Chapter Fifteen
Signs

Quiet descended on the room like snow, settling between the floorboards and allowing all of them to catch their breath. Not only was everything silent for a moment, but there seemed to be no threats, either. Then, slowly and gently, Rubicus walked over to one of the chairs — one that was still intact — put it upright, and sat down. 

“How are you doing, Flaveo?” he asked, as casually as if they were at a bar. He took a chair himself and set it down too. He was rubbing his fingers, probably still sore and tingling from blowing raw magic out of it. 

“I,” Flaveo said as he flopped down onto the chair, “have been better.” He looked at the contents of his pack, now strewn about the floor, tools shattered and destroyed, phials broken. “How are you? Last I saw you, you’d been perforated pretty severely, Rubicus.” His face grew dark. “You and C—”

“Hi!” Vera said, interrupting the conversation before things could get bogged down. Rubicus glared at her for a moment, but he didn’t seem keen to say anything. Flaveo, however, seemed to pick up on it. 

“Hello,” he said thoughtfully, rubbing his chin with his thumbnail. “You’ll have to excuse me. Usually I’m a slight bit more chipper when a young girl excitedly tries to introduce herself, but I have had a very long day, and my friend Rubicus here looks like he’s being forced to swallow a peeled lime.” He crossed his arms. “Either of you care to tell me who you are and why he’s so ticked off?”

“She claims,” Rubicus said, “she’s Cinero.” Flaveo frowned and leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees and clasping his hands together. “That she’s bound to some kind of forest spirit that changed her body.”

“But you don’t believe her,” Flaveo said, chewing his tongue. 

“Magic like that don’t exist, Flaveo,” Rubicus said, leaning back in his chair. “You know that better than anyone. I’ve seen your magic and I’ve seen black magic. Not five minutes ago it was putting a hole through this bloody house. None of that can make someone look like…” He waved at Vera, who was getting thoroughly frustrated with being talked about like she wasn’t there. 

“I know better than anyone, old friend,” Flaveo said, “that there’s things in this world we have neither knowledge or understanding of. I’ve heard of spirits, roamining their mountains and forests.” He waved his hand. “Most of them likely nonsense, but one or two of them could be true. Should be easy enough to verify.” He looked at Rubicus. “You did verify, didn’t you Rubicus?” 

The old mercenary, as he always did when he got a chiding from Flaveo, deflated. Or rather, he seemed to be trying to hide inside of his armor, like a turtle in its shell. “Um.”

“For the sake of grace, Rubicus,” Flaveo said as he shook his head and smiled. He stood up, turned the chair around, and sat down again, resting his arms on the back of the chair. “Then, girl, prove it.”

“I’m… well, I’m Ci— I’m him, but I’m not. I’m Vera,” she said. “I — I’ve always had a rough time being myself but it’s only when I met…” She stopped.

“Take a deep breath,” Aesling said. “Collect your thoughts. These are your friends, and it seems that Flaveo, at least, seems like the kind of person who’ll listen.” Vera nodded, and did as Aesling bade her. 

“From the beginning might be easier,” she said. “When the Cavean was released, something else was, too. A forest spirit named Aesling. When… When I almost died, it was her power that brought me back. And it helped me look, like, well…” She waved at herself. “I’m happier this way. Much happier. But I’m the same person you raised.” Flaveo was clearly still more than a little skeptical. 

“An example,” Aesling said, eager to help. “Something only they’d know!” 

“You, Rubicus and Caerella have raised me since I was… too young. Rubicus taught me how to fight and hold a sword. Caerella taught me footwork more appropriate to my frame. You taught me how to maintain my armor and weapons,” Vera said, chewing her lip. She was trying to think of more. “We went to find the Prince’s body, and Rubicus was too eager with the magic and nearly melted his hand into his gauntlet!” That got an indignant scoff from Rubicus, but Flaveo seemed to smile. 

“That’s… not bad, girl. But I’m going to need something a little more… Something any old person wouldn’t know if they just knew Ruben well enough.” 

Well. There was one thing. Vera felt Aesling strengthen her on the inside, trying to send her courage. “When… when you found me, Flaveo,” she said, “Rubicus pulled me away from what was left of my house. But it was you… you were the one who tried to make me look away from my parents,” she said, dredging up a very old, very ugly memory. “You weren’t very good at it, but you tried to juggle some rocks so I’d look away as Caerella carried them away.”

Flaveo blinked a few times. “Y-Yeah, that’ll do it.” He shot Rubicus an accusatory glance. “That wasn’t so hard, was it, Ruben?” He shot Vera a smile, which she happily returned. “It really is our boy.”

Her smile disappeared as quickly as it had formed. It was like she’d been punched in the stomach. “No, I’m… I mean, yes, I’m that person, but I’m Vera. I’m not a boy. I’m not a man. I’m a woman, Flaveo, I—”

“What you are,” Flaveo said, “is bound to a forest spirit, probably some kind of nymph.” He stood up. “I’ve been told those are female. So what do you think is more likely, that a benevolent nymph just happened to cross your path and ‘fixed’ you just when you needed it, or that some sort of parasitic spirit made you think that’s what you wanted? She’s already in your head, isn’t she?”

“I — I —” Vera stammered. This wasn’t how she’d imagined this conversation going. Internally, Aesling was frantically trying, it seemed, not to panic. 

“Vera!” Aesling said, almost begging. “You have to believe me! I’d never do something like that! L— Look at Clarus! If I wanted to do something like that, I would’ve done that to him too, right?! Vera?”

“I believe you,” Vera said ever so softly, but there was a fear that was making it hard to think, hard to form words, and Flaveo was right there, putting his hands on her shoulders. 

“Look, when we get to the capital, I’ll get my tools. I’ve seen how these things work.” He thumbed over his shoulder at where the remains of the sorcerer were still smoldering. “It’s foul magic, but it’s hollow. I can make something that’ll pull the spirit right out of you. You’ll be right as rain in no time, Cin—”

“I’ll ask that you don’t, Master Flaveo,” Prince Clarus said as he walked into the room. He was covered in black ichor. Vera felt guilty for almost having forgotten about him, but right now she could kiss him for interrupting Flaveo. “I caught the last of what you said, my good man, and whether or not you’re correct does not, right now, matter.”

Flaveo’s eyes almost rolled out of his head. Vera realized it was probably a bit of a shock to see a long-thought-dead Prince just walk into the room. “Prince Clarus?” he asked.

“The same,” the Prince said casually. Flaveo tried to kneel but Clarus immediately stopped him, and made the name situation clear as well, when Flaveo tried to resort to overly flowery titles. 

“What do you mean, Prince Clarus,” he asked, “that it doesn’t matter? Our comrade—”

“—is clearly upset by the way you speak about and to her,” the Prince said. “If what you posit is true, and I am not saying it is, then your antagonizing will not help anyone.”

Rubicus grunted, but didn’t say anything. His brow was knit tightly together, and he’d been quiet since Vera had proven her identity to them. He seemed unsure, to say the least. Flaveo shook his head. “Look, I understand where you’re coming from, Prince Clarus, but there were never any signs. If this was true, she would’ve said something. When all this is over, she’ll thank us for—”

“Flaveo,” Vera said, her lip trembling and her eyes stinging, “you taught me how to cook. You taught me how to sow. You showed me how to read the stars and how to make a good campfire.” She wiped at her eyes to keep from crying more obviously. “I swear to you, on every memory that I have made with you, that if you push this, if you push me, then I will not be around to thank you, when ‘this’ is all over, and you’ll never see me again.”

Flaveo raised his hands. “Very well,” he said. “As you say, Your Highness.” He nodded at Prince Clarus first, and then Vera, but he seemed far from convinced. He turned away to fret over Rubicus, who was covered in small cuts and bites, and led him outside, leaving Vera to stand there. Anxiety washed over her. There should’ve been relief, over having found Flaveo, but instead, there was just pain and the fear that she’d lose him all over again, but in different ways. Or worse, that he’d try to hurt her while doing what he thought was helping her. 

“I won’t let him hurt you, Vera,” Aesling said. 

“He… he’s not right, is he?” Vera asked the spirit. 

“I would never, Vera,” Aesling said. “But I understand that your trust is shaken. Flaveo is wrong. There were signs.” Vera could feel Aesling sighing, internally. “Of course, there is no way for me to prove that I can not change your memories.“

“Can you?”

“Hah, no. It took me months to even comprehend the way creatures like you understand the world around you. Humans, I mean. So short and unfocused. But… Look, if you are worried… then I’ll subject myself to whatever trials and tests Flaveo wishes to subject you to when you are safe. Just… ask him to try and find a way other than the sorcerer’s dark magic? I feel that it will hurt.” 

“I will,” Vera said, and she felt like she was being split down the middle. On the one hand, she felt like she’d been rejected by one of her oldest friends. On the other, the person who had given her what she’d never known she’d always needed had just been questioned, and she didn’t know where to place that feeling. She didn’t know what, or who to trust. 

“I’m sorry,” Aesling said quietly as tears started to run down Vera’s face and she shook in her boots. Then, two strong arms wrapped themselves around her and she was being pulled into Clarus’ arms. 

“I am here, Vera,” Clarus whispered quietly. “I understand that this hurts. That you hoped… for better. And that’s okay. It’s okay for this to hurt. It’s normal. I’m here.” He kept repeating those last two words over and over again as she sobbed into his chest. “Listen… we’ll make camp in this village tonight. Tomorrow, we ride South. We’ll find the last of your friends — Caerella? — and then we’ll stop the Cavean. And then… whatever it is that you want or need, if it is within my power to give, you’ll have it.” He took a step back and smiled at her. She couldn’t help but smile back. She had to look like a wreck, her eyes probably red and puffy, and her nose clogged up. That, and she felt like she was freezing, cold mud and fog having soaked into her clothes, which was probably in no small part contributing to her shivering. And he’d just fought off demonic creatures and infernal sorcerers and he was covered in grime and blood and he looked like a painting. “Come on,” he said, “let’s get you warmed up.” He put an arm over her shoulder and led her out of the building as he wrapped her in his cloak.

Elamimax

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