The walk through the hills was tiring and after only a few hours, Nerin's legs ached. If only they could have gone through the town, maybe even stayed the night, but of course, nothing had to go the way he wanted. Instead, they walked across the steep, forested hills that bordered Huton.

The more he walked, the more it hurt and the more he wanted to ask for a break. But after what had happened in the village below, he knew it would be a bad idea to stop. Somewhere down below were the bodies of the people that had followed them into the trees, killed by Emrick without a second thought.

Not even Rina had helped him. He'd been watching her, confused by the shocked expression on her face, as if she hadn't expected Emrick to kill them. From the moment Emrick had pushed them out of the shop, it had all been a blur of blood and snow. It had taken him a long time to register what had happened, that the people in the store had known Emrick, that he had beat them to a pulp and that the townsfolk wanted them dead.

What he couldn't figure out was why there had been a fight in the first place. Nerin wasn't stupid; he knew that Huton had been where Emrick was from and he knew that the border towns were a less than safe place, but he still couldn't wrap his mind around what had happened, even though it had been hours ago.

Of course, he hadn't protested when Emrick told them they had to go around Huton, none of them had. Even though it would have been faster, it would also have been a lot more dangerous to try going through the village again. They were lucky to have been able to get the supplies they needed before everything went wrong.

That wasn't the only thing he had to worry about. Emrick may have tried to stop him from seeing them, but it hadn't worked. Wanted posters of his face had been plastered all over one of the walls. Harudan was still searching for him, using more than just search parties to do it. And he wanted the others dead.

He had known that from the start but seeing the words written in black ink only made it worse. If he was ever taken back to his brother, it would mean that the others had been killed, that the Beast that was Promised had been killed. Neither of those things could happen. It would mean that Harudan had won and there was no one to stop whatever came after.

Pushing the worry from his mind was hopeless. As he walked between the dark trees, his companions nearby, all he could think of was the blood and his brother. Snow fell around him, landing on his mop of dark hair and his eyelashes. For once, he could feel the cold as sharp pricks on his skin where the snow landed. They only lasted for a second, but they were there.

He couldn't see much through the thick trees, just the occasional glimpse of the valley below and the grey sky above. The hill felt more like a small mountain than anything else, steep and rocky. The snow hid the roots of trees and small rocks, which caused him to slip and fall more times than he would have liked. They hadn't even reached the top of it yet and it had been hours.

He gasped when he stepped on another rock, his foot slipping out from underneath him. A hand grabbed his arm before he could fall and helped him balance himself. "Thank you," he muttered and shot Isiah a small smile. The man only nodded, but there was a hint of a smile in the tilt of his lips.

Rina let out an irritated huff as she walked around them, but didn't say a word. For the last few hours, she had been stomping along with them, glaring occasionally at Emrick, who was some distance ahead, but she hadn't said a thing. At any second, she would explode and yell at them all for some kind of explanation. It was only a matter of time.

But he wasn't going to set her off. It was best to leave her until she either calmed down or exploded on her own. She wouldn't leave them, that much was obvious. Things had changed since they left Ishmar, for the better and the worse, but at least the people he travelled with would stick by him, despite being the brother of their enemy.

He was glad he didn't have to worry about his brother affecting his friendship with them too much. He knew and they knew that he would never follow in Harudan's footsteps. The only time he would kill would be in self-defence, not because he wanted to. He would not be like Harudan, never. If he ever went that way, there was only one thing he needed to ask someone.

"How much further?" he called to Emrick, who barely spared him a glance over his shoulder.

"I don't know," he replied. "Keep moving, we don't know if anyone is following us."

Rina scoffed. "I doubt it," she muttered and Nerin hissed in a sharp breath of air. He'd barely heard her speak, but that didn't mean the wind wouldn't carry her voice to Emrick.

"Rina," he said against his better judgement.

She raised an eyebrow at him, the beginnings of a sneer on her lips. "Don't start, Nerin, I know you're thinking it too," she snapped and his mouth dropped open. He had done nothing to her and didn't deserve her anger. But she was right too, he had been thinking it. No one would be following them, not once they saw what Emrick had done.

He hadn't been kind, far from it. But he had never been kind to anyone he had fought. It was nothing new but also completely new at the same time. If he had the answers, maybe then Nerin would be able to better understand.

"Gods, what does it matter?" Rina said and pushed her short locks behind her ears.

"You shouldn't-" Isiah said, only to be stopped by a withering glare from Rina.

With a rage-filled face, she stormed forward. "Emrick!" she yelled as she caught up to him. He didn't stop climbing the steep hill but did slow down for her. "You need to explain yourself! Why did you tell us Huton was your home?"

That was what she was mad about? Emrick lying to them, not murdering a group of people? But she had done it as well, hadn't she? It wasn't as though she could yell at him for something she had also done.

"Because I didn't think it would matter," Emrick replied as she caught up with him, not looking at all fazed by her anger. He had seen worse before, in both him and his brother. "I did not expect to run into people who knew me."

"You didn't think it would matter? We have to take a massive detour because you didn't think it would matter. You killed people because you didn't think it would matter!" Rina grabbed his shoulder and pulled him to a stop, screaming in his nonchalant face.

With his lip between his teeth, Nerin pushed forward, ignoring the scream of pain his tired legs gave him. "Rina," he said as he reached her. "You need to calm down before someone hears us."

She whirled on him and he took a step back, bumping into Isiah. "If someone hears us, Emrick can deal with it, can't you?" she hissed and pointed at the sword on his belt, the one that had been used only a few hours ago to kill again.

"You've killed too, Princess. What's your issue here?" Emrick asked and crossed his arms over his chest.

"My issue," Rina spat. "Is that you didn't tell us that you once lived down there. You didn't tell us that we were walking into a potentially dangerous situation and you didn't tell what in the name of Sol and Lune happened! Who were those people, Emrick, and why did they want to hurt you?"

There was a moment of silence as Emrick looked at each of them in turn, his gaze lingering on Isiah. He let out a sigh and ran a hand down his pale face. "Alright. We keep walking and I'll explain myself," he muttered and turned away from them.

With a groan, Nerin continued up the steep hill. They would never get a break, but at least they would get some answers. Emrick should have told them from the start about Huton. He was in control of the map, meaning he'd known exactly where they were going the entire time and hadn't said a word.

"Emrick," Isiah said as they walked, trailing behind the rest of them. "You need to explain yourself."

Nerin couldn't see his face, but from the way Emrick's shoulders slumped, it was obvious that he didn't want to. Another sigh, another hand through his hair and the first words spilt from his lips. "I had hoped that no one would remember me there, it's been years since I showed my face," he said, glancing over his shoulder at them. "Those two people, the ones at the store, last time I saw them, I stopped them from killing a man.

"Turian was almost beaten to a pulp by them, but I stepped in. I ran away with him after that and never came back. I suppose they held a grudge like most do in Huton. They went after my mother instead, if their words are to be believed. I'm not sure they are. They wanted to repay me for what I had done to them, but I wasn't going to let that happen.

"As for the others in the forest. Well, to stop anyone else from trying to follow us. The people in the border towns may be dangerous, but they won't try to fight something they know is too strong for them. I am too strong for them and now they know it. How's that, Princess, do you think I've explained myself well enough for you?"

There was a long moment of silence as all three of them let Emrick's words sink in. Once in the past, he'd saved his uncles life and because of that, they'd been run out of Huton by an angry mob. Emrick's mother was supposedly dead as a result. Somehow, even with answers, Nerin was still just as confused as before.

"I'm sorry about your mother," he said, the only thing he could think of to say.

Emrick waved him away. "It doesn't matter too much. She was not much of a mother to me," he replied. Nerin couldn't understand it. Mothers were supposed to be kind and love their children, that was what Harudan had told him they were like, his mother included. How could someone not love the person they created?

Rina speaking interrupted his thoughts and they flew to the back of his mind for him to dwell on while he slept. "So why didn't you tell us? We could have taken more precautions," she said, her voice calmer, but there was still anger hidden within.

"Because I didn't want to! This is my old life, I don't particularly want to face it any more than I have to," Emrick replied, eyebrows furrowed in irritation. "I had hoped that we could get in and get out without issue. That was the plan. They didn't even recognise me until they heard my name.

"Besides, we're fine, it's just going to take us a little longer to get to Nyat's Sanctum. We have enough food to last us, so we don't need to worry about anything. I'm sorry I didn't tell you, but this is my burden."

Rina didn't look all that impressed as they finally reached the crest of the hill. "Well, we're travelling together, I think we deserve to know exactly where we're going, don't you?" she asked, her hands on her hips. Nerin walked past them, wandering to a space where the trees cleared.

"You did know!" Emrick replied, scrunching his nose at her. "I don't ask you for the details of your life, so why do you get to know the details of mine?"

Rina started to say something else, but Nerin tuned her out. The gap in the trees gave him the perfect view of the valley, the snow-capped trees and the tiny dots of the buildings of Huton far below. A past that, stretching ahead of him as far as he could see was flat forested land. Minisia, it had to be.

A gasp fell from his lips. "Stop!" he yelled and everything seemed to silence. Rina's rant cut off and even the wind seemed to freeze for a second.

"What is it, Nerin?" Isiah asked and sound rushed back into his ears. The wind whooshed again as the snow crunched under Isiah's heavy footfalls. All he could do was point, any further words trapped in his throat by a barrier he couldn't remove.

Behind the hill opposite was a field, it's contents so tiny that they were almost indiscernible, he still knew what they were. Bodies of the dead left to rot in the snow. Most would have already been covered, but there was enough there for Nerin and others to find. Beyond it, drifting up from the horizon, were dark plumes of smoke.

"Gods," Emrick muttered behind him with no admonishment from Isiah. "That's Minisia."

Harudan's army had already attempted to enter their neighbour country and from the look of the smoke in the distance, he had succeeded. It had only been a few weeks since the failed treaty. How could he have moved so fast? But Nerin already knew the answer, he'd been well prepared long before Rina ever arrived in Ishmar. He wanted to get it over with as fast as possible.

Next to him, Rina made a choked noise. "No," she whispered and covered her mouth with a shaking hand. "Can you... Can you see if anyone is alive?"

None of them said anything for a long while and the wind filled the tense silence. "Rina," Emrick said gently as if he were talking to a startled horse. "I think the battle is long over. I doubt there is anyone still alive down there."

"But- But they wouldn't just leave them there! My father... He wouldn't just..." she gasped as the first tears fell down her dark cheeks. Her whole body shook and Nerin wrapped an arm around her waist before she could fall. She leaned against him, someone so much smaller than her, giving him all of her weight to carry.

Tears welled in his own eyes, but he couldn't look away from the bodies. "I'm sorry," he said. "I'm so sorry." It was his brother's doing, his families and there was nothing he could do to fix it.

For a long time, they let her cry. She needed it, maybe they all did, but Nerin held his in. Isiah stepped closer and closer to the edge, the wind whipping at his hair. The copper was speckled with flecks of crisp snow, more adding to the mix as he stood. What lay in the distance, so small that any detail went missed, was what he was supposed to fix. Staring down at it, Nerin wasn't sure he could. How was one man supposed to go up against thousands, even with the powers he held, and win? It was impossible.

And yet, they would try anyway, wouldn't they? It wasn't as if they could let Harudan take control of all of Vishera without ever trying to stop him. Already, the war had resulted in the deaths of thousands and those thousands hadn't even been buried respectfully. They were left to rot as if they didn't have people that cared about them.

Hopefully, Isiah could see that too and hopefully, he would know how important it was to stop any other innocent people from dying and left to rot. They still had to try, even if it was the last of Nerin's family. All he wished is that they didn't kill Harudan. Nerin couldn't be the last Oshana, he didn't want it. He wanted his brother, but he wanted the person Harudan had been before their father died.

Emrick cleared his throat and Nerin pulled himself back to reality. "If you want, we can take a quick detour and check for survivors," he said and Rina wiped at her cheeks.

"No," she said, pulling away from Nerin. "You're right, they're all dead. We need to concentrate on getting the next stone. That's more important than anything else right now."

Even as she said the words, she didn't move away from the gap in the trees. Nerin took a step back and finally he was able to look away from the field of death. Somewhere nearby was the Sanctum of Nyat, and within it, the next stone, the next piece of the puzzle to save Vishera.

Isiah turned so that his back faced the field, his eyes red with unshed tears. "Why didn't they say anything? The people in Huton? It was so close to them," he asked, his fists clenched at his sides.

"To be honest," Emrick said and sighed. "I don't think they care. Border towns either wanted war or wanted nothing to do with it. Huton was the latter."

Isiah made a noise in the back of his throat. "So, what? They just let this go unnoticed?"

"Aye, pretty much," Emrick said, sadness in his eyes. "There's nothing we can do about it now except to continue on the Sanctum. Come, we have a long walk ahead of us."

Without a word, Nerin walked away from the gap in the trees, wishing he hadn't seen it in the first place. Every time he blinked, it was there on the backs of his eyelids, the bodies buried by snow. There would be more, it was war after all, but if everything went as it should for them, there wouldn't be as many before they finally stopped Harudan.