Not All Heroes Are Guiltless

Chapter 26

Chapter 26

It’s been nearly six months since the Hou Ndours attacked Redland. With the limited information from across the sea, I’ve been able to gain at least some information about what has occurred in my homeland. The Queen is thankfully alive and being held by the Hou Ndour to avoid angering the Lion and Lioness of Turmac. Evidently, both Turmac and Hou Ndour have some continuous negotiations, and Turmac has been trying to keep them peaceful. Yet, Hou Ndour has taken over all ports Redland had protected and controlled most trade routes around the outlands. Their presence is more seen in controlling the waters by only permitting their ships and Bellar’s trade ship into their new conquered sea. They have a few men in the ports but only enough to occupy it.

When my unidentified mate said we would cross the desert. I initially thought that he was going to dump me off in the domain of the Lion and Lioness. However, he found us a caravan going in the opposite direction of their palace.

Traveling with a caravan is an experience I didn’t expect to be so hard. Of course, my trainer had us both take up bodyguard positions and drilled me into exhaustion when we weren’t moving.

The cloak kept me cool in the desert heat and warm in the cold, dark nights. I’m amazed at how I’m able to wear it and never seem to deteriorate. I pulled it close to me even though the caravan was a little more relaxed than when we were with the merchant vessel. Turmac is more accepting of female warriors, and no onearound here will recognize me as the Redland princess.

It’s practically midday when an oasis comes into view. The caravan leader needs to refresh the water reserves so we might be able to stay there overnight. I’m looking forward to the idea of maybe getting enough water to take a decent bath after several weeks of journeying on the roads..

My wish is fulfilled when a spring is full of water, and I’m anxious to jump in the water, but my mate and I have been ordered to take the first shift to the guard the wagons. I almost want to say my mate can do it by himself, but I don’t think the caravan leader really knows how strong he is.

I’m watching the other caravans in the oasis with my mate standing near me as we guard the caravan while the others are filling our water basins. When I notice an elderly man with a long wooden staff walking away from one of the caravans from the farthest edge towards our caravan. His movements are so strained and feeble. I could witness he use the staff as more than just a crutch but as another needed appendage to rest most of his weight on.

As he slowly progresses toward me, I start to shiver when I notice he isn’t elderly at all. This man was in his prime, but his skin was parched and pulled taught against his bones. I go to rush to help the man to the oasis spring in hopes it might end his suffering. No one seems to notice him from any of the nearby caravans, and I can’t imagine standing by and doing nothing for the poor man.

My mate’s hand falls on my shoulder, and I try to brush him away. He holds on to me tighter and pulls me into him. Placing my hands on his chest to push away from him, I fight and squirm in his arms. I'm craning my neck to keep my eyes on the man who has obviously been traveling through the desert without water. Without warning, his body starts to smoke, and a spark of flame envelops him, and all that is left of his body is ash. I cry out in anguish at the unexpected and unnatural burst.

While screaming, my mate muffles my outcry with his hand covering my mouth. He brings his lips right on my ear and gently whispers to me, “Calm down, Nadar. Calm down. There’s nothing you could have done. No one around us can see them, and they won’t physically harm you.”

Frozen at his words, I scan the area for the ash and only see a little bit of sand being lifted from the ground by a passing gust, but the ashes aren’t touching the ground, “What was that?”

“The lions don’t like killing their own kind. Any criminal is sent to the desert with a gem inserted into them, which transforms all water they drink into sand. Eventually, the convict will dry out until they

alight into flame. You saw one of their formerly convicted criminals. Some spirits can’t escape the horrors of their own death and live repeating it over and over.” He says, holding me close to him as he strokes my arms in back the way you would soothe a distraught toddler.

Swallowing down everything in my mouth, turned into mostly sand grit with a little saliva. I tried to keep from coughing as I listened to my mate. When he was done, there was only one question, “If you saw him too. Is that another ability because I am a lupine?”

He pushes my hair away from my face, “No, it’s because you are a Redland Royal. The light swords gifted to Delia are a connection to a spirit plane. A place where time and place are trapped within each soul. You just have to locate your swords now that you have the connection to the spirit plane.”

Slowly, I am able to step away from him and wipe off my own tears. Find my own spirit swords? I’m not sure if I want to see another spirit like that one again, and he wants me to find something that might have a connection between both planes? “How do you expect me to do that?”

He moves a piece of hair out of my face behind my ear, and then I since the slightest hint of smile, “Keep training and becoming stronger. The spirit realm is draining on your body and can also snag if you aren’t mentally prepared. This world is too cruel, and the result is malicious spirits that only want to frighten the susceptible for a fleeting moment, but they won’t remember anything and replay the horrors of their death over and over again.”

I cross my arms and snivel. “If that’s what you experience often, I guess I can’t be angry with you being so cold and distant towards me.”

“They can’t hurt you in this plane. They can only frighten you with the callous and malicious way people die.” He says with some lingering emotion. It's almost like there are more than a few passerbys that haunt him.