Chapter 25 – Silence

Lillia awoke with her cheek wet with blood and resting on Havoc’s cold chest. It took her a moment to process what she was lying on. The princess stared out to the center of the cathedral room, back towards the ever-burning hearth. She blinked the drying flecks of blood out of her eyelashes. She tested her sore jaw and felt the dried splatters on her cheek crackle. She tried to move and felt Havoc’s dead weight below her.

She’d done it, hadn’t she?

Lillia rolled off of Havoc rather than relying on her strength. Once she was on the ground, she slowly worked her way up. First nearly crawling, then kneeling, then sitting back on her legs.

Havoc’s skin looked pale, grey. Lillia stared at him, and white text hovered above the wound in his chest.

[Adventurer: Havoc]

[Status granted by skill – Emergency Knighting]

[Status: Dead—Respawning]

[Due to not having made contact with the Cathedral Hearth, Havoc cannot respawn at this location. Please activate another Hearth to facilitate Havoc’s revival.]

[A respawn has been used. Respawns remaining: 1/3]

Lillia’s chest tightened. She dug her nails into her palms. She bit her lip. She ignored the salt on her cheeks and tried to hold back the tears anyway. She’d done it.

She’d saved someone.

Lillia cried. Lillia cried like the little girl she swore she wasn’t. Lillia cried in every way her mother told her she wasn’t supposed to. Lillia cried alone.

The tears running down Lillia’s cheeks caught the corners of her smile. She wrapped her arms around her chest, hugging herself tightly. Her shoulder complained as she squeezed, but if nobody else could hold her, Lillia would hold herself.

Even knowing that Havoc was coming back, Lillia didn’t enjoy having to stare at his corpse. She went to take the clasp off her cloak to cover him with it. There was no way to remove the clasp.

Oh right. Um.

Lillia pulled one of the Spellmite cloths out of her pocket. It was only large enough to cover Havoc’s face, but that was better than nothing. Lillia’s fingers lingered at the corner of the fabric. Her hand was trembling as she laid her friend to a less permanent rest. It was her fault in the first place, wasn’t it?

But she had also been the one to fix it.

Kind of.

Sort of.

Enough.

Lillia allowed her hand to fall off the fabric and back to her side. Her shoulder groaned again. Lillia whimpered even when she didn’t want to.

Behind Havoc, covered in black ichor and blood, was the twisted corpse of the Crash Scale Ambusher. The previously radiant scales have dulled with death. The scythe-like claws and brutal wing talons had dulled and rusted as Lillia had been asleep. Its mouth hung wide open, crushed and twisted from Lillia’s successful beating with the spellmaul.

Text hovered above it as well.

[Crashscale Ambusher Defeated! Yay!]

Lillia slowly climbed to her feet. She babied her right side as she did it, pushing through the soreness in her legs in lieu of supporting herself with her arms. As soon as she was standing, the princess felt like she’d run across the entire kingdom. Her lungs ached. Her legs wobbled. Her breath never quite steadied.

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

Lillia stepped over Vianaffir on the ground at Havoc’s side. The clicking of the riding boots echoed behind her as she left the legendary blade behind. She wasn’t the legendary knight it needed.

Once she was close to the Crash Scale, Lillia could smell the rank stench of death from its maw. She tried to see the clump of her hair that had been there earlier, but she couldn’t, within all the blood. The stench of death was hers.

That was weird and somehow impossible to think about.

Lillia reached out and placed her hand on the upper beak of the Ambusher. It was cold, too. That felt wrong.