Commander Stone approached Riona, as she made a step toward the door. “Miss Riona, I can’t just let you go so easily.”

  Riona tilted her head in confusion. “You’ve excused me of my crimes, yes?”

  “Well, yes but---”

  “And you want your people safe, yes?”

  “I do but---”

  She rested a hand on his shoulder. “Then you need to let me go. I’d stay and help your people but I can imagine they would reject the healing from a witch.”

  Commander paused in thought, knowing she was right. Before he could comment, Riona was already walking toward the door. He dashed around her, and stood in front of the exit. “What if I come with you?”

  Riona’s shoulders lowered with a sigh as she gave a gentle smile. “Commander Stone, you have a duty to your people.”

  He nodded. “A duty I will be fulfilling by ensuring I see this through. I might not be a sorcerer but I’d like to think another sword would be useful to you.”

  Her smile faded, and her voice dropped in tone. “You won’t like what you see, Commander.”

  “Why are you trying so hard to keep me here?”

  “Because, Commander Stone,” Riona looked at him with concerned eyes. “if you come with me… you will die. Of that, I have no doubt. And I’d hope you were the type of man to learn from his mistakes and heed the warning of those earnestly trying to protect them.”

  The Commander sighed, and lowered his head. “I’m sorry.”

  Riona raised a hand under his chin, giving him another smile. “You’re a good man, Commander. There aren’t many of you left in this world, and I don’t want to be the one to take you away from it.” With a defeated sigh, the Commander was ready to step out of her way, but not before he heard a gentle knock at the door. He turned around and opened the door to find no one there.

  “Hm?” He furrowed his brow. “Hello?” He leaned his head out and looked both ways to find no one even looking in his direction. “Who goes there?” He then felt a gentle tapping at his boot. Stone flinched at the sight of a snow owl at the ground looking up at him. “An owl? Peculiar.” He made a brushing motion with his hands toward the street. “Off you go now. Shoo!”

  “Hello Lilia.” Riona said from behind.

  The Commander looked back. “Eh? Is this your pet?”

  “Uh…” Riona paused as she caught Lilia leaning around the side of the Commander with narrow eyed glare. “Yes… she is my pet.” Riona looked to the Commander with a smile. “A very helpful scout in my journeys.”

  “You continue to astound me, Miss Riona.” He said, looking back toward Lilia who looked up at him and made a brushing motion with her wings. “What?” With one wing, Lilia pointed toward Riona, and then repeated the brushing motion. “Oh, uh…” He stepped aside in the doorway, letting Lilia pass. “My… apologies.” Lilia strut into the home as Riona lowered her wrist for her to perch on. “I must admit I’m a bit disturbed. I’ve never seen a bird act in such a way.”

  Riona scratched the top of Lilia’s head. “Lilia is smarter than your average owl.”

  Stone raised his brows. “No doubt a result of your magic.”

  Riona’s gentle smile faded again. “No…” She looked grimly at Lilia. “...not mine.” She took her staff weapon and walked out of the house and toward the street with the Commander in tow.

  The doctor trailed behind. “Commander.” He said, giving Stone a nod as he walked away towards the street.

  Riona gazed upon the destruction of Pinehold. Many buildings were destroyed, if not burned then collapsed. There were several plumes of smoke around the town as people walked around tending to the wounded, others cleaning up rubble as the entire town's guard aided where they could. The smell of burning wood was still strong. As cleaned up as she was, Riona still received glares from the townsfolk. She did her best to not make eye contact, but no amount of effort could ignore the hatred. They blamed her for this, she knew that.

  “Get out of here witch!” cried a woman. “This is your fault!”

  A man glared at her. “You’ve brought nothing but death!”

  “Don’t mind them, Miss Riona.” The Commander said, putting a hand to her back. “Had I listened to you, things may have turned out differently.”

  A large stone flew from one of the ruined homes and crashed into Riona’s head. She staggered to the ground, a hand holding her forehead as blood dripped to the ground. Lilia immediately shielded her master with her wings, and let out a hiss looking for the perpetrator. Stone’s quick eye spotted the distressed rock-thrower.

  “You!” Stone pointed with a scowl. “Arrest him!” He ordered as two nearby guards rushed to apprehend the man. In the short time he was distracted, villagers had already begun throwing food and rotten items at Riona while she covered her head from further injury. Lilia had already leapt at a few villagers who ran off at the angered owl. The Commander ran over and stood over Riona. “The next item thrown and you’ll be on the pillory for a week!” He shouted. The restless strangers quieted. “Now, I am distressed as any of you. But I will not tolerate this behavior!”

  “This is her fault!” cried a woman. Others joined in a roar.

  “By the law of Edgemere, no punishment will be dealt without proper trial. I am the Commander of Pinehold and I will decide whether or not she is guilty of this atrocity! Seeing as you are all so eager to sentence a woman to death rather than recuperate your lives, I will satisfy your bloodlust so we can get back to our business.” Stone looked around, glancing at the chattering crowd which seemed to come in unanimous agreement. “Very well. The trial will be held at the gallows… or what’s left of it. Go now, I’ll see if you haven’t already killed her yet.” Stone waited for the crowd to disperse before he kneeled down to Riona who was in the process of sitting up, a hand still at her forehead. “Miss Riona?” He offered a hand to her.

  She shook her head, “I’ll be fine. Thank you.” With one hand she gripped her staff and pushed herself off the ground to her feet. Riona looked at the Commander, removing the hand from her head. While blood dripped down her face and soaked her glove and fingers, what would have been a sizable gash on her head was gone.

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  Stone narrowed his eyes. “You weren’t cowering… you were healing.” He paused to think of how quickly Riona stepped out of bed and walked despite an entire building collapsed on her the night before. There was conflict in his eyes. The law spoke against such magic, and the people were adamant to uphold that. As he looked around his ruined city he saw the bloodied and injured and wondered what Riona could do for his people… not that they would accept it.

  “You need not worry about me.” Riona took a handkerchief from her pocket and wiped her face as clean as she could. “This isn’t the first time.”

  “Well, you have a trial ahead of you.” Stone said, gesturing toward the farther end of Pinehold.

  The gallows were fairly untouched from the destruction and the crowd was already swarming the platform, their voices rising as Riona and the Commander arrived. Once the two were on the platform, Riona took a seat center stage while Stone raised his hands and lowered them to command the crowd to quiet.

  “I will make note to you all, I was ready to dismiss the charges against Riona this morning. But because it seems you will all not sleep at night until she is put on trial, here we are.” He turned to Riona. “Riona. You are hereby accused by the law and people of Pinehold of practicing witchcraft. What have you to say for yourself?” He finished, his words sounding rehearsed.

  “Nothing, Commander. Your guards witnessed my practice of magic, hence my arrest.”

  The crowd roared, “Guilty!”

  Stone looked to her, keeping his voice low, “Honesty really isn’t the way with an angry mob, Riona. Help me, help you.” He hushed the people again.

  Riona stood up. “What I practice are the natural magics that exist in this world whether or not you believe them to be real or deem it heinous and despicable. Forget not the history of this world. Magic was once prominent and more commonplace than a hearth in your homes. It was accepted, expected, and helped society function and defend ourselves against the dangers the world presents us on a daily basis. This ban against witchcraft is nothing more than a product of fear. Fear of the unknown. Fear of things we do not understand. You’ve seen it for yourself. These creatures that attacked your city were no product of nature. They were products of evil.”

  “Evil magic!” shouted a woman. Stone silenced the crowd before they began.

  “Indeed.” Riona nodded. “Evil magic. It exists, truly. But for evil to exist, there must be good. And I assure you, evil will always exist in this world and sometimes it will beckon twisted and wretched magic and wield terrible power. And when it comes for kingdoms like Edgemere, swords and shields will never be enough to conquer it. I will say this once and only once, the world of Arkelos does not bend to the words of kings and queens. Magic will exist whether it is allowed or not, and the world will live as it chooses. It is up to you to decide if you will suffer death to a law that left you helpless all for the sake of integrity.” Riona looked around as the crowd began to talk amongst themselves.

  “What are you saying?” asked a man.

  “That you fight magic with magic.” Riona straightened herself. “You witnessed it yourself. These monsters tore down your masonry walls with little effort, and burned your homes with a simple breath. Your guards were thrown like dolls. What you believed to be a lifetime of sanctuary was uprooted in a single night.” She looked to the Commander before stepping forward to the edge of the platform and folded her hands behind her back. “No matter my magic, I will not go against the law of the people. If you wish to pelter me with stone and food, so be it. If you wish to hang me, then I will hang. Regardless of your decision, Pinehold is not safe from these atrocities. I say this for your sake, if I die here… so shall you.”

  Before the crowd could react to her grim words, the Commander stepped forward. “A proposition then. Riona, you will fight these monsters that terrorized our city. To ensure that you do not run away, I will escort you. We will let fate decide your life.” He turned to the crowd. “What say you?”

  After some discussion, people one after the other cried out, “Aye!”

  “Then it is settled.” The Commander noted. “We will leave as soon as possible. Return to your homes, rebuild what was lost. I will return with news… whatever sort it may be.” He waited for everyone to disperse, staring at the people with his arms crossed. As soon as it was clear, he let out a deep sigh and dropped his arms. “That could’ve gone much worse.” He looked to Riona. “That was quite a speech.”

  “Thank you… I’ve rehearsed it in my head more times than I care to think about.” Riona adjusted her glove. “I always wondered how I would justify myself in a world people don’t understand.”

  “Well, it seems to have worked. Though I think the outrage of the people was more of an inner turmoil than a hatred for you. Pinehold has been peaceful for decades. They are not used to a change of pace… especially one of this magnitude.”

  Riona nodded. “I understand, Commander Stone. This is not the first city I’ve been to that has suffered at the hands of… wicked sorcery. As I said, I’ve been on the hunt for a monster. And they, too, are responsible for equal atrocities.” The two of them began to walk toward the city gates. Lilia took a perch on Riona’s shoulder Taking detours from ruined buildings when needed. Still, Riona never felt like eyes were not on her. Riona caught the eye of a young child on the ground, crying for his parents. “I promised myself that I’d protect the innocent and the helpless from these monsters. My target might not have even come to harm Pinehold.”

  “But it would have come to harm somewhere else.” The Commander walked alongside Riona. “Pinehold is my town. But that does not make the lives here any more valuable than anywhere else. I’ve been a soldier for as long as you’ve been alive, probably. And I’ve had to make some tough decisions. No matter the outcome, it never feels good.” He looked to his left, seeing a charred arm still under the rubble of a building. “You did what you thought was right.” They remained quiet for a little while longer as they observed what was left of many homes. Thankfully, the battle was isolated and a good portion of the town was still untouched, but that did not make them feel any better. “Miss Riona, with all your power and wisdom I can’t help but wonder something.” Riona kept her gaze to the floor. “My men that apprehended you... you let that happen. I may not have seen you in action, but I get the feeling you could’ve easily bested them and fled. You allowed yourself to be arrested. Why?”

  Riona’s eyes looked toward the now collapsed keep where she was imprisoned. “At the end of the day, Commander,” She looked at him. “I’m just like you or anyone else. A law abiding citizen. I willingly committed a crime with my use of magic.”

  He scoffed. “That can’t be the only reason.”

  Riona gave a quick grin before looking to the ground again. “I wanted to show that we who practice the arts are not all evil and malevolent.” She closed a fist and held her hand to Stone. As she opened it, a wildflower bloomed right in her palm. “There was a time when it was good. And I hoped the world could see that.” Lilia gently flapped her wings. “Lilia’s right… time is wasting. We have a spriggan to hunt. With Pinehold’s defenses down, a second attack won’t leave much left.” The two hurried at a brisk pace to the town gates where a familiar Captain Levitt was standing giving orders to soldiers and civilians alike. The moment Stone came into view, Levitt stiffened up and saluted.

  “Captain Levitt.” The Commander acknowledged.

  “Sir!” Levitt replied.

  “I’m escorting Miss Riona into the forest.” Stone pointed toward the gate. “We’re going to try and stop the creature that did this.”

  Levitt’s disciplined stature dropped for a moment. “By yourselves!? Sir, that thing nearly destroyed Pinehold even with our full force in defense!”

  The Commander nodded, waving his hand for Levitt to calm down. “I understand that, Captain Levitt, but Riona claims she can stop it. While I understand your hesitation to ally yourself with a witch, I’ve ruled her claims to be true. She’s meant no harm, and if you want to oppose my judgment, you’re permitted to voice your mind.”

  The Captain’s eyes widened as he stammered. “N-n-no sir.”

  Stone put a hand to his captain’s shoulder. “You’ve seen what it can do. Pinehold won’t survive another attack. If Riona can stop it, what have we to lose? We’re all dead anyway.”

  “Aye, sir.”

  “Good.” Stone moved aside and continued walking toward the gate. “You have command until I return. Let’s go, Miss Riona.” Levitt gave his superior a salute before looking at Riona who gave him a nod and followed after the Commander.