Chapter 1: The Broken Soldier

The forest path was uneven. He felt every rise and divot in the earth, every loose stone that twisted under his boot. With every step, his leg complained with a bright pinch of pain as if to remind him that he was - in fact - broken. He couldn’t decide which was worse, the walk to the cabin that he was now forced to call home, or the wagon ride through Wolf’s Pass; a jostling, hellish ordeal over the border that made him question his sanity. At least in the wagon he still had his brothers with him.

The walk he faced alone.

Tobyn had not been truly alone for three years. There was little space or time in his squadron for privacy and he’d grown accustomed to bodies surrounding him at every moment. He’d shared space and air with men that would have died for him, and he for them, and even at rest he could always hear them nearby. Now the noise of his own ragged breath was deafening in the late afternoon air.

The thick clouds above him began to drip. Soon, he was trapped in an summer torrent. Risking the mud, he continued down the path. Surely he was almost to the cabin- his bum leg slipped and he stumbled, hissing at each lurching step as he fought for balance. He landed heavily against a tree, the bark biting into his palms.

“Vis” he whispered, then again, loudly, as a bird lept from a lower branch, shaking the leaves and drenching his already sodden hood. “Vis!”

Calling the name of the goddess of war was habit before all else, he of all people should know that she was not listening.

He stood there long minutes in the rain, trying to slow his heartbeat and waiting for the coursing pain to calm. It took everything in him not to collapse.

The rain came heavier as he gathered what strength he had. Gritting his teeth, he soldiered the last stretch to the cabin.

It was as he’d expected: a tiny one-room house with decrepit woodwork and a moss-infested roof. He limped toward it. At least the stones that made up the bottom half of the walls seemed solid. He was useless at masonry, but woodwork he could handle. For now, he’d have to be happy if there was a dry place to sit under that dubious-looking roof.

The door was solid but needed sanding. It shrieked as he pushed it open.

Inside was as damp, dark, and dismal as the forest he was trying to escape.

Tobyn walked inside, shut the door, and peeled off his heavy, army-issued cloak. He tossed it over the back of a chair that he half-expected to crumble under the weight of the wet wool.

There was a table with two chairs in the near center of the room, and a bedframe with a thin mattress and thick blanket resting stop. He approached it cautiously, preparing himself for disappointment.

It was dry. He picked up the blanket, expecting the odor of mildew and mold. It smelled fresh, like it had been laid to dry under the sun.

He ran a skeptical eye over the ceiling. Rain leaked through the thinning thatch, creating puddles on the flagstone floor everywhere in the room but by the bed. The roof seemed sturdier, newer, much newer.

Dropping the blanket back on the bed, he decided he was too tired to be curious and looked over at the fireplace, which at the moment looked more like a waterfall. No chance of a fire until the rain let up and then a while after.

His leg throbbed. Tomorrow he’d have to manage the trek into the town of Stonecopse, the closest thing to civilization he’d find within thirty miles. There was a list of supplies in his head growing linger by the second, and he tried not to think of how quickly it was going to eat through the little coin he had.

For now, he was in too much pain to worry. He peeled off his boots and lowered himself onto the bed.

Over the years, he’d had his fair share of bunkmates who were unable to sleep, kept awake by the ghosts and demons their line of work created. Tobyn felt proper sympathy for them, but he’d never feared the sunset and what nightmares the dark could bring. It was the only time he could forget the living hell he had thrown himself into and be with the ones he loved.

He rolled over and fell asleep.