Chapter 10

For Gareth, the ride to Demacia could only be described as torturous. They were nearly a day in, and Lux had spoken barely a word to him. He had tried to converse with her three times already, but she would only nod or respond with a single word before dismissing him. She made it obvious that his opportunity to speak was long gone. When he had tried to apologize, she had simply shook her head and told him not to worry about it. It had been more than eight hours since they had set out, and she hadn't smiled, not even once. The thought of enduring another day like thise was agonizing.

As darkness began to fall on that cold winter's day, silence and guilt became Gareth's two closest companions. They clung to him like unwanted parasites, leeching away all positive emotion. The more he tried to fight them, the stronger they seemed to become. He began to find himself trying to think of almost anything to keep himself occupied. He thought of the League, of Sona, and even of the memories of his past. Nothing seemed to be able to push the overwhelming feeling of guilt out of his head.

They rode for a few hours after sundown before Lux stopped her horse near a small grove of trees and dismounted, motioning for Gareth to do the same. Conjuring up her little orb of light so that she could see, she began walking into the small wooded area, leading her horse by its reins.

Gareth stopped his horse and followed the girl's lead, hopping off and grabbing his pack. "Are we making camp here?" he asked.

The only response he got was a quiet "Yeah." For a few minutes the pair walked, the only noises being the sound of their own footsteps and the soft snorts of their mounts. When Lux finally found a suitable area for them to stop and rest for the night, snow had begun to fall, lightly coating the branches of the trees around them in white. Setting up her tent, Lux only took the time to light a small campfire with her ignite spell before slipping inside the confines of her shelter. She did not even say good night.

Even though he had also pitched his tent, Gareth remained by the campfire, resting his chin on his knees as he curled up by the fire's warmth. With the way that he felt now, the last thing he wanted was to be cooped up in a small tent. He was already a prisoner of his own mind; there was no need to feel like one physically as well. Staring into the fire, he began to wonder if holding in his secrets as he had been was really the right choice. Just like the crackling campfire before him, Gareth's mind was ablaze. He found it strange that he wanted to keep his secrets from everyone. He had never been one who cared about how others saw him, and yet that was exactly why he kept his past locked away.

"Damn it all," he whispered to himself. "What the hell do I do?"

Lifting up his head, he looked around as if he was expecting advice to come from thin air, but there was no help to be found. The trees simply responded with silence. Even with the heat of the fire washing over him, Gareth felt like the world couldn't have grown any colder. By the time he had crawled into his tent to get some sleep, he found a part of himself hoping that he wouldn't wake back up.


Gareth's eyes snapped wide open as he awoke with a start. Something had grabbed his arm, and he tensed as he prepared to defend himself from whatever it was. An instant later, a hand clamped over his mouth and something soft brushed against his face. Just as he was about to explode into action, his eyes finally focused and he froze. It was Lux, her face mere inches from his. Her bright blonde hair hung down from her head, tickling his face. It would seem that she had managed to sneak into his tent without disturbing him. Gareth wondered if he was dreaming, but quickly determined that it was all real.

Slowly, the girl removed her hand from Gareth's arm and brought a finger to her lips, signaling to be silent. She then pointed towards the tent entrance at Gareth's feet. Moving slowly, she crawled to the entrance and moved the tent flap aside an inch so that she could peer out with one eye.

Gareth's mind quickly went from confused to calculating. Whatever it was that Lux was looking at, it was clear that she didn't want to alert it to their presence. He quietly got to his knees and joined Lux at the front of the tent. He had to be careful not to brush up against the side of the tent, so it was a tight fit.

Lux moved her head aside so that Gareth could take a look out. Bringing his eye up to the gap, the summoner found what he was looking for almost immediately.

The dark figure of a man was visible in the light of the dying campfire, standing with his back turned to the tent. It seemed like he was clad from head to toe in black robes. He was moving his head from side to side, slowly and methodically scanning the area. To make matters worse, Gareth could make out the outline of a two blades attached to the man's forearm. It was a simple design, with the two foot-long blades extending outward past the man's hand. Something about the weapon's shape felt familiar to Gareth, but his mind was too busy to think about why. If the man had come armed, he was probably expecting a fight.

Gareth reached over and grabbed Lux's wrist without looking. The girl didn't resist as he flipped her palm upwards and wrote in it with his finger. He never thought this silent form of communication would have to be used other than when he was with Sona.

What do we do? he spelled out. He then offered her his palm. He was betting that right now, the girl would put aside her feelings for the sake of getting them both out of the situation alive. Luckily, he was right.

The girl took the summoner's hand and traced out her response with her slender fingers. Sneak away?

Gareth shook his head. He was sure that Lux could get away easily enough. She had, after all, sneaked into his tent without being seen, so getting out couldn't be too much harder for her. He had doubts about his own abilities though. His mind went back to the day before when he and Lux had been running through the forest toward Roana. She had been silent, while he hadn't.

I'll just get us caught, he wrote back.

It was Lux's turn to shake her head. I'll distract. You get to horses, she traced out in response. Even in the dim tent, she must have seen the look of worry that this suggestion brought to Gareth's face, because she quickly added, I'll be fine.

Gareth thought for a moment. They had tied the horses up not too far from the tents, so it would be quick and easy to untie them and flee. Nodding grimly, Gareth mouthed the word fine. In all reality he wasn't fine with it, but he had nothing better to offer. The thought of the girl putting her life at risk for him yet again bothered him. He wanted to make sure that she was just as safe as he was.

What a man I am… he thought.

He felt Lux shift and her whole body began to shimmer. It was the first time Gareth had actually seen the girl turn invisible. It was odd to see, as the girl's outline began to waver. It was like she was fading away. With her hand still in his, Gareth wrote out one last message before letting her go. Be careful.

She was only able to return a quick nod in response before she vanished from sight. Without even a slight rustle, he felt the girl move from his side as the tent flap slowly moved aside just enough for her to slip through. Immediately after she was gone, Gareth grabbed the tent flap to stop it from swinging about and peered through the slit between the fabric again. He was relieved to see the mysterious stranger still standing where he had been before. It appeared that he hadn't seen Lux leave the tent. Gareth soon began to wonder why the stranger hadn't bothered to check the tents yet.

Unfortunately, it would seem that the man standing by the fire had the same idea, because he slowly turned and began to walk toward Lux's tent. When he turned, Gareth was surprised to see that the man's face was completely hidden in shadow, even in the light given off by the fire. The only thing that Gareth could make out was a pair of red, glowing eyes. The intruder walked out of Gareth's line of sight, moving at a slow and deliberate pace. The young summoner heard a bit of rustling and some mumbling as the unwelcome visitor rummaged around in the other tent.

Shit, thought Gareth. He knew that his tent would be checked next. If Lux didn't make good with her distraction in a few more seconds, he would be in a very tight situation. Reaching back to his pack, he quickly slid out the metal strong box containing his twin knives and silently undid the lock. Without a sound he pulled out both of the weapons, their cold touch a comforting feeling. Trying to move as little as was necessary, he attached both sheaths to his belt, strapping one to each side. Then, he looped his fingers through the knives' knuckled grips and did the only thing he could: wait.

I didn't think I'd ever need these again, he thought. Still, he was glad that he had them now. He didn't want to be caught unarmed by the mysterious stranger. His last few fistfights hadn't exactly turned out the way he would have wished; both times he had sustained injuries.

When the sounds of the dark intruder shuffling around Lux's tent stopped, Gareth tensed. His tent was next. He listened as the soft crunch of footsteps on dried leaves approached the front of his tent. He tried to silence his breathing, but to him it sounded like gale force winds were pouring forth from his lungs. The shadow of the man outside grew smaller and more defined as he drew closer to the tent. A few seconds later, he was standing right in front of its entrance.

Knowing that he was only seconds away from being discovered, Gareth prepared himself to pounce, his body like a coiled spring. His grip tightened around the hardened steel of his knives as his heart began to pound. Then out of nowhere, there was a brilliant flash of pure white light and a massive bang that shattered the night air.

Everything suddenly became dark, causing the man's silhouette to disappear from the face of the tent. Gareth sat completely still, unsure of what to do next. It would all depend on how the stranger reacted. Then, he heard the faint sound of the man's footsteps moving away from his tent. Gareth continued to sit in silence for a few more seconds, letting his eyes adjust to the darkness that had enveloped him. He kept completely silent, listening for any sign that the other man was still around. When he was satisfied that all was quiet, he stealthily slipped from the tent and shouldered his pack. Outside, he saw what had been done. The campfire no longer burned; it had been blown apart, a few glowing embers still visible here and there throughout the clearing. Lux must have used her Lucent Singularity spell to scatter the fire. It was a good idea; now Gareth had the blanket of the night to aid his escape. He quickly made his way to where they had tied the horses to some trees, careful not to trip in the dark. Creeping over to the beasts, he gently pet one on its snout to keep it calm before going to work on undoing the first horse's lead. He was almost done fiddling with the knot when the horse seemed to grow a bit restless. It snorted and huffed, clearly agitated by something. Gareth's eyes narrowed. Or someone…

Spinning around, Gareth quickly unsheathed both of his blades, swiping out with one just in time to parry the twin blades that were being thrust at his chest by the very man he had been trying to avoid. Leaping to the side to avoid another swing, the summoner took a few hasty steps backwards to create some distance between him and his attacker. It would seem that he had been deceived. The man had only pretended to leave, hoping to lure out his target, and it had worked.

Damn, damn, damn, thought Gareth. He was angered that he had fallen into such a simple trap. He could only hope that Lux was safely hidden.

Squinting in the darkness, he could barely make out his opponent's outline against the shadows. The only thing he could see clearly was the man's eerie, crimson eyes. Though Lux's intentions when blowing out the fire had been good at the time, he now wished that she hadn't. At first he considered simply turning to run, but decided instead that it would be best to stand firm. Then, a deep, resonate voice came from his adversary through the darkness.

"Are you Gareth?" asked the dark figure.

"What if I am?" growled Gareth warily.

The stranger chuckled. "Wrong answer," he said. Then, he seemed to simply disappear into the darkness, his glowing eyes vanishing from sight. Gareth tensed up and quickly scanned from side to side, keeping his stance low. Where had the man gone? He nearly jumped out of his skin when a voice pierced through the darkness.

"I'm over here," it said sharply. Gareth spun to his left prepared to lash out at his target. To his surprise, no one was there as far as he could tell.

"Fooled you," came the voice again. Gareth turned again, and still there was no one there. What the hell? His heart raced as he continued to look for his seemingly invisible opponent. Frustration began to overcome Gareth; he was being toyed with, and he hated every moment of it.

Once more, the voice spoke from the black of the night, this time seemingly from every direction at once. "So you're the one they sent me after? The one who managed to beat down my colleagues?" The unseen man laughed. "Well here you are, and you can't even touch me! You should see the look on your face. You look like a cornered rat. What a waste of my talent, killing you. Then again, I suspect that your friend may offer up a challenge, but I'm not too worried. My shadow seems to be making fine work of her as we speak."

Gareth's heart stopped. "What do you mean?" He had barely shouted the words out when he heard the faint whipping noise of an object flying at him. Striking out with his knives, he barely managed to knock aside two shurikens as they flew out of the darkness at him. He ducked and rolled to the side as three more whizzed by him, embedding themselves in a tree with three heavy thuds. He came out of his roll in a crouch, waiting for the man's voice to sound out once more. Unfortunately for him, it came from right behind him this time.

"Boo."

Gareth tried to turn as quickly as he could, but he only just barely brought his blades up in time to block as the shadowy man swung his weapon. The force of the blow knocked Gareth back on his heels, and he had to leap back to avoid his opponent's next attack. By now, his eyes had adjusted to the darkness well enough that he could see who he was fighting, and he decided that now was the time to strike back. Landing lightly on his feet, he sprung forward, quickly leading with a lightning-fast thrust while he swung a powerful slash with his back hand. His red-eyed opponent managed to sidestep Gareth's thrust while blocking the second swing with his own weapon, just barely keeping the summoner's blade from slicing away at his neck. With their weapons locked together in a clash of steel, Gareth instantly saw that he had at least one small advantage: he had two weapons, while his opponent only had one. Now he only had two real options. He could either break away or stay on the offensive. He made up his mind without much thought at all, bringing his free arm up to stab at his opponents gut. He grunted when he was met with resistance, and realized that his attack had been stopped by his adversary grabbing his wrist. With both arms tied up, Gareth launched the only other attack he could come up with. Slamming his head forward, he nearly grinned as he felt his forehead crack into his enemy's hidden face. He felt blood spurt onto his face as his opponent reeled from the unorthodox strike.

Good, he thought. At least the guy is mortal. Yanking his wrist free, he struck out with both hands in a quick one-two slashing combo. His opponent dodged both attacks skillfully, launching his own quick series of jabs and swipes in retaliation. Deftly the duo danced, tangled in a tango of flashing steel and vicious strikes.

Block, parry, strike. Slash, slash, duck, thrust. It took all of Gareth's concentration just to keep up. His knives may not have worn any rust, but he certainly did. He continued to combat his opponent, matching him blow for blow. Neither one managed to land a significant strike, although Gareth found himself bleeding from a few cuts, especially from a particularly nasty gash on his shoulder. To him, it felt as if he had been locked in the struggle for ages, although he was sure that he probably hadn't been fighting for any longer than a minute.

The whole time he fought, he had to keep himself from asking the one question that was burning in the back of his mind: Where was Lux? Had the girl really run into trouble, or was the man simply bluffing? And what had he meant when he had said 'His shadow' had been dealing with her? His thoughts were interrupted as his opponent lunged at him, brandishing his blades with ill-intent. Gareth whirled to the side, letting the lethal weapon pass by harmlessly. Continuing his spin, he swung his arm out and was rewarded with a thud as his knife buried its blade all the way up to the grip in his assailant's lower back. The stranger grunted out and fell to his knees stunned, but still very much alive. Gareth stayed behind him, raising his blade to the man's throat as he yanked back the man's hood and exposed a clean shaven head. Finally, Gareth got to see the face of this unknown man. He couldn't see much since he was standing behind the man, but he could tell that his attackers face was heavily scarred.

"My friend who was with me, the girl. What did you do with her?" the summoner questioned with a snarl.

"Hmph," snorted the robed intruder. "Didn't I tell you? My shadow is dealing with her. I'm sure that pretty little head of hers is rolling around in the snow right about now." The man stopped speaking to laugh, but was cut short when Gareth clocked him from behind the knuckled grip of his knife. The man crashed to his side in a heap, blood now leaking from his wound.

"What the hell do you mean by that?" asked Gareth furiously. He silently prayed that the man was lying. "I swear, if you injured her at all—"

"Injured?" scoffed the man. "I'm sure much more than that has happened. In fact, I've just been told by my shadow that your friend is lying in pieces right now. Guess one out of two ain't bad. Shame it had to be the pretty one though, isn't it?"

The man gestured with has hand at the ground next to him, causing a pitch black portal to appear from nothing. He quickly began to crawl towards it, scurrying across the cold ground.

Gareth was startled, but only for a moment. Where had he seen this before?

Zed…

Of course! thought Gareth. Zed was the name of a champion who participated in the League. The man was a lethal assassin, capable of harnessing the power of the shadows to do unimaginable things in combat. On the rare occasions that he did fall in battle, he often escaped using a portal just like the one that the stranger on the ground had summoned. It was obvious that the man before him wasn't Zed; if he had been, the battle would have been over in an instant. Still, if the stranger really was a controller of the shadows, then that would have explained his ability to stay so well hidden.

Acting quickly, Gareth grabbed the back of the man's robe and yanked him back. His weakened opponent attempted to turn and slash at him, but Gareth blocked the sluggish attack and slammed his opponent down onto the trunk of a fallen tree.

"You're not going anywhere, you bastard," spat Gareth, sheathing the blade in his left hand. He pinned his adversary's bladed arm down with his empty hand while the other one stayed cocked back menacingly, clenching the heavy metal blade in a white-knuckled grip. "Now tell me the truth. Where the hell is my friend?"

"Do you think I was joking earlier? I killed her. It's as simple as that. Now if you'll excuse me, I'll be—"

Before the man had a chance to finish his sentence, Gareth drew his other knife with blinding speed and slammed it straight down into his pinned opponents arm. The blade slipped right through the flesh and dug into the log underneath. Blood sprayed forth, splattering against Gareth's hand and robe.

For a moment, the man could only stare before crying out in agony. He was quickly silenced by a heavy handed blow from Gareth.

"Like I said, you're not going anywhere. Now quit your sniveling, 'cause I'm only going to ask you one more time," the summoner growled. "Where is Lux?!"

The barely conscious man spat out a gob of blood before speaking. "Lux? As in that Demacian poster girl Lux? Ah man, I should have dealt with her and sic'd my shadow on you instead. Tearing her sweet little ass to shreds would've made my d—"

Once again, the stranger was cut off when Gareth delivered a vicious blow to his face. There was a loud crack as the man's jaw broke. This time though, the summoner didn't stop at just one. He rained down one punch after another, slamming the knuckled grip of his knife into the man's face over and over again. At first, the man grunted through gritted teeth as each blow broke through skin, teeth, and bone. Soon, though, he fell silent. The heavy, thudding strikes were all that could be heard in the silent night air, accompanied by the occasional crack of metal-on-skull. After a while though, there were no more intact bones to break.

Gareth's expression was grim, yet on the inside he was absolutely livid. All he could see was red, and all he cared about was hurting the now faceless man in front of him as much as he could. Just the thought of someone wanting to hurt the girl infuriated him. If Lux truly was dead, then it was all this man's fault.

Gareth felt like he could have kept at it for hours as he continued to hammer away at the now shapeless, pulpy mass that had been his opponents head. His right hand was absolutely drenched in blood, and his cloak was smeared with crimson matter. The senseless beating finally ended when a voice broke Gareth out of his rage-induced trance.

"Gareth, that's enough!"

The summoner immediately froze where he was, his fist resting in the gory mess of the man's face. He instantly recognized the voice, and the red mist that clouded his mind began to fade away. Reaching over, he yanked his dagger out of the man's arm with a grunt. Standing up straight, he sheathed both of his blades and turned to face Lux, who stood like a beautiful specter in the darkness. She held one of her little light orbs, which cast a soft glow throughout the surrounding area. There was enough light for Gareth to see that her garments were a bit tattered and her hair was ruffled, but otherwise she seemed alright. Gareth felt relieved and took a step forward, only to pause mid-step. He glanced down at his bloody hands, then back to the corpse of his unfortunate opponent. Both were an absolute mess. Sliding his hands out of sight into the folds of his robes, he turned his attention back towards Lux.

"Are you okay?" he asked in a low voice.

The young Demacian nodded her head. "Yeah, just a little banged up. What about you? You're covered in blood."

Gareth shook his head. He couldn't help but avoid her gaze, so he spoke to the ground at his feet. "Don't worry. Most of it isn't mine."

Lux moved closer to him, concern reflecting deeply in her eyes. "Even so, are you sure your alright?"

"Yes I'm fine, damn it," barked the young man. "Who the hell was that, anyway?"

The blonde girl shrugged. "I don't have a clue. I was trying to circle back around to our camp when I was ambushed by a shadow, almost like one of Zed's. Luckily, it seemed a lot less powerful than one of his, but it kept blocking off my attempts to get back to you. I tried everything to get back here, I really did, but then it just suddenly vanished. That's when I came by and saw you pounding away at him," she said, indicating the body on the fallen tree. "You didn't have to kill him you know. We could have possibly obtained some valuable information from him."

Gareth laughed softly. "Yeah, I should have just interrogated him while his shadow puppet tore you apart."

"Hey, I was doing just fine," countered Lux.

"Oh yeah?" snapped Gareth. "How the hell was I supposed to know that? You could have at least sent me a signal or something of the sorts. While you were dancing around with a shadow, I was getting attacked by a one-hundred percent solid son of a bitch. Maybe I felt that I needed to kill the bastard just to get him off my back. You want to learn more about me? Well here you go," he shouted, pointing at the dead body. "Welcome to the real me."

Almost immediately, Gareth felt regret at uttering such a callous retort. Looking up quickly, he could see the pain in the his companions blue eyes and sighed. "Listen. I'm sorry for snapping at you like that. I'm sure you tried your damnedest to get back to me. I guess I'm just growing weary of fighting for my life all of the time."

To his surprise, the young Demacian let out a giggle. "I know what you mean. I've had the exact same feeling at times. Don't worry though. Once we get to Demacia, this will all be in the past." Then slowly, her eyes drifted downward.

For a moment, Gareth wondered what it was that the girl was staring at. Then, he realized that her gaze had come to rest on one of the blades fastened to his hip. He gently drew one and held it out in the light for her to see. "I'm sure you'd like to know about these, huh?"

Lux could only manage a nod in response.

Gareth thought for a moment before letting out a long, slow breath that fogged up in the cold air. "Lux, I know that I owe you a proper explanation, but right now isn't the time. Let's just say they're tools of an old trade of mine and leave it at that for now. Is that alright?"

"Yeah," responded the young mage with a small smile. "That's perfectly alright, Gareth." Then, she wrapped her arms around her body and gave a small shiver. "Jeez it's cold out here. Should we make a fire again?"

Glancing around thoughtfully, Gareth took a moment to consider their options before nodding his head. "We might as well. I'm too worn out to travel and if that man had brought in reinforcements, I suspect that they would be here by now. Besides, I doubt that either one of us will be falling asleep again, so we shouldn't have to worry about anymore surprises." Bending down, he picked up a fallen branch and cradled it in his arms. "Shall we get started then?"


A few minutes later, Gareth sat on a small log he had scrounged from the forest floor. He had swapped out of his gore-plastered cloak for a clean one, opting to add the old one to the bundle of sticks to be burned. They had both packed up their tents and belongings so that they would be ready to move as soon as the sun rose. By Lux's estimates, there were likely only a few more hours of night left.

As Gareth watched Lux chant her ignite spell, he found himself staring at his hands. He had washed most of the blood away with water from his canteen, but some still remained.

Why did I kill that man? he wondered. Was it out of anger? Was I just fed up with all of this? Or...

His gaze flicked upward to the girl crouched in front of him. Did I do it all for her?


Author's note: Hello world, and Happy New Year! That's right, LoR is not by any means dead! I would like to say though, the last few months have been tough, especially this past December. Between floundering my way through college, me crashing my car, and a death in the family, things have been going a little less than smoothly. However, while the last few months have been pretty shit, 2013 as a whole was great, perhaps my best year of life to date. And one of the main reasons I feel that way? My stories of course! Both Light of Redemption and Nine Tails and Six Strings have helped me make it out of 2013 with my sanity intact. That being said, I would like to express an enormous amount of gratitude to anybody and everybody who has given me feedback, whether that be through follows, favorites or reviews. You all have seriously made a rough last few months a lot more bearable. So with that out of the way, I hope you all enjoy this chapter and always, please don't be afraid to leave an honest review. I'm two decades old now, so there's no need to worry about hurting my feelings. Also, If you see any errors in my story, PLEASE SEND ME A PM ASAP so I can fix it. Thanks all!