Legacy of the Necromancer [Legacy, BK1 - Completed]

Chapter 9.1

I avoided Tamner's hut most of the day. Poe had made it clear that he wouldn't talk about trying John's way of getting home any further. Which made absolutely no sense to me at all. Wasn't getting home and warning the others of what the Witches were planning more important than some side effect that 'might' happen? What was he afraid of me seeing?

The villagers were starting to clean up, some moving slower than others. I pitched in and helped, picking up abandoned rough-cut cups and lost items, before moving on to help pack supplies for the refugees that would be returning to their village over the next few days.

Soun and I met with the other warriors in the training clearing late that afternoon, stretching and doing easy drills. John even joined us, surprising me when he easily tossed Suon into the dirt multiple times.

By the time we'd eaten the evening meal with the rest of the village and made it back to Tamner's, the stars were well and bright above us. I followed John as he ducked through the door covering, and settled in by the fire. Tamner was organizing the jars on one of the shelves, and Poe was asleep.

"He asked about you, earlier," Tamner said.

I rolled my shoulders, trying to ease the growing tension. "Is he doing better?"

Tamner nodded. "A bit."

"A bit isn't going to help us get home." John poked at the fire with a long stick.

"Fighting about how we're going to get home isn't going to help, either," I said, biting back a sigh.

Tamner replaced the last few jars back on their shelf, and joined us near the fire. "He worries about you, Hasim. You are like the first of your kind. He wishes you to be safe."

"But what's the point of me being safe if none of those I care about are?" I picked up my book, picking at the worn leather cover. "It's not that I don't understand why he wants to protect me. I know I'm still very new at this and I know I'm probably the last Reinhardt, but if my power was the difference between my family's and Avery's life and death? I have to protect them, just as Poe protects me. Because without them, who am I?"

John studied me over the fire, but I chose to ignore the look. Instead, I opened the Reinhardt book again and tried to understand what was written inside.

I opened my eyes the next morning to find Poe already awake. He sat with his back against the wall of the hut, blankets draped across his shoulders and gathered around him. Glancing around, I noticed that Tamner and John had already left for the morning.

Poe glanced at me briefly as I stirred.

"You're right," he said softly, looking back across the room at where John and Tamner still slept on the other side of the fire. "You both are."

I sat up carefully, still a little sore.

"We can't wait for you to learn the spell on your own or for me to recover. There's too much at stake."

"Why change your mind? You were so against it-"

"I heard you last night," he said. "What you said about wanting to protect your family."

He paused long enough to make me question if I should speak up instead. But when he spoke again, he wouldn't look at me.

"There's a lot you don't know about me and the things I've done; things I'm not proud of." He looked at me, his expression worn. "Connecting together for a spell like John suggests, it will open our minds to each other. You will be able to see memories from my past. It's not really a matter of 'If' it might happen, but of which ones you'll see." He paused a moment, looking away. "I'm afraid it'll change how you think of me."