I must have blacked out, because the next thing I know I’m lying on the ground, hurting everywhere. Delkash is above me, an uncharacteristic look of concern on his craggy, bearded face. “Be still,” he says gruffly. “Your wounds are non-trivial. I’m trying to staunch some of the bleeding.”

I’m happy to oblige. I breathe in and out, slowly. I’m aware of Rigi to one side of me, feel a gentle peck on my ear as he lets me know of his concern. I watch the clouds above me roil and spin in the wind, though I feel none of the wind here. Delkash, I realize, must have moved me into the lee of one of the ruined buildings.

After a few minutes, Delkash sits back on his heels and nods. “There,” he says. “That’s the best I can do for now. How do you feel?”

I take stock, thinking about each part of my body in turn. There are aches everywhere, even some stabbing pains, but… “I think I feel better than I did a few minutes ago.”

He smiles. “Good. Can you sit up?”

Good question. I take a deep breath and struggle upright, ending by leaning my back against the fire-blacked stone of a ruined wall. My head swims momentarily. Delkash hands me a waterskin and I drink gratefully.

The battle comes back to me in bits and pieces. Those bonewalkers had been fast. They’d appeared almost from nowhere, it seems. I struggle to remember where and how we encountered them, which leads me to remember…

“Did you shove me?” I ask, not sure I trust my memory.

Delkash does not respond immediately, but I can see him cringe slightly.

“Why would you do that?” I ask. “I thought you were just here to witness!”

He takes a breath, shrugs. “I am,” he says finally. “I am also here to ensure that certain…aspects…of your character are tested.”

“So it was part of the test?”

“Yes.”

I took another drink from the waterskin and considered that. I’d almost died. Would he have stepped in to save me if the test had gone any worse? For that matter, had I passed? I’m not sure I want to know. I hadn’t died, which I suppose bodes well. Then again…

I suddenly remembered pleading for Delkash’s help.

“What about insisting that I apprentice myself to you?”

He nodded. “That, too.”

“Would you have let me die?”

“You didn’t die.”

“That doesn’t answer my question.”

“No, it doesn’t.”

My head doesn’t swim so much, and I take some experimental breaths. My sides hurt, and my left thigh, and my shoulder. My head aches a little, too, but Delkash’s ministrations seem to have mostly patched me up. He may have pushed me into the fight, and left me to fend for myself, but he did step in and tend to my wounds when all was finished.

I’ve tried a lot of things to manage my relationship with Delkash, such as it is. I’ve tried actively working with him, I’ve tried treating him as a friend, I’ve tried avoiding him, and I’ve tried ignoring him. None have proven particularly effective, and the last seems to have gotten me thrown into a battle with minimal preparation. It seems I’ll need to keep a closer eye on him, and trust him less.

He must see something of my sentiment in my eyes, because he glances at me, and shakes his head sadly. Still, he says nothing, and utters no apology for his actions.

The sun is nearly overhead now. “We should continue,” I say, struggling to my feet. My thigh hurts fiercely, and for a moment I wonder if I’ll be able to support myself. With the help of my staff, though, I manage to stand upright. Delkash watches my struggles from beneath his dark eyebrows, and when he sees that I am standing securely, he rises also. He says nothing.

Trying to hide my limp, and trying to keep half an eye out for another ambush, I follow my Sight through the devastation. We move slowly, ostensibly to give me a chance to sense the talisman more clearly, but really because I simply can’t move quickly right now.

I take some time to look around at the ruins of the this village, to take in the devastation wrought by the violence of men, and weather, and time. I see odd bits of color here and there, though, and recognize small wild-flowers perched on crumbling window sills, or tucked into the cracks in tattered barrels. It’s clear to see that they didn’t grow there—these flowers were put there.

By the bonewalker? Who else would do it? I shake my head in wonder. Is this normal behavior for a bonewalker? It certainly doesn’t sound like what I’d heard of them. I peek at Delkash walking beside me, and can see a look of troubled contemplation there. He’s worried, too.

After the better part of twenty minutes of meandering among the ruins, though, I see a collapsed building ahead, at the edge of the village. In my Sight its significance is unmistakeable. The talisman has to be there.

We draw closer, and I can see that the building is impossible to enter. The roof has collapsed, sure, but large parts of the walls have, as well. What used to be the door is now completely impassible. We need to dig it out, I can see, but…the remaining walls are leaning inward precariously. If we aren’t careful, those heavy stones could easily fall on us.

I don’t even ask Delkash for his help. I just move up to the building—careful to keep the older man in my field of vision—and begin moving debris. After a moment, he moves up and begins helping. Rigi flies above the village, circling us and looking out for approaching bonewalkers. I shiver to imagine more of them in the village.

Most of the debris is rotted timbers and mounds of earth, mixed through with dense patches of thorny weeds. There are some heavy stones, though, which require us both to move them, and we work together in silence. I don’t know how to trust Delkash anymore, and wonder if I ever should have. I still have no clear idea of his intentions. His willingness to throw me into battle suggests he has no great regard for my welfare.

But he did heal me…

I’m confused, and aching, and wishing more than anything that this ordeal was over. The thought of returning to face the remaining bonewalker has me feeling panicky.

I put it all out of my mind. Thinking about it now won’t help anything. All that is necessary right now is to find the talisman.

Lift, throw. Pull, throw. Dig, throw. One motion after another. Pain in my shoulder. Ache in my side. A pulling throb in my thigh. This is my world. This is everything.

An eternity passes. Or maybe an hour. Perhaps two.

And then—there. Hidden in a small space between two fallen stones is a jade figurine, a woman with flowing hair like a halo around her head, holding a staff in each hand. It glows violently in my Sight. There is no question—this is the talisman.

I pick it up, examining it closely. There is a drilled hole near the top where a cord was once threaded, but the cord must have rotted away years ago. I take the leather cord from around my neck and unknot it, removing the iron pendant and putting it carefully in my bag. In its place, I put the talisman on the cord, knot it tightly again, and return the cord to my neck.

Then, straightening painfully, I turn and face back toward the village green.

It’s time to face the bonewalker.