The Forsaken Hero
Chapter 226: Party’s Bond

Chapter 226: Party’s Bond

My quiet, heartfelt declaration brought a somber silence to the cavern, broken only by the drip of Vithrass’ blood. After a moment, the Demonkin looked up, his eyes glowing with madness.

"Free? You can never be free. You are already mine!"

He tried to raise his arms, but when only one responded, he stared down dumbly at the severed limb lying limply on the ground. A scream built in his throat, beginning low and deep, building to a dreadful cacophony of rage and denial.

"Oh, shut up and die already," Sorrin spat, raising his sword.

But before he could bring it down, something on the demonkin’s remaining hand flashed, and a magic circle materialized around him. Sorrin backed away warily as several thousand runes sprung up, rapidly weaving complex magic circles.

Something about the spell tugged at my memory, and I pulled at Tana’s sleeve. "Stop him!" I cried, "Its a teleportat-"

Before I could finish, the demonkin vanished, pulled away to some unknown location. Devoid of his horrifying screams, the cavern felt eerily quiet, with only the distant weeping of the caged prisoners. The sudden disappearance caught the entire party off-guard, leaving us in a stunned silence for several seconds. Once it became apparent he was truly gone, I let out a sigh of relief. Even injured, the demonkin’s very presence was a vice in my heart.

"Damn it," Sorrin finally swore, ramming his sword into his sheath.

Dyson turned to me. "Teleportation? Is something like that even possible?"

I lowered my head, too ashamed to meet their questioning eyes. "I’m sorry. If only I realized it sooner, then we could have-"

"I think that’s enough out of you," Sorrin said, frowning at me.

I cringed, unconsciously grabbing the end of my trembling tail. Had they finally decided I was too much of a burden? Were the hints of my past too suspicious? Was it because I was a demonkin? A thousand accusations swept through my mind, but every one of them evaporated at his next words.

"I said it before, and I’ll say it again. We’re alive. We fought a powerful foe we weren’t prepared for. In our job, that almost always means death, an outcome we all resolved ourselves for So stop apologizing, you saved us. I don’t care who this Byron fellow is or anything else about your past, because right now, you’re a member of my party, for which I am truly grateful. Thank you."

I simply stood there, my lips parted mid-breath. My tail trembled and I turned away, trying to hide the embarrassed flush spreading across my cheeks. "I-I, um..."

Tana laughed and patted me on the shoulder. "You’re welcome," she prompted.

I blushed darker and hid behind my staff. ’Thank You.’ The phrase was so simple yet intimate, hitting me in a way it never had before. People had often thanked me for my magic, but it wasn’t truly me they were grateful for. They were thankful they could walk, not for the one who healed them. They only ever saw what I was, a hero, not who. But this... this was different, and I didn’t know how to react.

Dyson cleared his throat, prompting everyone to look over. He shot me a wide smile and said, "As much as I love seeing how adorable Starlight is when she blushes, don’t we have other things to worry about?"

"I’ll loot," Rasce immediately volunteered.

Sorrin rolled his eyes, his frustration at letting the demonkin get away forgotten. "I guess I’ll help you with the cages," he told Dyson.

As the three men busied themselves, Tana grasped my hand, drawing me a little bit away. Even after she stopped, she continued to hold me tightly, her hand warm and comforting.

"I wanted to thank you too," she said softly. "When that man appeared and said he wanted to make us slaves, I was so scared. Sorrin and I...we were caught once before, when the Beast Kingdom fell. We were captured with the others from our village and put in a wagon. But..." A deep shadow crossed her face. "Something happened. A bright light appeared in front of the wagon, and a girl appeared. In the confusion we managed to escape, and somehow ended up here. Heartland’s a good place for people like us, and it terrifying to think that this ’Circle of Chains’ might be trying to change that."

I nodded, unable to speak past the lump in my throat. She looked past me, her gaze settling fondly on Sorrin.

"If you hadn’t been able to cast those spells, I don’t even want to think of what would have happened. I’m grateful to that girl who saved us before, even though I know she’s probably a slave somewhere. To think another mysterious girl would save us this time as well," she said, turning back to me with a smile.

Tana blinked, Her smile fading as tears welled up in my eyes, overflowing and trickling down my cheeks. After a moment, she pulled me close in a tight embrace. She was only a year or two older than I, but at that moment, she felt like the mother I always dreamed of.

"Shh, it’s okay," she murmured. "It’s all over now. I know it was scary, but whatever happened to you before isn’t going to happen again. You’re with us now, and we’ll keep you safe, just like how you protected us this time. We’re a party, and we have each other’s back."

"Promise?" I whispered, raising my head to look into her eyes.

She responded without hesitation. "Promise."

We remained still for some time as she held me close, patiently waiting our my sobs. After a long moment, Rasce’s voice drifted over. Even though I couldn’t see him, I could hear the smirk in his words.

"Hey, if you two hug any longer, Sorrin will get jealous...and Dyson’ll end up with a nosebleed.

Reluctantly, I allowed Tana to pull away. She rolled her eyes and shot the ranger a glare, but he only shrugged. Dyson coughed awkwardly, but made no move to deny it.

"And what about you?" She asked, challenging the ranger.

He shrugged, not looking the least bit threatened. "Entertainment."

Dyson coughed again, eager to change the subject. "We finished up," he said, gesturing to the huddled group of beastkin behind Sorrin. They must have felt some kinship with the Wolfkin, because even the grown men never strayed far from his armored figure.

"Let’s get out of this filthy place. I can still smell the goblins," Sorrin said, wrinkling his nose, and I’d like to be as far from these cages as possible."

The beastkin nodded in agreement, all too eager to leave the caves behind. Without any reason to remain, we quickly made our way up the mess of tunnels. The earth seemed far more willing to let us out than in, and it wasn’t long before the darkness was broken by bright beams of reddish light.

Emerging from the earth, I took a long, deep breath of sweet forest air, and basked in the evening light of the sun. Being underground was never a pleasant experience, sometimes enough in and of itself to give me a small panic attack. Even the natural walls of a cave reminded me of a dungeon, not to mention a goblin den specifically outfitted as a slaver’s lair.

We camped for the night in the same location as before, save this time we had many more eyes. I was assigned third watch with Sorrin again, but when I was shaken awake, it was already morning. No one mentioned anything about it, and when I asked, Sorrin just shrugged, his ears twitching, and mentioned something about me looking tired.

That was certainly true. It wasn’t until midway through the next day that my soul recovered enough to cast a first-circle spell. By the time we reached Westfall Village, I felt mostly back to normal, save for the physical exhaustion of walking for two days straight.

The beastkin families returned to their homes, and we continued into the village proper. The inn was almost empty when we arrived, and I quickly staggered to a table in front of the fire. I was surprised to find that after ordering drinks from a curios Bilev, the innkeeper, the rest of the party gathered around me. Not entirely sure what to expect, I clasped my hands in my lap and looked around the table with wide eyes.

"I’ll write the report to the Guild Master," Sorrin said, breaking the silence. "Tana, you’re on supplies. Rasce and Dyson, you two get our affairs in order. I want to split the loot in like an hour."

Loot? I glanced curiously at the two, who quickly put their heads together. Although I could have eavesdropped on their whispering with my keen hearing, I chose to wait and see. It didn’t seem like anything I had to be worried about, at the very least.

"And me?" I asked quietly.

Sorrin hesitated, shooting Tana a look. She shrugged, and he turned back to me.

"You’d better rest up. That last request was a little more than we bargained for, and we need our new mage in top condition for the next one."

"Next one?" I echoed distantly.

He nodded, a faint smile crossing his face. "We picked up a whole bunch of smaller requests when we were in Heartland. Our next request is a simple escort mission for the local herbalist while they collect herbs in a dangerous neck of the woods. Not that I expect anything, with monster sightings at an all-time low, but the smaller requests help us flesh out our supplies. It’s difficult to take on as many large quests as we need to support the entire party, so smaller stuff makes up the space in between."

I nodded thoughtfully, idly caressing the ridges of my horn. Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad to take it easy for a while. My soul needed time to heal and stabilize, and my body truly did need time to recover. The Sun God’s curse prevented me from gaining the enhanced endurance that even mages were entitled to receive. Tana had walked the entire way without once stopping to catch her breath, and never once mentioned anything about her feet hurting.

"We’re ready," Dyson announced rather suddenly.

"Already?" Sorrin raised an eyebrow.

"Yup. The Loots ready to go!"