Julius and Zod had found the kidnapped children. Or at least those who were left.
Even though Julius had kept his report brief, Loys could imagine what the situation on the ground was really like. But he only truly realized the extent of it when he arrived in Mornet himself that evening. Dozens of tents blocked the view of an old mine entrance like a barricade, and the pile of corpses next to the bloody footprints made it clear that this was intentional.
A shiver ran down his spine as he turned away from the corpses. He should have gotten to the bottom of the problem much earlier. Maybe he could have prevented something.
But now he was standing here.
Unable to face the facts. Silently blaming himself. Suppressing the disgust that was building up inside him.
Loys unconsciously clenched his hands into fists as he forced himself to concentrate on the current situation. He rode a few meters further and then tied his horse to a free tree near the tents. Dozens of soldiers were working like ants, running from one tent to another and seeming to primarily assist the doctors on site. A small group of soldiers spotted Loys in front of a larger tent, and judging by the crowds, this was also something like the command center.
"Sir Freigoud!", a familiar voice snapped him out of his thoughts. When he turned around, Roan Dastre was running straight towards him, so he glanced briefly at the command tent and went to meet his man.
"Good to see you're all right. Where's the rest of your group?"
"Sir Borsch is helping to get the children out of the mine, and the rest should be around here somewhere", explained Roan Dastre, then looked at the crowds. "Sir Venlan is talking to the people and preventing too much information from getting out, but it may already be too late. We assume that the Duchess of Mornet has been informed."
"I'd be surprised if she hadn't. With all these soldiers", Loys muttered. "And the new guy?"
"The Frignezer is back there", Roan Dastre explained, discreetly pointing to one of dozens of tents lying slightly apart on a hill. "Considering the situation, Sir Venlan thought it's best to have the Frignezer guarded."
"Jonat Paseru is alive?", Loys interjected in surprise. "Julius didn't mention that."
"Given the circumstances... I was wondering about that too."
"What happened?"
"You'll see when you look at the forest behind the hill", Roan Dastre explained vaguely, but clearly enough to make Loys even more tense than he already was. "When you gave me the assignment to keep an eye on the new guy, I didn't expect anything like this. You could have mentioned that he is the swordmaster of the Thunder Sword."
"It was confidential - forgive me."
"If you say so...", Roan Dastre countered irritably as Julius emerged from the crowd and spotted Loys.
"I still have to request that you do not share this information with others."
"I wasn't planning on doing that. Shadows don't talk, as you know", Roan Dastre replied, without taking his eyes off Julius Venlan. "But I'll tell you one thing. Your new friend is damn dangerous. You should have seen the look on his face when we joined him."
"He's scary when he gets serious. I know."
"No, you really don't, Sir Freigoud. I speak from experience when I tell you that you should not get involved with people like him. Whatever he wants here in Sylve, he'll somehow get you into bigger trouble. Whether you want it or not."
"Loys!", Julius shouted at them from a distance, so Loys simply raised his hand and greeted him.
"Please remember my words", Roan Dastre whispered, a member of the Shadow Unit, before distancing himself from Loys.
"I will, thank you", Loys confirmed and approached Julius, who seemed visibly relieved that he had finally arrived. With a relieved smile, he watched his friend as he discovered the dark handprint on his neck. "By the gods, what happened to you?"
"It looks worse than it is. Really. You should see the others."
"Who did that?"
"Jonat Paseru."
"You fought him?"
"I fled, to be honest", Julius replied sheepishly, rubbing his neck, which made Loys notice something else. Julius was carrying Zod's sword of Kama.
"Please give me a full status report."
"I will, follow me", Julius urged him and set off toward the hill. Even from a distance, Loys could see that the forest behind it had significantly fewer trees than here. "First things first. The children. We found them, but you won't like the condition they were in. I'll never get the images out of my head. There are an estimated 4,000 children's bodies down in the mine, maybe more."
"4,000?", Loys exclaimed in outrage. "What?"
"Yes... unfortunately. They are... their bodies are amazingly well-preserved, at least the ones that haven't been dead for long. Zod said they weren't tortured, but bled to death."
"It sounds like you were both down there."
"Yes. Someone had to get an overview of the situation."
"I'm sorry..."
"It's okay. But there is a positive side to all this. Quite a few children are still alive. Emaciated, weak, mentally destroyed. But alive. About 200, maybe 250. We got them all out and they're being treated right now. Just... don't get your hopes up too high. Almost all of them are mentally absent, you can hardly get a word out of them and I really tried. “If this place doesn’t leave them psychologically damaged, nothing will."
"Understandable, given what they've been through", Loys muttered as he gained altitude and could see over the hill.
He stopped abruptly and stared at a gigantic open space.
Where once there had been dense greenery, now only split trunks and broken branches towered into the sky. Many trees had succumbed to the force of their sword blows, split, chopped down, or charred by lightning strikes, leaving the bark shimmering black. The ground was churned up, littered with notches, broken wood, and traces of blood - which gave Loys only a glimpse of what the battle might have looked like.
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"Great gods, it... looks like a dragon ran riot here."
"You can thank Zod and that asshole for that."
"What?", Loys replied confused.
"Jonat Paseru was guarding the entrance to the mine. I ran into him quite a bit further south, and the forest down there looks pretty similar. Don't ask me how, but Zod found us pretty quickly and took over the fight from there. I just stood by, was taken hostage at some point and this is the proof I have left", Julius continued his explanation, pointing to the blue handprint on his neck. "I swear to the gods, that was unpleasant. But you know what's weird?"
"What?"
"I wasn't afraid at all. To this day, I wonder if I was just trusting in Zod's abilities or if I had found peace with death at that moment."
"Julius...", Loy began hesitantly and stopped, causing his friend and colleague to turn around.
"Don't look at me like that. I think it was the former. Although I have to admit that I'm a little angry with Zod because he showed consideration for Sir Paseru despite everything. If he had fought properly from the start, it certainly wouldn't have come to this."
"If he had fought from the start...?"
"Did I hear my name? What are you two gossiping about?", Zod spoke up.
When Loys followed the voice, he spotted the young Frignezer at the entrance to the tent, less than 5 meters away from them. Completely unharmed, not even his clothes seemed to indicate in any way that he had dueled with the swordmaster of Zurakekama.
"Zod..."
"Good evening, dear Duke. You took your time."
"Bellator is also in chaos. I came as quickly as I could", Loys defended himself, even though he couldn't say why.
"Well, better than nothing", Zod muttered and went back into the tent before shouting outside. "Are you coming?"
Julius immediately started to move, but Loys held him back by the arm and prevented him from going.
"What is it?", Julius replied in surprise.
"Did you ever feel that Zod... would put you in danger?"
"What? Never! What makes you think that?"
"Then why did you say that? What did you mean when you said he should have fought properly from the start?"
"He kept Jonat Paseru at a distance from me, and it seemed to me that he didn't want to hurt him. He still doesn't want to, even though he'll probably tell you the opposite. But when Sir Paseru grabbed me, he seemed to suddenly lose all hesitations toward him, because Zod literally brought him under his control within a few moments", Julius explained, grabbing Loy's hand to let go of him. "I can explain it later in more detail, if you want. But the short version is that Zod was either very cautious toward Jonat Paseru or toward me. I didn't see how he defeated him, but it wasn't with the sword in the end."
Confused, he stared at Julius for a moment before finally letting go of him and running to the tent. Once there, he was greeted by a kind of storage area where dozens of boxes were stowed away with sheets. A table and a chair, on which Zod was sitting, were the only things that seemed out of place.
Apart from the unconscious old man tied to a stake in the middle of the tent.
"Great gods", Loys muttered, stepping closer to the unconscious swordmaster. "Is he still alive?"
"Yes", Zod confirmed calmly.
"Zod took care of his injuries, which is why he looks so... unharmed", Julius said, visibly displeased.
"I don't understand you, Zod...", Loys murmured.
On that point, he had to agree with Julius. Zod's reaction did not strike him as if he had gone into battle with the intention of killing Jonat Paseru. The man did not have a single scratch on his skin, but his clothes revealed that he should have had some. As did the bandages wrapped around the swordmaster's stomach.
"Not that I think your decision was wrong... but why did you show him such... concern?"
"Do you think I'm someone who goes around killing people for no reason?"
"He's involved in the whole situation... he's a swordmaster whom you yourself said you wanted to avoid... he attacked you with obvious murderous intent, and despite all that... despite that, you let him get away with it? I would have expected you to beat him up."
"He's old."
"That doesn't mean he's weak. On the contrary", Julius interjected.
"Julius, if you continue to be so snarky, I'll ignore you from now on", Zod shot back.
"I'm just telling it like it is."
"Am I going to get an answer, or are you going to keep arguing like little kids?", Loys interrupted, looking up at Zod just in time to see him flinch in surprise.
"There's no particular reason. In my opinion, he's a potential source of information, and not killing him just seemed like the logical thing to do."
"You're lying, come on", Julius interjected before Loys could. "Just tell me what's going on. Even if he didn't recognize you, you know him very well. And he's important to you, even if you try to hide it."
"Okay, you're being ignored now, Julius."
"But I'm right!"
"Julius", Loys interrupted, straightening up. "Please do me a favor and leave us alone for a moment."
Julius stood silently behind him, visibly forcing himself not to make any further comments. Instead, a moment later, he took a deep breath and bowed before leaving the tent.
"Well, at least he listens to you."
"You're not his superior, you realize that, right?"
"Of course."
"Then why are you acting like a sulky child?", Loys asked, folding his arms across his chest, only to see Zod flinch again.
"Child. Kid. Boy."
"Stop it", Zod interrupted him sharply.
"If you don't like being called 'young', why are you acting like it? You've always been sensible, even back then in the prison with the duke's son."
In response, Zod simply remained silent, which surprised Loys just as much as the discussion with Julius had. Zod usually had a comment ready, which is why Loys had expected him to defend himself or explain. But instead, Zod decided to say nothing and closed his eyes.
"Just explain to me what's going on. I never said I oppose your decision, did I?", Loys began cautiously when he realized that Zod was obviously struggling with something but couldn't say it. "On the contrary, I actually think it's a good thing that you left him alive. I don't want to imagine how Frignez would react if one of her strongest fighters suddenly died during a family visit."
"Nothing at all", Zod said bitterly. And then Loys saw something he hadn't expected at all. Zod seemed to be on the verge of tears.
"Zod..."
"Jonat Paseru may be a Frignezer and a highly respected member of their society, but he's also known for being very stubborn and headstrong. Yes, Loys. You're right. He's very important to me, damn it. Both to me and to the chiefs. I... I don't want to hurt the Frignezers."
"But no one is asking you to do that?"
"I know", Zod replied with a trembling voice. "And yet I had to choose between Julius and him, even though I REALLY tried not to show Karekama. But that stubborn fool won't leave me alone, and... Julius is far too important. Far too important... to me."
"So you were the one who drew the short straw", Loys concluded, still not understanding why Zod was making such a big deal out of it.
"You could say that. It doesn't matter anyway. It won't hurt Sylve, I promise."
"I wouldn't have expected that, not from you."
He probably had to settle for that. Whatever had happened, Zod couldn't and wouldn't talk about it. So why continue to rub salt into the wound? After all, he had done his job and made sure no one got hurt. Even if it meant putting himself at a disadvantage. Loys didn't need to understand exactly how in order to accept that it was important to Zod. But not critical enough to not protect Julius.
"Thank you", Loys finally said. "For your work and for protecting Julius despite everything. If he knew that..."
Loys fell silent when he realized why Zod had responded so snappishly to Julius' comments.
"He would feel guilty, even if he doesn't know exactly what is going on", Zod completed Loys' thought process aloud. "That's just how he is. He cares too much about what other people think, and he doesn't want to be indebted to others, even if he wouldn't admit it. And yes, I don't like admitting things either. I heard you talking outside, even though you tried to be quiet. It hurt to realize how little you think of me."
"That's not true. I've only just realized how strong you really are."
"But you wouldn't have asked if you hadn't doubted me, would you?", Zod retorted, to which Loys had no answer. "Loys, I can swear to you one thing. Even if I had had to reveal all my secrets, I would have protected Julius."
"I know... I'm sorry", Loys managed to say weakly. He shouldn't have let Sir Dastre's statement influence him so much. After all, he knew Zod much better than Sir Dastre did.
So why did he have so little faith in him?
"One more thing", Zod began. "The thing with the... kid."
"I won't mention it again."
"No, that's not what I mean. I... the reason... one of my closest friends, a friend who was really, really important to me, always said that to me."
"Is he...?"
"He died in my arms. When I hear that word or anything that hints at it, I always think of him and I can't switch it off. Not yet, it's still too fresh."
"I understand", Loys replied, feeling even more guilty than before. "He must have been very close to you, right?"
"Yes. Not at first, at first I really hated him. But over time, he grew so dear to my heart that I can no longer imagine living without him."