Banished Pt. 19

Her voice had become shadowy, and the light around me was fading as I fell away from her.

"I'll always love you," she said, before my eyes shot open, and I found myself alone on that pathway.

Fuck!

"ETHAN!" I yelled, as I scrambled to my feet and stumbled along the path.

It wound along for a bit, until finally, I spotted him up ahead in the distance, holding the child up, and looking at it quite affectionately.

I hurried towards him, but as the path emerged from the brush, I suddenly noticed that just beyond Ethan there seemed to be a precipice of some kind, and judging from the distance to the opposite end, it looked to be one hell of a drop.

Was this the sheer cliff that led to that waterfall where I'd spent the night with Eradne?

It seemed likely, but I wasn't sure.

"Ethan..." I said, approaching more cautiously now.

He was trapped here, wasn't he?

There was nowhere to run...

I just needed to make sure he didn't do something foolish or crazy.

"My little brother, huh? I didn't want to believe it. I really didn't. Something about you just... irritates me like nothing else. But my mother wouldn't lie about this."

"Ethan... please, give him back," I said, my tone perhaps a bit more pleading than I wanted it to sound, but as he looked at me, he merely smiled.

"I really wanted to destroy you; I did. I knew if I killed them back then, you wouldn't fight. This was the plan she gave me, so I followed it; bring you out here with all of your resolve, then extinguish their lives in front of your eyes one by one; but I guess revenge was never her plan."

"You don't have to listen to Julie, Ethan. Come home with me; with your brother. You could protect my people like I never could," I said, and he laughed.

"Oh, I was sure of that myself too. But I was wrong, Nate. For all of my genius, I let so many people die; yet here you stand before me boasting not even a single loss. I really planned to kill them all. And I still might. This isn't over yet, you know? That Hans is still under Nizhal's control."

"Then call him off," I said, and he shook his head, a sad expression flashing across his eyes.

"It'd be doing you no favors; trust me. She's shown me all I needed to see, to make the right choices from here on out."

"Whatever's coming, we can face it-"

Ethan laughed, that same bitter laugh that I'd heard so many times from Julie's lips, and a sinking feeling began to form in my stomach.

"You can chase me if you want. You might even get him back... but if you don't leave soon, Hans will kill them all. First the little one. Then Bianca, Molly. Then he'll run across the forest and kill Francesca, Gisela... every woman who carries your scent, one by one by one. Your son won't even see out the year, and Cameron will follow, your name a curse upon her lips as she dies. This is your first choice, Nathan."

"It doesn't have to be that way," I said, and Ethan shook his head.

"This web is thicker than you or I can ever hope to understand, much less unravel," he said. "Your choice. A future in which your son lives forever, but you'll never see him. Or one where you keep him but he dies, an infant in your arms."

I gritted my teeth.

You aren't just taking my son.

You're taking Cameron, and a feeling of comfort I've never had in my life before.

As indecision clouded my mind, a feeling came to me.

Fear, desperation.

It was Bianca... and suddenly I understood.

This wasn't a game.

"Don't make the wrong choice, N- Dad."

"Wait!"

I took a deep breath, then nodding, I let out a long breath.

"Edwin. His name is Edwin," I said, and Ethan smiled.

There were tears in his eyes, and as he turned, facing me, he leapt back into the precipice, and as I darted to the edge, I saw a shadow swoop across the void, swallowing the two up.

And just like that, they disappeared from sight.

The shadow seemed to dance along the ridges of the cliff-face, but as another panicked transmission came to me from Bianca, I let out a long, anguished wail, before turning, and darting off into the path.

"Nate!" Casey called, as soon as she saw me running towards the fort, but I raised a hand to stop her.

"Raul, Jordan; with me!" I yelled, and the two men stood up and followed as I tore off into the woods heading east of the fort.

I could sense Bianca's direction as I wove my way through the woods, but Raul and Jordan were quickly falling off the pace.

"Go! I can find you," Jordan yelled, and I offered him a silent thank you as I punched it, following that worrying panicked thread that was leading me to Bianca.

When I found her, she was crouched over a small, slumped figure, and I felt a sudden tightness in my chest as I approached.

"Is she-?"

"Help them!" she cried, gesturing ahead, and I nodded, quickly activating my locator on Blair's token.

She was about twenty strides northeast of us, and I got there to see her engaged with Hans, whose form was now eerily human.

His clawed hands were like razor sharp knives, but Blair's eyes seemed to be bloodred, and she was slicing madly and relentlessly at him, pressing him back, but as I watched closely, I saw her frothing at the mouth, and suddenly I realized; she was at her absolute limit.

I moved closer and tried to paralyze Hans, but he shrugged the ability off like it was nothing, before letting out a long, howling roar.

Blair used the opportunity to make her retreat from the engagement, then screamed out, falling to the ground, and I could see red lines of energy appearing across her body, burning through her skin as she writhed on the floor.

Hans moved in on her and I quickly intercepted, only to be quickly forced onto the back foot as he assailed me with a lightning quick flurry of strikes.

Fuck me, he's quicker than before!

As he came at me, however, I recalled what Amelie had taught me about breaking Nizhalgal's hold on a person, and as I used sensory perception to gaze into Hans' core, I saw that lingering presence of the shadow inside of him.

Change him, right?

Maybe not as easy as it sounds.

Although there was that.

That would work, only... could I do it?

I'd have to try.

"Remember yourself," I whispered, focusing my threads on him.

At first, he roared, and the threads seemed to fall away, but I concentrated really hard, opening a pathway to his mind and reaching out.

Remember your queen. The life she wanted for you. The life you would have built. Remember!

The suggestion was draining my energy and fast, but there was a flicker in Hans' eyes, and suddenly, the drain began to ebb as he created his own pathway of threads between my core and his.

"I-I had a queen... before Irileth. I- Jacinda..."

Hans howled again, but the shadowy look in his eyes seemed to be clearing, and suddenly he looked down at his claws, a look of confusion in his eyes.

"When-? When did I become this... monster?" he asked, but as he looked at me, he shook his head, glancing quickly around at his surroundings, backing away as he did.

Then without another word, he turned, and ran off into the woods.

I fell to my knees, a wave of sudden exhaustion washing over me.

With Hans' retreat, there was an air of finality to the proceedings, and suddenly, I felt my will to stay on my feet fading with the energy that had been powering my skills.

"Whoa; easy there, bud," Raul said, steadying me as I swayed a bit.

"My knight in shining armor," I teased, and he shook his head.

"Alva's not here to see your teasing," he said, and I smirked.

"I was never teasing Alva," I said, reaching fondly for his cheek, and he swatted me away before helping me to my feet.

"Do you want me to carry you?" he asked, and I shook my head.

"Just a hand will do," I replied. "Is Cameron okay?"

"She's alive," he said. "She's asking for her baby, though," Raul added, his tone a little worried, and I nodded.

"The child lives," I said, and he studied me, but as he caught the expression on my face, he just nodded.

"Is he alright?"

The voice was Jordan's, and Raul nodded.

"He'll live," he replied, and I nodded as Jordan moved to my side, offering me another pillar of much-needed support.

"Lucia-?" I asked.

"She's hurt, but not fatally so. Molly's hurt too," Jordan added, and I sighed.

When we got back to the camp, I spotted Casey, Bianca, and Blair standing beside Molly and Lucia while Evie tended to them, and Alva moved to receive me as we made our approach.

"Set him down here," Alva instructed, as Casey came over to join us.

"Nate-"

"You need to put together a team," I said, and Casey studied me. "There's a path through the woods. Off that way," I said, gesturing west of the fort. "It winds down to a precipice. Ethan disappeared off that way with the child."

Casey nodded.

"I'll handle it," she assured me, but there was something inside of me that just knew that he was long gone.

"Nate!"

I sat up as Cameron stumbled her way around the fort from the courtyard, Nolan following closely behind, and she paused as she looked at me, a searching look in her eyes.

"I-I'm sorry," I began, and she teared up, shaking her head as she stumbled the rest of the way and into my arms.

"Did he take him?" she asked, and as I nodded, the tears began to fall.

Her hands balled into fists, and she sobbed, allowing me to hold her even though I felt more undeserving of her presence in that moment than I ever thought I could.

As she sobbed, I caressed her hair soothingly, holding her in my arms, and pressing my lips absently against the top of her head.

"We'll get him back," I whispered. "We'll get him back."

I wasn't sure I believed the words, but knowing that I'd made the choice that let our child slip away, I knew it would be my responsibility to atone in whatever way she chose.