The next couple of days flew by. My mornings were spent training physically with Nia and Beth. Evenings were spent training magically with Greenspring and Nia. Beth watched us from the sidelines during our evening training sessions, not confident enough to join in. We offered every time, just in case she changed her mind. I didn’t see Valna, Richard, or Trafford during those days.

  Nor did I see Zadona. She hadn’t contacted me since our last meeting in Valna’s kitchen. I wasn’t sure why it upset me so much, before coming to Adelbern we hadn’t talked in years. After receiving her letter, and finally seeing her again, I thought things would go back to normal. We could be friends again and she could come home. Well, I hoped that would be the case.

  Nia swung her practice axe over my head. “Focus, Norman!” she yelled.

  Dodging another swing, I stabbed at her side. There would be time to think about such things later. For now, I had to focus on the upcoming fight. I knew next to nothing about my opponent, I barely knew how to fight, and the match was tomorrow. So, things were not looking great.

  Beth and Greenspring watched from the sidelines. Their expressions made it clear how badly I was doing. It wasn’t like I wasn’t improving, I was, but as my tournament match came closer and closer, I felt myself slipping. Memories of fighting Gunner under the Sapphire Mountains kept me awake at night. Ghostly fingers brushed against my neck.

  It was a mistake. Nia miscalculated the length of her axe, and the way I was moving. On a normal day, under normal circumstances, I would have dodged it. Instead, the blunt blade of her practice axe arced toward my neck. I felt the air move out of its way until it made impact.

  Pain.

  The next few minutes were spent gasping for air on the ground. Besides a rapidly growing bruise, I was okay. Nothing that would stop me from fighting in the tournament. Mentally, I felt the cold hands of death welcoming me into the afterlife. I was scared.

  Scared to fight, scared to let my family down, scared to die. That fear slowed me down, made it hard to find the energy to keep moving forward. When I was finally able to catch my breath, I looked up at my companions. I expected to see Beth’s eyes, but it was Greenspring’s instead. His brow was furrowed, his eyes bearing a great sadness.

  “Are you able to walk, Norman?” he asked.

  Beth and Nia argued in the distance. Arguing about me, about the tournament, about our training sessions. Neither of them were angry—they were worried about me. I hated that I made them feel like that. A bard is supposed to make people smile. Piopus taught me that bards bring joy to those who need it most.

  I coughed, trying to clear my throat of the invisible mass that had become lodged inside it. “I- I’m okay.”

  Greenspring smiled. “Would you like to take a walk?”

  The night I met Greenspring, he asked me to walk with him as well. I refused him then, letting my feelings about my former master cloud my judgment. If it weren’t for Greenspring, I would have never got my family back from Gunner. Even after I pushed him away, he risked his life to help me.

  “Okay,” I said before I fell victim to another coughing fit.

  Greenspring stood up and turned to the others. “Norman and I are going on a walk. We will be back in an hour.”

  “I’ll go with you,” said Beth.

  Greenspring held out his hand toward her. “I would like to talk to Norman privately. My apologies, Beth. Another time perhaps.”

  As Greenspring helped me stand up, I gave Beth a weak smile. She was hurting, that much was clear to me. Losing Zadona for the first time had been hard on her, hard on all of us. After losing one friend, she became overprotective of the people she cared about. Beth returned my smile.

  “Sounds good, Greenspring,” said Nia, standing with her axe resting on her shoulders. “Beth and I will keep training.”

  Greenspring and I didn’t talk as we walked through Adelbern. Not for lack of trying on my part. Each time I tried to say anything, Greenspring would respond with, “Not yet.”

  Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site.

  We walked through the streets, passing by all manner of people. Some were happy, some were sad, others were angry. It was a rainbow of people and emotions. I was so focused on the people around us I almost missed Greenspring walking through the city gates. Advocate Despoina wasn’t there this time. Part of me wished she was so I could ask her what she thought about the fight.

  Greenspring didn’t turn back to see if I followed, but I did.

  Grass spread around the city like an endless sea of green. In the distance, I could see the Emerald Mountains. Nestled at the bottom of them was a dense forest. Farms were built up to the edge, threatening to overtake nature. The mountains reminded me of being in Xalir, where the Ruby Mountains always decorated the horizon. Seeing the farms as well only added to my nostalgia. I missed being home.

  Once we were a good distance out of the city, Greenspring stepped off the road and sat down in the grass. His white beard swayed in the breeze. I sat down next to him, curious why he took us out here. It was nice, a comfortable experience for sure, but that didn’t mean I was relaxed. How could I be? Soon, I’d have to kill again.

  “How is young Arienne doing?” asked Greenspring, plucking a blade of grass out of the ground.

  “She’s growing so fast,” I said, a smile lighting my face. “I imagine she’ll be bigger than me some day.”

  “And Charlie?”

  “He’s doing well. He’s like a younger me, though sometimes I wonder if that’s such a good thing.”

  Greenspring added the blade of grass to his leaf-woven robes before plucking another. “Do you love them?”

  “With all my heart,” I answered.

  “Good,” he said, nodding. “That is precisely the answer I was looking for.”

  “Why did you bring me out here?” I asked.

  He looked up toward Adelbern. “My own family was, and is, a mess. Everyone’s is, but mine more than most. Still, I love my father. The good memories we shared, I will never forget them. But that does not mean I will let them hold me back.

  “Norman, I can tell you are letting the past bind you. Stop. After a heavy storm, do the trees cry? Do they gather their roots and hide from the world? No, they continue to grow. Some may die, and that is sad, but the other trees do not stop growing. Under the Sapphire Mountains, we made many mistakes. We can not let those mistakes decide our future.

  “You are a fantastic bard, a good father, and a great friend. Never forget that, Norman. Seeing you suffer, it hurts the people around you. I am not asking you to feign being alright, but when you are hurting, you can ask for help. Your friends and family want to help you, you need only ask.”

  “I don’t want to kill again,” I said, clutching my knees to my chest.

  “As is right,” said Greenspring. “But if it comes to it, you must kill again. Hesitation in the heat of battle can bring your own death. Tomorrow, when you fight against Despoina, do not forget that she is fighting for her life as well.”

  “Of her own free will,” I replied.

  He shook his head. “You do not know that. Not everyone is a killer like Gunner.”

  We sat in silence for a few minutes. It was nice feeling the sun on my skin, and the wind rolling lazily around us. If I could stay like that all day, I would, but I knew I couldn’t. Now wasn’t the time to be relaxing, now was the time to be training. But could I really kill again? Balling my hands into fists, I nodded to myself. If it came to it, I would.

  “Thank you, Greenspring,” I said as I stood up.

  He grabbed onto my shirt and pulled himself up. His whole body creaked and groaned with every little movement. “No need to thank me. I know you would do the same for me.”

  Would I? Unlike Nia, who I had seen a lot of in the couple of years since our grand adventure, Greenspring had been off on his own. Even on the journey to save Arienne and Henry, that had only been for a couple of weeks. As soon as we had reached the fortress, we were separated. I didn’t know Greenspring that well.

  He was still a friend. It was easy to imagine doing everything you could to help a friend. But when it came time to actually do something, could I? I didn’t know. All I knew was that I would try. If Greenspring trusted me, then I would have to believe that I would try. That was all I could do.

  As we walked back to Valna’s mansion, I examined Greenspring more closely. He was still covered in dirt, masking his true age. Only briefly had I seen him without his disguise. Why he pretended to be an old man, when he was only a decade or so older than me, was a mystery. I never asked him. His wolf pendant bounced against his chest, creating a thumping sound with every step he took. It almost sounded like the beating of a heart.

  I sighed. Once I won my match tomorrow, I could ask him about his past. If I remembered, or lived. For now, I had to focus on my own future. Though I didn’t want to fight, I would fight to my last breath. Everyone was counting on me to survive. Maybe I could ask Despoina to let me concede the match early. If only Trafford would allow it. Even Valna hadn’t been able to get in contact with her.

  Beth and Nia were still training when we got back, but I didn’t join them. I headed toward my room, changed out of my day clothes, and laid down in my bed. It felt better than sleeping in my bed in Xalir, but that didn’t make me miss home any less. Did my kids miss me? Had they got my letter? Did they know I missed them?

  I wrote them another letter. If I lived, I would throw it into the fireplace and forget all about it. If I died, at least they would know how much I loved them. Drained from training and my talk with Greenspring, I fell asleep.