Because I Love You✔️

Chapter 165: Awoken

Author's Note: sorry about the delay. Trying to host a Halloween party kept me busy. Anyway, this chapter is dedicated to Epicadrenaline for being an awesome waffle and giving me an unexpected spurt of inspiration.

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Chapter One Hundred and Sixty Five: Awoken

Xaphile didn't know how he'd ended up getting out of one bad situation only to wind up in another one right after.

The Sysh brothers had gone down to the cottage and were helping the Daael family pack their belongings up into an old horse-drawn cart, but he was now standing in front of the bruised, battered, sullenly glaring soldiers with his feet apart, arms folded.

Directly in front of him, Gus was holding a sword, face flushed purple with rage.

"I'll only say it one more time," he hissed, seething. "Move. I'm going to execute these bastards."

Ella and Vordt stood off to the side, watching the situation with observant eyes, and Adariel was hiding behind the former, nervously clinging to her cloak.

"No, you're not," Xaphile shot back, glaring just as fiercely. "I'm not going to move, Gus."

"Are you crazy?" the man barked, flailing his sword in outrage. "Those men just tried to kill you, tried to ambush Ella, and harmed the very people who are supposed to be under the protection of Adanac's Ruler! At this point, King Osric is no longer following the laws he laid out, and he's doing whatever it takes to destroy us! Why should we show mercy to these bastards?!"

"Because if you kill them," Xaphile shouted, face heating up, "we'll be no different than him! For all we know, these men who came here might not know what's really going on, and if you really think about it, we might just lose a huge advantage over him by killing these assholes."

"I refuse to---"

"Gus," Ella finally said, stepping forward and setting a hand on his wrist; the sword's point trembled in barely leashed fury. "Enough. He's right. One of our greatest advantages in the coming political debate is that we've done everything we possibly can to avoid bloodshed."

"But, Ella," he hissed, glaring at the enemy soldiers, "they were going to take you to the capital and have you executed. They were going to kill Vrael's brothers and force his parents to watch. These bastards tried to kill Xaphile! They won't show mercy!"

"That doesn't matter, Gus," Xaphile retorted, glancing at the swollen faces of the two men he'd fought earlier. "I refuse to kill them in cold blood. Murder isn't the answer to anything. All it does is bring temporary gratification to anger while you're in the heat of the moment. Trust me."

Gus's face screwed up in a grotesque manner, but after a time, he closed his eyes and took a deep breath, trying his hardest to calm down. With a snort, he sheathed his blade and shook his head, glaring at them with ire in his jade green eyes.

"I hope you know what you're doing," he muttered. "This trek back to Nimika is going to be hard enough without feeding our would-be killers along the road."

"Even if this turns out to be a mistake," Vordt finally said, speaking for the first time since the argument broke out, "it can always be corrected later. For now, I believe it would be more intelligent to find out why it is that they came here and what King Osric plans to do."

"Eh?" Ella scoffed, eyes widening. "That's a good idea! In fact, this might even be beneficial! Once we know what he plans, we can even let one of them go back to the king!"