Nothing seemed to be any different, yet everything had changed. A new Dark Age was beginning. The thought didn't affect Domino as much as he supposed it should. He cared for little else than his own survival, and that was easy enough to come by. Now, however, for the first time in years, he had someone else to think of, and the concern kept him ever uncertain.
Reaching out a gloved hand, he ran a finger down Damian's face. Some of her hair remained damp from where he had splashed water on her face to no avail. Jars and sachets of herbs and tinctures lay scattered around her head, as useless as the water had been. She simply wasn't waking up.
Dappled sunlight lay over the grove where they had stopped to rest. Domino could hear the horses grazing just past the trees behind him and a creek gurgled through the wood nearby. It would figure, he thought, that cover had been easy to come by but a few miles down the road from where the battle had taken place. It didn't matter anymore.
For most people, the fight was only beginning, but for him, it seemed over. At least, it would be, once Damian awoke. The sun rose calmly over a still land. Everything seemed too peaceful for him to fathom the chaos that apparently lingered over the horizon. What is Damian going to think, that Nephrita is released from her body? Will she be relieved or disturbed?
However she felt, Domino knew he would stay by her side. He thought back on the things she had told him since they had been traveling together again. He didn't believe her assertions that he had a good heart, but the fact that she did, and so strongly, made him both overjoyed and uncomfortable. He was resigned to accept that he didn't deserve trust or concern. Finding someone who believed him worthy of both opened up a part of his heart that had been locked away for a long time, yet made him feel vulnerable. Not to her, but those around her.
Leaves rustled under careful steps at the edge of the grove, but Domino didn't turn away from Damian's unmoving body. He knew who stood near.
"Nothing?" the knight asked simply. Domino only shook his head. Their last attempt to wake Damian had been an unlikely idea and like the others, it hadn't worked. The knight sighed defeatedly.
"We need to take her to a mage," he remarked. "They're the only ones who will be able to do anything." Domino said nothing. He knew little of magic and couldn't even fathom a guess as to what had happened to Damian or what would help now. All he knew was that he couldn't protect her last night, so the only thing he could do was try to bring her back.
He glanced over at Sir Magni. The knight looked uncomfortable, but returned the gaze defiantly.
"I'm doing this for her," he stated. It didn't need to be said. Domino simply turned back to Damian. The knight obviously still disliked him, but Domino would have been surprised if he didn't. As long as Sir Magni didn't challenge him or show any signs of disrespect to Damian, Domino didn't care if the knight stayed. To his credit, Sir Magni was setting aside his differences with Domino to help Damian. His knowledge of magic was welcome with Damian in her state.
The woods fell quiet. He could hear the knight's distracted movements, trying to accept a silence he didn't like. It wasn't Domino's intention to unnerve the knight. He simply had nothing to say. Words, he had found, were most often unnecessary. A long moment passed, the air filled only with the twitters of songbirds.
Finally, the knight stated, "The horses should be well rested by now. We should start moving again." Domino nodded, not facing Sir Magni, and began gathering the sachets and bottles surrounding Damian. He heard the knight turn and begin to approach the horses.
Suddenly, the grove lit up from a brilliant flash of light. Domino sprang to his feet and drew his sword, shading his eyes against the harsh flare. Leaves rustled under the horses' hooves as Singer screamed and reared up. Once he could see, Domino raised his blade in the defensive. Across the clearing, past Garrick standing with his spear held forward as well, stood the fox woman, her solid black eyes narrowed in a dark glare.
"Still coming after Damian?" Sir Magni challenged.
"Are you satisfied, knight?" the malakh spat out. "You've released Nephrita, the greatest blight upon this land in its entire history."
"I did no such thing," the knight retaliated. "It was your threats that made Damian run."
"You protected her!" the fox woman snapped. "You kept Nephrita safe so that she could return unchallenged."
"I protected Damian," Sir Magni replied. "And you were the one who told the krolmins that she had their magic in the first place. You have no one to blame but yourself."
"I had to find her," the fox woman snarled. "What the krolmins did was no fault of mine."
"And your driving Damian away was no fault of mine," the knight answered.
"You have no idea what you've done," the malakh remarked with a rumbling growl. The knight raised his spear as she took a step forward. Her fur stood on end and the skin beneath it seemed to glow as if red-hot embers lurked beneath the golden hair.
"I know exactly what I did," Garrick answered, unwavering. "I protected an innocent person who had nothing to do with any of this."
"One girl's life is a sacrifice far better than the darkness you've doomed this world to," retorted the fox woman.
"Bullshit," Sir Magni stated. "Nobody has the right to throw away another life so recklessly."
"I am a malakh!"
"You're stuck-up," the knight remarked. "We could have prevented this ourselves if you had been willing to let us."
"There's no way you could have been absolutely safe, and don't even think about it, mercenary." The fox woman turned her head to glare at Domino. "You caught me by surprise once, but I won't make that mistake again." Sir Magni stole a brief glance over his shoulder at Domino. Slowly, Domino lowered his hand from where he had been reaching for his amulet. He wracked his mind for a way to attack the malakh.
"Stand aside," the fox woman ordered of the knight.
"And let you kill Damian? I don't think so," Sir Magni replied.
"What good would that do?" the malakh responded, irritated. "Nephrita has already been released." She glanced over the knight's shoulder at Damian's body lying unmoving beside Domino. The malakh's fur flattened against her head, the inner glow dissipated. "But she still holds a connection to the girl that I can use to find her." Sir Magni's spear lowered faintly. "Now stand aside or I will move you myself." The fox woman made to approach Damian, but Garrick didn't move.
"What do you mean Damian still holds a connection to Nephrita?" he asked, baffled. The malakh turned its dark glare back to the knight.
"Do you really think the bonds of the gods so weak?" she snapped. "The only way Nephrita could return to this realm was to forge her own spirit bond with the girl. Though she is free now, she left a part of her behind when she escaped. With that, I can track her down. Now, move." The knight stepped aside as the malakh shouldered harshly past him.
Domino remained where he stood, falchion held threateningly out to the fox woman. She stopped before him, fixing him with a dark gaze. Over her shoulder, Domino could see the knight standing straight, gazing distractedly at Damian. The blade of his spear rested on the forest floor. Domino hesitated, staring down the increasingly impatient malakh.
Slowly, he pulled his sword back, though he kept it drawn. Not sparing him another glance, the malakh knelt beside Damian, at his feet. He didn't move. The fox woman reached her hands out over Damian's chest and stomach and closed her eyes. Silence fell over the grove. Domino wasn't certain anything was happening. In the stillness, the horses shuffled nervously against their halters. Domino, Sir Magni, and the malakh remained perfectly still.
After a long moment, the malakh drew back. Domino let out a breath he didn't realize he had been holding. The fox woman stood, her silken robe flowing gracefully around her. At full height, her eyes were above Domino's. He had seen a few unusual things in his life, but to be standing face to face with a malakh, a woman with the head of a fox that stood taller than him, made his heart beat faster.
"Why is this your mission alone?" the knight asked. "Surely there must be hundreds of spirits who want Nephrita gone as much as you." The malakh simply turned and began walking toward the edge of the grove where she had appeared.
"I've heard of your kind," Sir Magni continued before she could leave. "Kitsune. There are lots of them."
"There used to be," she answered grimly. She turned to face him, her gaze hard.
"Your books didn't tell you that the lives of kitsune are tied to the livelihood of the land where they live, did they?" she wondered. "Yet we are not elemental spirits. Kitsune do not automatically return when the grasses grow and the trees bear fruit again." The malakh stepped forward, glaring down at the knight.
"You want to know why I face Nephrita alone? Because my kind nearly died out the last time she wreaked havoc over this land. I was one of few born during that dark time to survive her reign of destruction." The knight's eyes widened, and Domino's with him.
"Yes, that's right," the malakh stated. "I have walked this land for over one thousand years. I watched my companions and family wither and die as fields were scorched and forests turned to ash. My people have dwindled almost to nothing since that time. I have not seen another kitsune in nearly a decade. For all I know, I may be the last one." Turning about, she walked toward the edge of the trees. Domino and Sir Magni could only watch.
At the edge of the clearing, the malakh glanced over her shoulder.
"Nephrita single-handedly almost eradicated the kitsune. Not only that, but she turned this land into such a ruin that it took centuries to rebuild." Her inky black eyes narrowed. "And you let her walk right back and destroy it all over again."
With another brilliant flash of light, the malakh was gone. Silence rang throughout the grove as Domino and Sir Magni gazed at the spot where the fox woman had been moments before. The horses calmed and only the breath of the wind and chirps from birds and squirrels filled the air. Sir Magni took in a heavy breath.
"Get the horses ready," he stated. "We need to get moving."
Domino only nodded.