The Beast That was Promised ✔

FIVE: Helping

The road to Ziya was long and dull and all Rina longed to do was get home to her family. Despite Emrick opening her eyes to the awful things her father had done as King of Minisia, she still wanted to get back to him and her mother. But there were things that needed to be done first and they were running out of time.

At least the port town of Liman wasn't that far from Ziya, not even a day's walk, but it was still a while away, far too long. Rina had no idea where the army was, if she and Isiah were ahead or behind them, but they couldn't be that far from Ziya either way. And Isiah still had to get the last stone and master it along with the healing and fear stones. There was so much that needed to be done and so little time.

Isiah walked next to her. They didn't talk much, only when it was necessary. Since their conversation about Nerin the day before, they hadn't said much to each other except to ask when they were stopping for the night. Their paranoia and the lack of time meant they walked for most of the night, but she didn't feel all that tired, all she felt was worried.

They'd gotten far too distracted on their journey, stopping far too often for far too long. There were so many times they could have walked through the night, so many places they hadn't needed to stay at, Maeve included. She should have taken Benj with them, that way they would have had more time. If they had, maybe Emrick would still be with them.

There wasn't much point thinking about it but she did anyway. She couldn't help it. There were so many ways their journey could have been faster, easier, better, but they'd done it in the worst way possible. What she couldn't understand was why the Gods would give them so little time to master the power of the stones and save Vishera. It hadn't even been two months and somehow Isiah was expected to save everyone. She wanted him to do it, but thinking about it properly, it was almost impossible.

Ahead of them, the fields of snow were slowly turning into thick forests of leaf-stripped trees. The river was somewhere north of them. It twisted and turned too much for them to follow to Ziya. It was easier to make a straight beeline, even if she wasn't completely sure where she was going. They had Emrick's map to follow, but she had always been escorted when she went around Ziya and she never paid much attention to her surroundings. It was only a few months back, but she hated the pompous person she had once been.

She had been like her father, convinced that her side, her people, were always right and that the Ishini were the ones who were evil. Then she met Isiah and Nerin, both of which proved her wrong almost instantly. While Harudan had been there to show her that some of the Ishini were, Isiah and Nerin had been to show her that it wasn't race that made them evil, but who they were.

If only she had been able to figure it out sooner, maybe then things would have been different. Then again, Isiah was there for a reason, nothing she could have done would change the outcome. The Beast was always destined to awaken because of Harudan and Ishin, no matter her choices. It was how the realm worked.

Sometimes, it was still strange to her that the entire realm was controlled by the Old Gods. Her entire life, she had worshipped the New Gods, only to discover that they were completely wrong. What made it worse was the fact that she could use one of the stones, something meant for the saviour created by the Old Gods, not for her.

Isiah clearing his throat pulled her back to reality. "Did you want to take a break for a few minutes? I'm getting hungry," he said and she nodded without thinking. They had to keep moving, but they couldn't tire out in case they ran into something dangerous.

The bread he handed her had gone stale, but it was still edible. Somehow, she and Isiah had been lucky enough to get the majority of the supplies when they were up by the falls, but it meant that Emrick had nothing. Hopefully, he'd gone back down to the Sanctum to get help. They would see him again soon.