by Todd Herzman
The moon was full, obscured only slightly by a small crop of clouds. Stars dotted the night sky. Whenever he looked up out here, it reminded him of being atop the Shurin mountains, where there had seemed to be more stars in the sky. It was same out here on the water.
It didn’t take him long to find Liona. She was leaning against the bow, staring down at the dark waters.
‘Liona?’ Huon walked up to her.
Liona turned to him. Her eyes were red. ‘I was wondering if you would come to me. Why did it take you so long?’
‘I…’ Huon looked away. ‘I was afraid of what you would say, about what happened back there.’
‘I told you already, you did what you had to.’
‘If that’s true, then why are you avoiding me? Why… why weren’t you holding my hand the same way as before?’
It was Liona’s turn to look away. She stared back out at the water. ‘Because I saw that look in your eyes. I’ve seen that look before, Huon. But I never thought… I never thought I’d see it in you. You weren’t just doing what you had to—you were revelling in it.’
Huon opened his mouth, but he didn’t deny it. He didn’t want to lie to her. Whatever aspect of his soul he’d lost—whatever had been taken from him to make him feel what he’d felt—it hadn’t affected his feelings for Liona. He cared for her. Wanted to be close to her. Wanted… wanted her to trust him, not be afraid of him.
I won’t lie to her.
Huon’s mouth was dry. How could he be so afraid of speaking the truth? ‘I did enjoy it.’ He clamped his mouth shut after he’d said the words, waiting for her reaction.
Liona looked at him over her shoulder, her eyes still red. ‘Why?’
He shook his head. ‘I think…’ He trailed off. The truth. Tell her the truth. Staring down at his binding, Huon rolled up the sleeve of his martial arts robes. ‘Remember what I told you, about losing an aspect of my soul? I think I know what it means now.’ He raised his gaze to meet hers. ‘But I don’t want to be like this—I don’t want to become ruthless. I don’t want to become like him.’ Huon wasn’t sure if he was referring to Jakob, the Immortal of Fire, or even to the Everlasting King. He didn’t want to become like any of them.
‘You don’t?’ Liona turned fully back around. Facing him properly once more, she looked up into his eyes.
‘I want to defeat the Everlasting King. I want… I want to take down all the oathmasters. Free every surgecaller, not just in our realm, but anywhere they’re kept a slave. But I won’t turn…’ Huon shut his eyes. ‘I won’t become evil to do it.’
It was rare, that Huon thought about it in those terms…
Good versus evil.
But what else could it be?
The Everlasting King was evil. And his father? Whatever his ultimate intentions, the ends did not justify the means. Even if Huon didn’t feel guilt or regret at what he’d done, he could still see that it was wrong.
I don’t want to become that which I fight.
Liona took his hand, the way she had earlier in the day. She held it in both of hers. ‘You’re not lying to me, are you, Huon?’
He shook his head. ‘I promise I’m not.’
Liona nodded. ‘Good.’ She squeezed his hand. ‘Then I’ll help you. But you have to promise something else, too, okay?’
Huon nodded slowly. ‘Okay.’
‘If you’re ever unsure of something—if you don’t know what the right choice is, or you feel yourself slipping… please, come to me.’ Liona’s gaze turned pleading, her grip on his hands tighter.
Huon didn’t shy from her gaze, as much as he wanted to. As he stared at her, he realised all those emotions he hadn’t been able to feel—the guilt, the regret—he could feel them, through her. Was he willing to put such a burden on her? If he truly cared for her, should he do this?
But her eyes… her eyes told him this was what she wanted. She’d always been stronger than him—always been higher on the path of advancement. If he shied away from this, if he didn’t do this because he was afraid for her and she found out… she would think he thought her weak, when that was the furthest thing from the truth.
‘Will you do it?’ Liona prompted, after he’d been quiet for a long moment.
‘I will.’ Huon nodded. ‘I promise.’
Epilogue
Weeks passed on their journey.
Huon, Liona and Gale continued their training under Captain Avery. They didn’t just train to advance or fight, either. She taught them how to sail the ship, telling them that anyone aboard her vessel must know such things—one never knew when they would be needed to help steer the ship or climb up the rigging to pull on some important rope. Huon took to the work easily, as did the others, and found he could cultivate doing most of the things necessary to help keep the three-masted ship moving.
As they sailed, the crew turned from strangers to friends. Huon learnt the names of every sailor aboard along with their advancement levels—they were all Champions, excepting Captain Avery, and her first mate, Horral, who’d been a Legend for almost a year now.
Champion.
Huon wasn’t sure how long it would take him, but it was the next step on his journey—the next step on all their journeys. Captain Avery had agreed to train them, but she didn’t speak much on when they would advance. She doesn’t think we’re ready. Huon was inclined to believe her.
One night, after two months on the water, following one of Huon’s solo-training sessions, he walked to the prow of the ship and leant against the rail, gaze searching the dark sky. They hadn’t seen a single other sail on the open sea since leaving Horlana’s port.
Something caught Huon’s eye—something flying toward the Strong Wind.
Huon gripped the rail tightly, leaning as far over the side as he could, wishing he had an acute sight surge. Instead, he surged acute hearing, and focused on the sound of the thing’s wings whooshing through the air. He could just make it out.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh.
He froze where he stood, fear gripping his chest. His mind groped for the fearlessness affinity. The red dragon. It must be.
Had the Immortal of Fire found him, once again?
Then the beast neared. The cloud blocking the moonlight parted.
It wasn’t a dragon—it was a sky-eagle. A giant sky-eagle, as big as Shurie’s mother.
Huon’s mouth parted, then formed into a smile.
‘Shurie!’ he called into the night, then shouted up at the lookout atop the eagle’s nest that the man needn’t be afraid.
The sky-eagle swept down toward him, landing heavily on the deck. Huon ran to greet the bird, who was now far taller than himself. Definitely big enough to ride. He hugged Shurie, holding her close, glad she’d finally returned to him.
Footsteps sounded behind Huon as he stood there, Shurie cooing softly—though not near as softly as she had when she was younger.
‘Is that—Shurie?’ Liona asked, walking into view. ‘She’s gotten so big!’
Huon let go of the bird, who flapped her wings and screeched—a sound he took for excitement—on seeing Liona. Shurie wrapped the young woman in her wings. Eyes wide, Liona sunk into the hug.
Snow padded over, having been woken by the noise. Not long after, Gale was up on deck with the captain.
Huon looked at Liona, at Shurie. At Gale, Snow—even at Captain Avery—and realised something—whatever it was that he’d lost, that aspect of his soul… he wasn’t alone.
Not anymore.
I can do this, Huon thought, staring off into the sea, over the dark waters. He didn’t know what he would face out there. He didn’t know if it would truly help him advance or take him as far as he needed to go. He didn’t know if he’d lost too much in that deal with the Celestial.
But he did know that whatever he had to do, he would do it with his friends.
The End of Book Three
Book four of the Surgecaller series will be
up for pre-order soon—keep an eye out!
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Afterword
Thank you so much for reading Honourbound! You are now well on your way to reaching Champion!
Once again I want to take a moment to thank you all, especially if you’ve made it this far! I’m having a blast writing this series, and I’m so glad so many of you are along for the ride.
If you’re able to, please head over to Amazon or Goodreads to leave a review. Reviews help authors immensely, and you’d be doing me a huge favour.
~
If you’re looking for some good places on the internet to chat about books like mine, check out the Facebook groups below:
Western Cultivation Stories (Xianxia and Wuxia, etc)
Progression Fantasy
Cultivation novels
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Also by Todd Herzman
Hollow Fate
The Seeker and the Sword (A Hollow Fate Novella)
A Dark Inheritance (Hollow Fate Book One)
A Darkness Beckons (Hollow Fate Book Two)
A Darker World (Hollow Fate Book Three)
Short Works
The King’s Assassin: A Fantasy Novelette
The Dreamer: A Fantasy Novelette
Seed of Humanity: A Short Story
Thomas Godfrey Breaks Time: A Short Story
Outside: A Short Story