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 Post by Garvey on 04/30/2004 at 13:56:08
I struggled up the stairs, one hand against the wall, the other on my new cane. With every step pain lanced through the burns on my legs. I was grateful that the worst of the wounds had healed and that I was finally able to walk again. Grandmother told me that she had not heard of wounds that severe since the great war when The Rose led the great massacre against us. Somehow, I had cheated death again. Unlike my brethren who had fallen in the war, I would survive. Lark had urged me to stay in bed. He said it was too early, but I had to find Anlon, and I would not have him see me bedridden. I had to show the boy the strength of our people. Besides Lark was over cautious. He had lost the taste for war and was fearful of losing me as well. I found Anlon sitting on a window ledge in the highest tower of the keep. I watched him for several minutes, his skinny tan legs dangling out in the wind. "What do you want?" his young voice was filled with hate. I let his hatred wash over me for a few moments. "I am truly sorry son, I really am." I hobbled over to the window, lay the cane down and reached for him. His hand slashed out towards me. "You killed her! Its all your fault!" He grasped out at me, clumsily trying to pummel me. There were no tears in his eyes, but the sorrow was clear in his face. I pulled him to me, his hands pounding into the tender wounds on my chest. At long last his fists were replaced by tears and I spoke again. "I take the blame on myself for Brona's death. She and the others knew the dangers, though none of us were ready for what we found." I paused for a deep breath. "It was evil, Anlon. Concentrated evil that killed your mother. She fought valiantly until the end and never showed her fear. I tried to save your mother, to save them all, but IT was too fast." I remembered the screams... the noise of the creature.... how it twisted.them... how it toyed with us. I must have been quiet for a number of minutes because Anlon was staring up at me, the tears dry in his eyes. "It ambushed us," I told him. "We were betrayed. We were waiting for the enemy, I had hidden us away in a place nobody should have been able to find, but It found us." I paused, trying not to think about what I had seen that day. "It wasn't a man... I don't think it was even a demon, not like those we were sent to hunt. It was a mass of flesh, drawn from some dark nightmare. It had no form, and the sound... It was a hard death, but know that she fought well and for a just cause. If there is to be any hope for us, then these demons must be purged from the land and the dark stain must sent back into the depths of Shadow. The demons who did this will be forced back. The Golden City will prevail and the darkness will be cleansed from the land, though it will likely cost us dearly." "This war has made orphans of us both, Anlon. Remember, though, that you are never alone, and your mother's spirit runs with those of our ancestors, always watchful." I could not bare to tell him the truth. My heart failed me. I prayed I was wrong, and that she was dead. The flames rose high sending smoke swirling into the dark sky. All about, the tribe was gathered staring upward towards the moons. The sound of the crackling fire was all that could be heard, everybody waited in silence for the first song. The chosen of the dead gathered around the empty pyre. Anlon sat next to Duvessa, his small brown form next to her midnight black body, both silhouetted in front of the fires. I sat behind the chosen with the all of the others who had gathered, Lark at my side. Duvessa let out the first note, a heavy dark note for her fallen lover. The others joined in, Anlon last of all. Something different rang out in his song though, raising the hairs along my spine. Then I opened wide and let out my cry for the lost, and the others joined in, filling the night with the song of the dead. Dancing and singing filled the night, and it was not until the rise of the sun that we rested. Lark brought Eavan to me at first light. Sweat glistened across her brow and blood was smeared across her cheeks and all along her body in detailed designs. Apparently she had been dancing and singing all night long. She breathing was heavy but did not seem ready to rest yet. "You heard it?" I asked her. "At the fire?", she asked in heavy breaths. I nodded and she smiled. "It was a beautiful note; ran all along the lines. We always thought the voice had passed him over. It seems at least that much of his mother's spirit lives on in him." "It'll be up to you to teach him the songs now." I told her. "I feel much rage still in him. I only hope the war will be over before long. Too many of us have died and I fear we may have fought for naught. It would be nice if at least one piece of hope grew from all of this waste." "Together" said Lark, clasping his hand to my shoulder. I gripped his hand and looked out across the field where only now people were leaving to rest. Many still danced, lost in their wild trances, led on by the few who still had the strength to sing. Underneath a broken white pillar a small brown pup was curled up, already weary, unseen by almost all. |
