The Beginning After The End novel Chapter 349

Chapter 349: Hope and Lies

My mana arrow struck the clod of dirt dead center, causing it to burst apart in a dusty cloud. The arrow continued along its path to the golem that had just thrown it, clipping it in the right temple. Although part of the golem’s head collapsed, it apparently wasn’t enough to count as a kill, because the animated pile of dirt and rocks shuffled to the side, preparing another attack.

At the same time, a second golem appeared, growing up out of the ground like it was melting in reverse. It had a huge stone axe trained at my head. I let out a snort.

“Dirt clods and blunt axes? I’ve trained with a Lance, Hornfels,” I said flippantly as I sidestepped a clumsy swing by the axe-wielding golem.

The axe came up in a side-hand cut aimed at my hip, but I rolled backwards over my shoulder. Reinforcing my bow with mana, I swept the golem’s leg out from under it, then had two arrows glowing against the string of my elven bow before I was on my feet again. Splitting the mana arrows with my finger, I sent them on slightly different trajectories so that one pierced the axe-wielding golem’s chest, while the second took the clod-thrower in the throat.

“Nice shot, Ellie!” my new friend Camellia whooped.

I flashed the young elf a toothy grin, then yelped in surprise as the ground beneath me turned to muck. As I sank up to my knees, three more golems grew out of the ground and glowered down at me.

I threw myself flat in the muck to avoid a crushing blow from a stone fist. The ground hardened again, trapping me half in the rocky cavern floor. I spit out a mouthful of mud.

“Yuck,” I moaned, trying to adjust my position but completely stuck.

“Don’t forget, I’ve also trained with a Lance, you overconfident little twig,” Hornfels said jovially.

Soft footsteps darted toward me. “Are you okay?” Camellia asked.

Hornfels let out a low chuckle, and the stone turned to sand, releasing me. “She’ll be just fine. Don’t fawn over her, girl. The lass has a big enough head as it is.”

I drew myself out of the sand pit and brushed myself off. “I do not have a big head!”

Someone huffed sarcastically, and I turned to see two familiar figures walking toward us.

“Jasmine! Emily!” I shouted with excitement. “Come to see how awesome I’ve gotten?”

“No, not big-headed at all…” Camellia teased. I shoved playfully at her shoulder, and she poked me in the ribs, then jumped away before I could get her back.

“I just needed to make sure this one wasn’t getting into trouble,” Jasmine said, nodding to Camellia.

The serious adventurer hadn’t changed much since I was a little kid. I liked all of the Twin Horns, but was secretly a little scared of Jasmine. When Helen, Durden, and Angela Rose had originally been brought to the sanctuary, Jasmine hadn’t come with them. Camellia had told me all about how Jasmine saved her, though, so I was glad she’d come back.

“Actually, we were looking for Hornfels,” Emily piped in. “Helen suggested we get some training time in too.”

Unlike Jasmine, Emily had changed a lot in a pretty short amount of time. There was a hardened edge to her that she definitely hadn’t had before, and sometimes I’d notice her go sort of blank and cold. She’d chopped off her hair after it’d been burned in an explosion, but at least her eyebrows were growing back.

I’d been so happy when she arrived with the Twin Horns and Gideon. We weren’t best friends or anything, but Emily had always been nice to me, and she had even made a custom bow back then that took advantage of my pure mana techniques.

She was a total genius, though, so it wasn’t exactly surprising that she’d found a way to survive. She and Gideon had been captured by the Alacryans and forced to work for them, but the Twin Horns had helped to save them. Or they’d helped to save Jasmine? I was still a little fuzzy on the details.

She had been almost as bummed as I was to hear that my bow had been destroyed. Unfortunately, we didn’t have any of the tools or resources she needed to make another one in the sanctuary so I was stuck using a practice bow.

It was still really good to have them both back. And seeing more familiar faces had been good for Mom, too. She’d started to come back to life a little as she realized that a lot of our friends were still alive out there, just waiting for help.

“I’m about done with Princess Leywin anyway,” Hornfels jeered, making Camellia giggle.

“Hey!” I said indignantly.

“Another princess? Just what we need…” Jasmine said, and she seemed so serious that I couldn’t tell if she was joking or not.

“Don’t mind her,” Camellia said, wrinkling her nose. “She’s just not very good at expressing herself.”

Jasmine raised a brow at the elven girl. “Careful, Skunk.”

Camellia crossed her arms and stuck her tongue out at Jasmine.

“All right then,” Hornfels said, laughing loudly. “The Watsken girl I’m familiar with, but you’ll have to walk me through your abilities, Miss Flamesworth…”

My attention drifted away from the others as Jasmine and Hornfels began to discuss sparring.

We had chosen a flat ridge overlooking most of the cavern to be our training ground. It was far enough away that we weren’t likely to accidentally break something in the process. I also liked it because it looked down on the village, and I could see almost every house from up here, and most of the tunnels out of town.

Curtis and Kathyln Glayder were marching quickly toward the tunnel leading to the teleportation gate. After what happened in Elenoir, most of us never left the sanctuary anymore, but the Glayders, along with a few other strong mages, were still going on missions to look for more refugees.

The members of our expedition to Elenoir had stayed pretty close after we all got back from Elenoir. Kathyln described it as a “shared guilt.” Each of us thought we could have—should have—done more to make sure Tessia was safe.

The only one who didn’t seem interested in checking in with us at all was the elven guard, Albold. Apparently he’d wanted to return to the forest almost immediately when Tessia and I didn’t come back, but Virion wouldn’t let him. Then, when Bairon confirmed that Elenoir was entirely gone, well…

I shook my head. I’d tried to consider how it would feel to know Sapin was just…gone, but…

“Ellie, you okay?” Camellia asked, nudging me with her elbow.

“Of course,” I said as I slung my bow over my shoulder. “But I’m pretty tired. I’m going to call it a day, okay?”

Waving to the others, I turned and began the long descent into town, unsure what to do with myself. I was tired, but I was also…

I didn’t even really know. I never knew how to feel anymore, and so I’d started just pushing it all into the background.

Was that how you dealt with it, Brother? I wondered.

Sighing, I kicked a stone down the size of the natural ramp I was walking down. It clattered away over the edge, eventually landing with a splash in the stream.

It didn’t help that I was surrounded by people who had lost everything. I’d lost my dad and my brother—and my childhood—to the war, but then I thought of Camellia…her entire family had been killed during the invasion, her home was gone, most of the people she’d ever met were dead…

I wanted to understand it. I wanted to help Camellia and Virion and all the others, but I just couldn’t wrap my head around what they’d experienced.

Albold was the only other elven member of our group. Maybe it was selfish of me, but it felt like he was my connection to what happened. I wanted him to help me understand what he was feeling, but he’d pretty much gone into hiding.

There were other elves I could talk to, of course. Commander Virion was in meetings all the time, though, and, as much as I had wanted to speak to him, I hadn’t been allowed in weeks.

Rinia said she was too weak for visitors, but she hadn’t moved back into the sanctuary. I couldn’t help feeling that something was going on between Virion and her. I just couldn’t guess what. And since neither one was speaking with me, well…

Having Camellia was great, at least. There were a few other kids in the sanctuary, but no one who understood what I’d been through the way she did. Maybe it was because we were so much alike that we both struggled to really understand what had happened. Before Jasmine saved her, she had already lost her whole family, and seemed kind of numb when it came to the attack on her homeland.

There were others, too, but no one I felt like I could talk to. If Tessia were still here, she could—

Could she? I flashed back to that moment in the little elven town, with Tessia, looking beautiful, standing above her shocked and confused people…

Shaking my head, I turned away from that thought. Instead, my mind went back to Albold. I’d gone looking for him a few times over the last few weeks, but hadn’t found him. Still, trying again wouldn’t hurt, I told myself, and maybe he needed to talk to me as much as I needed to talk to him.

Although I was sure he wouldn’t be there, I headed for the town hall first. Albold hadn’t been at any of his regular guard shifts since I’d given my report to the council, but I really wasn’t sure where else to look.

As I’d expected, two unfamiliar guards flanked the door, while the elven woman named Lenna stood at the foot of the stairs. She was watching me approach.

I hadn’t made it within thirty feet of her before she said, “Sorry, Miss Leywin, the Commander is not available.”

“Actually,” I started nervously, “I was looking for the guard, Albold. Do you—”

“Albold is still on his leave of absence, due to his injury,” she interrupted me, speaking firmly.