~Chapter 23- Brothers in Arms~

Aingr and the Kingsguard had been scouring the inner circle of the city for Deporah and her family and had found absolutely nothing. The heavy rain didn't make the search any easier. Exactly as Aingr hoped. He had his own hunch about where they might be.

At nightfall, he went to find Schwartz to accompany him but couldn't track him down. So Aingr headed towards the outer ring on his own.

He headed towards Deporah's childhood home. The place had become decrepit over the years. He hoped he'd find the family there.

But when he arrived, he saw the front door had been caved in and torn apart, and one of the windows shattered. He could hear smashing sounds from within the home. Aingr drew his sword and headed inside.

He found an overturned table, scraps of paper everywhere, Lumb and Ceptance's axes lying on the floor, and a member of the Kingsguard hacking away at a bedroom door. Even from behind, he recognized the man.

"Schwartz?"

Schwartz suddenly stopped his destruction of the bedroom door and slowly turned to him. There was blood around his collar, and he looked deranged. Unlike himself.

"What're you doing here?" Schwartz asked in an uncharacteristically proper way. Sharp amber eyes stared at him.

"I could ask you the same thing, mate."

A voice came from the bedroom which Schwartz was trying to break through. Deporah's voice. "Don't let him touch you! It's not Schwartz!"

Not Schwartz?

"You found them? Why didn't you tell me, mate? Why did you come on your own?"

"I'm sorry, sir. I wanted to reason with them myself, but they attacked me," Schwartz said, inching closer to him.

Sir? Schwartz had never called him sir in their entire time working with each other. At least not without a great deal of sarcasm.

"That's not true!" Deporah cried from the bedroom.

"Whatever you do, don't let him get near you!" Lumb added.

"Sir, they're not well. Don't listen to them," Schwartz said with an uncomfortable amount of formality, inching dangerously close to him.

"Stay right there," Aingr said sternly, and Schwartz stood still. He shouted to the bedroom, "Why shouldn't I let him touch me? Why did you say this isn't Schwartz?"

"He's possessed. I know it's hard to believe, but a spirit jumped from that man Wright's body to Schwartz's. The spirit is the one behind all the kidnappings. If he manages to touch you, the spirit might jump to your body."

Schwartz shook his head, "They've lost it, sir. I don't know what happened to them, but they're not speaking sanely right now."

"We can prove it! We took a book from the Hall of the Dead! We can prove everything!" Lumb shouted from the bedroom.

Lightning struck outside, briefly illuminating the house. A glint of light reflected off the Greatsword being held by Schwartz. The way he held it made him look like an amateur. He gripped it tightly, making his whole arm rigid. But it wasn't just that. The way he was poised looked as if he was preparing for an attack.

"... Why did you come here alone? Why didn't you find me? I need a good reason, Schwartz."

Schwartz shook his head in mock disbelief, "Sir, I told you. I wanted to reason with them on my own."

Aingr stared closely at Schwartz... he certainly wasn't behaving like himself. But Deporah's family seemed just as nonsensical. But...

"Go upstairs."

"Sir?"

"Go upstairs and stay there until I tell you otherwise. I need to speak to Deporah and the others," Aingr commanded.

"Sir, they're too dangerous. You can't speak to them."

Aingr gritted his teeth. It felt like he was speaking to a stranger. "I'm more than capable of dealing with them. Now go upstairs."

Schwartz winced. He started to lumber meanderingly towards the stairs but pivoted his feet towards him, as if preparing for an attack. Aingr doubted Schwartz would ever attack him. He was even more surprised by how shoddy he looked while preparing to do so.

Schwartz pivoted his whole body towards Aingr and charged with the Greatsword. Aingr could hardly believe how terribly he telegraphed his attack. With a simple parry, he redirected Schwartz's blade and created an opening.

Aingr could've ended Schwartz then and there, but he wasn't going to harm his brother-in-arms. He struck his blade against the shoulder plate of Schwartz's armor. It hurt him a great deal, forcing him back, but he would be fine.

"What're you doing?!" Aingr barked at him.

Schwartz came again with another wild swing of his sword... No. This was not Schwartz. He'd sparred with him hundreds of times, and this had no semblance of his form.

Aingr batted away each swing with ease while keeping his distance, mindful of Lumb and Deporah's advice. They circled each other in the house. Schwartz continued to recklessly attack, and Aingr effortlessly avoided each strike.

But Aingr couldn't defend forever. Eventually, this amateur swordsmanship would get lucky and land a hit on him. He parried another attack, following up with his own clean swing on Schwartz's wrist. Hard enough to make him drop his blade, but not so much that it would leave any permanent damage.

Aingr followed up with a strike from the pommel of his sword on Schwartz's face, knocking the man to the ground.

Schwartz groaned in pain and reached for his collarbone. He looked about his surroundings until his eyes met Schwartz again. His eyes had softened, as if they were looking at a friend.

"Aingr? What's happening?" Schwartz said, sounding very confused. He sat up and winced in pain. "Where are we, mate?"

...He sounded like Schwartz again. Aingr lowered his guard.

"This... is Deporah's home."

"Wh-when did we get here... What is this?" Schwartz asked as he felt blood around his collarbone.

"You... don't remember anything?"

"Remember what?" An increasingly frustrated Schwartz asked.

"Don't trust him!" Deporah cried out.

"Is that Deporah?" Schwartz asked genuinely. There was no trace of an act there.

Aingr nodded and looked in the direction of the bedroom. "Yes... so you don't remember any-"

Aingr felt a pain in his stomach. In the moment he looked away, Schwartz hopped to his feet with a crossbow bolt in hand and jammed it deep in between the plating of his armor. Aingr looked into his eyes and saw the same sharpness in them had returned.

Schwartz took the crossbow bolt and stabbed him in the side again before shoving him to the ground. Aingr felt blood coming from his side.

Schwartz glared at him before turning to pick up his Greatsword. He began hacking away at the bedroom Deporah and the others were hiding in again.

Aingr grunted in pain...If Schwartz wasn't stopped, they'd all be killed. He knew what he had to do. He desperately didn't want to, but he had no choice. He gripped his sword, stood, and charged.

Schwartz had barely turned around when Aingr drove the sword through his armor and deep into his torso. Just as quickly as he stabbed him, he withdrew his sword and stepped back. Schwartz fell to his knees, frantically grabbing the wound and reaching out for help. But there was no saving him now.

As blood spilled from him, the color of his eyes changed from amber back to brown. The look in his eyes was that of his brother in arms, desperate and confused. Then life drained from him until there was no semblance of anyone behind those eyes, and Schwartz fell to the ground.

This moment was familiar to Aingr. A decade ago, when he had to kill Horace to save Lumb, the same feelings of regret surged through him. He killed yet another friend.

Aingr felt the wound at his side. It hurt terribly, but he thought it'd be okay. Exhausted, he leaned against the walls. He wasn't sure if it was physical or mental exhaustion, perhaps both.

Aingr looked to the bedroom; Lumb and the others were deftly quiet.

"You can come out now. It's safe," Aingr said bitterly.

When they went to open the door, it practically fell apart on its own. Lumb kicked it open, and pieces of it fell onto Schwartz's corpse. Lumb and Deporah stepped over the body.

Lumb exclaimed, "We thought he killed you!"

Deporah put her arm in front of her uncle and stopped him before getting closer to Aingr, "Aingr, look at me."

Aingr tilted his head to the young woman, and she stared at him inquisitively. Then she became more relaxed. "His eye color didn't change. It's Aingr. He's safe."

Aingr slid against the wall and sat down, "I need answers. Now."