magic. I didn't believe at first, but Kaiyer isn't here."

"The bad news always seems more likely than the good news. I'd have to agree with Runir. You've seen Kaiyer's face when he looks at Nadea. The Ancients would have to kill him, slice his body into a million pieces, throw those into each of the Four Seas, and then say a prayer to the Ocean Spirits. That's the only way he could be kept from coming back for her. He was a powerful man, but so were the Ancients." He leaned back in his chair and let out a soft belch. Then he began to peel an orange.

"Wait. He loved Nadea?" I was confused. Iarin laughed loudly.

"I don't know if love is exactly the right word my young friend. He definitely liked her very much." He smiled at me through wine stained teeth. His words were beginning to slur. Mine were as well.

"I never noticed that," I said as I considered his words and compared them to my memories.

"Even if he is dead he still taught us many things. I thought he may have been the Betrayer but fortunately he wasn't."

"The Betrayer?" I asked.

"Oh well, you know. The man that destroyed the Ancients, the Destroyer. That's what I meant. Sorry I am already drunk and forgetting my legends. He was a wonderful man though. A good friend. Let's toast to him and wish him well on his travels in the afterlife!" Iarin said loudly and held up his bottle.

"To Kaiyer!" I said as our bottles banged together. The words hurt my chest more than the river of bitter wine did when it slid down my throat and into my belly.