Nyat's Sanctum wasn't far, only another few hours walk if Emrick had read the map correctly. Rina had no doubt in his abilities with it, but she couldn't help but feel that something was amiss. Then again, everything had been amiss since they arrived in Huton the day before and she was still trying to cope with it all.

She didn't walk with them but trailed behind at her own pace. The trees had thickened even more since they walked down the hill and it was hard to traverse. None of them was all that surprised; all of the Sanctums they had visited had been hidden, so why would Nyat's be any different?

Ahead of her walked Isiah, fiddling with the flame stone again. The fact that he couldn't use the fear stone worried her and only added to her growing list of things that made her stressed. If he couldn't use it, what did that mean for Vishera and for them? Was Isiah even the Beast or had the first stone just been a strange stroke of luck?

She didn't want to think it, but it had plagued her since they found out that it wouldn't work for him. All that effort to get the stone had gone to waste, all because he couldn't use it. Why she had bothered, she didn't know, but it was too late to take it back. Even if Isiah wasn't the Beast, he was still the only person who could wield the flame stone so far, meaning that he could still help her.

And she needed all the help could get. Minisia would too. The image of her slaughtered people wouldn't leave her for as long as she would live. She hadn't slept the night before but she knew that if she had, it would have plagued her nightmares too. It wouldn't leave her, no matter how hard she tried to distract herself.

What she couldn't understand was why her father had just left them there. They needed to be buried and their families needed to have closure, but he had just left them there. Surely Harudan, as bloodthirsty as he was, would have let them go back and collect the bodies.

Or maybe he wouldn't. They were trapped behind enemy lines now, maybe they weren't allowed to go back. Maybe they had to stay. Despite the last ten years, she didn't know as much about war as she would have liked. If only she had had more time to learn, but what could she do when she was stuck behind the enemies army?

There was only one thing to do: get Isiah ahead of the army and to Ziya before it fell. Four people could move faster than thousands, but they had to get to each of the stones. That was too many detours and she doubted they would make it in time. But the army still had to get through all of Minisia's defences. There was no way her father would let them take over so easily.

Even with the detours, there had to be a way the could do it. If they stopped staying so long at places, that would cut down their time. Their sleeping schedules would have to change drastically, but they could make it work. She would have to talk to them about it after Nyat's Sanctum and they knew where they needed to go next. For all she knew, their journey could take them straight to Ziya.

She had no idea where they would be heading next. They'd been too busy concentrating on Nyat's Sanctum to look for the next one. If they were heading into Minisia, she had a fair idea of where it would be. The supposed Sanctum of Askarune could very well be the Sanctum of Belganine or Teremtys.

Nerin would figure it out. Until then, she needed to focus on getting Isiah where he needed to go. There would be no trial at Nyat's Sanctum, not if she was dead and the words of Askarune were anything to go by. She wasn't sure if they were, but she would find out in a few hours.

As she walked, Nerin glanced at her over his shoulder. In some ways, he looked exactly like his brother, the shape of his face and eyes, the way he held himself. But for the most part, they looked like completely different people. Nerin's orange skin was pale in comparison to the dark red skin of his brother, his eyes a deep shade of red, while Harudan's had been a pale yellow. They must have taken after different parents.

He slowed down, waiting for her to catch up to him. She wasn't in the mood to talk to people after everything that had happened, but he wasn't going to give her much choice in the matter from the looks of things. She didn't want to yell at him like she had been with everyone else, but she would rather be alone.

But Nerin didn't say anything as they walked together, just gave her a sad smile, one someone as young as him should not have. There was no point in asking him if he was alright, the answer was obvious. None of them were. They'd seen so much since they left Ishmar, done so much that it would be wrong of them to say that they were perfectly fine.

It was better in silence. They didn't need to talk, they both knew that the other was not doing well, they could just walk in silent support. Sometimes, it was strange, travelling with the brother of the man who wanted to ruin her life, but there were other times that she forgot they were even related. Only the Gods knew what would happen once the war was over and Harudan was taken from his throne. Nerin would take charge, but he would be a boy King, a puppet, it wouldn't end well for either country.

"I'm sorry," Nerin whispered next to her, his eyes on the ground as they wandered around the thick trees.

She frowned down at him, bottom lip between her teeth. "For what?" she asked.

"For what my brother has done. Your people are dying because of him," he replied, an agonised look in his eyes.

"You didn't do it. You tried to help," she told him, her mind drifting back to the day in Ishmar he had invited her to lunch. He'd tried to convince that there'd been something off about the treaty, him and Isiah, but she had dismissed them as the overactive imagination of a child and someone who had not seen much of the world.

He let out a hysterical laugh. "It didn't do much though, did it?" he said, anger lacing his voice.

"We're here, I think that counts for something," she said. If it wasn't for them, she wouldn't be. Jonin would have killed her back in the throne room while she cowered in a corner and she would never have gotten the chance to save her family and her country.

If she had died, would Isiah have figured out that he was the Beast? Would he have left Ishmar or would he have stayed and been killed? Because he would have been eventually, probably for something small or for something that wasn't even his fault. There was no point in thinking about it, she was alive, that was what mattered. She had the chance to save her people.

"We can do something, Nerin," she said and wrung her hands together. "Isiah is going to help us and we'll stop the war."

"And after that?" he asked.

She bit her lip again. "I don't know." Whatever came next, the true threat, they would find out a way to deal with it. But they couldn't until it showed itself. That could be years in the future, which would be good for them. It would give them a chance to gather all the stones and for Isiah to master their powers, even the fear stone.

Nerin let out a loud sigh. "Emrick!" he yelled and the man turned around the look at them curiously, cutting off his conversation with Isiah. "How far away are we?"

Emrick shrugged and patted the map in his coat pocket. "How am I supposed to know? Another hour or so I guess," he replied and Nerin let out a quiet groan. The moment they got to the Sanctum, they would rest while Isiah got his stone. They had to be as quick as possible if they wanted to beat the army.

Nerin yelled something back and Rina rolled her eyes. Not much longer. Her legs didn't even hurt, which surprised her; they'd been walking for hours with no rest, trying to get as far from Huton as possible after Emrick's outburst. She hadn't helped him when the townsfolk had followed them into the trees. He was the one who had started the bloodshed and he would be the one to finish it, even if they had taunted him first.

Her gaze flicked to the trees around them. The scenery never changed much from open fields and snowy forests, but still, she stared at it. In spring, it would be beautiful, but in winter, all there was was snow. Hopefully, she would return home in time to watch the snow melt and animals come out, but with her luck, she would be wandering until summer.

She frowned as something flashed between the trees, dark and shadowy and tried to get a better look at it. By the time she walked away from Nerin, it was gone. It could have been an animal, but it was winter and they were all in hibernation. There should be nothing in the trees.

"Rina? What's wrong?" Nerin asked and when she turned, all three of them were staring at her.

"I saw something in the trees," she answered and gestured at where she saw the shadow. Emrick took a step towards her, eyebrows furrowed in confusion, and opened his mouth to say something. He never got the chance.

Rina gasped as a figure burst from the trees and tackled Emrick to the ground. Others followed quickly after them, joining the fray. One pushed Isiah over and he fell in the snow in a heap. More people than she could count had hold of Emrick and the sounds of hits and groans of pain filled the air.

She went for the sword of her belt with sweating hands, never once taking her eyes away from Emrick. He swung out wildly, his fist connecting with the face of one of their hooded attackers, but it did nothing to stop the swarm of people around him. By the time she made it him with her sword in hand, his face was hidden by the crowd of black-cloaked people.

"Emrick!" Isiah yelled and scrambled backwards.

Rina raised her arm, ready to fight. She could take them out and save Emrick before the crowd killed him. She cried out when a hand grabbed her wrist. "Not so fast, missy," a gravelly voice said and the hand around her wrist squeezed. She tried to keep her grip on her sword but it hurt. It felt as if her bones would snap.

Her sword fell into the snow soundlessly and she hissed with pain. The man holding her wrist pushed her backwards until she collapsed in the snow. Someone yelled out for her and when she turned, Nerin was on his knees, two men holding onto his arms. He struggled against them, but he was too weak, they all were.

The man who had pushed stepped forward, one heavy boot landing on her wrist. She cried out when he pushed down as tried to move it, but stopped at the sight of the familiar sword in her face. "Please," she whimpered and stared up at the hooded man. "We haven't done anything wrong."

The man guffawed and pressed down harder on her wrist. "You're wanted by order of King Harudan, we're here to take you in," he hissed and bent down to face her properly. The teeth he had left were a dark yellow and Rina sneered at him. "You come to our town, you kill our people and you expect us to let you go? You thought wrong, little miss."

Behind him, the crowd were kicking at a lump in the middle of them. Emrick, curled up in a ball, took the blows without so much as a yell of protest. They'd knocked him down so quickly, it was hard to imagine that he had once been able to take on Jonin without much effort. He was dying and there wasn't anything she could do to stop it.

Orange filled her vision and flames erupted through the trees. "No!" Isiah screamed, but he wouldn't help them. He would wave his flames around, but he would never hurt anyone with them.

Even so, some of the people around Emrick jumped backwards with fear, allowing her to see the bloody lump he had become. He wasn't moving, just lay there with his back to her. At the sight, her stomach ached with anxiety and her breaths came out in sharp pants. He was already dead. It was so quick, only meer minutes.

"Kill the- The sorcerer!" someone yelled and Rina struggled against the man that held her. The flames disappeared as if they had never been there in the first place and Isiah screamed in terror.

With a clenched fist, Rina batted away the sword between her eyes and punched the man in the back of the knee. Finally, the pressure on her wrist was gone and she was able to stand, but she didn't make it far. Now that Emrick was down, covered in blood and unmoving, it left the rest of their attackers to focus on her.

Isiah was a lump on the ground when she looked at him, but there was no blood. The stone lay next to his head, glowing and forgotten. Nerin was still yelling, but she couldn't understand a word he said, not over the mess of noise that were her thoughts. She had to save them, had to get Emrick to a doctor or someone that could help him, had to stop them from killing Isiah.

Pain bloomed in the back of her head, spreading through her body. The ground rose to meet her and all she could do was let out a feeble groan when she landed in the snow. Somewhere in the back of her mind, she registered Nerin's yells and the faint conversation of the people who had attacked her.

She had to get up. If she could get to Isiah, even if he was unconscious, surely she could use him to wield the flame stone and kill those who hurt them. Then she could get Emrick across the border and to a doctor that would help him if he wasn't dead. But it could already be too late for him.

Dizzy with pain, she pushed herself up with shaking arms, only to be shoved back down by a boot on her back. She grunted but didn't stop struggling to get back up. Exhaustion and pain washed over her and her arms gave up. She collapsed back on the snow, her vision swimming and tears in her eyes.

Darkness appeared at the edge of her vision and she locked eyes with Nerin, who still struggled against his captors. Tears ran down his face when he looked at her and he cried out in pain when they pulled him backwards. She tried to call his name, but her voice failed her. And as the darkness took over, she swore she heard him yell her name.