---

By the time they rode into the next town, they were too late.

The attack had been recent, that much was clear. Bodies not yet removed still lay in the street, human and krolmin alike. People sat in front of still smoking houses, families huddling together and sobbing over those who hadn't survived. The volunteer town guard walked through the streets wearing dismal expressions but trying to comfort and assist where they could.

Many townspeople sent Garrick sad glances before looking away, upset that he had not been there to help protect them against the invasion. One knight, especially an Agaesi, might have made a difference. It was a small town with few people, built as a trading outpost that tripled in size during the weekly market.

A heavy weight settled in Garrick's stomach as he examined the town. He had failed to protect anyone except Damian, and even she may never awaken. Had he been here, he could have at least saved one life. That man who owned a shop now burnt to ash, that Seer, that mother of four children, that young boy who had tried to flee.

He averted his eyes. Calling over his shoulder, he stated to the mercenary, "See if you can find a healer for Damian. I'm going to see what I can find out." Domino didn't respond. The mercenary's silence irked him. He hadn't given Garrick enough reason to mistrust him, at least not in his personal experience, but he didn't know Domino's intentions. He didn't like associating with someone he couldn't predict at least somewhat.

Gladly, Garrick urged Brenadier into a trot and left the mysterious mercenary behind, Damian's mare keeping pace beside him. Destruction seemed to spread throughout the whole town. Considering the number of krolmins that had attacked in the fields, he wasn't surprised. It seemed that no villager had been spared some tragedy.

Down the road, he found a lone man trying to lever part of a collapsed wall off a bay horse buried beneath it. Dismounting, he approached and lent his strength to the man's efforts. With one coordinated push, the rubble lifted off the horse. Whickering, the animal stumbled to its feet and moved clear of the collapsed wall. Garrick and the townsperson let the debris fall to the ground.

"Thank you, Sir," the man stated, weary but relieved. He and Garrick approached the horse. It was limping on one leg and had a few cuts from the jagged wall. As Garrick examined the horse's leg, he found little injury.

"I think it's just numb," he remarked. "She should be alright." Even as Garrick said it, the mare began to lower its leg and rest it on the ground. The man stroked the horse's neck gently and uttered soothing words to it.

"What happened here?" Garrick asked. The man shook his head.

"Monsters," he answered quietly. "They came out of the sky, long after I was asleep. I hardly got a glimpse of them, but there were so many." The man paused, shaking from the memory. Garrick stroked the bay mare's mane and waited for the man to continue.

"They... they were using magic," the townsman added. "That was how they burned down so many buildings."

"Did you see anything else?" Garrick wondered. The man lifted his head to glance at Garrick over the horse's back, meeting his eyes for the first time. A world-weary expression hung on his face, but a spark of wonder flickered in his eyes.

"Yes," he replied. The man leaned conspiratorially close to the knight. "I thought it was a dream, but I heard Daxin the cobbler talking about it, too. There was a woman, flying in the sky with the monsters, but she had no wings. Clothed in dark robes and dark hair. She just watched those monsters attack." Garrick glanced away, taking in the sight of the street, filled with people trying to clean up the destruction. There was no question who that woman had been. The man walked around the horse next to Garrick nervously.

"You believe me, don't you, Sir?" he pleaded. Garrick returned his gaze to the villager solemnly.

"What you saw was real," he stated. Reaching into his pouch, he pulled a coin out and handed it to the villager. The man bowed gratefully while Garrick walked around him and began approaching his destrier. When the townsman opened his hands to glimpse the coin, he gasped.

"Sir," he attempted, stunned at the sight of the saber in his hands. It was likely more than the villager earned in a year of hard work. Garrick laid a hand on the man's shoulder.

"Be strong," he remarked and turned back toward Brenadier and Hope.

"Thank you, Sir," the man's voice came reverently from behind him. "Thank you." It was the least Garrick could do for the ravaged man. He felt guilty leaving the man with such a favorable impression when he held such blame for the destruction, but right now, these people needed hope more than anything.

When Garrick reached his stallion, jeering voices rang across his ears from an alley nearby. Curiously, he approached.

Turning a corner, he found a semicircle of people shouting and throwing stones at something deep in the alley. He approached the group of people, eyebrows arched in confusion. Voices cheered his arrival as he began shouldering through the crowd.

"Oh, Sir knight, thank the light you're here!"

"We've been waiting for the guards to come, but now that you're here, you can finish 'em off!"

Moving clear of the group of people, Garrick's eyes widened. Huddled within a corner of the alley lay two bruised and bloody krolmins, and a third seemed to hide behind them.

With a laugh, a man beside him picked up a rock to cast at the krolmins. He gasped when Garrick grabbed his arm in a tight grip, eyes narrowed at him.

"Leave," he ordered.

"B-but Sir..." the man attempted.

"These are the monsters what destroyed our town, Sir," another voice piped in.

"They're devils," added another. "They should be skinned for what they did!" Garrick grabbed another man's arm before he could cast a stone.

"These beasts live only to kill!" another villager snapped.

"Then why haven't they attacked you yet?" Garrick asked calmly.

"What?"

"They can use magic," Garrick pointed out. "Do you really think that if they wanted you dead, they'd just let you hurt them like this?" The townspeople murmured to themselves.

"They're not causing you any more harm," he continued. "Let them go."

"Let them go?" a villager balked. "They destroyed our town!"

"Are you disobeying my orders?" Garrick snarled threateningly. All the townspeople blubbered in terror and apologized profusely.

"Get out of here," Garrick commanded. With that, the villagers scattered. Shaking his head, Garrick turned and approached the krolmins. They cowered under him.

"It's alright," he remarked, trying to look trusting. "I don't mean to hurt you." Suddenly, a rough voice came from beneath the wings of the battered krolmins.

"Magni?"

Garrick started. As the two krolmins parted, he found a frail form sheltered beneath them, body accented with white feathers.

"Orok'Ti," Garrick stated. The shaman stood, helped on either side by the krolmins that had protected him.

"You save us," Orok'Ti remarked in his gravelly voice.

"What happened?" Garrick asked. The krolmins seemed so sincere, so unthreatening, that he couldn't fear them if he tried. He even found himself wanting to help clean their wounds. The shaman shook his head sadly.

"She make us hurt human," he told. "Want only peace, not hurt human." Orok'Ti glanced at his hands wearily. "We no can stop it. She make us fight."

"Nephrita?" Garrick asked. The shaman raised his yellow eyes to the knight.

"Creator," he stated. Garrick nodded.

"We want stop fight," the shaman added. "Fight only hurt us." Garrick examined Orok'Ti. Everything he had learned about krolmins stated that they were fairly simple creatures, and lying was a concept they simply wouldn't understand. He wasn't sure if it was true, but if it wasn't, then the krolmins were extremely clever, for he couldn't find any suggestion of mistruth in the shaman's words.

"Can't you fight her will?" Garrick wondered. The shaman raised his head defiantly.

"She not us shaman," he responded. "But she make us fight, we do not want. We see us hands, but we not move them. They move from her." Judging from the way the krolmins had so quickly moved to Nephrita's side and attacked the soldiers for her, Garrick was inclined to believe the shaman. It had seemed wholly unnatural to him at the time, but the krolmins responded to nothing he did except fight them.

Garrick frowned. With what he knew about the krolmins, he was willing to trust them, but was it the right decision to let them walk free after what they had done? If Orok'Ti spoke the truth, it wasn't their intention, nor even really their doing, but convincing anyone else of that would be near impossible. And what if the townspeople were right? What if the krolmins were more savage than he had been lead to believe? He had no way of being certain. Every decision seemed to be the wrong one. It was an awfully familiar feeling of late.

"Come with me," he stated tiredly and turned. "I will help you leave." Hesitantly, the krolmins followed after Garrick to the mouth of the alley.

A crowd had gathered outside the alley. Nearest to him stood volunteer guards armed with scythes and pitchforks. Garrick stopped, facing down the townspeople commandingly.

"These krolmins mean you no harm," he called out loud enough for all to hear. "Let them leave peacefully and they will not bother you again."

"How can we trust those monsters?" one of the guards answered. Garrick drew his spear.

"You will trust me," he remarked. "And if anyone dares challenge their escape, they will face me." His heart raced. Inwardly, he prayed to Justice that the krolmins would leave as peacefully as he claimed. If they tried to attack anyone as they left, he would pay for their actions, though his own guilt would hurt worse.

Slowly, the crowd dispersed and moved back. Glancing over his shoulder, Garrick nodded to Orok'Ti and his companions. The krolmins began running down the street and leapt into the air, spreading their black wings to rise in the sky on the wind. The townspeople watched with Garrick as they flew away.

Once out of sight, Garrick returned his spear to its harness over his shoulder. A collective sigh of relief sounded from the villagers. Garrick echoed them silently. The townspeople murmured to themselves as they returned to cleaning up. One figure remained after the others disappeared, holding a limp form in his arms.

"Did you find any help?" Garrick asked. Domino shook his head.

"They're all busy with their own people," he remarked. Garrick nodded. He suspected as much and doubted a healer could do anything for Damian, anyway. He approached Brenadier.

"Let's go, then," he stated. "It's not worth staying here. Windermere is only a few days north." Only a few mages inhabited the duke's city, but it was a guild. It was all Garrick could think to do.

Mounting his horse, he took up Hope's reins in his hand and began leading them out of the town.

The journey was dark, quiet, and foreboding. Most of the plains seemed untouched. It was as if Nephrita and the krolmins had gone straight for people, with only a few fields attacked here and there. It was hard not knowing why Nephrita wanted such destruction or what she felt. As with Domino, he couldn't predict her actions, and any successful battle involved doing just that. He began to wish that he could speak with the fox woman Niabi again, just to learn something about the dark goddess. If only the malakh would understand that he was willing to face Nephrita as well, willing to help her stop the plague that was spreading throughout the land. Now that he understood Niabi's history, however, he wasn't surprised that she was so cold.

Left with his own thoughts, Garrick found his spirit growing darker. Had he done the right thing? Did he truly act according to the values he had sworn to uphold, or was he just so infatuated with Damian that he wanted to protect her and damn the consequences? And what was he to do now? Where did his future lie? Continue protecting Damian, who no longer needed it, or plunge into reckless battle against a goddess? He was no leader, that much was certain. I can't even make decisions for myself without always questioning them. He only hoped that arriving at Windermere would provide him with some answers. If it still stood when they would arrive.

He found it strangely easier to accept the mercenary's company over the following day. Domino's utter silence made him feel alone, which he was more comfortable with. Secretly, he hoped ignoring Domino unnerved the mercenary, but he was glad to feel free to be himself.

Whoever that is.

They stopped to rest the horses for the last time before nightfall, in the middle of the afternoon. They didn't bother to build a fire and Garrick ate little. Without saying a word, he mounted Brenadier and left to examine the nearby land. The terrain had become more hilly since shortly before the battle in the fields and was now pocked with an occasional sharp rise or rocky hillside. This part of Alden, despite being so close to Windermere, was not settled and tamed as much as the southern part of the duchy. More animals wandered through the plains and scattered woods and the wild land felt more comfortable to Garrick than the empty, symmetrical farmlands.

His mind still failed to clear, though he had expected as much. He simply couldn't seem to grasp the person he had been in Trent anymore. Somehow, it had seemed easy to be the charming knight at the time, but that man was gone now.

Cresting a hill, he pulled Brenadier to a stop and looked around. To the east, the sky was already growing dark at the horizon. They probably should have stopped sooner, but Garrick had found himself losing track of time since he rejoined Damian and Domino. He couldn't see Windermere from this distance, but he could make out some of the roads leading to it far away. Wind swept over the expanse of land before him, rustling the leaves of the scattered trees and causing their shadows to tremble. He took in a deep breath, trying to calm himself with the sight.

Suddenly, Brenadier let out an alarmed whinny and stumbled back. Garrick followed the stallion's eyes immediately. He squinted into the distance. He could see a small figure moving far away, but couldn't make out what it was. For a long moment, he gazed at the spot of darkness. A glow seemed to emanate from the ground beneath the figure.

He gasped when he realized what he saw. Worse, it was coming closer, heading his way.

Spinning the destrier about, Garrick immediately galloped back toward Domino. The mercenary jumped to his feet when Garrick came careening into the clearing where they had stopped to rest, pulling Brenadier to a halt.

"We need to leave, now," he stated quickly. Domino sent him a curious gaze.

"Soldiers?" he asked.

"Nephrita," Garrick answered darkly. With that, the mercenary immediately began gathering his equipment about him. "I'll take your things, just get Damian." Unquestioningly, Domino tossed his satchel to Garrick. Slinging it over his shoulder, Garrick rode over to grasp Hope's reins. Domino had mounted his gelding with Damian by the time he was ready. Together, they began galloping across the plain, not wasting the time to return to the road first.

When Garrick glanced over his shoulder, he could see the tiny form of Nephrita soaring through the sky, an enormous trail of fire following her on the ground. He kicked harder at Brenadier's flanks.

Garrick moved between the hills, trying to keep them as hidden as possible as the dark goddess drew closer. Past one hill, he saw a larger one behind it, its far side ending in a rocky cliff face that reached down to low ground.

"Over there!" he called out to Domino as he veered toward the shelter of the cliff, hoping it would be enough. The mercenary's horse galloped along behind him and Hope.

As he approached the edge of the cliff, he glanced over his shoulder and found Nephrita only a few seconds behind now. Past her, all he could see had been reduced to ash.

Garrick and Domino darted behind the cliff wall just as the dark goddess flew overhead, fire roaring out in every direction and soon surrounding them. Nephrita paused before them, hovering a story and a half off the ground. An amused look crossed her face as she gazed down at the figures below her. Now, she was clothed in a black robe with dark red and purple designs spread across it. The gown hung low over her shoulders and chest and beneath it, Garrick could see her legs and feet were bare. A silver tiara with sharp spines and dark amethysts jutted out at the top and sides of her head. Her black hair was cropped short, reaching down only to her ears but for two locks in the front that hung down to her ribs. She made a beautiful and deadly sight.

"Well, I'm surprised to see you here," the goddess remarked with her silky voice. It made Garrick weak in the knees just to hear it. He drew his spear, useless though it was. "I must thank you for keeping her safe until I could escape." Her eyes narrowed in a dark grin. "Although that doesn't mean I feel I owe you." Garrick turned Brenadier harder to the side, the easier to dodge any attack and rush her at an angle.

"What do you want?" he called out. "Why do you seek such destruction?"

Nephrita's mouth twitched in a sadistic smile. With a simple flick of her wrist, Garrick felt as if another cliff wall had reached out to strike him. He yelped as he went flying off Brenadier's saddle to hit the ground hard. The stallion reared up and screamed in response.

A wave of pain ripped through Garrick's body with his landing. Through the agony fogging his mind, he could hear Brenadier's hooves turn about before him protectively. A pulsing sensation that paralyzed Garrick echoed through his body. The smallest movement he tried to make against it caused his entire body to throb. It felt strikingly similar to the spell Niabi had cast on him the first time they had met, yet strangely, it didn't feel as potent.

"That, dear knight, is an ancient tale," she answered casually. "And you won't be around to hear any of it." Despite the pain raging through Garrick's body, his curiosity overwhelmed him. He couldn't, however, find his voice enough to ask the dark goddess anything.

"But don't worry," Nephrita continued. Her tone had changed and he could hear the sinister grin in her voice. "As a token of my appreciation for protecting the girl, I'll make your death quick and painless."

Garrick forced his eyes open and saw her hold her hand out. Galloping steps raced nearer as another spell shot out of her hands.

Just before the blast should have reached him, Domino darted in front and the spell hit him and Damian full on. A twice-echoed cry rang across the plain as Domino and Damian fell beside Garrick.

Suddenly, the tingling pain running through Garrick's body disappeared. Sitting upright, he found Nephrita stumbling in the air. A weak moan sounded beside him. He started. Damian tossed her head faintly, her eyes squinting shut.

Catching sight of Nephrita again, he saw her trying to thrust more blasts of magic out of her hands, but they evaporated in the air before her. Her head hung wearily and she seemed to struggle to breathe. He turned to glance beside him once more.

Damian's shoulders rose and fell and her feet began to move. Beside her, Domino raised himself to his hands and knees, coughing but little the worse for wear.

Returning his gaze to Nephrita, Garrick barely glimpsed her shaking her head before she disappeared in a blaze of light. The fields around them were scorched, but the destruction had stopped.

Damian moaned again.

"Damian!" Garrick exclaimed as he leaned over her. Slowly, her eyelids fluttered open, and she gazed curiously at him before her.

"Thank the Light!" he stated. "Are you alright?" Damian's mouth opened faintly as recognition flickered in her face. Then, her eyes narrowed and she moved for the first time since the battle.

She slapped him.