“Get up.”

            Aurora’s eyes cracked open at the voice, head spinning and body still aching with the same pain. It felt like it had always been there, always hurting, never fading. He looked up, slumping back against the wall in a room he didn’t remember entering. Exhaustion tugged at his limbs, throbbing through his body and leaving him in a heap he couldn’t rise from.

            However, he wasn’t going to be resting any time soon.

            “Why can’t you bastards just let me die?” he croaked, struggling to keep his eyes on the men standing in front of him.

            “It wasn’t up to us,” a second voice sounded, softer than the first. “On your feet. The Dravara-“

            “Are going to damn me to death, I know.”

            They didn’t say anything else as two strode forward, gripping him under each arm and hauling him shakily to his feet. Aurora clenched his jaw, darkness flooding in from the corners of his vision and for a moment he thought he was going to be sick. His legs wobbled even if they supported most of his weight, half dragging him across the floor. His eyes shut once they stepped outside, voices ringing in his head from far below.

            It was all too loud, too bright, and everything hurt too much.

            Stumbling hard, Aurora prepared to go sinking to the floor but the Dravara held fast and continued forward. Being awake was worse than whatever state he’d been in before they woke him. In fact, even the pained haze he’d been in for days didn’t seem so bad.

            “Pick up your feet,” one of them barked.

            It wouldn’t matter if he did.

            He was dying no matter what happened, no matter who tried to stop it.

            Aurora struggled to step forward but found his legs refused to support him. The voices, so many shouting curses and raging against something they knew nothing about, still echoed in his head. He wished for them to go away but instead they grew louder as the Dravara came to a stop at his side.

            In his mind, it was just noise not voices he had the awareness or desire to listen to.

            “Enough!”

            His eyes peeled open, squinting at the voice, her voice, which rose above the rest of them. They were silent then and Aurora never thought he’d want to thank her but the quiet didn’t hurt nearly as bad.

            Aurora looked down below them, staring at the sea of Dravara that were gathered far below the keep. A mass, a horde of men assembled together to decide his fate, something that had been sealed a very long time ago.

            “Today I am putting an end to the lies spread by the monstrosity,” she paused to look sideways at him, “here today. He is responsible for the deaths of over a dozen Dravara and quite possibly more. Because of this man, many have lost their lives while only doing their job, an honor he kept from them. We stand together against those who threaten the sanctity, the order, and the land we have sworn to protect.”

            “Are you trying to flatter me?” he mumbled, half hoping she could hear. “You’re making me…out to be a legend.”

            Rowena’s eyes remained focused on the crowd far below them. “I will allow him to speak freely, to defend his actions if he desires and from there I will turn the decision over to you. But I ask you, my fellow Dravara, are you going to allow him to living knowing what he has done to us?”

            The voices came back then, louder, stronger and drumming with a greater intensity in his ears. Shouts melded with curses, with words he couldn’t understand as they were replaced by more voices, more shouting the same as the last.

            Their minds had been made up before he even set foot outside.

            Rowena had sworn she would kill him and even if he survived the bullet in his gut, his survival had only delayed an inevitable doomed to happen the day he arrived. He wasn’t strong enough to run, to fight and even standing alone made his head swim.

            She turned then, grabbing for his jaw and raising his head. “Don’t you dare make a fool of yourself. You know what the ending is, Aurora. But this is protocol and you know I’m a stickler for that sort of thing. Call the last act of kindness you will ever know.”

            “I would thank you, but that…is exactly what you want. If I’m granted this...kindness, I won’t stop until…I’m finished-“

            “Make it quick,” she snapped.

            The two Dravara dragged him forward and Aurora managed, with some difficulty, to gather his feet under him for the first time. He stood, pulling away and staggering towards the railing in front of them. An arm went to wrap around his middle, holding against the wound that, no matter what, served as a reminder of what she was capable of.

            A spell of dizziness took over and he braced his free arm forward, trying to focus on something, even their voices, to keep his mind from the pain. He swallowed, staring down at the eyes, too many for him to focus on, below.

            “I’m many things,” he started, taking a breath and trying to be as loud as he possibly could, “but I’m not a liar. Call me a killer, a murderer…or a traitor but I’m not a liar. None of you will listen to me and I know that. I’ll die the only one who knows the truth and if that happens, I’m sorry that none of you listened.”

            Talking hurt worse than breathing but he didn’t have a choice.

“None of you saw what I did and none of you will ever have to. It’s over and I see that now. If I’m to be killed, I don’t want to be remembered. Forget about the madman who fought for the truth. Let his memory die along with me,” he paused to cough, cringing. “I’m not a liar but none of you understand. You’re afraid of something just because you don’t understand it. That, right there, is your downfall. It will be the end of you, of all of you-“

“That’s enough,” Rowena barked.

He didn’t fight them as he was hauled backwards again, head dropping forward as Rowena stepped back up to the ledge once again. She raised a hand to silence them but their chants, brutal and ruthless words melding with threats, didn’t cease. Aurora looked up then, watching as she stared down in disdain, lips curling up into a sneer.

“Quiet, all of you!” she shrieked, words tearing harshly at his ears.

A ghost of a smile flashed across his lips as she yelled, hand slamming down on the railing. They howled, still raging far below in an accidental rebellion against her words. Perhaps, he thought, he’d some something after all.

“They…aren’t listening. A pity,” he called as loud as he could.

Rowena glared back at him, still just as frenzied and flustered as before. “Wipe that grin off your face, Aurora! This doesn’t change anything.”

Finally, the crowd fell silent when she called out again, staring down at the sea of faced down below them.

“I ask again, will you allow him to live? He has killed many of us and now he mocks everything we stand for. Will we allow that to happen?”

The Dravara responded with an uproar that sent Aurora wincing at the sheer might of the sound they created. Everything was still far too loud, the sounds ringing in his ears far too long and leaving him only to shut his eyes. But as badly as the sound hurt, the weight of the failure sitting on his chest hurt far worse.

“I’m sorry,” he mumbled.

They wouldn’t hear but it but Aurora doubted they would have taken any notice to what he said even if they could. Failure, not in doing something he knew was impossible from the begging, but in the promises he’d made along the way. Would Silas be disappointed? Would Lucius? Elizabeth?

His head was snatched up by the hair before he could dwell on it for long.

“You are nothing but a lie. You never had anything true in your life, Aurora. Even Daniel, your only friend, was fake. Are you going to die a lie as well or do you have anything to confess?”

Aurora smiled back. “You want truth?”

She didn’t answer.

“I dislike the color blue. I once had a hound named Orion. I really have no idea why I’m still alive. I shot and killed my best friend on the night the Dravara came for me,” he paused, looking down to bend one leg as best he could. “My left knee gives me trouble. My parents both disappeared when I was younger. I hated being called officer.”

“Why are you-“

He laughed. “I’m insane. Why else? I’ve been told…far too many times.”

Rowena’s expression dropped at his obvious disregard. She straightened then, cracking another smile that had since lost the madness that had been there before. “Fine, if you’re going to behave like a child, I won’t give you any more chances-“

“Were you honestly considering another chance?”

“No,” she replied coldly, “but watching your eyes gleam with a shred of hope only to be damned just the same would have been satisfying. Is there anything else you want to say?”

“Well, I believe that fuc…” he was cut off by a sharp jab to the ribs, biting back an outcry, “you goes without saying…doesn’t it?”

“Take him away,” Rowena ordered, turning her back as she faced the Dravara.

“Come on,” one of them called to him, more gently than before.

Pity, he considered briefly.

Pity for a half-crazed man doomed to fail from the moment a gun went off in his hand all those years ago. Damned from the start, too soon knowing what danger, true, life snatching peril, felt like. And yet, it only became more intoxicating as the years went on.

Aurora didn’t fight against them, unable to stand any longer and fighting to keep his feet under the weight of himself. The smile stayed, just as meek and hopeless as the rest of him. If it was the end, the short time before everything ended at the end of yet another gun, he didn’t want to think he’d been defeated. He wasn’t afraid, not anymore, and the feeling only seemed more irrelevant, almost inappropriate, the longer he thought about it.

Perhaps, just for once, he could actually be strong.

~ ~ ~ ~

The wind howled, sweeping across the snow that still caught the dying rays as the day began to fall away into darkness.

Night would be there sooner than any of them thought, consuming the remaining traces of light just as it had always done. Nothing changed and day would once again be taken, dusk to dawn and then back again. 
            Nothing changed.

The Dravara had been the controlling power for so long and there would be no dawn to chase away the shadows they cast. They were the controlling power, the almighty in a land without. Nothing stood in their way, her way, and nothing ever would. No one challenged her just as no one challenged the night.

It was unnatural.

Some part of him had always known and yet, he was unsure as to why it ever felt different. Perhaps he’d known how things would end, how his life would end staring down the barrel of a gun he’d provoked. And yet, he recalled things feeling different years ago.

His attention traveled down to the ground as he limped along, hands bound and chained despite the fact he barely had the strength to walk at all. Even the thought of running, escaping and trying to survive the entire ordeal, made his knees weak. If he was going to be killed, he thought, they could have done it closer to the stronghold.

Walking was difficult and the snow, not yet trampled by the hooves of horses or boots of men, piled up in his path. He felt one of the chains rustle as the horseman, one of two holding the lengths of chain that led from his wrists, shifted in his saddle. There were others, two on foot carrying long barreled rifles that made him shiver each time one of them appeared in his peripheral vision.

Aurora grunted as he stumbled, trying as best he could to wrap an arm around his middle.

“Can’t we just get this over with? I don’t want to be out here when it’s dark,” one of the mounted Dravara complained.

“No, you know the den is far. We were told to take him there,” a second answered, reaching up to pull his scarf back over his nose and adjusting the hood tossed over his head.

Aurora’s eyes closed, relying on the chains to guide him until the one to his right yanked forward and he nearly went tumbling into the snow.

“Eyes open.”

Ignoring what he said, he continued on walking blind and doubting he even had the strength to obey in the first place. If they had to walk much further he was certain his legs would give out. There was a feeling of hopelessness settling over him, twisting in his gut, as a gust of wind rustled the cloak at his back.

“This way,” one of the horseman ordered. “He’s not going to make it to the den. There’s a game trail up ahead.”

The den, though it had been mentioned more than once, began to sound more terrifying the more often it was said. The wolves in the east were large, bodies fat from game, and strangely unafraid to approach parties. Their aggression, numbers and all out ferocity towards any who came near was worrying enough. But heading to a den was a death sentence in itself.

Aurora looked up then, swallowing harshly as he thought to just how close they were getting to it. His boots crunched softly over the snow as he continued along, limping still until he stopped, swaying where he stood.

“Get a move on!”

He shook his head, legs wobbling beneath him until they gave out beneath him entirely. The chains jerked against his wrists and he couldn’t stop a cry before it was ripped from him, echoing out across the darkening trees. The Dravara at his right pulled again, tugging sharply at the chains. “I said, get a move on!”

Swallowing, he stayed where he was. “I can’t. Please…let me…just a moment.”

“Get up!”

A boot struck him in the back and he fell forward, yelping as he went and clenching his eyes shut against the agony that rocketed through his body. He shifted his arm under him as best he could, wrapping a hand around his midsection to the spreading stain that plumed out across the bandages. It was bleeding again, he thought, feeling the warmth lap at his fingers when he pressed gently against it.

Gritting his teeth, he rolled over onto his side as best he could with the chains still bound to his wrists. A cough rattled in his chest, body shuddering as he lay there.

“Please…just a moment,” he wheezed.

The Dravara that struck him moved forward but stopped at a sharp bark from the horseman. Aurora was exhausted, too weak to continue on much further, and the thought of trying to rise again made him feel sick. Swallowing the taste of bile, he felt them lifting him then, helping him back to his feet and then giving him a shove forward.

“Only a bit further,” one on horseback assured.

“Quit talking to him.”

Aurora’s head fell, dropping down as they hobbled along through the trees. He stifled another cough, breath nearly coming in pants by the time they finally stopped again. There was a feeling of defeat burning in his chest, the one thing he felt more than the pain still resounding through his body.

Insignificant, that’s all he’d ever been.

“We’ve come far enough.”

“What’s wrong?” he paused, glancing up. “Are you sure you wouldn’t like to drag me even further into this wasteland? I would think she won’t be pleas-“

“Shut up and keep your mouth shut or face-“

Aurora laughed then. “What more can you possibly do? I’m dying. Do you plan on killing me twice because I’d love to see how that turns out for you?”

“You might be dying but that doesn’t mean we can’t still hurt you-“

“We’re only wasting time,” one of the Dravara on foot said flatly.

Aurora stayed still as a blindfold was tied around his eyes, shielding his view of the men around him and leaving him in darkness. He swallowed, hand moving to clutch at the chain that hung around his neck, fingers closing over the weight of the compass. Strange, he thought, they hadn’t taken it but he remembered what happened, a year ago in the prison, the last time someone had attempted to take it.

Too much trouble.

He was beginning to doubt he was anything more than an annoyance after all. They had been brought to kill an annoyance, swat a fly that had buzzed around the head of something far too powerful to stop. A fly was nothing, a pest, and that’s all he was, all he’d ever been.

The chains were dropped, falling with a dull clang in the snow.

Aurora held his breath.

In an instant, the stillness in the air was rocked by three gunshots. It should have ended there, in a flash, a series of bangs that snuffed out a life like a candle. If had hurt the first time, pain was to be expected again. But he didn’t feel anything, not a blinding wave of agony that crashed over him or even a whisper, a shred, of something additional to the pain he already felt.

Nothing.

The silence was then rocked with another sound and the air filled with smoke, smothering everything and sending him to his knees the moment he tried to gulp in air again. He tried opening his eyes but the blindfold made certain that nothing was given away. Not a hint, not a clue, was able to be grasped at as Aurora fell, hand moving desperately to cover his mouth against the smoke in the air.

Coughing harshly, he lay there, unable to move due to the ache in his body that kept him from escaping the cloud descending down over him. But then there was a hand on his shoulder and he was vaguely aware of movement, the sound of something being dragged over the snow.

The blindfold was ripped away.

“Aurora, can you hear me? Are you alright?”

The coughing didn’t stop as he wheezed, trying to expel the smoke from his lungs as soon as he realized he was in the clear air. It burned, cold and leaving him still gasping even after the coughing ceased.

“Why?” he croaked.

Aurora looked sideways as best he could, catching sight of the blurry forms of the Dravara nearby. He swallowed, glancing up at the figure that was far too difficult to focus on.

“They’re not dead. Can you stand?”

“What do you think?” he mumbled, eyes closing.

“Do you trust me?”

Aurora gritted his teeth. “No, I tend not to do that.”

The person shifted nervously in the snow, pulling the scarf back up again. “You don’t trust me?”

“I already answered you.”

They knelt down then. “Then, I’m very sorry for this.”

“Sorry for wha-“

Before he could finish the question, he was struck in the jaw, teeth clacking together. The force sent stars dancing before his eyes as his body went limp, finally giving in to something he’d been silently begging for.

It all went dark after that and for a while, things stayed that way.

Next Chapter: Chapter 33