Chapter Six:
Reunion and Remorse

Mekae led them on a forest path that led towards a dock on Hesperia's northern end.

"How much longer does this path go?" asked Casey from the rear.

"About another mile before you get to the docks. When I was summoned here, I didn't know how to teleport, so I used these docks. They're well hidden."

A few minutes passed, and something made Allen turn around. "Where's Cody?" he asked them.

His answer came soon enough. They heard a yell, and turned to see Cody being chased up the path towards them. A man, dressed all in black, was the target of three different bursts of lightning.

The man sent flying blades towards Cody. Most of them missed him, but he caught three in his back.

He fell to the ground, but he wasn't finished yet. When the Assassin came up behind him, he sent a column of fire into his assailant's surprised face. He screamed in fury, and drove his sword down, but Cody had already rolled away.

Cody stood up and unsheathed a scimitar of considerable length. He struck low, but his blow was parried.

"So you wish to fight? It makes no difference." He struck hard, and Cody fell bleeding to the ground.

"I will get you all soon enough, I promise that. None of you are safe from my wrath," he said, and disappeared with a flash.

Cody felt his energy draining and he knew his time was up. But he now remembered who that man was…

Flashback from Suliantig-Patriarch-Afrin:

"That assassin, what did he call himself?" Afrin asked.

The battle for Anegon was over, and the black man had escaped. The seven were back on the Zalendaria II, and they could not think of anything besides the battle they had just gotten out of.

"He called himself Reno, and he said he was coming back for us," replied Cyrus, with a big grin on his face. "Like that would ever happen, the way he is now. He barely got himself out of there alive."

"Well, no matter how hard it might be, he sounded like he meant it. And he just couldn't be killed!" remarked Richard. "He killed about a hundred Adepts there, and he's probably going to kill a thousand more before he stops."

"Still, Richard, you must admit it's going to be very hard for him to get us up here," laughed Allen, pointing through the window, where Afrin's home of Indosyne was the backdrop.

"I will agree you have a point there," chortled Afrin. "But we won't stay here long. We need to start a patrol, and I'd love to show you my home."

"I don't know about you guys, but I need a vacation!" exclaimed Casey.

They were soon merrily talking, and all thoughts of the battle had finally left their minds…

Cody told them all he knew about Reno, and they were now very aware of their stupidity.

For that stupidity, Cody had paid a price. The group of six Adepts was down to five, and Reno was still out there.

From his fighter a few hundred feet off the ground, Richard saw the fire and set down in the closest spot possible, a large sandy beach near a dock not too far away from his friends. He knew something was wrong; it was obvious to his mind. He didn't know who had sent the fire, but they had to be stopped. The fire clans had been told to keep away from Anegon, and this one had breached the area that fire Adepts weren't allowed in.
He found his way to where Cody had lain, and was intrigued by the pool of blood. With that much on the ground, someone had to have died. But where was the body? He started back towards his fighter, wondering about this new problem.

Mekae brought the body back to Anegon, where the put it in a crypt commemorating those who participated in the battle five years earlier.

"So it was the man who led the attack on us?" Kevin asked. "We should have known. I remember fighting him. He was amazing with a sword and dagger."

Flashback from Afrin's Test:

"So you are the one the people are hailing as a hero?" sneered Reno. "Well, let's see how you good you really are!"

Kevin dodged his first blow, and thrust his blade deep into Reno's left shoulder. It was the only wound Reno had sustained in five days of fighting.

"Lucky blow… very lucky indeed. You do know a hero is much more that a lucky person."

Kevin's next blow was parried, and his sword was thrown from his hand. Dodging Reno's blade, Kevin jumped and ran away as fast as he could, lest he become the next victim.

Richard walked in, with Mekae by his side. He had a thoughtful look on his face.

"Just who I was looking for!" said Kevin. "I was hoping the fighter was yours, but by its size I thought it was Afrin's!"

"I borrowed it from him," explained Richard.

"That makes sense. You could fit the entire village in there!"

"Probably," said Mekae. "But we need to find Reno or get out of here, and do it quick!"

"I know who to ask about this. I just don't know where he is," commented Richard.