Steel and Sorrow: Rise of the Mercenary king

Chapter 438: Last Goodbyes

Inside the tent, the air was thick with unspoken words. The only sounds were the distant crackling of torches outside and the faint rustling of the fabric walls as the wind brushed against them.

Varaku sat cross-legged near the fire pit, his calloused hands resting on his knees. His face, worn by years of hardship and battle, was unreadable, though his jaw was set tight. Across from him, Torghan sat in silence, his posture rigid, his fingers idly tracing the embroidery on his sleeve. The flickering firelight cast shifting shadows across their faces, highlighting the sharp lines of father and son—so alike, yet now standing on opposite paths.

Neither of them spoke. There was nothing to say that the other did not already know.

Yet something they would have to say.

Varaku's fingers tightened into a fist on his knee, his knuckles whitening. He inhaled deeply through his nose, holding the breath for a long moment before releasing it in a slow exhale. The tent was dimly lit, the flickering light of the fire casting long, wavering shadows against the fabric walls. Outside, the sounds of the camp—voices murmuring, the clatter of metal, the occasional distant laughter—felt distant, insignificant compared to the silence that stretched between father and son.

"So you're really going to leave," Varaku finally said, his voice low, measured. But there was something else beneath it—something restrained, something close to resentment. "You would abandon the land where our tribe has lived for half a century. The same land we were exiled from, the same land where your mother's spirit waits, where we will soon bleed to take it back."

Torghan met his father's gaze steadily. There was no hesitation in his posture, no doubt in his voice when he answered.

"You already know the answer to that."

Varaku let out a sharp breath, shaking his head. "And for what?" His voice was edged with something bitter now, something close to anger. "For the promise of a life you may never live? For a place that is not your home, among people who are not your kin?"