Chapter 8 The Survivor

Rhen trudged along the narrow road, shoulders hunched under the torn cloak. Every step felt heavier than the last.

"Captain?"

The voice hit him like a punch. He spun around, hand flying to his sword hilt.

Brynn stood twenty paces back, eyes wide, pack slipping from her shoulder. Her face was streaked with dirt and old tears. She looked like she hadn't slept in days. "Rhen? Gods... you're alive."

"Brynn." The name came out rough. She was real. Breathing. Alive. The only one.

She ran forward and crashed into him, arms wrapping tight around his waist. Her whole body shook. "I thought you were all gone. I came back from the supply run and the whole camp was... empty. Burned. I followed the trail. Found the blood field but... no bodies. Just blood. So much blood."

Rhen stood stiff for a moment, then slowly put his arms around her. She smelled like smoke and sweat and home. "Brynn. You shouldn't be here."

She pulled back just enough to look up at him, hands gripping his armor. "I searched for three days. Three damn days, Rhen. Tell me what happened. Where is everyone? Aldric? Tomas? Mira?"

Her voice cracked on the names. Rhen felt something twist hard in his chest. He forced his face to stay calm. Normal. The survivor who made it back.

"They hit us hard," he said quietly. "Raiders came in bigger numbers than command expected. The Light support never arrived. Formations got messed up. I fought my way out after the line broke. The others... they didn't make it."

Brynn searched his eyes. "All of them? Just like that?"

Rhen nodded, the lie burning on his tongue. "I tried, Brynn. I really tried. Held the center as long as I could. Aldric died right next to me. Tomas went down covering the retreat that never came. Mira... she took three of them with her before the end."

Tears spilled down her cheeks. She didn't wipe them away. "I should have been there. If I hadn't gone for those damn supplies..."

"Don't," Rhen cut in sharply. He gripped her shoulders. "You'd be dead too. At least one of us made it. That's something."

She leaned her forehead against his chest, fists bunching in his cloak. "You always said we'd go home together. The whole legion. Sitting around a fire, telling stupid stories about the border. Now it's just us?"

"Just us," Rhen echoed. His voice almost broke. Behind them, hidden in the treeline two miles back, he could feel the legion waiting. Watching. Thousands of dead eyes turned in their direction through the bond.

Brynn pulled away and wiped her face with her sleeve. "You look like hell. Come on, I have some bread and water in my pack. We can rest a little before pushing on to the capital. They'll want to hear your report."

They sat by the side of the road under a scraggly tree. Brynn handed him a piece of hard bread and a waterskin. Her hands trembled as she broke off her own portion.

"Tell me more," she said between bites. "How did you really get out? You always were the toughest bastard in the legion, but facing that many alone..."

Rhen chewed slowly, buying time. "Luck. Mostly luck. Found a gap in their lines during the final push. Hid in a ravine until nightfall. Then just kept moving."

He hated every word. The real story pressed against his teeth, the Light, the ritual, the screams that wouldn't stop. Aldric dying in his arms. The System. The rising dead. But he swallowed it all.

Brynn nodded, though her eyes stayed shadowed. "General Cavan will want every detail. He's been sending scouts out. The whole capital's buzzing with rumors about the border collapse."

"Good," Rhen said. "I'll tell him what he needs to hear."

They talked as the light faded. Brynn told him about the empty camp, the fear in the nearby villages, how she kept expecting to find more survivors. Rhen listened, responding when he had to, keeping his answers short. Every laugh she forced out felt like a knife. Every time she said "we" meaning the legion that no longer existed.

Night settled in. Brynn curled up against her pack, exhausted. "Don't let me sleep too long, Captain. We should reach the outer gates by midday tomorrow."

"I'll keep watch," Rhen said softly.

She was asleep within minutes, breath steady. Rhen sat with his back against the tree, staring into the darkness toward where his legion waited.

The whispers started low.

At first he thought it was wind. Then the voices layered over each other, familiar, overlapping, wrong.

[She deserves to know.]

[We could show her.]

[Why didn’t you tell her the truth?]

Rhen’s head snapped up. The voices weren’t loud, but they filled the space behind his eyes. Hundreds of them. His men. Speaking as one.

It wasn’t the king’s voice this time.