SAGE (under edit)

Chapter Twenty Two - Coming to Terms

'I still can't call you my equal, Petal,' said Nox as they perched themselves on the inn roof's parapet.

'Of course not,' Sage said on a scoff, 'there'd have to be three of me to equal your size.'

Nox thumped Sage good-naturedly on the shoulder, but the force behind it was enough that Sage had to tightly grip the edge of the parapet lest she be knocked right off. 'Careful,' she said, glaring.

Nox grinned. 'Get some more meat on your bones and it won't be so easy for me to push you around.'

Dante suddenly lifted himself up from the edge of the parapet and twisted to sit on it beside Sage, a wide, beaming smile on his face. 'I thought I could hear you two up here. Pretty good view for such a lousy town,' he said.

It was a lousy town, Sage would admit, but the Shadow Soldiers were laying low while Raidan continued to recover. For the last week they had settled themselves into a town called Abernay north-west of Sacred Plains and situated in the unmarked territory between it and the coastline. There were quite a few towns and villages in unmarked territories that were mutually protected by neighbouring regions, a way to ensure Soldiers from either region weren't consider suspicious by the other if seen travelling near their borders. Fortunately, Abernay wasn't one of those towns – which meant it had a high rate of criminals passing through.

The town was built on a hillside, so from where Sage, Nox and Dante sat on the rooftop they could see down the slope of land that all the homes and shops were built in tiers. At the base of the town was a murky lake that cut through the hill range, but given they were south of Radiant Hills the valley was nowhere near as roiling and vast as those outlying Radiant Hills City, which was where the name came from.

Keeping far from Lion Crest had been their goal over the last month, and the Shadow Soldiers were not short of places to stay – particularly in the north. They had returned, briefly, to the last house Sage had been with them just outside Sky Expanse so she could heal Raidan of the poison, giving him a few days to recover, but beginning their journey north. They had been residing at this inn – a regular source of accommodation for people wishing to remain anonymous – ever since.

Healing Raidan had not been easy, mostly due to the procedure required but also because of Sage's emotional state. She had still been reeling from the events of Lion Crest, but she had pulled her thoughts and focus together long enough to begin the arduous process of healing Raidan.

But Sage hadn't been alone; Toren had stayed by her side to help, and she had felt such an overwhelming sense of gratitude – and relief – that she had felt her eyes sting with tears. But she had composed herself, and Toren had used his own medical knowledge to follow Sage's instructions based on what Ashe had told her.

By the time they were done it was well into the late hours of the night, both Sage and Toren almost collapsing from the exhaustion of it but then Dante and Nox were there, each lending a shoulder to help them to their feet.

Twelve hours later, Sage and Toren had recovered from the healing session without any repercussions and Raidan was conscious; unsteady, his complexion still a little pallid, but he had been on his feet.

But Sage's departure from Lion Crest, even a month later, hadn't really been discussed between her and the Shadow Soldiers. It was this unspoken thing, her being with them without any mention of whether she would return to Lion Crest. But it wasn't tense or uncomfortable, and Sage had felt like someone who had sought refuge and found it, a temporary reprieve from the panic, guilt, fear and questions about the future churning through her.

There hadn't been an arrest warrant placed on her yet, based on Toren's sources, and Sage had been trying not to think too much about it. When the arrest warrant came on then Sage would be officially labelled a defector, a rogue, a criminal and any possibility of returning to Lion Crest would be gone.