Page 57 of Solivagant

He nodded again and gold traced the red scars of tears.

“How?”

28

KHORLI

Jem didn’t remember me. Didn’t remember us.

It didn’t matter.

As long as I had him, as long as he was here with me, I could protect him.

Couldn’t let him leave. I couldn’t follow. Couldn’t protect.

He wanted to go. I was sorry. But I couldn’t let him.

Had to help him understand.

Jem followed me.

We walked through the forest. Through the village. Mostly gone now. Not like Jem’s house. I kept Jem’s house safe.

I would take him. Show him.

What happened.

We approached the altar. The one where they hurt him. Took him from me.

He didn’t like it.

His body was stiff. His soul remembered, but not his mind. I stood next to him. Close. Keeping him safe. The altar wouldn’t harm him again. Nothing would harm him again.

“I don’t want to be here,” he said, stepping closer to me.

I understood.

He wasn’t ready.

I would be patient. I had more to show him, when he was ready. I would wait.

I would always wait for him.

29

JOSIAH

Something bad happened here. I wasn’t sure how it were possible when I couldn’t remember ever being here. But I believed it.

Tusks knew. Whatever had happened, he knew about it, and he knew me too.

The further we walked away from that slab of stone, the more my chest eased and I could breathe easier again.

My head hurt. It felt like I was right on the edge of something both destined and forbidden, answers I both wanted and feared. It was clear that this place had so much history, and somehow that history involved me. And him. Us.

How did we know each other back then? Was it like this? Had he held me captive then too? That didn’t feel like the right answer. So what was?

We made it back to the fire, and as he busied himself with adding more wood to the flames. I looked at him, truly, and tried to find him.