I was standing in front of Garbade Palace. Again, it was engulfed in flames.

And again, I ran in. Except this time, I ran toward the Eastward Tower. As I ran, the walls kept closing in, and the smoke thickened. I could barely see through it, but I managed to get to the staircase. I stepped on, then sprinted toward the top, trying to see who was there. Nicholyn, perhaps?

There were three flights of stairs left. The chandelier that was hung up fell off and blasted another wave of flames. Sprinting, I ran up one flight of stairs.

Right as I stepped on the next step, it broke off. Flames blew up the center of the staircase, and I fell back, screaming.

A scream, then silence. I was too late.

*~⚜️~*

I jolted up and held onto my bedroll. I could see the light of morning shine through my tent entrance, blinding me. I blinked, then looked at the basin of water.

Might as well get up and get ready.

I quickly changed and ran out of my tent. No one was guarding my tent. Glancing around, I didn't see much. However, there was the distant sound of chattering. I walked over to the center of the camp, watching three wagons being loaded. Ashe was no where in sight.

Perfection.

"Now, what do you think you're doing?" the voice in my head said.

"Don't distract me," I bit back at the voice.

The voice stopped replying. From my periphery, I saw one of the wagons steer off to the side. They must've finished supplying it.

I crouched and made my way to the side of the path. The wagon was sitting there alone, no one in sight.

Quickly, I threw myself into the wagon and ducked behind a crate of what looked to be arrows. Murmurs echoed into the wagon, but none too intriguing for me to listen into.

Thankfully, I buried the Amulet under some leaves in the woods. I wasn't going to risk losing it now, especially since I knew exactly what I needed to do.

"All set?" I heard a female voice say. Henneh.

The wagon shook a bit. I glanced out of the small crack that faced the front of the wagon and saw a man sitting, driving it. "Let's go," Ashe said.

Oh, rutting hell. I leaned back against the wagon, silently cursing. Why the hell was he the one driving the wagon? Couldn't some other buffoon drive?

The wagon jolted forward. I prayed that Ashe wouldn't look back and see me.

*~⚜️~*

The wagon stopped abruptly. I nearly flew and dug my forehead into the other end of the wagon, but I managed to grab onto the crate next to me.

There was a knock at the small window. Then, it opened.

"As if I didn't know you'd be coming," Ashe muttered at me.

His eyes stared at me. I stayed quiet and looked away, hoping that if I didn't see him, he wouldn't see me.

It didn't work.

"Get out," Ashe ordered.

I looked at his eyes. "Can you blame me?"

"Shut up and come here."

"You're so rude! You can't just take me because—" I stopped talking once I realized what he said. "Wait, what?"

"I brought a spare cloak for you. It should conceal you well enough when you sit next to me."

My mouth fell open. Surely this wasn't Ashe. Maybe he accidentally smoked a weed? Perhaps him and Rysdan drank rum and got carried away—

"Are you going to sit there with that look on your face, or are you going to come here?" he said.

I scrambled out of the wagon from the back. We were parked on the side of the road. Two other wagons drove past us, none of them seeing me exit. I pulled myself into the seat next to Ashe, and he flung the cloak over my shoulders.

He whipped the reins, and the two horses jolted forward. We rode in silence for a while, none of us daring to say anything.

Well, not until I dared to say something. Sitting in silence was not my strong-suit. "So how was your morning?"

Ashe looked at me from the corner of his eyes and huffed.

"Interesting," I finally said, leaning back. "Very interesting. My morning went amazing—"

"I'm going to push you off if you keep trying to make small talk," he snapped.

I playfully gasped and lurched myself straight. "How rude!" I said, placing a flat hand at my heart. "You wound me, Knightley!"

"I'm going to wound you even more if you don't stop talking with that obnoxious posh voice."

"Me? Posh? I would never!" I mockingly fluttered my hand at my face as if it was a fan.

Ashe stayed quiet. I smiled to myself as I saw the corners of his mouth twitch.

I placed my arm on his shoulder. "Look at how beautiful the world is. The sky is so blue, the ground is so green and lush. Enjoy what the world has to offer."

"I would enjoy it more if you kindly remove your arm from my space."

"Why?"

He glared at me.

Slowly, I removed my arm and placed them into my lap. "I want to talk," I whispered to him.

"Talk to yourself."

"No."

"Saints, your voice is deafening. It's like a dying crow."

"A dying crow that you willingly put next to you."

"A mistake on my part, really."

"You seem to make a lot of mistakes when it comes to me, huh?"

Ashe jerked his wagon to a stop. The wagons in front of us also stopped.

"What?" I asked.

"Someone was in the trees. Shit," he said, climbing out of the seat. He handed me a dagger as I climbed out and joined the small group from the other two wagons.

"Did you see that?" a man asked us.

"Yes," Ashe responded. "He was wearing royal clothes. A scout."

"Shit," a woman said as she withdrew her sword. "Who's the woman?" She pointed her sword at me.

Before I could respond, Ashe said, "No one. But make sure she doesn't get hurt, or I'll dangle you above a ravine by your earlobes."

They nodded in sync. Ashe tightened the black face mask that covered his nose and mouth and ordered me to do the same with mine. His eyes darted around, searching for the man.

I held onto the dagger, the burns on my hand pulsing. Ashe and a woman stood next to me, their weapons drawn and ready.

"You better know how to use that thing," the woman stated.

"I'll be fine," I told her. "Where are they?"

Right when I said that, the wagon Ashe and I rode in exploded.

We all ran to the first wagon and latched on. A man leapt onto the front seat and started steering the wagon through the path.

I shut my eyes as tightly as I could. With one hand I gripped the wagon, and with the other I gripped the dagger that hung loosely by my hips. Ashe was behind me, yelling out orders.

"You better not decide to back out now," Ashe hissed from behind me.

My vision grew blurry as I opened my eyes again and looked back at him. "As if I had a choice."

When I looked forward again, the man steered the wagon into the woods.

"Get back on the road!" Ashe yelled, climbing around to to get to the man steering.

"Sorry, sir. Better money." Those were the man's final words as he drove the wagon into a ravine.

*~⚜️~*

The world spun as I fluttered my eyes opened. Somehow... Somehow I was still alive. Or maybe I was dead? I felt hard, so I definitely wasn't a ghost.

I scrambled up and saw Ashe laying next to me.

Only Ashe laying next to me.

Where was the wagon? Where was everyone else?

I got to my feet, the world like those jellies the chefs would make at the Palace. I was standing on a cliff. A stone cliff. In a ravine? Yes, I was on a cliff on the side of the ravine. I hadn't fallen into the ravine.

Unlike the others, who were broken to bits at the bottom of the ravine. Blood pooled by their bodies. Lifeless. The red was still bright. It hadn't been long since we fell.

I felt sick as I watched.

After a few seconds, I realized I should pay attention to Ashe.

"Wake up!" I kneeled next to him, patting his cheeks. "Wake up! We're alive. Please, wake up!"

He stayed motionless.

Oh, Saints. No. No, no, no.

I slapped his arm as hard as I could, trying to get him to feel something. "Please, you idiot! Wake up!" My hands scattered around his body, pulling his clothes off, trying to find blood. There was no blood.

His head... His head! He must've hit his head. I lifted Ashe's head onto my lap, tapping him. I didn't know what I was doing. I just knew that he needed to be alive. There was no way that Ashe Knightley could die by failing into a ravine.

A part of me didn't want him to die at all. I still needed to teach him to dance. I wanted him to show me new fighting tactics. He wasn't allowed to die. Not yet, at least. No. Not until I allowed it.

And at this moment, I didn't allow it. He had to wake up. He had to wake up—

Why the hell was I crying? I needed to pull my emotions together. I didn't care if he died. I didn't care. I wanted him to die. This is what I wanted.

I gathered Ashe into my arms and cried again.

Stop it. Stop this idiocy. Why was I crying? He was finally dead! My sister's murderer was dead—

Ashe Knightley wasn't my sister's murderer.

"Valarya?" the voice in my head whispered.

"Help me! He's not waking up! He's not!"

"Valarya, look," the voice said.

I glanced down at Ashe and saw his neck pulse. His... His pulse. A pulse! I bent down and felt his pulse. His chest started moving. Breathing! He was breathing!

Ashe coughed and blinked. I must've looked horrifying to him, because he immediately shut his eyes again.

"We're alive," I told him.

He nodded.

"Please get up. I'm scared. They're dead, Ashe. All of them."

He grimaced, then got up to his feet. "Traitors," he murmured as he peered over the ledge. He stumbled back toward me. "Are you all right?"

"I don't know," I said. And it was the truth. My body spun.

Ashe helped me to my feet. "Luckily, I managed to pull you and I off early. We managed to land here, but those traitors fell in."

That was how we survived.

Ashe held onto me as we looked up.

"How do we get out?" I asked.

"Grappling hook. It's in my boot." He took it out and handed it to me. "Shoot it at a tree. Then climb. Throw the grappling hook down after you're done."

Just like he taught me. Except this time, it wasn't during training.

I aimed it up at a tree, shot it, and missed. I wounded the hook and shoot it again, this time I made it.

I began to climb. My arm ached from the fall down, but the world started to stabilize more. It took forever to get to the top, but once I did, I took a second to breathe.

Suddenly, I realized something. Something important. I could easily not throw down the grappling hook. Ashe could die right now, if I wanted him to. I could keep the grappling hook and walk away, and he'd die. Starvation? Maybe an animal would take interest in him? Perhaps he'd jump off the ledge right now and end it all.

But I would be allowing him to die right now. All I had to do was not throw down the grappling hook.

I walked up to the edge of the ravine and looked down at Ashe, who stared up. For the first time, he looked desperate—helpless. Completely and utterly trusting me to throw down the hook.

I'd allow him to die on my count. Right here—right now. Was that what I wanted?

Instead, I threw down the grappling hook, and he caught it. I sighed and sat against a tree.

Why was I thinking like this? Ashe Knightley had done nothing wrong to me. He asked if I wanted to go back to the Palace. He trusted me. He let me come. He saved my life just minutes ago. How was I able to debate whether or not I should help him?

Mid thought, Ashe climbed up. He slipped the grappling hook back into his boots. "Thank you," I said.

He stared at me for a second, then nodded and helped me up from the tree. "We're not going to finish this mission. We need to go back and see if there's more traitors within Kampa."

We started walking back in that direction. Ashe's limp became more and more apparent as we walked, and I did my best to hold him straight.