“A life for…a life. I am giving mine to save yours, Lady Merellis. I’m so happy…I was able to…help you in the end. I only wish I could…be around to see you grow… And to see the peaceful future…you’ll build…”
“Stop! Anna! Don’t say these are your last moments. Please, don’t say that! You’ve helped me so many times! I need you to stay with me, Anna!!!”
Anna’s eyes widened slightly with surprise, then softened as tears shined in them, and she smiled. “Thank you. Please forgive my rudeness, leaving first… Give Abel and Enarene…my regards…”
“Anna…? Anna!!!” Merellis frantically yelled Anna’s name, trying to clutch onto her life force. She screamed it over and over again.
However, Anna could no longer respond. Instead, the young woman quietly fell into an eternal sleep from which she would never wake, a peaceful look on her face.
“Oh, Anna…” Tears streamed down Merellis’s face.
A painful silence loomed over the place.
“There you are, Merellis.” Pax suddenly appeared with several guards, breaking the silence at last.
“Brother…”
“Is Anna…?”
“Yes. And not just her. Many of our precious comrades gave their lives… As soon as your troops are done fighting, we must go get them.” The vitality had disappeared from Merellis’s eyes as she stared back at the battlefield. A deep sadness enveloped her.
“I’m sorry… You dealt with a very tough battle.” A pained expression crossed Pax’s face.
“This is the decision that I made. There’s no reason for you to feel responsible, Brother. I’m just ashamed of my own powerlessness.” Merellis unsteadily rose to her feet. “I defeated Cordis, but I couldn’t find the merchant. We should start searching for him at once.”
“Nort was hiding in the march. Father already took care of him.”
“Nort took over the operation without knowing what was going on with the Sligars… Is that why Cordis went rogue?” Merellis asked.
A captain of the guard dragged Cordis’s body over to show Pax, and the young man’s eyes opened wide with surprise.
“But that’s impossible…” Pax started. “Abel and his men were supposed to be watching over Cordis!”
“Abel?”
“Yes. Abel was working undercover inside the Cordis household. His responsibility was to keep watch over Curtis and Cordis. I wonder if Miles discovered Lord Romello’s plot and sprang into action instead?”
“It’s possible. If the operation at the Sligar manor succeeded and Cordis was removed from his position as heir, his actions today would make sense. Did you receive any clues from Abel that Cordis was going to be involved with this battle?”
Merellis was doing her best to suppress her emotions and remain calm. Pax and everyone else watched her with aching hearts.
“No, I didn’t.”
Merellis suddenly jumped on her horse.
“What is it, Merellis?”
“Something’s bothering me, and I have to go check it out,” she said.
“Wait!” Pax frantically tried to stop her. “Let us take care of this. You need to rest!”
“No, I can’t! Anna’s last wish was that I give her regards to Abel and Enarene. I need him to come back home to Tasmeria safely! He must be in such a dire situation that he couldn’t send the information about Cordis… That means he’s in trouble! I know you can’t leave here, so I must!” Merellis refused to listen to Pax and spurred on her horse.
While everyone was stunned as they watched Merellis go, Shrey came back to himself and jumped on his own horse, starting to follow. “I’ll go with her!”
Merellis showed no signs of fatigue as she raced north toward the Sligar manor. The sun was beginning to set, and a reddish-orange light spread throughout the sky from the west. As they neared the town, Merellis’s mood became cold and sharp. Shrey could sense as much even as he followed behind her. The closer they came to the town, the more impatient and frantic the mood in the air became. It seemed like something had happened in town. The two of them silently surveyed the scene, watching to see what was going on.
Finally, the sun fell beneath the horizon, and everything grew dark.
As darkness fell, the feeling in the air changed completely.
“Something’s coming,” Merellis said quietly, showing a slight reaction.
“What? Lady Merellis…?”
They heard a small noise, and suddenly, Alf and Abel appeared from the shadows. Abel had been severely wounded, and Alf was dragging him along.
“Alf, this way! Shrey, you help Abel!”
“Yes, my lady!”
Merellis stood in front of them protectively. She drew her sword and turned toward the other sounds she heard. Even though they were covered in darkness, she could still perfectly read her enemies’ movements, and she cut them down one by one. Alf skillfully backed her up without getting in her way.
“I think that’s all of them…” Merellis shook the blood from her blade when she no longer heard anyone else coming. “Are you two all right?”
“Th-thank you, Lady Merellis…” Abel said just as he collapsed.
“H-hey?!” She reached out and grabbed him as he fell. Thick, warm blood stained her hands. The metallic scent of it hung in the air. Seeing blood on her hands again so soon after what she had just gone through with Anna was too much for her. Her entire body began to tremble at the sight. “Abel…? Abel!!!”
“Please move, Lady Merellis.” Shrey ripped some fabric from his clothes and tried to perform first aid on Abel, but it was too dark for him to see what he was doing.
“Alf! Get a light! Shrey, get the first aid kit!” Merellis barked out orders, but Abel reached up with a bloody hand to stop her.
“I’m…sorry. Made a mistake earlier… Alf somehow got me here…”
“Don’t talk. You’ll be fine! We’ll patch up your wounds and you’ll be fine!”
“We can’t use light… The rest will see us… Please… Leave me here…and go.”
“Don’t be ridiculous! We can’t do that!”
“Here…” Abel took a bundle of papers from his pocket and handed them to Merellis. They were spotted with blood.
“These…”
The papers contained proof of the connection between Wels and Cordis. Other letters showing Cordis was connected with other nobles were included in the bundle as well.
“Show no mercy to those who tried…to overthrow House Anderson. Tell General Gazell. We need him…to protect the kingdom. Because of him, the knights and the army finally work…together. Because of Gazell…Tweil will not rise against us. Other kingdoms too. Tasmeria…can’t lose him… So, take…”
Merellis hesitantly took the letters.
“I’m sure General Gazell and Lord Pax… They won’t take this easily. Tell them… Don’t let my death…be in vain.” Straining himself to talk so much, blood gushed from his mouth.
“Tell them yourself! Tell them not to let your efforts to have been in vain!”
“I know my body better than anyone else…” Abel gave her a confident smile, so much so it was hard to believe he was a man on the verge of death.
“Why? Why…?” She asked with frustration.
“I don’t take my life…lightly. I have so many…” He paused, choking. “Many things left to live for, but I can’t…” He coughed painfully. Blood splattered and flowed everywhere. When the fit finished, he began to wheeze. “But I can entrust…this kingdom…to capable hands. I can die…peaceful…”
He must have already lost his sense of sight because he couldn’t make eye contact with Merellis any longer. The flame of his life was about to burn out.
She grabbed his hand. “You can’t just say that! It’s too heavy. That’s not something I can just promise!” She smiled at him through her tears. “But…I will. I will vow to myself to protect this kingdom’s peace.”
“That’s…reassuring.” He smiled. His pale face twisted with pain, but even so, the corners of his mouth tugged up weakly.
“And…Anna’s waiting for you. She told me to give you her regards, but…I think she can tell you herself now.”
Abel’s eyes widened with shock, but he slowly smiled again. “Ah… I’ll…let her. Thank you…Lady Mer…ellis. And Lord Louis…”
Then, he quietly closed his eyes. As he did, Merellis doubled over, quietly sobbing.
Rain began to slowly fall from the sky like tears. The droplets gradually picked up their pace until there was a proper rain falling down over them. The cold drops pounded upon the group, almost as if to wash away the blood from the ground…and reflecting the young woman’s sadness.
Shrey and Alf had been silently watching over Merellis as she mourned her friend. She wasn’t sure how much time had passed, but eventually, she quietly stood up.
“Let’s go. Shrey, take Alf on your horse. I’ll… I’ll take Abel.”
“We’re taking him with us?” Alf looked surprised.
Merellis stared at him blankly. “Yes. I want to bury him in his own kingdom.”
“But if there are more enemies and we have him with us…” He let the rest unspoken—his body would just get in the way and weigh them down.
“Then I will simply kill them all.” She had said that so calmly with a beautiful expression on her face that Shrey and Alf felt cold sweat run down their backs. The young woman’s smile was so full of malice that they found it hard to breathe. All the two men could hear was their hearts pounding hard in their ears.
“And that’s why I’m going to take him with us. I won’t hear any arguments about it. Let’s go.” The tense atmosphere dissipated as she started to move.
Shrey and Alf let out relieved sighs.
“Come on.”
The three got on their horses and rode back toward the battlefield. Just as Alf had suspected, enemies came after them. But as Merellis vowed, she defeated all of them, viciously and swiftly, before Alf or Shrey had any time to lift their blades.