God of Discovery [high fantasy, slow build, mlm]

Arc 3 - 37. The True God of War

Thar and his group of mortals dispatched of the few demons that had been unable to run away so fast that D'Argen had yet to ready another arrow. He was distracted.

"Fifty steps out, then return if nothing," Thar called out the order.

The mortals around him acknowledged him with nods and then all darted off. Thar, however, remained. His ice took him to the canyon ground not too far from D'Argen. Instead of going to him, or even looking at him, Thar knelt near the dead body. He touched their neck to check for a pulse, then yanked the arrows that were inside their body.

"Thar," D'Argen dared to finally breathe out his name. "You're here."

Thar did not look at him as he folded the dead mortal's arms on their chest and then bent lower. He only looked at D'Argen once he hoisted the body in his arms and stood up.

"Tell Acela the rumours are true. We have been chasing down that group for over a month now," he said and turned to walk away.

That...

That was it?!

D'Argen rushed his steps to catch up to Thar. As soon as he had a hand on the man's arm, Thar stepped away and finally faced him properly. With a glare. D'Argen took a cautious step back. The air around him felt so cold that his breath misted in front of his face.

"Thar. It's me... do you..."

"D'Argen, right?" Thar asked, his glare not softening and his voice so cold. "You are here to deliver a message?"

"I... uhh..." D'Argen hesitated. There was no recognition in Thar's eyes. There was no... only now that he knew how Thar felt about him, now that he knew what Thar looked like without feeling that way, did he realize that in his other memories, Thar had always loved him. Now... now it felt like he was looking at a complete stranger. And that stranger probably considered him less than the demons he just slew.

"Yes," he firmed his words and tried to straighten his back. His hand was itching to hold a new bottle and his throat was too dry. "Do you have someone named Riss in your company?" D'Argen asked, trying to recall the woman's full name.

Thar looked over D'Argen's shoulder. D'Argen quickly turned to glance over, but saw nothing. Thar was not looking at him for some reason. D'Argen shifted to be in the man's eyeline twice before Thar finally stopped looking away.

"Riss? Her mother asks for her. From Haruba. Haroti."

"Hotori," Thar corrected him before D'Argen could butcher it again. "Yes. What of her?"

"I have a letter." D'Argen drew out the letter like it was some sort of shield. When Thar's eyes landed on it, he felt like he could take a slightly deeper breath.

"This way." Thar motioned with his head and continued his earlier walk.

Barely a dozen steps out and two of the mortals from before joined them.

"Caught one more, but the rest slipped away," one of them reported and eyed D'Argen. "It's still that same one as before. The blonde. She is leading them."

Thar hummed in reply.

"There was less this time too," the other reported. He made a show of circling D'Argen and eyeing him from head to toe at least three times. "Maybe we can finally catch up to them and finish them off this time?" he jogged to walk beside Thar, probably dismissing D'Argen as unimportant.

Thar once more hummed.

Another two dozen steps through the winding canyon and three more mortals returned and reported much the same. By the time they made it to a small cave, there were a dozen mortals. Another three were already waiting for them at the cave.