She leaned down and lifted it up. It was Rohan’s sword. The Fae runes along its blade glittered like the embers of a banked fire now and did not glow as hotly as when Rohan had battled Hex. Ryleth’s forehead furrowed. She brought the sword up to her face to study it. Her eyes widened. She shot a look at Serxio that was a mixture of shock and fury. She dropped the sword to the ground as if the hilt burned her. She quickly rubbed her palm on her thigh.
“Vudine!” Ryleth spat at Serxio. “You are thieves as well! I should have known that one could not kill Hex with any normal sword!”
Tela’s eyes widened, and she nearly cowered from the blade. She repeated, “Vudine!”
The word did not translate for Finn, not that he knew how words were translating at all. They were speaking Common with Serxio now, but he had understood the Fae language before.
So maybe Vudine is a name and not a description.
“That’s Lightbringer! And we are no thieves!” Serxio struggled in his bonds. “That is Rohan’s sword! It has been in his family for generations!”
Ryleth stared at him as if she could not quite believe he would lie so ridiculously. “A human with Vudine? The Sword of the Sun? It is an ancient Fae blade of royal lineage. A line before the Ravenspars took the throne.”
“And?” Serxio shrugged. “Just because he doesn’t have pointed ears and red eyes, doesn’t mean there isn’t Fae blood in him!”
Finn was speechless at this. Could Rohan have Fae blood too? The possibilities of it opened up for a moment. Finn imagined telling Rohan that they shared a secret. They were both part Fae. He could admit this to Rohan without fear of rejection or disgust, because Rohan was part Fae too. And then Finn could confess the largest thing, he could tell Rohan that he had magic that could revive Rohan’s estate! Rohan wouldn’t need to marry to restore it. Finn could save it for him.
But that was a pipe dream if he could not save himself and Rohan.
“That’s absurd!” Tela snarled, distracting Finn from his thoughts. “You claim royal blood for a human?”
“Royal Fae blood,” Serxio corrected her. “Still want to kill him now?”
“You are lying!” Tela leaped to her feet. “Enough of this! I will end them both, Ryleth!”
She made to lunge towards Serxio, but Ryleth shouted, “Stop!”
Everyone froze. She was looking between Rohan, the sword and Hex. She murmured, “He wielded Vudine. The magic still courses through it. This Unmarked human may speak the truth.”
“What--”
“It is not for us to decide the fate of one who wields the Sword of the Sun,” Ryleth cut Tela off. “The two of them will come with us to Aymar. The king himself will have to sit in judgment on this.”
FATE
Rohan was only finally able to move his limbs after being placed in a locked cage on the back of a cart just outside of the village. His neck, wrists and ankles were all bound with heavy chains that weighed his body down. But even if the chains had not been there, he wouldn’t have been able to move much.
Serxio and the human woman he’d saved were also stuffed into the cart. Their cart was not the only one. There was a whole line of them filled to overflowing with Fae, not warriors, but normal citizens. They were preparing to flee to Thalanil’s summer palace Aymar. If they got to the palace, if Thalanil realized who Rohan was, there would be war...
“Rohan!” Serxio cried.
Rohan’s head snapped up. Serxio was directly opposite him. His companion’s face was filled with worry. It was also covered in dirt and marred further by cuts and bruises. Serxio had fought to get free. Rohan felt a mixture of fondness and anger. Fondness for Serxio’s loyalty to him, but anger that he could not have kept the foppish lord safe.
“Are you all right?” Serxio asked. “That’s a stupid question! Of course you’re not! You’ve been spelled or whatever!”
Rohan struggled to swallow and then answered him in a hoarse voice, “I’m all right, Serxio. Calm yourself.”
“How can I be calm?! These bloodthirsty Fae want to murder both of us for killing their pet spider!” Serxio’s voice spiraled up.
“We’re still alive. That means there is hope,” Rohan said.
He turned his attention to the other person in their cart. It was the woman who had survived the spider battle. She was silent and watching them carefully. She didn’t appear afraid of them, but on high alert.
“How are you, miss?” Rohan asked.
“Emma. Just Emma,” she answered. “I am alive, which as you said means there is hope. Though I have not felt hope in a very long time.”
“How did you come to be here? Your accent is northern Rirean,” Serxio asked.
She blinked at him in confusion. “Like all humans do, I made a deal. It did not go well for me.”
“How could you have made a deal with the Fae? You’re what? Thirty, if a day!” Serxio cried. “The Wall went up twenty years ago. You would have been ten years old or---what’s wrong?”
Emma had let out a sob. She quickly covered her mouth even as her body was wracked with cries that she tried to silence. Rohan tried to touch her shoulder and comfort her, but the chains caught his reach short.
“What is it, Emma? What is wrong?” Rohan asked.
It took her some moments to calm herself enough to speak. She swiped at tears that ran down her cheeks.
“I--I knew t-time was different here than Rirea,” she got out.
“How do you mean?” Serxio asked.
“It moves slower here. Much slower.” She shuddered and covered her face with her hands again for a moment, before dropping them and continuing on, “We also stop aging. That’s one of the benefits of… service.”
“Time is slower and we don’t age?” Serxio boggled.
“Serxio, let her speak,” Rohan urged.
Serxio nodded, and his chains, which were not as substantial as Rohan’s, jangled too.
“I just realized when you said how long it had been that the reason I’m here, the reason I made the deal, is gone,” Emma’s voice was soft. “My mother was already sick when I left. She couldn’t have lasted 20 years…”
Rohan felt the bleakness rolling off of her in waves. She shook her head and let out a bitter laugh.
“My brother said not to do it!” She wiped freshly fallen tears off her cheeks. “He said that the Fae always come up on top of the deal! But I wouldn’t listen, because I thought I knew better. He’ll be an old man now. Maybe… maybe he’s dead too.”
“What was your deal?” Rohan asked.
“A cure for my mother’s illness in exchange for service,” she murmured. “But they didn’t say I would be there when she was healed. She’s likely already dead… well, that was my mistake for not asking specifically.”
“That’s--that’s monstrous!” Serxio cried.
“I should have been more careful,” Emma murmured, her eyes distant, clearly thinking of some other deal she could have made.
Rohan frowned. Her reaction was somehow off. Uncle Hugues had told him that the people who made the deals did not do so with clean hands. Though wanting a cure for her mother was honorable, maybe there was something more to it. And now, this reaction of focusing on the wording of the deal, as if she wanted to make another, instead of shying away from the idea as if it were a slithering snake was strange.