Her heart stopped.
It was him.
He was looking at her.
He was coming for her.
Trace Legacy was walking over, his sword and side stained with blood. She didn't hear anything but her own heart pounding in her head. She didn't hear Maren calling her, struggling to bandage a wounded soldier. She didn't hear the shouts of people putting out fires. She didn't hear the cries of the wounded. She heard his footsteps, echoing, coming closer.
She took a step back, and bumped into Raine, but she didn't take her eyes off of him. Her hand flew to her belt, where she her shaking fingers found a knife. "S-st-stay back!" She barely managed to say. But Trace didn't stop.
"Haelith, we need you over here!" Richard shouted, cutting through the dulled noise. He was pulling a soldier out from under a burning building, the man's leg had been crushed under the weight. "Haelith!"
Trace was still getting closer. "Another Ishtaer?" he barely whispered, but his voice carried to her ears.
"Stay back!" This time she managed to shout it, and eyes were drawn to her. The knife flew from her belt, and she held it, shaking, fear setting in.
"Haelith, wait!" Raine's voice came, panicked and afraid. But she was too late. Haelith turned and sprinted up the road, dropping the knife and abandoning everything. She ran in fear. She ran because her life depended on it. She ran up the road and fled the city, not even looking back, because she knew he was coming for her.
Raine ran down the road after her, and Trace was left there, half confused, half guilty. The cuts on his side still bled and stung, but he knew there were others that were more badly wounded. The Ishtaer had run from him. The Ishtaer fled. He didn't even know who they were. Trace walked over and helped Red pull the wounded over to the rest of the injured. "Well, didn't expect to see you here." he said, lifting the man's legs.
"Could say the same to you." Red was bleeding from his side and his arm, but seemed mostly alright.
"So… the Ishtaer. Lizard."
"Dragon." Red said without looking over. They set the man down gently, and stood back up.
"So you're friends?"
"I guess. Wait. How did you know about Ishtaer?" Red was suddenly very confused (it really didn't take much for that to happen though).
"Barret." Trace nodded in his direction, where he was carrying the limp body of a wolf to the side of the road.
"Huh. …A lot's changed, eh?"
"Indeed. Everything's changed." For a while, they stood in silence, simply taking in the aftermath of the battle still. The world seemed to know that today was a day to move slowly.
…
"Haelith? Come back! Haelith!" Raine ran through the woods. She had seen Haelith go in, but lost sight of her shortly after. For as tall and as bright as her scales were, she was shockingly hard to see. The shadows of the forest moved and shifted in the wind, and kept making Raine lose track of where she had already been. "Haelith, please! Come back! Haelith!"
Raine's voice slowly grew quieter. She had betrayed her. She had led her right to him. She was alone. Again. Leaning against the giant tree, Haelith began to quietly cry. All of it had been for nothing. She was back where she started, alone, on the run, chased by a demon-man. She had nowhere to go. And worst of all, she had fled without any of her bags. She had nothing. Tears fell from her eyes, and she slid down to the ground. Betrayed, backstabbed, alone. This was her life. Why didn't she know this would be how it would go? She trusted Raine. She was her friend. She trusted Richard, Sythe, Maren, Karen, even Madelyn and Lynn. And they were her friends. But not anymore. How did they know he would be there? For a long time, she sat, crying. She heard Raine's voice in the distance, calling, even pleading for her. But she was hurt in a way no one could understand. She was-
"Are you alright?" a soft voice made her jump. Her head flew up to see… scales? Black and silver scales. The man knelt down next to her, and held out a hand. "You'll be alright." His voice was soft, yet there was power behind every word. Slowly, she reached out, and tentatively took his hand. "There, come on. Up you get." Gently, he pulled her up to her feet. "Your friend is looking for you. Why didn't you answer her?"
Haelith looked away in shame. "You… you wouldn't understand."
"I'd probably understand better than you think."
"How did you find me?"
"I've been tracking wild animals for years. I've tracked deer through fog, finding you wasn't that difficult. I saw you flee from town. Why? I've never seen anyone run like that. It was like your very life was about to be snatched away."
"It was. It was him. He was coming for me."
"Who?"
"The Grand Templar. Trace Legacy."
"Trace? Why would he do that?"
"It's… a long story. He's been hunting me. Chasing me for so long. He came for me, he's killed to try to get to me."
"That was someone else." Haelith looked up at the Ishtaer, shocked that he would so quickly defend Legacy.
"You don't know who you're talking about! This is Trace Legacy! He's a mass murderer, he's the leader of the Templars, he's the most powerful sorcerer in the world, he's the-
"The person who was willing to throw himself in front of an arrow to save his wife." He cut her off. "He's the man who is now the most hunted person in the world. He's the man who lost everything, including his memories. He's the man who would lay down his life if it meant protecting those he cares about. He's the man who put his trust in me, who put his life in my hands, and I would gladly do the same with him."
Haelith froze. Could he be telling the truth? "No." she concluded. "No, I don't believe you. He saw me, he was coming for me, he was going to kill me."
"He would do no such thing, or I would not have traveled with him."
"Traveled with him?" She could barely believe her own ears. "Who- who are you?"
"My name is Barret. Come on. There are still lots of wounded people back in Edinmire. You were treating them. They still need treatment. And if Trace tries to harm a scale on you, I will personally rip his head off."