“No! I won’t stay here.” I glanced down the street, but Kael and Gwen were gone.
I had to calm my nerves at the thought of being poked and prodded with needles. I stepped just outside of the building into the street with no clear direction in mind. I had no idea where Kael had run off too. He was home, near the woman he used to love. My body was tense, so I began to pace and think over everything I had just learned. I needed to escape, to get out of here and fast.
Alek gently touched my arm. “We need you. We have no way of understanding what exactly was done without you. You are the other piece of this puzzle. Kael was reckless in his decision-making when he left our sanctuary and it came after a very emotional time for him. He was feeling trapped and betrayed—justly so.”
“So you are justifying his actions?” I steamed.
“No, it’s in our blood—a desire to be bonded and to protect the weak. Now we are but a shadow of what we once were. We have all at one time or another wished for the glory of the old days and being bonded. He left and his journey has brought him to you. Now he is the first to be bonded in many years.” He shrugged his shoulders and I stared at him.
“What about me? I have no desire to be a part of this. And when I do come here what do you do? You attack me, imprison me, trick me, and throw me in a pit. Now you want me to stay?” I scoffed.
Alek blinked. I had momentarily stunned him. He stepped forward and tried to reason with me. “We are not the enemy, Thalia. It’s been a very long time since we’ve had outsiders in our camp.”
My anger didn’t diffuse at his words, but built up in power like a volcano about to explode. He was about to witness the full fury of the Valdyrstal Clan.
“You’re right. You are not the enemy, but there is a far greater enemy out there.” I pointed beyond the hills, toward what I hoped was the city of Haven. “Instead of hiding away dreaming of days of old and acts of honor, how about protecting those that can’t protect themselves? The innocents.”
People overheard me and a crowd began to gather around the infirmary. I didn’t care. I actually raised my voice even more. “The Septori are out there. They are a plague, an evil that preys on the unsuspecting. They live in the darkness and walk among us in the light of day. And we can’t find them. They are the ones that did this to Kael and me. True acts of honor don’t limit themselves to time of action and war, or to kings and queens, but become greatest when the need is the greatest.”
Alek looked taken aback. But I didn’t let that stop me. I turned to address the crowd of people walking by.
“I know about the creed, about how you are bound by oath to die protecting those you have sworn an oath to protect. But what about now, when you refuse to lend your sword to a crown? What about the innocents? The children, the poor, the people, whether of Calandry or Sinnendor? This country that you have lived in peacefully for generations—you don’t think they deserve help when help is due? When there is a common enemy that has struck out at one of your own, you do nothing. How can you even call yourselves SwordBrothers?”
I stared down the crowd and watched in amazement as more than a few eyes looked away from me in apparent shame. A few shuffled their feet nervously, but the ones I studied were the men and women who showed no emotion at all. There were quite a few. These were the trained SwordBrothers. Like Kael, they hid their thoughts from me. A discussion started among the crowd about what was going on in Calandry. Alek stepped forward and answered some of their questions as best as he could relay from what he’d learned from Kael. I used this short distraction to let Alek clean up the heated mess I had caused.
My eyes caught movement by the steps, and I looked up to see Kael and Gwen walking farther down the street, their heads almost touching as they leaned into each other. I felt a bubble of apprehension surface, and I could feel myself becoming lightheaded. I couldn’t handle either the thought of being an experiment or the idea of a lovesick reunion between Kael and Gwen. It was time to see myself out…of the sanctuary.
I turned to leave and ran into a wall of broad chests covered in black—more SwordBrothers. “Move please,” I lashed out. Surprisingly they moved out of my way. I stopped, looking up and down crowded street, unsure which way to go.
“Your horse is this way.” A SwordBrother waved me over and I followed him to a stable, keeping a careful distance. His hair was peppered with gray, his face tanned, and I could see faint scarring across his knuckles from years of working with weapons. He opened the door and pointed to the back.