CHAPTER 11: SACRIFICE

Night had long swallowed Emberhold when Baelius sat alone in the suffocating silence of his cell.

Sleep eluded him. As if even dreams had forsaken him.

Nor did he touch the meal prepared as his last.

He would be dead by dawn, and there was nothing he could do about that.

Even so... he could not help but feel resentful.

Resent towards his situation.

Resent towards his family.

Resent towards those who had wronged him despite never having met them.

It was so cruel, so overwhelming, it threatened to drown his very being.

His heart pounded as if it were laced with firewater.

His eyes bulged in their sockets.

His teeth gnashed together to the point where they threatened to crack under the pressure.

He clenched his fists so tightly his nails carved crescents of blood into his palms.

It wasn’t right!

None of it was!

And he refused to let it all end because his half-brother was a scheming little vermin.

His eyes dart back and forth, the rage inside him threatening to consume him.

If only... If only he could lure one of the guards to him. Then he could burn their throats in his hands and perhaps free himself!

Wait... Where were the guards?

They had walked off nearly an hour prior, and the change in shift had yet to arrive.

Then, soft as a memory... came a whisper in the dark.

"Baelius... My baby boy.... What have they done to you?"

Baelius saw his mother’s face gleaming in the brazier’s flame.

Still dressed in the plain garb of servitude, as if fate had bound her to that role even now.

She stood before him; her gaze warm and filled with a mother’s love.

Any wrath that had threatened to consume him immediately vanished as the man broke out into tears, grasping the black iron bars engraved with rust-colored runes, trying his best to break free and hug the only warmth his life had ever received.

"Forgive me, Mother... I fear I must break my promise after all."

The woman knelt down and held her son’s hand, a final gesture of love in a lifetime that was otherwise filled with cruelty.

She then cupped his face in her gentle hand and kissed his forehead between the bars.

"No, I’m sorry Baelius. You have suffered so much because of me... I must take responsibility for it the only way I can..."

Then the jingle of keys.

In an instant she had fetched them from her pocket, using the enchanted keys to unlock the cell, and disperse the curse that bound him to it.

Baelius fell into his mother’s arms.

And they hugged for but the slightest moment before shouts interrupted their reunion.

"The bitch went this way! She’s trying to free the prisoner swiftly now!"

Panic overcame Baelius as he stood up and tried to shield his mother with his body.

"Don’t worry, Mother... I’ll protect you...."

The woman had a complicated expression on her face as she nodded her head and took a deep breath.

"I know you will...."

And then darkness...

Baelius suddenly fell into his mother’s arms silently as she reached into her pocket and pulled out a vial. Drinking its contents in one fell swoop.

"My lady... I understand your grief... But time is of the essence."

A man appeared from the shadows as the sound of gnashing against the door began to overwhelm the silent and solemn scene.

But his shape was unmistakable to those who knew it.

Only when the hood fell back did Baelius’ rescuer, reveal himself: short, stout, unmistakable.

It was Veldric, the craftsman from Emberhold’s Affluent District.

The woman quickly stood up and helped hand off her son to the man.

Kissing his forehead one last time, while whispering her final farewell into his sleeping ears.

Once Veldric had a good hold of the man, she rose like a pillar of ash, fragile in body, unyielding in will.

"I have committed a grave sin freeing my son, and bringing you into the Hall of Flames. They will have me executed for this."

Veldric seemed hesitant, despite being urgent just moments before.

"My lady... Please... Come with us... You don’t have to do this."

A long and heavy sigh. Accumulated with the weariness of an entire lifetime of abuse, it escaped the woman’s delicately carved mouth.

"Yes... Veldric.... I am afraid that I do.... The tunnels behind the kitchens, they’ll take you to the back of your shop. From there, you can slip him out. Get him to Ferrondel. If they take him in... the truth will surface. From there, you will have an easier time smuggling him out of the city to House Ferrondel. With him there, accepted under the protection of those who he is accused of trying to harm his innocence will be clear for all to see."

Veldric was about to protest once more when the door burst open. And the sound of a guard climbing through its splintered planks followed.

"There she is! Qucikly don’t let them escape!"

Immediately, a flash of darkness appeared as the Null maid threw a black glass vial, marked with darker runes onto the floor, exploding into a fine miasma that concealed their presence.

As the guards charged, her voice cut through the chaos, one final command:

"I’ll buy you time. GO!"

---

When Baelius opened his eyes, the sky was no longer red with smoke, but pale and cold.

He was outside the city.

How he had left the Hall of Flames, he did not know.

A carriage was his transport, and other than a driver with particularly pointy ears who did not speak the same tongue as him. There was no sign of another soul.

All he could think of was his mother, and the last moment they shared together.

Though he had yet to receive confirmation. He knew it in his heart.

His mother was dead, having sacrificed her life to save his.

And that... That broke him.

Dawn broke over Ferrondel’s valley, its golden light catching the silent tears tracing Baelius’ cheeks.