The kindling Lach had gathered for the fire was tightly locked inside his arms, but upon entering the clearing of their camp, they all stumbled to the ground.

Bett threatened a finger at Amaya. "You are a witch."

Amaya's eyebrows danced with dubiousness. "A witch? What are you talking about, Bett?"

"You don't remember your little witchcraft trick?" Amaya's mouth gaped. "Floating around like a haunting ghost."

Lach breathed staggered, and in a matter of a few seconds, he had Bett's collar crumpled in his hands and his hazardous breath flaring on their face. "Stop it," he hissed. "We already talked about this."

Bett's eyes fell into a slit. The sharpness of a knife. "You know this is the truth."

"I said stop it." Lach tightened his grip. If Bett was looking for him, they would find him.

"Lach, release them." Amaya rose to her feet, the shawl blanketing her fell down on the ground. "Please." But Lach couldn't hear her; all he could think about was how punchable the hunter's face was. It's been itching him since day one.

"You know why you react that way. I told you." Bett held Lach's glare like a challenge. "Your Princess is cursed, and that is why the kingdom is doomed-" The back of their head met the ground, and they let out a painful hiss.

"Shut up!" Lach's fist was high in the air, ready to collide and break that insurgent mouth when a yell stopped him mid-way.

"No!" Lach's arm was gripped. "Don't do it. We will talk it through. There is no use for this." Amaya let out, and his fist clenched. "Lach?" His skin burned like lava as he stared at the hunter's smirk. He groaned and released his grip.

But his world swung, and his head slapped hard against the ground, too, and when he opened his eyes again, Bett's long hair caged him like creepers. His legs were blocked under their weight, and their rough palms were sizing the air of his throat. "This is what you expected, horseman!?" Madness glowed in Bett's eyes.

Amaya grabbed the hunter's shoulders. "Bett, stop it."

"Get away from me, witch." They shoved her, and Amaya winced as she fell. That was it. A slash of red sprung through Lach's vision, and his fist collided with the hunter's cheek. After that, it was a snowballing of punches, blows, and fists sprinkled with war yells and bestial roars.

Lach hit Bett a few times, leaving them disoriented for a moment, but his victory was ephemeral. Bett fought like a bear protecting their cubs. Their strong arms swung at him. They were way shorter than Lach and even were a head lower than the Princess, but those arms were made of iron, and when they hit. They threw stones. Quickly, Lach found himself the prey of a rain of blows. Stomach, face, thighs. Nothing was spared.

Lach found himself clutching his stomach on the ground, face in the dust and blood with the smell of iron invading his nose. His split lip stung, and he spat red as the blurred face of Amaya met him. "Oh Sun God, Lach. Are you alright?" He groaned. "Please say something." The man hissed in pain as he struggled in a sitting position.

"I am fine." He wiped the red of his face, but the blue and violet were blooming as he spoke. "Are you all right?" He scrutinized the woman's face as his vision slowly cleared.

"I am all right," she stood up, stumbling a little as she did. "Bett. I am not what you think I am." She winced as if in pain. "I am the Princess of Ornuv, not a witch. I don't know what you are talking about. And this," she made a gesture at Lach. "This won't help us." Lach spat red on the ground again.

Bett snorted, chest heaving. "You lost your memories? "How convenient."

"Drop it already. She doesn't remember." Lach spat hissed through blooded teeth.

"What do I have to remember?" Amaya's eyes darted at both of them. "What are they talking about?" She searched for the answer in Lach's eyes, but he was busy sending spears at Bett. "I do not understand..."

Bett stepped forward. "I will tell you something, horseman. Your feelings are not what is going to save this kingdom." Lach's noise scrunched, and Bett stomped away under the bemused gaze of Amaya.

**

"No. This cannot be true," Amaya's eyes were dull, and Lach was as lost as her. While she mended his cuts and bruises, he told her everything that happened at the river. Amaya shook her head as if it would make him swallow back his words. "Tell me it's a lie." She tied her arms around her knees.

Her dress was dry now, but the hem was dirty with mud, and few droplets of Lach's blood had splattered on it. "I wish it was." But he couldn't deny the truth he had seen with his eyes.

"This is..." She gripped her pendant, engulfing the golden sun in her palm.

Lach's eyes flickered to it. "Is this because of that?" he asked, remembering the odd glint of the jewel as Amaya floated in the air.

She removed the jewel from around her neck with a click. "I don't know." Her eyes found the golden piece as if it was the first time she had seen it. "Keep it with you. It will protect you." She sighed. "That's what my mother told me when she gave it to me the last time I saw her."

Then, the last piece fit. It all made sense. That night in the castle. The melted doorknob. That light in the tunnel, as blinding as the one at the river. Amaya escaping Bett in the forest...

Lach bolted on his feet despite the ache of his bones. Amaya watched him with questions. "Is it the cause of it all?" Amaya hadn't time to understand what he meant before Lach snatched the pendant from her hand.

Her eyes grew wide as he headed to the now streaming river. "What are you doing?" She followed him with a limp, her steps stuttering. Lach rose the jewel over the river. "Lach. no!"

"That thing is cursed!" he stated, avoiding Amaya's reaching hand. "We should get rid of it." He declared, decisive. "Let it sink to the bottom of the river."

She grabbed his arm. "No! You can't do that!"

Lach turned to her, his bruised features vivid. "Why? This is why maybe everything is happening. This is why people are after you. Have you thought about that?"

"This is not yours to decide!" she yelled at last. The outburst rang through the forest, and Lach stilled. "If I get rid of it, it will be my decision, not yours!" Her voice then turned soft, faint. "It is my mother's. It is the only thing I have left from her..." Her voice broke down like the icy blanket of the river. "Don't take this away from me."

A ball in Lach's throat grew, and he lowered his arm. He watched his sword and thought of the rage and pain that would rumble through him if someone would take it away forever. He opened up his palm, letting the gold glint. "I am sorry."

Amaya sighed as she clicked it back around her neck. "I understand your concern, but Mother said it would protect me wherever I go."

But still, he had to ask. "What if it harms you?"

"It won't. It never did."

"Not intentionally, but you almost drowned in the river." Lach launched his arm towards the flowing water. "If I wasn't there to catch you, you would-"Lach passed a hand in his dark strands. "This is too dangerous." He finished. "You don't even remember what happened."

Amaya looked away, fidgeting with the jewel. The Princess's voice was soft when she spoke again. "I know you don't trust people." Lach's eyes fluttered away. "I am like you. But now I need you more than ever to trust me." Her eyes glistened. "Even if I don't trust myself."

He looked at the pendant and the scariness of its unknown power and then fell into her gaze as bruised as him. He sighed. "It is best to stay here tonight. You have been through a lot today, and we all need to rest our minds," he went on to pick up the kindling, left abandoned during the fight, and head back to the camp.

Amaya grasped her pendant tightly and followed him.

**

Bett's face was still sour later that night, the fire camp revealing their stern and concerned features. "I am not a witch," Amaya declared again.

"A witch never admits she is one," Bett stated, eyes bored into the brazing fish's scales. Even the smell of the fresh food didn't lift the spirits.

"For the love of the Sun God, Bett, I am not a witch, and you know that."

Their eyes flickered to them. "I certainly don't know that. We all saw that little trick up in the air. Lach too. Even if he doesn't want to admit. Whatever reason he has." They glared at Lach. He glared back.

But Amaya wasn't born to give up. It wasn't in her blood, in her soul. "Why don't you want to listen? You are just like my father. You are only willing to listen to what is convenient to you."

A string yanked in Bett. "Because, thanks to your witchcraft, we suffer!" The finger was back on her like an accusation. "When everything will be done. You will return to your lavish princess life, stay behind those golden gates, and ignore us, freezing to out death as much as you did before and like your father did for the last ten years."

"You know this is not true," Amaya said quietly. "Father tried to help. He did what he thought was necessary." Even the words sounded phony to her, but she wanted to believe. To believe it wasn't all for nothing.

"Did your father help by sending men to fight in a useless war? Leaving their family struggling to survive?" They scoffed. The fish slowly turned an ashy color. "He is not even willing to look for his own daughter."

The blow was as painful as the one that knock Lach on the ground. Amaya's lips quivered, and she stood up. "Excuse me." She rushed into the forest.

"Amaya-"Lach scowled. "Sometimes you just need to shut your mouth." He spat before standing up.

Bett snorted. "And sometimes you need to speak up. You know it is the truth. Your family also suffered from the King. I know it." Lach clenched his jaw before following the path Amaya rushed in. "All the same. Tch." Bett launched a twig into the fire, and it grimaced, removing the burned fish and throwing it on the ground. "Great."

**

"Amaya?" Lach called in the darkening forest, but her feet wouldn't stop moving, despite the ache in her body and soul.

"Leave me alone." Her foot angled weirdly, and a painful hiss shouted out of her mouth. She sat on a dead trunk, touching her ankle as Lach came out of the woods.

"What it is?" He kneeled beside her.

"I think I hurt myself," she said, wincing.

"Let me look." He removed her boot, and she grimaced. The skin was bluish and red there. He touched her slightly but still roused a hiss from her. "It's not broken," he said. "Still, it's bruised and swollen."

"This is nothing." She let out, breath ragged.

Lach shook his head. "You can't walk like that. It will only get worse. We need ice." He darted around. Most of the snow and ice had melted after...what happened at the river. "Stay. Here. I will need to find ice and-"

"No." He tried to rise, but her fingers grabbed his torn and blood-stained shirt. "Don't leave."

Lach blinked. "But-"

"Please."

"Amaya," Lach swallowed thickly as he kneeled again. Then he felt it on his hand. The hot drops.

"Bett is right." The quiver of her voice shook Lach to his core. "We've been only making people suffer," Amaya sobbed, the burst of hot tears invading her face like a dam breaking. A dam holding for too damn long. "If it wasn't for that war-, If it wasn't for my father's hatred... then everything would be fine."

"This is not your doing," Lach said softly.

"But It's my inheritance," she breathed, eyes glassy. "I am as responsible as him." She closed her eyes tightly, letting more tears escape. "I know you resent us as well." Lach's lips closed tightly. "I could see it when I told you who I was."

"It wasn't-"

"You became distant. Cold." The tears kept falling. For some reason, that stayed stuck in her. "And I knew you suffered from our hands too." Lach's lips tightened. "Whatever happened to you, I am deeply sorr-"

A gasp. Her words were swallowed into the warmth of Lach's chest. Amaya's breath held as she felt the strength of his arms holding her sorrow tightly. "I do not resent you." It was a whisper, but it sounded loud in her ears. He nudged his nose into her hair, inhaling. "Far from that." She clung to him like frost in winter. The knot in her throat made breathing impossible, but the richness of his chest, blooming with so much warmth, gentleness, and comfort, harvested her tears and made them into the breath she needed. She sighed as his fingers caressed her curls, and for once, she didn't feel alone.

She didn't know how much time had passed, but when they slowly detached, hands still touching as if their limbs wanted to be intertwined for eternity, the moon fell witness to their locked gaze. His eyes twinkled with a haunting longing that fluttered every part of her body.

He leaned closer, and their breath mingled. His hand found the softness of her cheek in a burning touch. She burned as much as an envy to be consumed all surged. Their mouths were so closed, on the edge of a tender caress or an exploding starlight. She could smell the iron of his split lip. Their noises touched-

"Hey!" A voice boomed, and they both startled. Lach fell down on his butt, and Amaya jumped her knees away from him. Bett's eyes darted between them both. "No fucking way." Lach glared at them, and Amaya hid her face. "So you aren't complete liars. You guys are really lovebirds..."

"Shut it, Bett." Lach bounced on his feet despite his limbs screaming for rest, he could go for another round with the hunter.

Two bags dropped before him. "Take your things. They are in the forest."

Lach and Amaya looked at each other. "How far?" He asked.

Bett pointed to the sky, where lines of smoke danced to the moon. "At the river's feet."

Lach pushed both bags on his shoulders before extending a hand to Amaya. She took it without looking at him. Bett might have stopped something, but her skin was still hot. Lach wouldn't look at her either. Bett rolled their eyes, and they all went back to the camp. They packed up the rest of their things and disappeared into the night.

Not far behind. A panoply of soldiers rode into the forest, torches illuminating their path. At the head, Commander Zakrus' eyes glowed into the dark.

When the sun rose again, the businesses and jabbering of the city port welcomed the trio.