The Overlord Trilogy: The Light

12 • Xileth

Ten Years Ago

Xileth

"You can't do this!" Zoey flinches as the girl yells at me, my grip on Zoey tightening. She tries to read my face, failing as shadow hides my face. "Zoey has to stay with us, she will be safe at the palace." The girl steps closer towards us, instinctively forcing me backward.

"I have to do this, there is no other choice. If I leave Zoey here she will be obstructed by your shadow." I push her out of the way as I pull Zoey with me. She loses her balance and slips on the stone brick steps. She lets out a scream as she falls down, tumbling head over heels. Twenty-six steps in all. She lay motionless at the bottom. I start walking down the steps to help her up when the siren goes off. I curse and sprint right past her body. I quickly look back and see guards picking up her while sending others to chase me. Zoey stumbles and almost falls but I pick her up and keep running. Everyone runs out of their houses to see what is going on and as soon as they see me sprint past them they get instantly angry. God dammit. I almost get to the gate when a guard comes out of nowhere and hits me in the face with the butt of his spear. I fall back letting go of Zoey. She screams as the guard catches her and steps over me.

"Zo...ey..." He raises the spear to hit me again but I roll out of the way and the spear slams into the gravel path. I kick the spear breaking it in two. I pull the splintered end out of the ground and get up. "Just give me Zoey. I don't want to kill the people who protect this place." The guard puts Zoey down and pushes her behind him. I look at the guard closely. He can't be over twenty-two... I charge at him and plunge in broken end of the spear in his arm so he drops his other half, the tip of the spear falling off. I quickly grab it and put it into my pocket as I pick up Zoey and continue running. I slide the pointed end of the spear into my back pocket. Zoey hugs me tightly as we run through the gates and into the forest outside the walls of the town.

~~~

We repeat the same pattern over and over again for what I think is a week. Eat, walk, rest, walk, sleep, and repeat. After a week passes I start to hear the hustle and bustle of civilization. I pull my hood up to cover my face and put a wide brimmed hat over her head that is a few sizes too big for her. She giggles as the hat tips and covers most of her face. At least she cooperates. We walk up a hill and see a town ahead of us. It's small, but that's good. Small towns are good places to hide. I look at the sign but it's in another language I don't understand. Is this a human town? I walk into the town and look around. Humans walk around talking to other humans. I see an inn, well it looks like an inn. I walk inside and see people sitting around a bar as a guy stands on the table talking in the human language. Zoey giggles, she must find the new language funny. Maybe she could learn it. I see one of the humans are drunk, his bag of coins tied to his belt. I grab a knife off the closet table and cut the string before grabbing the purse. I walk up to a bartender and put the coin purse on the table. I point at a door that is left slightly ajar, revealing that it holds a bed and a dresser. He looks through the coins and nods. I hold up four fingers. Four days, till things die down. He hands me the keys to the room and I walk in. As I close and lock the door I hear the drunk yell at one of his companions. The coin purse. I check the lock. Good. I put Zoey on the bed and hug her. She hugs me back. I put the blankets that I stole from the palace on the floor. I let her take the bed and lie down on the blankets. I let Zoey fall asleep first. She is prone to nightmares. I fall asleep soon after that.

~~~

Four Years Ago

Xileth

I look at the map and then look at Zoey. She looks at me as our client hands us a coin purse. I hand over the bag I am holding as proof of our kill. He opens it and almost drops it. "Careful" Zoey says. "The hand has started to decay we don't want that rolling around the bar would we?" Our client gulps and I picks up the coin purse. I make sure all the coins are there and then pocket it.