The Path of Giants

chest, the fear of death in her eyes.
“It’s not too late,” I told her.
She seemed like she was trying to speak, but nothing was coming out.
I ignored her, putting my hands over the top of her chest and healing quickly.
Endell’s dagger had done considerable damage to her heart. There was a lot of repairing to do. I had her life in my hands and wouldn’t let go, no matter the toll it extracted on me.
It took about ten long seconds to heal her to the point where her own heart could sustain her again. I tried to get up to get to her father, but I fell from the exhaustion.
Kataleya was weeping as she pulled me up and practically dragged me to her father. I collapsed beside him. I just didn’t have it in me to heal him, and passing out would mean the end of his life, if it wasn’t already over.
He was lying, limp, in a puddle of his own blood. There was too much of it for the grass to soak up.
I tried to close his wounds as I had before, but there was no spark of life left for my mana to use. There was nothing to heal.
“Like I told you with Remi,” I spoke between heavy breaths.
Kataleya understood. She pushed on his chest.
“God!”
Blood splattered out of his wounds when she pushed. She fell back, the horror of it sapping the last of her strength.
It was too late for Whitley, and she knew it as she stared at him, stunned.
I put my hand on her back and finished repairing the last of her chest wound. I wasn’t sure she even noticed.
Soon I finished, and it was quiet as the two of us and a couple armed guards stared at Whitley’s body.
Kataleya suddenly pounded on my arm. “You should’ve healed him before you came to me!”
“You would’ve died!”
I wasn’t sure she heard me because she wouldn’t let up. I let her punch me. The pain I felt was more from the gesture of her anger, not the strength of her fists.
A woman’s scream stopped Kataleya. We turned to see her mother running toward Whitley.
Kataleya quickly intercepted her mother. “Don’t look,” she said. “It’s too late.”
But Mora pushed past Kataleya and fell down in the blood of her husband.
“No!” she yelled. She showed her teeth as she looked at me, rage in her eyes. “You could’ve healed him. You chose not to because he didn’t like you.”
“Kataleya had been stabbed in her heart,” I answered somewhat quietly, still too shocked to feel anything.
“You’re a liar. I saw you run away from him without doing anything!”
“I did all that I could before I saw your daughter get stabbed in her heart!”
All the guards were standing over Whitley, looking unsure what to do. I glanced at Kataleya, hoping she would speak up for me.
“You should’ve healed him just a little bit, Jon,” she told me coldly. “I bet my mother’s right. You chose to let him die.”
I didn’t need to sit here and take their abuse. I was the one who had warned them about Endell. If it wasn’t for me, Kataleya would’ve been killed as well.
“To hell with you both!” I yelled.
I stormed back into the mansion. I stomped through several rooms, fuming with rage, until I found the servant Whitley had given the red diamond to.
I grabbed the man by the collar of his shirt. “Where did you put my red diamond?”
The man looked terrified as he shut his eyes and turned away.
I shook him. “Tell me!”
“In the master’s study, upstairs. In a drawer.”
I let the servant go and stormed upstairs. The door to the study was locked, but it just took one strong kick to break through.
I stomped over to his desk and started pulling out all the drawers until I found the diamond wrapped in a cloth. I picked it up, threw down the cloth, then marched to my room.
I put the diamond on my bed as I started to pack my things. I didn’t care that it was night. I was getting out of here.
I stopped. I couldn’t ride at night. My horse could trip, and I didn’t have the capability to make light for long enough for it to matter.
And it wasn’t safe. Valinox could return with Endell if they spotted me alone.
Rage came over me. I slammed my fist into the bed over and over until I couldn’t anymore. I collapsed to the floor when I was done.
I saw that the red diamond had fallen during my fit. I picked it up.
“I don’t know if you can hear me, but I’m at the Yorn Manor in Livea. I’m leaving for the castle tomorrow morning. If you want a life filled with purpose, you will stop running and meet me here. Otherwise, you’d better prepare to go into hiding until you are forgotten. You can trust me so long as I can trust you. We need your help in this war. Rohaer must be defeated.”
I listened for any reply. I felt like Hadley had heard me. I could even feel when she replied back, but I couldn’t tell what she was saying.
No matter. I was ready to get out of here with or without her. Kataleya could spend the rest of her life away from the war, seeing to the needs of her husband, for all I cared.
Blaming me for the death of her father…I cursed her aloud. I thought she knew me better than that. I wouldn’t ever let someone die just because I didn’t like them.
Something within me was about to break. I felt tears coming that were far too strong for me to have any hope of stopping them.
I held it together for a little while longer, stripping off my blood-soaked clothes and crawling into bed. Then I pulled the covers over my head and let my tears break me.
I cried myself to sleep just like the night after Father had died. It was the only time I had felt more