Chapter 58: Shadows of the Past

The ruins of the settlement stretched out before them, a hushed reminder of the life Robert had once known. He stood in the clearing with Aiden at his side, staring at the broken remnants of homes that had once been filled with warmth and laughter. Now, the place was eerily silent, save for the occasional whisper of the wind weaving through the cracked walls and shattered roofs.

Robert’s heart tightened in his chest as they walked deeper into the settlement. Weeds and vines had claimed what was left of the buildings, and the ground was littered with debris and the occasional broken item—a rusted lantern, a chipped mug, the crumbling frame of a wooden chair. Each piece told a story of the life that had been violently torn away.

Aiden was methodical, his sharp eyes scanning the area with practiced precision. He crouched down near an overturned cart, running his fingers over the dirt as though searching for something invisible to Robert. His face was impassive, focused, the mind of a tracker at work.

"Anything?" Robert asked, though his voice was tight with doubt. It had been years since the attack—what could possibly be left?
Aiden stood slowly, brushing the dirt from his hands. "It’s old, but something doesn’t feel right here. Look around." He gestured to the surrounding buildings. "No animals have claimed this place, no real sign of people moving in after. That’s unusual for an abandoned settlement like this. If raiders cleared out, others usually follow, scavengers or squatters. But this place has been left untouched."

Robert looked around, realizing Aiden was right. The air felt thick, the silence pressing down on them. It was as if time had frozen the moment of the attack, and the settlement had been left in a strange, haunted stillness.

"Could mean something," Aiden added, his eyes scanning the treeline at the edge of the settlement. "Or it could mean we’re not alone."
Robert instinctively placed a hand on the hilt of his blade, his senses sharpening as the tension between them thickened. "You think someone’s watching us?"
"Could be. Or could be that whoever hit this place didn’t want anyone coming back to find out what they’d done." Aiden's voice remained calm, but his gaze was intense, calculating every possibility. "Let’s keep moving. I want to check the house where you lived."

Robert hesitated for a moment, his mind flashing back to the night of the attack. The memory of the flames licking the sky, the screams of the people he had grown to care about, and Lily’s terrified face as she was dragged away. He had tried to fight, but they had overwhelmed him—too many, too fast.

But this was why they had come. To face the past, and hopefully find a path forward. Robert nodded silently, leading Aiden toward what had once been his home.

The house was smaller than he remembered, though perhaps that was just his mind playing tricks on him. The roof had collapsed in places, and the front door hung loosely from its hinges, swaying slightly in the breeze. The inside was a mess of broken furniture, ash, and decay.

Aiden moved with purpose, carefully sifting through the debris as though looking for something specific. Robert, meanwhile, stood frozen in the doorway, his eyes tracing the familiar outlines of the room that had once been his sanctuary. He could almost see Lily there, sitting by the small wooden table, her face lit by the flickering glow of the fireplace.

"Robert," Aiden called out, breaking him from his reverie.
"What is it?" Robert asked, stepping forward.

Aiden had knelt by the far wall, where the remnants of a small chest lay half-buried under a pile of debris. He carefully lifted a piece of shattered wood, revealing something beneath it. Robert moved closer, peering down at what Aiden had uncovered—a small, rusted pendant, the metal tarnished but still recognizable.
Robert’s breath caught in his throat. He reached down, his hand trembling slightly as he picked up the pendant. It was Lily’s. He had given it to her on her twelfth birthday, just days before she had been taken.
"They left it behind," Robert whispered, his voice thick with emotion.
Aiden stood, his eyes narrowing as he watched Robert. "They weren’t careless. If they left this, they wanted you to find it."
Robert looked up at him, confusion and anger swirling in his chest. "Why would they leave something like this? Why taunt me?"
Aiden shook his head. "Could be a message, could be a warning. Either way, they left it knowing you’d come back here eventually. It means they didn’t plan to vanish completely. They knew you’d still be looking."
Robert clenched the pendant in his fist, his knuckles white. "So what now?"
"Now," Aiden said, his tone grim, "we keep moving. There’s more to this story, and we need to find the next piece."

As they left the house, the weight of the discovery hung heavily over them. Robert’s mind was a whirlwind of emotions—anger, grief, hope. Lily had been alive when they took her, and now it seemed they had left a breadcrumb for him to follow. But the question remained: why?

They hadn’t made it far from the settlement when Aiden suddenly halted, raising a hand to signal for Robert to stop. Robert, alert and tense, followed his gaze. A few hundred yards ahead, three figures emerged from the underbrush, rough-looking men with hard faces and weapons in hand. Bandits.
"Looks like we’ve got company," Aiden muttered under his breath, his hand already moving to the handle of his sword. "Be ready."
Robert’s pulse quickened. He had faced men like these before—desperate, dangerous types who would kill for food, weapons, or just because they could. The lead bandit, a man with a scar running across his jaw, sneered as he stepped forward.
"Looks like we got ourselves a couple of lost travelers," the bandit said, his voice dripping with malice. "Why don’t you make this easy on yourselves and hand over whatever you’ve got? Could save us all some trouble."
Robert didn’t respond, his hand tightening on the hilt of his sword. Aiden, however, stepped forward slightly, his face calm but his eyes sharp.
"We don’t want any trouble," Aiden said evenly. "But we’re not handing anything over either."
The bandit’s smile widened, revealing yellowed teeth. "Wrong answer."

Without warning, one of the bandits lunged forward, a knife flashing in the dim light. Aiden was faster. In a fluid motion, he drew his sword and met the attacker mid-strike, their blades clashing with a metallic ring. Robert, reacting quickly, drew his own blade and squared off with another bandit who charged at him.
The fight was fast and brutal. Aiden moved with the grace and precision of a seasoned warrior, blocking and countering the attacks of the first bandit with deadly efficiency. Robert, though not as skilled as Aiden, held his own, his years of survival honing his reflexes. He parried the bandit’s strikes, the clash of steel ringing in his ears as he fought to keep his opponent at bay.
Aiden, having dispatched his attacker with a swift, calculated blow, turned his attention to the third bandit, who was circling around Robert. In a blur of movement, Aiden crossed the distance between them, driving his sword into the bandit’s side before the man even realized what was happening.
Robert, meanwhile, managed to knock his opponent off balance with a hard kick to the chest, sending the bandit sprawling to the ground. Before the man could recover, Robert was on him, his blade pressed against the bandit’s throat.
The bandit, breathing heavily, held up his hands in surrender. "Wait, wait! Don’t kill me!"
Robert hesitated, his chest heaving from the exertion. Aiden stepped forward, his expression hard as he stared down at the defeated bandit.

"Talk," Aiden said coldly. "Who sent you? Why are you here?"
The bandit swallowed hard, his eyes darting between Robert and Aiden. "We weren’t sent by anyone! We’re just scavengers, looking for scraps, I swear!"
Aiden didn’t look convinced. He knelt down, his blade still in hand. "You’re lying. Who else knows we’re here?"
The bandit’s eyes widened with fear. "No one! Please, we were just passing through. We saw you and thought—"
"Thought you’d rob us blind," Robert finished, his voice low with disgust.
Aiden exchanged a look with Robert, then sighed. "Let him go. He’s not worth it."

Robert, though his instincts screamed otherwise, lowered his blade and stepped back. The bandit scrambled to his feet, eyes wide with terror, before turning and running as fast as his legs would carry him.
As the figure disappeared into the woods, Aiden wiped his sword clean and glanced at Robert. "We should move. If they were alone, fine. But if not, we might have more trouble coming."

Robert nodded, still on edge. The encounter had rattled him, but it was a reminder of the dangers they faced out here—not just from those seeking to harm them, but from the unknown forces still pulling at the strings of his life.

As they mounted their horses and continued their journey, Robert felt the weight of the pendant in his pocket. The search for Lily had taken a new turn, and though the road ahead was fraught with danger, he knew they were getting closer to the truth.

But the truth, as always, came at a price.