Cormag noticed, to his great anxiety, as Glen and Valter's battle took them further and further towards Princess Eirika's party. When he attempted to pursue them, one of Valter's adjutants kept getting into his way. Their wyverns were of the wivre breed, the same as Valter's Criselda, and were swifter than his.

"Get. Out. Of. My. Way!"

Why are you stopping me?!

Of course, he knew why they were stopping him. They were being loyal soldiers. Not traitors. They'd held onto their oaths, not letting anything shake them.

Who was right? Them, or Glen?

Matthias parried a blow intended for him. "Get a grip, Cormag! They're out to kill us!"

"I know!"

Even with a three-on-two battle, Cormag found that their opponents were skilled enough to keep them from approaching the two generals, and Cormag could only watch their duel from the corner of their eye.

Suddenly, Valter broke off the confrontation, diving at full speed at a new target. All of them—even Valter's own men—momentarily stopped to see what Valter was focusing on. Glen reacted first, diving down after them, and it was then that Cormag realized who Valter was chasing after: Eirika. Sieghart was slower than Criselda, though, and Valter gained far too much distance from Glen.

Andrassy's cry caught Cormag's attention. He was relieved to see that it was just Justus catching his attention, not that something happened to him. Justus pointed to Glen's direction with his chin. Go catch up with them, we'll deal with things here.

Cormag nodded, and gave Genarog a light kick, and held on tight as Genarog suddenly accelerated. The two opposing riders attempted to intercept them, but were forced to stop their pursuit when it was clear that Cormag intended to just plow through them and that the other two riders would attack them if they did.

His path clear, Cormag raced towards his brother. For some reason, Glen went away from Valter, and was—

Oh.

Before Cormag could fully register it, Sieghart turned back towards Valter, speeding up into a collision course with Criselda, using the built-up momentum from the drop to catch up to Criselda's speed. They were determined to stop Valter from landing a killing blow on the wounded Silver Knight. His voice caught in his throat, and time seemed to come to a standstill as Sieghart rammed into Criselda, sending both parties flying away from the Silver Knight.

Valter's lance hand darted out in instinctive self-protection into Glen's side, ramming straight through and extending out the other side. Cormag reached out, even knowing that it was futile, powerless to help as Sieghart and Glen both fell to the ground a short distance away from Valter after breaking away. The force of the blow ripped the lance out of Valter's hands and now lay protruding from his brother's figure.

He saw Glen pull himself to his feet, stagger, then crumple to the ground again. He saw Valter, who somehow managed to keep his bearing on Criselda, slowly chuckle before exploding into laughter.

Valter, who was the reason why Glen was on the floor now, dying of his wounds.

His vision went white from pure rage, and he didn't register Matthias' panicked call for him to calm down when he charged at Valter.

"BROTHER!"

He didn't care that tears were obstructing his vision. He didn't care that Valter managed to hit his leg with his backup lance. He didn't care, he didn't care, he didn't care. All that was on his mind was revenge. Cold, glorious, blood-filled revenge.

The riders accompanying Valter, now trying to stop him, were insects. Pests. He lashed out at them, not caring who he hit or where he hit them. He didn't care how close their lances came to his throat, or his own stomach. All that mattered was landing a blow on Valter.

"Ha ha ha ha ha! Good, Cormag! I like those eyes!"

"Shut up… shut up, shut up, SHUT UP!"

To Cormag, all there was in the world was the two of them, and his brother's collapsed figure. He had no idea what else was going on around them, not until a girl's voice pierced his ears, and he saw a lance breaking inside the chest of one of Valter's men.

"Maybe," the voice shouted, "you could shut up and DO something, Brother!"

She didn't bother pulling the broken lance out of the rider. Instead, using her pegasus' speed and her own strength to lift the dying rider off his wyvern, she threw both rider and lance at Valter. He easily dodged, letting both collide into the ground below.

"Hmm? What have we here?" Valter's momentary surprise twisted back into a sneer. "Someone fool enough to interrupt me in the middle of my meal?"

"Someone smart enough to know to help her allies," she snipped, though it was directed more at the brother she yelled at earlier. She withdrew a reserve lance that was at her pegasus' side.

Valter prepared to attack her, but Cormag wasn't having any of it. He had a score to settle, sudden intrusion or no. Despite losing one of his men, Valter seemed completely undeterred. In fact, he was relishing his current situation.

"Heh heh… good! Come at me! All of you! You're all just food for my lance!"

Cormag wildly slashed and thrust at Valter and Criselda, leaving Genarog to direct them. He paid no heed to the wounds he was sustaining in return, though he was faintly aware that someone was defending him from close brushes with Valter and his remaining bodyguard.

"Cormag! Stop!"

The previous interruption from the girl had cleared his mind somewhat, enough that he could hear Matthias' yell. But he was no less enraged, and seeing that Glen had two healers at his side did nothing to quench his hatred.

"I'm not stopping. I'll have Valter's head on a pike! NOW!"

"Cormag, you're still no match—!"

"I don't give a SHIT!"

Valter laughed madly as he exchanged blows with Cormag. "Excellent, Cormag! You'll make an even better meal than your pathetic brother over there!"

Cormag knew that Valter was purposely feeding into his hatred, and he only drank it up. His attacks became even more erratic, and he purposely let his defense drop if it meant getting to land a hit on Valter.

He was only aware of how easily Valter was controlling their battle when he noticed that Valter was in position to pierce through him, like he'd done his own brother.

It was then that he was aware that Justus and Matthias weren't around him, either wounded from trying to defend him from Valter or to deal with the remaining enemy rider.

But the attack never came. The pegasus rider from earlier was swooped in from behind Valter, taking up a most unusual stance. At the speed she was riding at, most fliers would lay low on their steeds to let themselves gain more acceleration. But she was standing in the saddle, as if preparing to dismount.

"Tana!" A scream came from Prince Innes, who was running towards them, though the distance muffled his voice. "DON'T BE STUPID!"

The yell caught Valter's attention, who turned to defend himself and pointed his lance in her direction. Seizing the opportunity, and to buy the girl time for whatever she was doing, Cormag thrust for Valter's neck, forcing the man to take his attention back to him.

From the corner of his eye, he saw the pegasus dive below Criselda. Without its rider.

Throwing the corpse of Valter's attendant at him was gutsy.

Jumping off your flying steed to kick him in the side of the head was pure madness.

And that was exactly what she did. She'd leapt off her pegasus and used her momentum to land a direct blow to Valter's head with her foot, sending him and Criselda spiraling below. She grabbed ahold of her saddle's footholds as she fell so she wouldn't plummet to the ground, though Matthias flew under them just in case.

"That," the girl screamed down at Valter, "was for calling my best friend a 'ripe peach'!"

Turning his attention back to his initial target, Cormag drew closer to see if he could land any more hits on his nemesis. Valter clutched his head in pain, lurching when Criselda suddenly pulled upwards.

The blue-haired man, the one who spoke to the pink-haired archer earlier, rolled on the ground. He evidently was breaking his fall after failing to snatch something off Criselda. "Damn!" Cormag heard him swore. "I almost nabbed it!"

Even though her companion failed to snatch Valter's Fili Shield that kept Criselda from being critically injured by arrows, the archer girl nonetheless embedded an arrow into Valter's left greave. It narrowly missed the crack between his poleyn and his greave, and Valter's smirk fell.

"Ha ha… ha ha ha…" Valter laughed, even though he was clearly in bad condition. Putting more distance between himself and Eirika's group, far enough that the infantry and cavalry couldn't reach him, he commented, "A bit tired, are you, Criselda? Let's return to this feast. This was much, much more entertaining than I thought… Let's settle this matter another time."

"VALTER!"

Cormag attempted to pursue the man, but Matthias and Larissa cut his path off, letting Valter escape unimpeded. "Cormag," the man commented with concern in his voice. "Take a look at yourself. You're in no condition to fight him."

As the severity of his wounds started to settle in, Cormag wished Matthias hadn't pointed it out, grimacing in pain. Matthias directed him and Genarog to the ground, helping him dismount. Cormag noticed the wyverns that belonged to Valter's riders had been corralled to the ground. At some point, the other man must've also been killed.

Remembering why he'd been so desperately pursuing Valter, he gasped out, "Glen. Where's Glen? Where's my brother?!" A blonde-haired boy in green armor rushed over and pointed at a tent, and Cormag cut him off with a hurried thanks and staggered towards it.

Matthias rushed to his side, propping him up when he nearly fell to the ground. "Cormag, your wounds!"

"I need to see him. I need to see my brother. Brother… He's…"

"Didn't you hear him? He's stable. He'll live, Cormag. You need your wounds attended to." Ignoring him, Cormag attempted to press forward. "Cormag!"

A blonde-haired cleric walked to them from the tent Glen was in, and spoke something to Matthias. With a sigh, the man helped him to Glen's tent. Glen lay on what seemed to be a cot, his midsection wrapped in bandages. The man that was supposed to be Eirika's guide up the mountains was kneeling by Glen's side, using healing incantations. Eirika herself knelt by Glen's other side, her hands clasped together and her lips muttering silent words, though her eyes were wide open and fixed on Glen's face. His face was contorted in pain and his eyes were closed, and his breathing was ragged and labored.

"Brother!"

Cormag scrambled to his brother's side, grabbing onto one of his hands. To his relief, he felt the hand squeeze back, weak as it was. Glen was conscious, if barely. Tears dripped down Cormag's face, and he didn't care how undignified he looked. Eirika glanced at him in acknowledgement before averting her eyes.

Out of the corner of his eye, Cormag saw the blonde cleric approach him again, and he soon felt warmth wash over his body. The sensation of his wounds magically knitting themselves closed was still uncomfortable, nor did it do anything to ease the pain of the wounds, but it was far preferable to him bleeding out or the wounds getting infected. When she saw that not all his wounds had completely closed, she cast the spell on him again before doing the same for Matthias. When the sage's incantations lulled, she asked him if she needed to switch in for him, but he shook his head, and she left the tent.

What felt like an eternity of silence later, Eirika asked the man, whose name was Saleh, on Glen's condition. "The worst of his wounds have been healed. However, my grandmother in Caer Pelyn is more experienced in healing magic. She should be able to help him recover to most of his former strength."

"Most…?" Cormag couldn't help but interrupt as the word turned around in his mind.

No, Brother will be fine. He'll be fine. He'll be back. He'll be next to me tomorrow, riding Sieg, and it'll be like nothing ever happened-

Turning to face Cormag, Saleh explained, "The placement of the wound will make it that he likely won't be able to move like he did before. It may take a while for him to recover the ability to walk properly, and anything that requires him to bend his torso will likely put him in severe pain. At my level of healing, it is doubtful he'll be able to live on his own after this."

"…No…" Cormag bit his lip, trying to convince himself that Glen would pull off a miraculous recovery. Matthias placed a comforting hand on his shoulder, watching the younger man's expression in concern.

"The Elder should be able to better heal him," he reassured Cormag. "But I do not know if he is in any condition to travel up there. The air in Caer Pelyn is much thinner, and he may have even more trouble breathing."

"We're wyvern riders," Cormag brushed off. "We're used to high altitudes."

"Cormag, don't rush this," Matthias warned. "We don't exactly try to fly with giant gaping wounds."

Just then, they were interrupted when the tent flap opened. The Silver Knight stepped in, and Eirika rose to meet him. "Seth?"

"We need a meeting, Princess. To decide our next course of action." He gave a nod of greeting to the other occupants of the tent, and held the tent flap open for Eirika before following her.

Cormag wasn't sure how much time had passed, only paying attention to his brother's struggling form and turning the battle over in his mind again and again until the smell of food wafted to his nose. Justus walked in, holding a canteen.

"Here, eat up. You need to recover your strength, you madman."

Wincing at the comment, Cormag sheepishly asked, "How bad was I?"

Justus' eyes widened for a second before he snickered. "Man, you must've been out of it. You seriously don't remember?"

"Er… I don't remember much between the time Valter stabbed Glen and when that girl Tana threw the corpse at him."

"Wow." Matthias whistled. "You really were gone."

The two were hinting that he'd done something he didn't remember, and the fact that they were beating around the bush irritated him. "What? What did I do?"

"You really don't remember? At all?"

"No!"

Saleh hushed them, and Cormag saw that Glen's brows had furrowed in what was likely concern. He let the other two pull him out of the tent and closer to the area where the steeds were being kept. Genarog turned to look at him before burrowing his face back into his body, clearly tired from the battle. Sieghart was also there, trying to lick wounds already closed by healing staves in a futile effort to relieve the pain.

When they stopped, Cormag didn't even wait for them to face him again before he started talking. "Okay, seriously. Just tell me already! What did I do?!"

Justus looked away, though there was an uneasy grin on his face, and Matthias looked at the ground before responding. "Cormag… You completely ran through Justus' forearm earlier."

Cormag blinked, trying to process what he was told. "…What?"

"Yeah…" Justus scratched the back of his head as he continued, "I went to help you, but I guess you mistook me for one of Valter's men, and just rammed your lance straight through." He pointed at the area where Cormag stabbed him, though it had since been healed.

"Urrgh… Sorry…"

Justus waved him off. "Don't worry about it. You couldn't help it, right?"

"Was that before or after she threw the guy at Valter?"

"Before," Matthias answered. "Guess you never noticed that Justus wasn't in the fight after that?"

Now that Matthias mentioned it, Cormag hadn't seen Justus or Andrassy at all after Tana's first outburst. He winced again at the severity of his rage and how blind it had made him. He knew he didn't have a good temper, but he didn't think it was that bad.

I'm supposed to be a Grado elite, damn it! These people probably won't see me as a worthy ally now…

Footsteps approached them, and they turned to see Seth approaching them. He gave them a smile. "I don't think I've introduced myself," he began. "I'm the leader of the Knights of Renais—"

"I know you. Of course I know you," Cormag interrupted. "You're General Seth, the Silver Knight."

"…That's right. And you are Cormag, the renowned wyvern rider of Grado."

Justus thumped Cormag on the back and Cormag smirked. "If the legendary Silver Knight knows my name, I can't be doing too bad, huh?"

"You and your brother, Glen, are famous even among the Knights of Renais. We have no wyvern riders in Renais, and your stories are favorites among the men." Peering at the tent Glen was in, he added, "When your brother is in condition to talk, I must thank him. He selflessly took a grievous wound in exchange for my life."

Cormag swallowed, his throat suddenly dry, and Matthias picked up the conversation. "How's your arm? I heard that Valter did something nasty to your shoulder."

"Sister Natasha immediately healed it," Seth said, motioning to the blonde cleric with his eyes, "and so it wasn't terribly wounded. Thank you for your concern. We've also come to a decision about our course of action. Even though we lost some time due to the battle, a portion of our forces already made their way to Caer Pelyn in the time that you bought us. They've cleared the monsters in the path, so our journey should be smooth."

"Who're we following?"

"The three of you will be under Princess Tana's command, as fellow fliers. Or, well," Seth coughed, "perhaps you could cooperate with her and even teach her some things. She's new to combat and is quite reckless, if her actions in battle today were any indication."

Matthias sputtered. "The pegasus knight? She's a princess?"

Seth's mortified "Please don't let Prince Innes hear that comment" told Cormag that he wasn't lying about it.

Cormag shook his head in disbelief before continuing. "And my brother?"

"Yes. He will travel with us in the rear," Seth answered. "Sister Natasha will remain at his side in case anything happens."

Justus pointed at the two wyverns they'd captured. For the most part, they were only lightly injured, and looked more confused than anything. "What about those kiddos? Are we bringing them with?"

Seth cleared his throat. "Actually, we wanted to ask your opinion. We weren't sure if these wyverns would be cooperative with us. If you don't think we can use them, there's not much point in keeping them, but killing them is also a waste."

"Let's see. You're Ruvest, right?" Justus walked up to one of them, who took a step back but didn't seem otherwise hostile. Upon hearing her name called, the wyvern took a step forward and leaned closer to Justus to observe him curiously. Carefully, he stroked her snout, and she quickly warmed up to him after that. "Yeah, I'd say they're good to use."

"Ruvest and Guille are relatively new to all this, so they're not particularly attached to their riders," Matthias commented. "Heck, since they're from the wivre breed, maybe even the Frelian riders could handle them. They're less temperamental than our breeds, and faster."

Seth nodded. "I'll trust your call on that. We will be ready to depart soon."

It was dusk when their group arrived. As Seth had told them, a portion of their army was waiting for them there, and most of camp was already set up. On the trip up, Princess Tana didn't end up accompanying the Gradoan fliers; Prince Innes summoned her for a severe lecture as they traveled, and she'd retreated to her quarters in a huff upon arriving.

After Cormag and Matthias set Glen's cot up in a room with a specially-prepared moss bed, they were shooed out by the Elder. She needed to concentrate on her spells, and a wide area around the building was cleared out to minimize any distractions.

Once he finished grooming Genarog (who was very picky about his routine), Cormag found that his feet took him to one of the campfires. He wasn't sure why, but he figured he was just lost in his thoughts for too long and he needed a break from himself. The Desert Tiger was seated on the ground, talking to a red-haired woman in traditional Jehannan dancer clothing. Actually, now that Cormag looked closely…

"Oh!" Upon seeing him, Tethys smiled. "I've met you before, haven't I?"

"Huh?! You've met him?!" The young boy who piped up next to her was hushed. Apparently, Ewan was her brother, and the one who told Eirika about Caer Pelyn. From what Cormag could gather, he was learning magic under Saleh.

Cormag answered, "In Serafew, yeah. My brother and I were there on a mission, and one of the nobles living there invited us to see your performance."

"And now, we meet here. Fate never ceases to surprise."

Gerik raised his canteen. "This won't be my first time working with Grado soldiers, but I never got to see their famous wyvern riders in action. You get to see new things all the time as a mercenary, eh?"

The mercenary in green Jehannan clothing, who wore his hat even though it was dark out, sat up straight. "By the way, Gerik, care for a game of—"

"Nah."

"Tch. Man, that's no fun," he complained despite his grin. If he had to guess, Cormag would say they'd exchanged such banter several times already. The man turned to Cormag. "What about you?"

"Huh? Uh, er, no. No thanks," he stammered.

"Heh! Looks like Lady Luck decided to be fair to everyone today," he joked. "I'm Joshua, by the way."

"Cormag."

The group exchanged small talk and drinks before splitting up to do their own things. Cormag found himself back with the steeds, though he found that he wasn't alone this time. Matthias was taking care of Larissa, Ruvest, and Guille, another pegasus rider whom Glen heard was a message-bearer had just arrived from Frelia, and there was another pair of people looking on. One was a rather petite, purple-haired girl who was scribbling down notes in a book while observing the way Matthias treated Larissa. Occasionally she would talk to her companion, a young man with curly orange hair. From his attire, he was a man of the cloth. From their looks and their manner of speech, they were Renaian.

"Most pegasi, like horses, enjoy the taste and texture of carrots. They are also herbivorous, and will not eat meat. Wyverns, on the other hand, are omnivorous; do you think they will enjoy the taste of carrots as well, Artur?"

"Well, uh… I suppose you could ask the two wyvern riders, Lute?"

In the glow of the torches, Cormag saw her pout at her companion.

"Unacceptable." After a brief pause, she changed her response to "Well, while accounts from experts are always valuable resources, the best way to test hypotheses is always with experimentation."

Matthias laughed from where he was stroking Larissa's snout, where she liked being touched the most. "All wyverns are different, you know. Some might like it, some might hate it. And the ones that hate it," he stared at Genarog, who stared at him back, "will probably try and bite your head off for it."

Lute jotted down more notes in her book; probably recording what Matthias had told her. Artur looked nervous from the "bite your head off" comment since he was standing close to Genarog, so Cormag decided to play in. Jabbing a finger at his wyvern, he added, "Don't get too close now. He may look calm now, but he's got a dangerous side." An image of Justus pointing to the arm he'd stabbed through in his rage flashed through his mind, and he quickly warned, "Like me."

Better for them to stay away from me, than I do to them what I did to Justus earlier…

He felt a lonely sort of satisfaction when Artur took a step back from Genarog as the wyvern turned his eyes to the boy. "S-sorry!"

In a loud mock-whisper, Matthias alleviated Artur's fears with a "Don't worry, Cormag's a giant teddy bear."

Artur looked between the man and his wyvern, unsure which one was Cormag before realizing that the name belonged to the man. "Oh, where are my manners? My name is Artur, and my friend here is Lute."

"I'm Cormag, and that tattle-tale over there is Matthias." Matthias had moved on to Guille, but gave a wave upon hearing his name. "Nice to meet you."

"It's a pleasure," Artur responded.

"Hey, Lute," Matthias called. Lute looked up at him from her book. "Wanna say hi to Larissa? She's friendly, a lot friendlier than Genarog over there." He pointed at his wyvern, who looked between him and the girl that now approached.

With Lute preoccupied, Artur struck up a conversation with the blonde man. "So I take it your wyvern's name is Genarog? Do you think he would mind if I were to touch him?"

"Would you?" Cormag asked the wyvern, who only looked at him in response. Deciding that Genarog was in a good mood, he answered, "Nah, go right ahead. Do it now, while he's in a good mood. Genarog, Artur here is gonna pet you. Don't eat him."

As Artur felt Genarog's side, Genarog seemed somewhat uncomfortable, but Cormag kept him still with a hand on his snout. Matthias pointed at Artur with his head, as if saying Go on, talk to him some more. Cormag rolled his eyes at Matthias, but complied.

"So… Interested in wyverns, are you?"

Artur didn't take his eyes off Genarog as he responded. "It's not so much interest as it is, well, fascination, if you will. The way how they fly in the sky at will… and their powerful limbs. I've seen them from a distance before, but I've never seen one up close…"

"Wyverns can be proud, and Genarog is very proud of his flying. I'm sure he'd be more than happy to give you a demonstration in the morning. Besides, it looks like he likes you."

"R-really? How do you know?" Artur looked at Cormag now, wide-eyed.

"He hasn't tried to eat your face yet, for one thing." At Artur's quizzical expression, Cormag chuckled. "What, you think Matthias was lying about that? Maybe Genarog can sense your, what'd you call it, fascination? Yeah, maybe it won't take too long for you two to be friends."

Artur's expression lit up, and Lute pouted at him even though she seemed to be getting along perfectly well with Larissa.

Sheepishly trying hide his excitement, Artur did his best to sound calm, responding with "Hm. Well then, it's very nice to meet you, Genarog. Lute, it's getting late, and we still have training tonight."

"Let's come back in the morning and feed the wyverns carrots," she insisted as she joined his side at the makeshift corral.

Cormag sent them off with a casual "Next time you're around, come say hi."

Lute waved back, while Artur responded with "Thanks. I will!"

As soon as their backs were turned, Matthias shot Cormag a smirk, which he returned with a glare. Matthias waited until they were out of earshot before walking over to Cormag and giving him a rough pat on the back.

"Our little Cormag is making friends!"

Cormag crossed his arms, glaring daggers at the older man. "You're the one who told me to talk to him."

"Don't look at me like that," he laughed. "Most of the people here are closer to your age than mine. Maybe you'll be less moody and more talkative."

"I don't need to be. And I'm not moody!"

Cormag's mood suddenly soured and he wasn't quite sure why. He'd heard this spiel hundreds of times from just about everyone around him, and he'd just brushed it off. Right now, though, that familiar laugh and joke irritated him like nothing else.

It was too familiar, too casual, too normal. Especially when Glen was suffering, in pain, in agony… All of this because of one decision.

If he hadn't joined Eirika… If he hadn't defected… Glen wouldn't be in this situation. Cormag was sure of it. The people here were nice. Glen was right, Vigarde was no longer the man he used to be. But… the price he'd paid for following his heart was this.

Cormag raked through the day's events in his mind. From the confrontation with Eirika, to joining her side, to Valter's attack, to Glen getting mauled, to a blank spot in his memory that he didn't remember, to Princess Tana's intervention, to Valter's retreat, to their return to ground, to seeing Glen laying on the ground in pain, to their trip up to Caer Pelyn, to settling down in camp.

So much had happened that Cormag just wished everything was a dream, but the heavy lump in his stomach told him that all of this was real. They'd betrayed the emperor they'd served for years for a renegade princess and her rag-tag army, and what they had to show for it was, well… his brother's current state.

Seeing his brother like that hurt, but it didn't hurt as much as the realization that had dawned upon him: The reason why Glen had wanted him to stay in the capital. Why Glen had been so brusque with him when he insisted on following.

"I have… nothing left in Grado anymore. My only family left is right behind me. I have no regrets even if you executed me right here."

If he'd stayed in the capital, Glen wouldn't have defected. Glen would've come back to Grado, and nothing would have changed.

This was all his fault.

"Matthias." The man had sat down a short distance away, and looked up upon hearing his name called. "How long have you been in on this?"

"In on what?" Matthias' body tensed ever so slightly, and he moved to stand.

"Glen's plan. You knew he was going to defect?"

"Well, defecting wasn't part of the original plan," Matthias started. He trailed off once he saw Cormag's expression, a mix between rage and despair.

Matthias didn't know what was crossing Cormag's mind, but whatever it was, it was dangerous. Keeping calm was never exactly Cormag's strongest suit, and if he was anything like his brother (he was just about everything like his brother), he was probably overthinking everything. Matthias shifted again, getting his legs and arms ready to either defend himself or restrain Cormag if needed.

Though he'd stood up, Cormag's gaze remained fixed on where he had been sitting. Cormag's next words were unsteady, and he clutched his arms tightly, as though physically holding himself back. "Then… I'm the reason Brother is… I…"

"Cormag! Don't think like that!" Matthias' eyes widened. But what could he say? There was no guarantee what would've happened if Cormag had come along. He, for one, was pretty sure that Glen would be dead if he didn't, but how was he supposed to tell Cormag that? In the state he was in now, Cormag wouldn't take something like "your brother being crippled for life was the best-case scenario" very well.

In the torchlight, Matthias saw Saleh approach. Cormag wasn't so far gone that he didn't notice, and he relaxed his stance a little, but refused to turn around.

"The Elder has finished. Master Glen will still be in severe pain for the next several days, but we expect that he should be able to recover enough to live normally afterwards."

Cormag gave no response, so Matthias gave a relieved smile in his place. "How's he now?"

"He is asleep, but you may visit him if you wish."

Matthias looked at Cormag expectantly, hoping that the news would recover some of his spirits.

"…I understand."

It didn't.

Cormag made no move to see his brother.