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Ch. 205 – A Chance Encounter

  Leo pnned ourning to his friends. He really did. He just had no i in taking the direct way back to Wayward. That was both because he felt guilt for lingering so long away ahat they might have already moved on.

  He could face a horde of zombies now without blinking. He could fight abominations that would freeze most men twice his age ih fear. What he had trouble with was the idea that he might go baly to find the pce abandoned auck fighting alone for the rest of his life. That was a terrifying thought, and as long as he kept at it,

  So, he was more than a little surprised when he found some familiar faces fing through the same semi-abaown he’d been about to dig through himself. Of course, Leo was only looking for anht, whereas Toman, Sam, and ara were looking for something more useful, like food or tools.

  When he saw them, his first impulse was to expin, and his sed, paradoxically, was to run before they noticed him. Leo wasn’t a coward, so he resisted that and instead started walking toward his friend. Sam did a double take and had her sword halfway out of her sheath before her eyes widened, along with her smile.

  “By the Gods, it’s him!” she gasped before yelling a sed time, “He’s here, everyone. We found him. We found Leo! He’s alive!”

  That was enough to get everyone’s attention, and on instinct, he looked around the area, worried that suoise might attrawatention, but there was nothing in the area. He’d long ago killed the undead of the region, and now the dark plumes that marked the worst of the evil were all but gone.

  That’s one more sign that I should have returned months ago, he chastised himself as he embraced Sam, notig how she’d grown since he’d been gone. She was more woman than a girl now, but then the same robably true for him.

  Leo might have chastised himself, but no one else did. That would e ter, he was sure, but for now, it was all hugs and smiles as they finally firmed he was still breathing.

  “We thought you were dead!” ara said as her hug lingered just a little lohan Toman or Sam’s had.

  “I never even came close,” he lied, not sure what he should tell them about his adveo date.

  Instead, he just listened as they expined how much Wayward had improved while he’d been gone. “It’s got so many proper s now that we might have to something else,” Toman said with a ugh as they all sat in the shade of an elm and caught up. That earned him a swat from ara, who still hated the name, but it was clear that Toman had been expeg it.

  “Between the fish and the hunting, food is rarely a these days,” ara expined cheerfully. “It's a proper town now, with houses and gardens. We might eve our first crop of wheat this year, but the ohing we’re really missing is tools.”

  “And people,” Sam chimed in.

  “And people,” she agreed. “There are just so few left. We eventually sent people all the way to Rahkin, but there was no ohere.”

  “Rahkin?” Leo answered, finally, with a shake of his head. “No, there wouldn’t be there. That pce is dead. I was there for months and months, and I never found a soul that was still breathing.”

  “Months?!” Sam cried out. “Months?! How could you have been there, aill didn’t find you. I told you that’s where he went. I told you.”

  “It’s one of the pces I went, and most of the time, I retty deep iabs looking for more of the dead,” he answered, deg not to mention the bone dragon, the zombie crab, or any of the rotesques he’d struck down along the way. “You wouldn’t have found me, but hopefully, you found some of the survivors I sent your way.”

  “The Johansens and those merts?” Toman answered. “Yeah, they made it safe and sound. They’re the only reason that we still held out hope that you were alive.”

  Of the three of them, Toman seemed a with him. He’d grown, too. He’d grown into a fine young man, too, and at less than a year older than Leo, he was obviously still his semi-perma rival, even if Toman no longer had a ce of beating him after all he’d been through.

  “I’m gd to hear it,” Leo nodded, relieved. At least someone had made it.

  There had been roups, but if his friends didn’t mentiohen they hadn’t been so lucky, aed to keep that sad faself. It was his failing in a way, so it was his burden to bear.

  “You know what else would have been good to hear?” Toman tinued. “I’m sorry. Or really, any message. That would have been nice.”

  Leo sighed as ara said. “Stop it right now, both of you. This is not the time fuments. We’ve only just beeed!”

  Leo nodded sadly to that, but Toman's face darkehe up and stormed off. Leo thought about going after him, but he was exactly the wrong person to do that. His presence would only make everything worse.

  “This is all my fault,” he said finally.

  “Well, yeah,” ara agreed. “But at least you’re okay. Which means you still fix it.”

  Leo smiled wanly at that. He would do exactly that. If there was nothio fight, then what else could he do?

  “Tell me how everyone else is,” he said finally. “No one was seriously hurt while I was gone, or…”

  “How could they be after your killing spree,” ara ughed. “There’s nothi in a hundred miles that hurt anyone now.”

  “Two hu least,” Sam said, joining in.

  Leo thought it robably further than that, but he didn’t tell them that. He’d ranged past Siddrimar and most of the way to Abenend and Fallravea before he finally turned back. Instead, he just listeo the girls as they told him about everything he’d missed and what everyone to.

  It was strao hear someoalk besides himself after so long, but it was oo, and he basked in the sound of familiar voices as he y on the grass, evehings turo unfamiliar topics. Apparently, Reggie and Tara had gotten married, and Rin was thinking about marrying one of the Mert’s sons. It shocked him, but it shouldn’t have. They’d all be trapped in the bodies of children for years lohan they should have been because Taz had stopped time for a very small piece of the world.

  Life had to move on, though. At least, it did for everyo him. Even after the versation waned, he caught ara stealing g him, and he retty sure he knew what that meant. He might not uand girls anywhere near as well as he uood bat or taking apart undead abominations piece by piece, but he knew when he was in danger, and the way that the tall blonde girl looked at him certainly felt dangerous.

  Still, that day, when they finally stopped chatting and finished searg the vilge, the only thing of hat happened was that, eventually, he and Toman made peace. After that, Leo told the other boy about some of the lesser abominations he’d killed, but only so he’d feel included.

  “We haven’t seen anything more dangerous than a few decrepit war zombies in months,” the older boy sighed, obviously flicted about what it would be like to fight an undyi crab the size of a house.

  “Me either,” Leo answered, sympathizing. With all the strange social tension in the air right now, he’d give anything for some terrible creature that he could chop into pieces.

  Nothing like that happehough. Instead, they sheltered that night in a long-abandoned home, and then, the m, they set out to the pce that Leo had been avoiding for so long.

  It took them three days to notice that he wasing. “Why not?” Sam asked.

  “I don’t o anymore,” he answered with a shrug. “The light sustains me.”

  He could see that they’d all grown in power since he’d gone away, but he’d grown more than all of them put together. None of his friends could hold a dle to him anymore. That didn’t bother Leo, of course. This wasn’t a petition. All that mattered was that there was no room for darkness in any of their hearts.

  He eventually relented and tried a bit of the rabbit they were roasting but didn’t care for it. Instead, he made bread and shared it with them. Apparently, he wasn’t the only that khat triow, but they accepted it greedily just the same.

  “So, you make anything else?” ara asked, sitting dowo him by the fire.

  “Like what?” Leo asked.

  “I don’t know,” she answered with a shrug. “Tara and Me make Bread now, too, and they don’t have half your power, so I just wondered what else you might be able to do that we couldn’t.”

  Besides go for days without sleep and months without food? He thought with a smile.

  “I don’t think I just summon a feast on and, but I try…” he answered awkwardly, not quite sure what his powers could do. After all. The only reason that any of them even thought to try making bread was because they’d seen Brother Faerbar do that much. It’s not as if they had anyone around to teach them how to use the light they’d been gifted.

  Leo tried creating a roasted turkey without success. Theried making sweets and even turning water into wine, but nothing happened. It was only when Sam suggested that he try fruit that it actually worked.

  “By the light!” ara excimed.

  Instead of a loaf of crusty bread resolving in his hand, a whole handful of strawberries appeared, which quickly vanished into their hungry mouths. It was a small miracle, but sidering it was nowhere near strawberry season, he would take it.

  It felt weird to Leo to be using his power for something besides murder, but maybe that time had passed. He’d been given a magic sword, and he'd used it well. Leo had purged the nd for weeks in every dire. When he looked at the way that ara was smiling at him, he thought that maybe it was time to focus on rebuilding what they’d lost and try to make a new world that was better than the old one.

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