A Sword For Gold

Chapter 4 - The Rising

When Baros came to, Maraxus was sitting by his side, watching over him.

"Mara... Maraxus..." spoke Baros weakly.

"Mmm," responded Maraxus with a nod and a smirk.

"When did—" and then Baros remembered. He remembered everything that transpired last night. Although dazed and vague, he could remember and recall the details of how he had ended up in a bed of one of the infirmaries in the Levyrian capital.

"Whe... Where's Cora?" asked Baros, struggling to regain his breath.

"Speaking with the king," answered Maraxus softly, trying not to let others around him overhear their conversation. "We had a royal summons to answer to, that's why we were on our way to Levyria. You got lucky, considering we ran into you and the Nightstalker last night. What the hell happened?"

"We... we got... overwhelmed," recalled Baros, as he coughed in between words and phrases.

"We?" asked Maraxus with a raised eyebrow, "You mean you and Vaelia?"

Baros nodded, still coughing heavily as Maraxus handed him a cup of water to drink from. After all, he had just woken up, and he coughed with a very arid throat. As he gulped down a bit, he could feel his strength slowly returning, and then he continued to speak.

"Yeah," answered Baros in between gulps of water.

"I find that hard to believe, even if it was the middle of the night in the woods," remarked Maraxus, "You and Vaelia? Cornered by one Nightstalker?"

"Five," Baros corrected him.

"Wha..." Maraxus' jaw dropped. After a brief moment of utter disbelief in silence, Maraxus finally managed to string a few words together despite the shock that had just come over him.

"That's impossible!" Maraxus argued in disbelief, "Nightstalkers don't just come together and attack the same prey! They would end up fighting each other!"

"That's what I thought so too, Maraxus," agreed Baros, "But Vaelia told me that those Nightstalkers were after her. Her plan was to lure all five of them away while I ran for the capital."

"So, you thought you were able to shake all of them off of your trail as they went after Vaelia, but one decided to catch up to you?" deduced Maraxus.

"Yeah," affirmed Baros, "I couldn't hear him coming. I barely managed to stand toe-to-toe with him especially since I was in the woods in the middle of the night, but I was able to keep track of its movements because of its glowing red eyes. Thank goodness you both came my way, though. You two are lifesavers, as always."

"Damn," cursed Maraxus, "This makes me want to look for her even more. Why the hell would the Nightstalkers be after her?"

Then, Maraxus remembered, as his widened and he let out a gasp of realization. He recalled what he had seen for a split-second last night. That faint, red glow in the creature's eyes that faded as it succumbed to death.

"Wait," muttered Maraxus to himself, "Nightstalkers don't have red eyes... they're more naturally yellow..."

"Maraxus?" Baros called his attention after staying quiet for too long. "Is everything alright?"

"Yeah, no..." replied Maraxus vaguely, incredibly distracted by his own wild running thoughts. Finally, after a moment of silent pondering, he asked Baros, "Did all five of them have glowing red eyes, Baros?"

"Yeah," affirmed Baros more confidently than not, "All five of them. Last night was blurry, but I'm sure they all had glowing red eyes."

"Baros, Nightstalkers are supposed to have yellow eyes," stated Maraxus.