Book of Remembrance: The Forgotten Gods: Book One (56 page)

Shock painted his face; his
mouth formed the word ‘no’. He took one last shuddering breath and went still.

I left the blade there and
stepped back. Thick curls of blue mist swirled out from my body, down the blade
and disappearing into his body. A weight lifted off my chest when the last
tendrils left me.

Slowly, the blade drained all
his blood; the mist came back out and was also drawn into the black metal. His
skin turned a ghostly white before it started to decay right before my eyes. I
stood watching until all that was left of him was bones and the sword clattered
to the stone floor.

I tried to pick it up, but
jerked my hand away; the hilt felt frozen and it left an angry red mark on my
palm.

Strangely,
the first thought that occurred to me, was that Quiniewa had been wrong. Sunder
had not proven to be so important. He had faced it before and this time, had
been prepared for it. Relief flooded through me and my whole body sagged. It
was over and Brant had been loyal after all. I fervently hoped that he was
still alive. I hoped all my friends were alive. I slowly became aware of wild
cheering coming from outside. It was thin, most of the sound having been
blocked by the castle walls.
 

I hobbled over to where Malion
lay. Each step was agony. I bent down over him. He had several cuts all over
his body and was covered in blood, but he was breathing, if weakly. I picked
him up and laid him over Markai's back. He groaned when I lifted him, his face contorting
in pain, but his eyes did not open. Next, I walked to Xain. He was sprawled on
his back, glazed eyes staring up at the ceiling without seeing. With silent
tears rolling down my face, I closed his eyes and sat with him a while. I swore
silently to myself that I would come back for his body. I would not leave him
there.

I pulled the map Roscien had
given me from my coat pocket. We made our way slowly out of the castle. I had
unsheathed Sunder again, expecting another attack around every corner. We made
it out into the suddenly blinding sunlight without incident. I surveyed the
area in front of me. Bodies lay strewn everywhere.

Clearly, our reinforcements had
driven the attack back all the way here. The surprising thing though, was that
I could not see or hear any fighting whatsoever. We started walking again.

I was not sure where we were
going, but a moment later I nearly collided with Trissa as she came bounding
around the corner of the castle. My heart nearly stopped. I had thought her an
enemy approaching and nearly driven Sunder through her. She did not seem to
notice and to my surprise, threw her arms around me, holding me in a tight hug.
"You did it! You did it. They are all dead, Kadin."

I looked at her in confusion.
"What do you mean they are all dead?"

Seran was grinning from ear to
ear. "They all collapsed.
All at the same time.
They were lying on the ground, shaking and jerking and then they all went
still. The Dark Children are all dead! We think it must have been the moment he
died." He laughed exuberantly and clapped me on the back before also
pulled me into a hug.

"You say the Dark Children,
what of the Twisted Ones?" I asked.

He shrugged. "That seemed
to vary really. Some of them, like the Scavengers, simply collapsed into a
heap, died right there on the spot, others were more complicated. I saw some
people who had been turned, as they had been in Ghydenea, changed back. One
moment they were fighting us tooth and nail, the next, they stopped and started
crying out for mercy, saying they had been released. Some of the strangest were
the Dyrrendrel. As near as I could tell, they got smaller somehow and reverted
to being wolves. They all slinked away into the forest over there." He
jerked his thumb, indicating the forest behind him.

Tas
appeared out of the milling crowd. His smile fell away immediately as he
noticed Malion slumped over Markai's back. He rushed over and checked him.
"We must get him to the Jerieghen. They will no doubt be able to at least
make sure he does not die from all these injuries." I nodded and he and
Markai set off in search of them.

I turned to them. "Xain is
dead." My voice sounded hard, even to my own ears.

Trissa gasped and clasped her
hand over her mouth. Seran’s eyes dropped to his feet and he stood shaking his
head. She started crying and he pulled her into a hug. "We must go back
for his body. We have to give him a decent burial. That is the least that he
deserves.”

Seran looked at me over her head
and nodded his agreement.

"Have you seen
Alathaya?" I asked.

They both shook their heads
solemnly, previous exuberance gone, as though only now realising the
possibility of death amongst our group.

"How
about any of the others?"

Wiping her eyes and nose, Trissa
answered.
"Only Dhillion.
He is with the
Jerieghen. Still upset that he was left out." I thought I heard her mutter
‘stupid boy’.

"I have to find
Alathaya." I did not wait for an answer, but started walking away.

I still had my Navitas focused,
but I was having a hard time distinguishing any smells in this chaos. I started
calling her name. My voice was hoarse, but I kept calling and calling. My
stomach was tied in a knot. When I could not find her after what seemed an
eternity of searching, I started feeling physically sick. Despair was threating
to engulf me and break me to tears when Markai came loping toward me. I had to
look twice, but then my feet were running before my mind realised the truth of
it. She was carrying Alathaya.

I pulled her from Markai’s back
and hugged her fiercely. I kissed her all over her face, until
laughing,
she pushed me back at arm’s length. “Let me look
at you. Make sure you are in one piece. I have been worried sick!”

She has been worried? I could
not help but join in her laughter.

I looked her over as well, but
she assured me that she was miraculously unhurt. She saw the cut to my leg and
exclaimed, “We have to get that seen to straight away. It seems deep.” She cut
off a strip of cloth from her coat and tied it in a tourniquet above the cut.

I winced and sucked in a deep
breath of air.

“We will ask the Jerieghen for a
salve,” she said as she worked.

I
noticed a figure approaching and as he got closer, I saw it was Tas.

He
enveloped us in a hug. “I saw Markai carrying Alathaya and I knew she must be
bringing her to you. Come, I have someone you must meet.”

He
grabbed her hand pulling her, and by default me, along. He only let go of her
hand when she came into view. She was sitting on a rock with a blanket around
her. She smiled when she saw
Tas.

He
beamed first at her and then at us. “Kadin, Alathaya, I would like you to meet
Karina.”

Only
then did I recognise her from Ghydenea. She was quite beautiful with a soft
face, so unlike the feral expression she had worn the last time I had seen her.

“Malion
is going to be so happy. I was telling Karina how he had worried over her,”
Tas
said. Seeing my face, his smile disappeared. “Where is
he? Have you seen him? Is he alive?”

Markai
had followed us and she answered. “He has been badly hurt.”

Before
Tas
could say another word, the girl flew up from her seat.
A deep frown between her dark eyes.
“Take me to him. Please.
I have to see him for myself. I have to speak to him.”

Markai
nodded her great head and started away with the girl scampering after her.

Tas
looked after them with worry in his eyes. “Do
you think he will recover from this?”

I gave a
weary shrug. “I hope so.”

He
nodded absently, still looking after Karina and Markai. I started back toward
the castle. Thaya followed wordlessly.

“Where
are you going?”
Tas
asked after me when he noticed we
were walking away.

“I have
to bury Xain,” I said.

He made
a sort of groan and followed. Thaya gripped my arm and looked up at me with
such sorrow in her eyes that it made my heart break all over again and I had to
fight back the tears that stung my eyes.

I led them back to the throne room. I pointed to Rakadamon’s bones.
“We will have to burn those, but first we have to look after our friend.”

Tas
looked at the remains with hate
filling his eyes. I walked over to where Xain lay and knelt next to him.
Tas
and Thaya crouched to either side of me. They were both
crying, a sob escaping Thaya every now and again.

Finally, I rose. “Help me carry him out.”

When we got back outside, Markai arrived and we put his body across
her back. Heavyhearted we walked back to our campsite. I did not want to bury
him where so much evil was. At least at the campsite, we had some fond
memories.
 

We
arrived there to find Roscien to my relief. He had a few small cuts to his face
and arms that I could see, but a large cut to his back. A Jeriegh that I had
not met previously was working on it.

Her face
was screwed up in concentration, her thin lips pouting. She was rubbing an
ointment onto his back making him wince and gasp. I heard a few muttered curses
as well.

"Surely
it can't be that bad, toughen up," I said with a smile and he grinned at
me, but was pulled back into his seat roughly by the Jeriegh when he tried to
rise. That elicited a few more muttered curses.

I
cringed, hoping she had not heard him. Apparently, she had because she was
laughing and shaking her head at him. I relaxed a bit again.

Tas
walked over to him and shook his hand, his face
serious. “I am glad you are okay.”

Roscien
gave him a bemused smile. “You did not think you would be rid of me that easily
did you?”
Tas
smiled tremulously at his jest, but
turned and walked off. Roscien stared after him a light frown creasing his
brow.

"I saw you leaving back there. You had me worried for a
while," I said.

He held his arms up and looked down at himself as if checking.
"Still here.
And one piece, mostly. Soon to be
completely whole again thanks to Definia here."

I grinned at him. Behind him, Definia had taken out a hooked needle
and was putting some thread on it. He gasped in shock and pain as she started
with the stitches.

His face was bright red, but after a moment, he laughed. "Not the
most delicate work I have had done, but she tells me I should not even be left
with a scar." His face contracted in thought. "I would have rather
liked a scar.
Something to show for my troubles."

Definia made a vexed sound from behind him which made him chuckle. She
looked up from her work. "Roscien saved my life. A Twisted One had snuck
up from behind me, but he shot him with an arrow through the neck before he
could touch me." She smiled and looked down at him with fondness making
her eyes sparkle before she continued with her stitching making him gasp again.

I thought I would let her finish with him before breaking the news. We
moved away in search of a shovel. I did not find a shovel, but something close
enough. A small distance away from Roscien and Definia, I started digging the
grave.
Tas
and Thaya stood watching silently.

My leg started throbbing and I could feel fresh blood running down it.
I ignored it though, and continued digging. I jumped when Thaya put a hand to
my arm to stop me. She took my face in her hands and wiped tears away that I
did not know I had shed.

"It is someone else’s turn to dig and you need to have your leg
seen to; go ask Definia to have a look." Her voice was gentle.

I started to protest, but she gently took the shovel from my hand,
handed it to
Tas
and shook her head, gesturing that I was
in her way. I nodded wearily and made my way over to Definia.

She was just finishing with Roscien.

"Do you mind just looking at my leg?" I asked.

She waved me over and ordered me to take my breeches off. I could feel
myself go crimson, but I obeyed. I glanced at his back to see what her work was
like. It was very neat and he exclaimed over how comfortable his back felt. I
thought he might be exaggerating a bit though seeing that his back was red as
beetroot and had patches of blood all over. She had a look at the cut, tutting
all the while and then went to restring her needle.

While she was busy with that, I looked at Roscien. "I have some
bad news."

He shrugged. "What can be so bad? We won the day."

I nodded and had to swallow the lump that rose in my throat. "Not
all of us made it out the other end though. Xain died in the throne room."