Chronicles of Viltarion I - A Song of Stone and Iron

Chapter 63 - The mission of the sun

Izun walked behind Nuto and Alina guided the group's steps through the blackness of Piru, towards what they believed to be the east of the town.

"How long ago did you arrive in Asgun?" she said to the unmasked cultist, unable to avoid intoning the question with a hint of mischief.

"A few months ago." He replied, since Korusei had begun to affect him his voice had changed from shaky to one of complete exhaustion. "We were ordered to search for the young man who accompanied your friend, when I saw your ability I knew he had it too... That's why there are more of us in Asgun now. Normally we only cross borders if it is to accompany Obais Najur."

"What could make the sultan of the south so angry to pursue him like that?" Alina asked from ahead. Izun could clearly hear the displeasure the nation provoked in her.

"It was not Binos who sent us." He replied, "It was Riun who sent us."

"The Envoy of the Sun?" The general's name was one of the most infamous outside of Tirfen, especially among exiles such as herself. "No wonder..." She added after a few seconds of thought, as she looked around. "She would be the only one capable of sending a platoon against a materialising child."

"Her intention was to send me to another country... To see what it was like in places where materialisers still lived." Despite his tiredness, Nuto's dark face broke into a melancholic smile. "He wanted me to see the reality... And now I see it."

"Why would the cultist commander want you to see reality? And to top it all off by hunting a child..." she asked, uncomprehending.

Nuto sighed, the white gleam in his eyes fading for a few seconds before he answered.

"Because I am her son..." he replied. His voice trembled before he continued. "Riun... My mother sent me after a boy who had heard secrets of the realm... But only that! That's why I chased him! Not because he was a materialiser..." He lowered his voice and after a few seconds sucked in a huge breath of air, "I had my suspicions before I left there..." His voice was soft now, regret accompanying his every word. "I never understood why Obais Najur had to exist, or why we had to hunt people... I've seen the way my people treat people like you..." He looked at her.

"Save your apologies." She cut him off. "My people and my family do not exist now because of people like your mother. I will not hear such words, not from a cultist." She said angrily, as memories of her family flashed through her mind along with the landscape of Ylimer... Along with the red awakening that the sun warriors gave on that cursed day years ago...

Then, without seeing how, Izun noticed Alina's warm hand on her shoulder.

The elementalist took off her mask and smiled gently at her, her face resembling the face of an angel. Then she put it back on and looked at the young desert traitor. "We find your intentions hard to believe, Nuto. Especially if you claim to be the son of an enemy commander." She said without sounding accusatory or angry. Her companion's reassurance pushed away the sad memory of her siblings and parents.

"Don't worry, I won't wear the mask, I don't expect that deal." He nodded in the gloom. "I just wanted you to know the truth."

"Damn the day we took the job for Edoven," Izun muttered in amusement. "Now I could be in Kirut quietly, without listening to the worries of an enemy."

"Come on, come on, you're the one who insisted on coming to see the golem, don't regret it just hours before meeting him." Alina said in the same tone.

The materialiser smiled and returned to her serious attitude. "We are going to hand you over to Yltamer's order, Nuto. They will decide whether or not you are telling the truth."

"It's only fair. I would do the same in your situation." The young man replied with a forced smile, but even in the blackness, the materialiser could see his complacent attitude.

Then the voice of a fourth person alerted them.

"Look Iye, a little white bird." Izun recognised the voice of the White Shadow at once.

Ayonos appeared down the alley beside her like a dark wraith, accompanied by only one of his warriors.

"If you speak louder, the bandits and the golem will find you without help. What have you got here?" he asked, the white holes in his mask now focused on the man with no bandages or mask.

"A Tirfen warrior. We want Ilsen to take care of judging him." She answered, still not trusting her former pursuer's intentions.

"An enemy soldier?" The warrior's intonation changed to one of astonishment. "What is there to judge? A Tirfen soldier is in our territory, and his majesty wants to wipe them all out."

"That's exactly why." Alina stepped between Nuto and Yltamer's assassin, "His majesty can get information from him if another conflict breaks out, it would be better to know how his warriors operate before engaging them."

Ayonos looked at the elementalist carefully. "You are the one who opened the wall in Doveran's home..." The White Shadow fell silent for a second and sighed, "I don't know which elemental has cursed you, but Ilsen is to the south, a messenger has seen the golem near the city, that's why we're going north. He will soon reach Piru."

A sense of urgency came over the two warriors as the situation dawned on them. "Yzen went there..." Alina murmured.

"We need to warn them." Izun replied.

"Let's go." The elementalist replied, not hiding her concern for Yzen's small companion. "You will have to follow us a little longer, Nuto. I hope for all our sakes that we do not run into any more cultists today..." She added, and together with the two warriors of Yltamer, they walked through the city's crawling alleys towards the ominous threat to the south...