The Atheil Chronicles: A Call to Fire

Chapter 27

Ariana looked over at Ryonen for what felt like the millionth time that day. He was walking, arms crossed over his chest, his strained face staring ahead as he pointedly ignored her. Tyrynion walked on the other side of her, his shoulders tight with tension as he watched the surrounding area for signs of life.
Last night, after she had finished telling Tyrynion everything that had happened to them since she met Ryonen, minus the part about Lamis' hidden castle, he had sat for a long time watching them. Ryonen hadn't been speaking to either of them at that point and, almost immediately after she had started her story, had thrown himself to the floor in anger at being disregarded. They had talked long into the night and, after a considerable amount of contemplation, it was finally agreed that they would be much safer with Tyrynion accompanying them. He had even offered to take the first watch but Ryonen had intervened, saying he'd rather do it himself. Ariana had tried to talk to Ryonen when Tyrynion left to go get his stuff from his cave, but he had just stared into the fire in silence.
It was now a few hours past noon and he was still not speaking to her, though she had to admit she wasn't trying that hard to engage anymore. She was still angry with him about not only his comment the night before, but with his continued frosty behavior toward Tyrynion. It was the situation with Lamis all over again; the second a male gave her any sort of attention, regardless of romantic intent or not, he became Mr. Jealous. So, the party of three moved through Orlac, the silence that lay between them as thick as the fog that hung in the air above.
Ariana was beginning to wonder if they were ever going to stop and rest when Tyrynion held out a hand to stop her. She looked over at him as he pointed to an area nearby with a scattering of rocks. They looked just high enough to sit on comfortably and she nodded her approval before they headed in their direction. Once they reached them, Ariana plopped down gratefully on the cool surface of one of the rocks and threw her satchel on the ground beside her.
Ryonen silently pulled out the food and set it on a nearby rock before settling on a rock further away. She leaned forward and scooped up some bread, tearing open the packaging and grabbing some slices. She felt relief wash through her as she took a bite, the spongy slice feeling like heaven to her empty stomach.
Tyrynion pulled out his own food, some type of plant that looked like a weed, the tiny, rounded green leaves sprouting in clusters from the stems. He looked up, noticing her watching. "Want to try some?" He said, offering a handful to her, which she took tentatively.
She watched him biting the leaves off the stems and mimicked him. It was actually really good. She chewed slowly, trying to figure out what it reminded her of. "It's sort of like spinach." She said, taking another bite. She looked over at Tyrynion. "Where did you find this? I thought nothing grew here anymore?"
He chewed thoughtfully. "You have to know where to look." He said, then pointed back toward the mountain they had left earlier that morning. "They grow in abundance once you get several hundred feet up the mountain. The roots are quite shallow so they're perfectly suited for the rocks."
"Hmm." She said, glancing over at Ryonen. He was eating a handful of nuts, his eyes turned toward the dying trees ahead. She could see, even from a distance, how tightly he was holding himself.
When she turned back, Tyrynion was eyeing her sword. He nodded at it. "Do you know how to use that?" He asked her, leaning back on his rock.
She shrugged. "Sort of. I started training a few days ago, but I wouldn't say I'm good, just somewhat okay." This was true since she basically just knew how to dodge and parry. Again, she found her eyes drawn to Ryonen as she thought this.
Tyrynion gave her a contemplative look. "I could help teach you." He said suddenly, surprising her. "You know that I was a soldier once. I'm not too bad with a blade."
Ariana felt her breath catch in her throat. "Seriously? That would be amazing."
From across the space, Ryonen whipped around, his eyebrows drawn together as his narrowed eyes stared pointedly at Tyrynion. "I'm already taking care of her training, we don't need your help with that."
"Ryonen." Ariana said, her voice low. "Stop."
He stood up suddenly. "No, I won't stop. You don't even care that I don't want him with us, now you're trying to ignore the fact that I'm supposed to be training you?" He pulled his sword smoothly from its scabbard. "If you're such a good swordsman, prove it."
Ariana stared between the two men, her mouth held open in shock. What in the world had gotten into Ryonen? He was acting like a complete jerk. Before she could even tell him to stop, though, Tyrynion had managed to free his own sword from its sheath and was holding it lazily at his side.
"You're sure?" He asked, not sounding angry, just casual.
In response, Ryonen charged at him. Tyrynion stepped lightly away, taking the fight a fair distance away from where she was sitting. She watched in growing horror as Ryonen cleared the space between them again, his blade arcing through the air as he swung it downward toward Tyrynion. However, one second Tyrynion was there, and the next he was a few feet away. He had moved so quickly that Ariana had barely been able to catch it. His blade was once again held out lazily in front of him, his free hand behind his back.
"Come now, surely you can do better than that." He said. His tone was friendly, non-threatening.
This seemed to anger Ryonen even more because he once again moved to strike him. Ariana's heart was racing while she watched them, sure that someone would get hurt. However, both men were clearly experts, parrying and dodging blows almost as if it were some kind of a dance. The clattering of metal was ringing throughout the clearing, the sound seeming to be amplified by the dense fog that hung above. Ryonen was fighting fiercely, almost recklessly, as if he truly intended to strike a blow. Tyrynion, for his part, seemed hardly bothered by any of it and didn't even look like he'd broken a sweat.
One particularly close swing from Ryonen left him facing away from Tyrynion, who took the opportunity to sweep at his legs with his foot. As soon as his foot was in contact with the back of Ryonen's knees, he crumpled almost instantly. In a flash of silver, Tyrynion's sword was at his throat, the point within a quarter of an inch from the pale skin there.
"Concede." Tyrynion said, his gravelly voice low.
Ryonen glared up at him, his hand inching toward his own sword that he had dropped a foot away. "No." He growled.
Tyrynion flexed his hand and the tip of the sword just barely moved to graze the skin of his neck. Ariana could see an indent where it pressed up against it. "You're a good swordsman," he said, tilting his head as he looked down at Ryonen, "but a good swordsman also knows when he's been beaten."
Ryonen's fingers finally met the hilt of his sword and they wrapped around it. Just as he was about to bring it up in a swing, Ariana jumped on the blade, holding it fast to the ground. Having understood a minute earlier that Ryonen would not give up, Ariana had slowly made her way over to them to intervene if need be. Now, she met Ryonen's surprised expression with her own angry one.
"That's enough." She said, her hand moving to her hip. "Concede, Ryonen. He beat you fair and square."
His green eyes narrowed at her. "But-"
"No buts." She said, cutting him off. "You're taking it too far, Ryonen, just stop it."
He looked like he was going to argue with her but then he just turned away. "Fine." He said.
Tyrynion lowered his sword from Ryonen's throat and reached out a hand to help him up. Ryonen ignored it, tugging on his sword so Ariana stumbled backward as he rolled up off the ground. Without a word to either of them, he strode off into the direction of the trees, grabbing his satchel off the ground as he passed by it.
Ariana watched him go, her mind reeling. What in the hell had just happened? She watched as Ryonen disappeared into the mist and trees, then she took a step as if to follow him. Tyrynion put a hand on her shoulder, stopping her.
"Let him go." He said, his eyes cast in the same direction as hers. "Let him cool off for a bit."
She bit her lip, nodding. This didn't feel like the Ryonen she knew, though she was beginning to feel like maybe she didn't know him as well as she thought she did. Certainly he had lied to her about who he was, that much was true, but she had thought that everything else had been sincere. Maybe she was wrong.
She turned back to Tyrynion. "You were being modest earlier." She said, half smiling. "You're way better than what you were claiming to be."
The corners of his mouth twitched almost imperceptibly in a smile. "I'm much older than both of you." He said. "It was only fair."
She was still smiling as her eyes fell on the trees behind him. She sighed. "I'm sorry about Ryonen, he's just-" She stopped, unable to finish her sentence.
"Jealous?" He offered.
Her cheeks flushed. "For whatever reason, yes. Obviously I'm not interested in you like that, but that doesn't seem to matter to him." She said. This whole conversation was starting to embarrass her.
He nodded, and she couldn't read anything in his expression as he pierced her with his dark eyes. Finally, he spoke. "You shouldn't have to apologize for him. He's not a child anymore, he knows what he's doing."
Ariana felt her eyes widen and then swallowed. He was right, of course, and she knew it. "I know." She admitted. "I guess I'm just used to making excuses for him when he's rude to people. Maybe I shouldn't do that anymore."
He inclined his head. "It's not unusual to want to smooth over mistakes that our loved ones make, but it doesn't help them in the long run. They have to learn to stand on their own. Speaking of which," he said, pointing to her sword at her hip, "why don't you show me what you know while we wait for him to come back?"
She hesitated, but then pulled the sword from the scabbard. "I'm not even kind of as good as Ryonen is." She said, holding it out in front of her tentatively.
He shook his head, mimicking her stance. "We all have to start somewhere." He said, and he took a swipe at her.
* * * * *
Ariana and Tyrynion had practiced for almost 2 hours while they waited for Ryonen to come back. He never did. By the time they finally called it quits, her shoulder was aching with the effort of not only holding her sword at it's proper height, but swinging it and using it to parry blows. At some point she had thrown her cloak onto the ground, the extra fabric making her start to sweat as they continued to spar. Now, she picked it up on her way back to the rocks to sit down.
"You've done quite well." Tyrynion said, and she couldn't be positive but he sounded pleased.
"Thanks." She said, dropping down and immediately reaching for some water. All that moving around and dodging had made her parched. She almost hated to admit it but, not only was Tyrynion a better swordsman, he was a much better teacher than Ryonen had ever been. He was patient and calm, not afraid to challenge her when he believed she was capable of doing something. In fact, he had been so impressed with her evasive skills that they had moved on to attacking. Obviously he was in no danger of getting cut by her sword since she wasn't even sort of on his level, so she just came at him like she would an actual enemy. He, on the other hand, only used the flat end of his sword when he struck at her. She had even managed to get a few good blows in before he had stopped them.
"I think you have the making of a good swordsman; you just have to keep practicing." He said, pulling her back from her thoughts.
She smiled. "I hope so, I never want to have to worry about being defenseless ever again." She said it quietly, the smile fading from her lips. Being in Orlac was becoming harder for Ariana the closer they got to Balthorn. She was acutely aware of what kind of creatures dwelled there, and there was one, in particular, that she was the most afraid of.
"Are you alright?" Tyrynion asked, setting down the fruit he had started eating.
She looked at him quickly, pasting a smile on her face. "Oh, yeah, I'm fine."
He watched her carefully, not speaking for a long time. " If you say so." He said, though he didn't look away.
She tried to sit there quietly, but it was hard while his gaze lingered on her. She had to keep actively stopping herself from squirming under his intense scrutiny. She forced herself to hold still, the tension in her shoulders building until she couldn't stand it anymore. "Okay," she said, finally breaking, "maybe I'm not fine." When he still didn't speak, she continued. "You know what I went through at the Goblin's camp, I told you about it last night." She hesitated. "What I didn't tell you was that the leader started specifically targeting me. He was-" She searched for the right words.
"He was interested in you, wasn't he?" He didn't elaborate, but she knew from the look he was giving her that he understood what she had been trying to explain to him.
She nodded, swallowing. "I don't know, he just really got under my skin, I guess. It's been hard to move past the whole experience because I always feel this fear that I'll turn the corner and he'll be there, ready to take me back with him." She felt embarrassed to admit out loud the thoughts that had haunted her for the past week since Ryonen had rescued her.
Tyrynion was silent, seeming to mull over her words. Just when she thought he wasn't ever going to say anything, he spoke. "I've found that the mind can often be a person's own worst enemy when it comes to their fears. It can force you to relive your worst moments over and over again until you become no more than a shell of your true self at its feet." His voice was gentle, quiet, but she knew that he was speaking of a deeper pain that could only come from experience.
She sighed deeply. "So how do you stop it?"
"I'm not sure you do." He replied. At her look of despair, he clarified. "Our fears are there for a reason, Ariana. They protect us from getting hurt again, but sometimes we get so caught up in them that we don't let ourselves live at all. I think it's important to strike the balance; acknowledge the fear but don't let it control you."
She looked down at her hands, pondering this. She understood what he meant; this fear of the Goblins was a rational one, but it was also going to become overwhelming if she let it get any worse. On the other hand, she had agreed to sword training in the first place because she knew it would give her some sort of peace of mind to know that she could defend herself if the she needed to. "Is it wrong for me to wish I'd just let Ryonen kill Morgrean?" She asked. She had said it almost without thinking, the words slipping out before she could stop them.
Tyrynion was quiet as he seemed to think about it. "I think only you can answer that question." He said. She was still watching her hands, but she could just barely make him out in her peripheral vision gazing out into the trees. "Why did you choose to spare him in the first place?"
She thought back to that morning when Ryonen had rescued her from Morgrean at the border of the Darklands. She had been so positive that Ryonen should spare him at that moment but, thinking about it now, she couldn't fully explain why she had felt so strongly about it. "I don't know." She said, wringing her fingers together, suddenly anxious.
Tyrynion leaned toward her and then his calloused hand was laying on top of hers, stilling her fidgeting fingers. "I think you do." He said softly.
Now she lifted her face, meeting his gaze head on. Her thoughts, so loud in her head just seconds before, suddenly stopped. She hesitated, hearing the thumping of her own heart in her ears. "Maybe-" She stopped, swallowing. "Maybe when I told him that I wanted to protect him from the stain of Morgreans death being on him, I was actually just protecting myself."
"Why did you think that would protect you?" He prompted.
She stared into his face, her hazel eyes meeting with his deep umber ones. She searched her heart for the answer. "Because his death would make it real for me." She said finally, a weight seeming to lift off her shoulders as the words came out. "If Ryonen killed him, that would mean what I suffered was real and that there were consequences; I would have always been reminded of what happened."
Tyrynion's hand tightened over hers. "I won't say that killing another being is okay; truthfully, it's not something you want to do lightly. Every time you find yourself in a situation where you must choose between life and death, it will be difficult. However, sometimes it's truly necessary to kill in order to save yourself or another person. In that case, you learn to live with it because it was what you had to do. There's no point dwelling over past decisions, Ariana, you'll still have to live with the consequences regardless."
She swallowed. "Do you think I should have let Ryonen do it, though?" She asked him.
He tilted his head. "I think he would still be haunting you even if you had." He replied, his hand coming off of hers as he leaned back on his rock, picking up his fruit and starting to eat it.
Ariana sat silently, her mind whirring as she watched the trees for Ryonen's return. She was feeling a lot of things at the moment; gratefulness for Tyrynion being there for her when Ryonen wasn't, anger at Ryonen for running off and abandoning her, and guilt for wishing her old Ryonen would come back rather than this jealous, resentful man who she had been seeing since they left Lamis'. She hoped that he would have a good explanation ready when he came back, otherwise she wasn't sure what she would do. His behavior was starting to make her wonder if they would ever really bridge the gap between them. It certainly didn't feel like it.
* * * * *
Ryonen finally came back late in the evening, his long hair tucked behind his ears as he strolled into the clearing. His eyes met hers before he nodded toward the trees. Ariana felt her heartbeat quicken at the sight of him, so casual as he waited for her to come to him. She touched Tyrynion's arm lightly and saw that he was already watching Ryonen, his gaze fixed on him from across the clearing.
"I'll be right back." She told him, then turned and followed Ryonen away from him. She could feel Tyrynion's keen eyes watching her as she went, but didn't look back. They walked in silence until there was a considerable amount of space between them and Tyrynion.
Ryonen turned around and faced her. In that moment, she could see a sliver of his old self in his features as he looked at her guilty. "I'm sorry." He said finally.
She just stared at him. She was making something up in her mind, churning his words as she determined whether or not she even believed him anymore. As sincere as he sounded, she had been down this road before with him and she wasn't going to be fooled again. She shook her head. "I'm not sure that you are." She said, her hand moving to her hip.
He looked taken aback by this. "What?"
She shifted, leaning on her other leg. "Ryonen, I'm so sick of you apologizing and then doing the same thing over and over again. It's like what happened with Lamis all over again. You swore to me that you would be nice and then you were still behaving the same way."
He frowned at her. "I said I was sorry about that, Ariana."
"But how many times are you going to say you're sorry without making an effort to change?" She asked him. "You're doing the same thing as before, being rude to Tyrynion for no reason. He's been nothing but helpful and you're over here challenging him to sword fights. Speaking of which," she said, pointing at him, "what in the world were you thinking? You weren't just sparring, Ryonen, you were trying to hurt him. I could see it in your face."
He bit his lip, not speaking. Then he began pacing between the dying trees, his footsteps sounding loud as the leaves moved beneath him. "I don't like that guy." He said, drawing his eyebrows together. "Something about him doesn't seem right. I don't think he's being truthful about who he is and why he's here."
She gawked at him. "Do you seriously not see the hypocrisy in that statement?" She asked him, honestly shocked at his audacity.
He let out an angry breath. "Come on, Ariana, that's not even the same thing and you know it."
"Ryonen, how in the world is that not the exact same thing? You lied to me, for weeks, about who you were. You were going to keep lying to me indefinitely if Lamis hadn't intervened. So excuse me if I find it ironic that you're now trying to claim Tyrynion isn't trustworthy because you think he's lying about who he is."
"You said we were going to forget about that!" Ryonen half-yelled. "You said that we weren't going to talk about it anymore and see where things take us. Now you're bringing it up again every time you disagree with me about anything." He let out a huff of annoyance. "How is that fair?"
She shook her head, so incredibly frustrated with the whole conversation that she hardly knew what to do with herself. "I was letting it go," she said angrily, "but you're the one making it difficult to move on from it. You're acting like nothing ever happened, that you never lied to me or betrayed my trust. Ryonen, I don't understand how you can stand there and act so sanctimonious. You're completely projecting your own behavior onto Tyrynion and then trying to pass it off as fact. You did wrong, on both accounts, so just own up to it."
Something inside him seemed to deflate at her words. His shoulders, so tense before, started to sag as he looked at her. "I never wanted it to be like this with you." He said quietly, his eyes trained on hers. There was so much emotion swirling in their green depths; anger, pain, regret. "I never realized that lying to you would hurt you this much. When I look at you now, I don't see that same affection in your eyes anymore and it breaks my heart." He tried to take a step toward her, his hands outstretched as if to pull her close, but Ariana stuck out her own hand, shaking her head.
"Please, just stop." She said. She was so exhausted from running in circles with him and she was beginning to think that he was incapable of truly understanding what he had done to them. She looked up to the darkening sky. "We've wasted enough time waiting for you." She said, her voice low and numb of any feeling. "Now we're going to have to make camp and wait for the morning." She saw the hurt cross his features but she didn't wait for him to respond. She turned around and walked back to the clearing, leaving him alone amongst the dying trees.