Reckoning

by David Adams

Suddenly the light cut off as did Orgoth’s scream. Gabriel fell to the ground, seeming less to give off light than to burn with it. One seeing the sword would think it so hot that it could only be handled with a blacksmith’s gloves, and even then only with the greatest of caution. Of Orgoth no trace was left.

  Darius quickly nudged himself past the shock of Orgoth’s defeat, expecting to be set upon at any moment by the demon-lord’s angry minions. Sure enough, as he scrambled to reclaim Gabriel a great shout went up from the host around him, and surrounded on three sides as he was, with the river on the fourth, he hardly knew which way to turn. But the shout was not so much of anger as of dawning terror, and soon the world reverberated with the screams of Hell’s Horde, as well as those of the shades. Orgoth’s cries had been of surprise, pain, and rage, but these were of fear, fear of being recalled to the abyss, there to face an angry demon-lord.

  The wails grew to a swift crescendo and then were cut off as Orgoth’s magic faded from the mortal plane. The demons and the shades vanished, sent back to the pit from where they had been called.

  Darius went to Barlow, and despite the blood and the wicked wound, he still thought the paladin seemed to be at peace. He looked from Barlow to Gabriel then back again, feeling he should return the weapon, that it would be an appropriate adornment for the fallen warrior, but also knowing that Barlow would say Darius should keep it if he could. Reluctantly he held onto it.

  He heard fast-approaching feet, and looked up to see Xanar, followed closely by Uesra. Xanar smiled at seeing his friend well, but as his eyes fell to Barlow his smile fell as well. “Is he…” He couldn’t bring himself to finish.

  Darius nodded.

  “I’m sorry,” Uesra said, placing a comforting hand on Darius’ arm.

  “So am I.”

  Darius looked past them as he wondered about the others. He saw Silas kneeling next to Adrianna, who lay motionless on the ground. “Is she going to be okay?” he asked.

  “We came to you first,” Xanar explained. “I don’t yet know.”

  The three approached cautiously, as if the very sound of their feet might disturb Silas’ work and further endanger Adrianna. As they neared they could see that she was breathing, but also that rivulets of blood trickled from her nose and ears.

  Silas prayed and ministered to her for some time without acknowledging the presence of the others. Eventually Uesra and Xanar wandered off a bit so they could speak alone in furtive whispers, while Darius kept silent vigil, watching over Silas’s shoulder.

  The cleric let out a long sigh and rested for a moment from his labors. “Gather some wood for a fire,” he said without turning around. “I don’t want to risk moving her yet, and we need to keep her warm.”

  When Darius didn’t immediately comply, Silas looked over his shoulder at him.

  “Silas,” Darius said, swallowing hard and hoping his voice wouldn’t crack. “Barlow is—”

  “I know,” he answered in a voice devoid of emotion.

  “You should go to him. We’ll see to Adrianna”

  “No. I’m staying with her for now. Barlow is beyond my aid, and there is a chance she is not. I will not have her sacrifice be in vain.”

  “Don’t say that it was.”

  Silas turned away and said softly, “She was too late to save Barlow.”

  “But her spell gave us the chance to finish Orgoth. Help her as you can, but if your efforts fail, remember that she would likely do the same again, given the results and the dire nature of our need. If not for her, we likely would have all fallen on this field.”

  Silas had not heard many such speeches in his time knowing Darius, and that made the impact of his words all the more powerful. He regarded Darius with eyes that were filling with tears. “Forgive me, Darius. Sorrow blinded me to the truth of things. But in one way I did see clearly: now is not the time for me to mourn my old friend, but to tend to the living. I will go to him when I can, but now I need help with that fire.”

  “I will have Xanar and Uesra see to it,” he replied. “I will stand watch over Barlow until you are ready to be with your friend—our friend—to wish him well on his further journey.”

  Silas nodded his thanks and went back to work.

  * * *

  It was long past dark when Silas left Adrianna’s side and went to Barlow. Darius had stood vigil there, fulfilling his promise even as the cold made him stiff and sore. He gave Silas a respectful nod and a pat on the back and left them. Darius found himself drawn to the scene, wanting to look away but compelled to watch. Silas said a prayer and then sat on the ground by his friend, alone with his thoughts and memories.

  After a time Darius went to the elves, who were close enough to keep watch over Adrianna but far enough away to speak. They fell silent as Darius approached.

  “I hope you don’t feel you need to keep secrets from me,” he said with a forced smile.

  “Of course not,” Xanar said. “Just weren’t sure you were ready to talk about next steps yet. Our quest is not complete.”

  Darius looked from Xanar to Uesra, who turned away. “And…”

  “I feel exposed here,” Uesra told him. “If we need to rest we need to find a better place to do so as soon as possible. Any search for us will begin here.”

  “I can’t argue that you’re wrong,” said Darius, “But I’m not sure how soon we can move Adrianna. And we can’t just leave Barlow lying there.”

  Uesra nodded and moved away, pacing in a slow circle as if guarding Adrianna.

  “She’s a tactician at heart,” Xanar told Darius. “She cared for Barlow, and still does for Adrianna, and she knows things need to be done here before we continue, things she can’t ask you and Silas not to do. But as much as it would hurt to move on now, it pains her to wait, in a different but equally real way.”

  Darius rubbed his eyes tiredly. “I understand. I’ll talk to Silas in a little while and see what we can do. There aren’t many choices where Barlow’s concerned.”

  “It’s Adrianna who is the greater concern. We can't leave her, nor can we spare anyone to stay behind while she recovers.”

  “Then maybe we’ll just wait here for a time. Praad and Orgoth came to us. Maybe Kaelesh will too.”

  Xanar shrugged. “Maybe. But I feel the same way Uesra does. Waiting here for something to happen gives our enemy the initiative and other advantages. I don’t like it.”

  “I don’t either,” Darius said with a sigh. “But for now I don’t know that we have any real choice in the matter.”

  “There are always choices.”

  “Sometimes all bad.” Darius let out a tired breath and repeated, “I’ll speak to Silas as soon as he’s finished with Barlow.”

  Xanar knew he could ask no more. Uesra might have, and so she kept her distance and her tongue.

  * * *

  Silas was clearly worn from the energy he had expended to try to keep Adrianna alive and from the trauma of all that had happened, and it nearly broke Darius’ heart to see him so and to have to speak to him of unpleasant things. Silas wore a weary expression but he responded firmly, “Adrianna can’t be moved tonight.”

  “And tomorrow?” Darius felt obligated to ask.

  “I don’t know,” he replied honestly with a shake of his head.

  “Moving tonight was beyond question anyway,” Darius said. “You need rest as well, and we need to make arrangements for Barlow.”

  “I would see him buried,” Silas said. “The river will only hand him to our enemies, if they are watchful. The Vale passes just outside the city walls of Old Bern.”

  “I agree. But it will need to be here, I think, though maybe he would have preferred somewhere else.”

  “In happier times, perhaps, but this place will have to do. If there is an open area amongst the trees…”

  “I’ll make the necessary preparations with Xanar and Uesra. They have those small shovels we might use. You should rest while you can.”

  “I will accept y
our offer, though I feel I should be the one doing the hard labor. We were close, and I pushed him to come with us—”

  “To our benefit,” Darius said, cutting off the cleric before he tried to punish himself with further words. “We’ll make ready and wake you when it’s time.”

  Silas moved as if to speak once more, but stopped himself and simply nodded.

  “One last thing. The sword, Gabriel.”

  “You used it to kill Orgoth.”

  “Yes. Barlow bade me take it and use it against the demon.”

  Silas smiled upon hearing that. “He was coming around, then. I knew it.”

  “But what of the sword now? Should it rest with Barlow?”

  “Not if he gave it to you and you can wield it, which clearly Gabriel has allowed. It is yours now.”

  “Maybe so, but Barlow didn’t have a lot of choice in who to give it to. If you had been there—”

  Silas shook his head. “I’m not a swordsman, regardless. I prefer my staff. And you were the right choice, even if all of us were there. I think Barlow knew that. And it’s obvious Gabriel agrees.”

  “But I—”

  Silas laid a strong hand on Darius’ shoulder. “Keep the sword. If not for you, then for Barlow and me, and for the sword itself.”

  Darius heaved a short sigh and nodded. “Okay, you convinced me. Hope that doesn’t mean I get first crack at Kaelesh.”

  Not knowing what the future might bring, Silas could only shrug.

  * * *

  Darius, Xanar, and Uesra got little sleep that night, instead watching over the others and preparing a grave for Barlow. Just past dawn they were finished with the digging, but they let Silas sleep, and he finally roused himself a little before noon. He told them they should have wakened him earlier, but it was obvious from the sluggishness he still struggled to shrug off that they had done the right thing.

  They wrapped Barlow in a blanket and set him in his final resting place. Silas prayed over him, then picked up a handful of loose soil by the graveside. He let it slowly fall between his fingers and onto the shrouded paladin, whispering, “Farewell, my friend, for now. I will meet you again in a place that knows no sorrow.” The others followed in kind, and then with a nod of thanks Silas went back to Adrianna while the others filled in the grave.

  The work of filling in a hole is swifter than that of creating it, and they were done by mid-afternoon, still plenty of time, Uesra pointed out, for them to be far away by nightfall, assuming they could move.

  “She heals much more quickly while asleep,” Silas countered. “I’ve tried to keep her under for that reason.”

  “Could she walk if you wake her?”

  “I’d prefer to find that out tomorrow.”

  A heavy pause fell, broken when Darius said, “She’s under your care for now, Silas. You know what’s best.”

  Uesra turned away, but seemed to accept that a decision had been made.

  “We will try to depart at first light tomorrow,” Silas called after her.

  She turned back and nodded, then busied herself scouting the perimeter of their camp.

  “That’ll do, Silas,” Xanar told him. “And Uesra does understand.”

  “I know. This has been hard on all of us.”

  After Xanar left to keep his sister company, Darius asked, “Have any idea how she’ll be by tomorrow?”

  Silas smiled ruefully. “Wish I did. Magic is a tricky thing. The wounds she suffered may be deeper mentally than they are physically. But I know we can’t stay here much longer. Tomorrow morning we’ll know much more.”

  “And if she’s not well enough to move?”

  Silas pointedly looked away and then down upon Adrianna, as if she suddenly cried out for his undivided attention. Softly he replied, “I’m hoping it doesn’t come to that.”

  Knowing Silas was at a loss, Darius asked no more.

  Chapter 15: Changes

  Silas was spared having to pull Adrianna from the deep healing sleep into which he had placed her. Just past three in the morning she began to struggle toward consciousness, and Silas decided not to hinder her. When her eyes finally fluttered open he smiled upon her paternally, but as his face was partly lit by the fire and partly in shadow the smile appeared grim, almost threatening.

  For a moment his visage seemed to disturb her, as if she had made her way into the next life and found the pit to be her eternal dwelling. But she soon realized it was Silas, and that she remained on Corterra. She tried to prop herself up on her elbows and found that to be too difficult.

  “Rest easy,” Silas told her. “You’ve been out of it for a while. Let your strength come back.”

  She did as she was told, but her slack face soon went hard with concentration as she tried to recall what had happened. When the connections were finally made she gasped audibly. “Barlow?”

  Silas shook his head.

  “I’m so sorry, Silas.”

  Her words were sincere, but Silas was more touched by the tears that welled-up in her eyes, a sign that she had in many ways come to care for the old paladin. “Orgoth had struck what would prove a fatal blow before any of us could act.”

  “I wasn’t sure I should— That spell is so dangerous, I was worried it might kill us all…and that fear made me slow to act. Did it kill Orgoth?”

  “No. But it stunned him, and gave Darius the chance to reach Barlow while he yet lived. Barlow gave Gabriel to Darius, and he used it to slay Orgoth.”

  “Then the others are okay? What of the demons—”

  Silas held up a hand. “Slow down, Adrianna. We are safe for now. The demons and shades were recalled below when Orgoth was slain. The rest of us are unharmed. We buried Barlow…well, technically yesterday, since it’s past midnight.”

  “How long have I been lying here?”

  “Less than two days,” he said dismissively. “Hardly any time at all, considering the power of that spell you cast.”

  “Feels like a month. I want to stand up. These blankets can only do so much with such hard ground beneath them.”

  “Why don’t we try sitting up first.”

  Once she was sitting, with Silas’ help, the others, either on guard duty or sleeping lightly, gathered round to welcome her back and check on her recovery. She thanked then for their care and concern, her smile tired but genuine. Suddenly a dark shadow seemed to cross her features, and she touched her neck. Gently she pulled the chain hanging there upward until she could hold the ruby amulet in her trembling hands. She cradled it like a mother holding a newborn child. “It is as I feared,” she said, holding the amulet out so the others could see the cause of her despair.

  The once deep-red gem had turned mainly pink, infused with streaks of white. The amulet had shattered. Three large pieces were now loosely held in place in the metal frame.

  “Did you not say before that it might be replaced?” Uesra asked, feeling even as she spoke that her words rang hollow.

  “Given enough time I might find another, then attune myself and my magic to it. But time is a luxury we don’t have.”

  “If we happen to stumble upon—” Darius tried.

  “It would still take years for me to be as effective with my spells,” she snapped. She drew a deep breath and said, “I’m sorry. It’s just that without the amulet, my ability to cast spells…is basically gone.”

  “We all knew we risked much on this journey,” Silas said.

  Looking at him reminded her of what had happened to Barlow. “I’m sorry,” she repeated “I know my sacrifice was not the largest made amongst our party. I will not forget Barlow or Luke, or what they died for. It’s just that I’d like to help finish this off, and without my magic…”

  “There will be time enough to worry over that in the days to come. We all contribute as we can. Perhaps you will find another way.”

  “Perhaps,” she said, unable to hide her doubt.

  They decided to stay put until dawn, not yet wanting to hazard a march in darkness
. The rest of the night passed slowly for Adrianna. She lay still, her body still tired and weak, but her mind refused to stop racing. She felt trapped and helpless, and her search for a way out was something she swiftly committed to doing alone. She already considered herself a burden to the others; she wouldn’t speak of it openly any further by continuing to catalogue her newfound limitations.

  She intended to be first up at dawn, but her traitorous body refused her that privilege. Instead she had to let Silas help her stand, and it took her several minutes to find her legs. Worse were the looks she was getting, looks of sympathy and of despair at how frail she had become.

  Darius tried to smile when Adrianna met his eyes, but it felt awkward and he was sure she saw right through it. She seemed twenty years older, her face haggard and lined, and when she walked she was stooped as an old woman might be. She tried to straighten with an effort, though it clearly pained her to do so, feeling pressured by the eyes upon her. Feeling guilty for his stare, Darius turned away.

  “Should we depart now, or eat first?” she asked.

  “Eat,” Xanar answered, taking hope that a lack of nourishment contributed to her current state.

  “Yes, let’s do that,” Uesra agreed. As much as she wanted to be off, she knew Adrianna needed to sit down and rest already. They would make little progress this day, she thought, but at least they might cover a few miles.

  Adrianna noticed how slowly the others ate, how they stole glances at her when they thought she wasn’t looking. The silence felt drawn out and uncomfortable to her, and she was glad when one of the many thoughts her brain had wrestled with during the night came back to her. “I see you are carrying Gabriel,” she said to Darius.

  “As he should,” Silas interjected, knowing Darius was still uneasy with calling the sword his own. “Barlow gave it to him, and Gabriel has accepted him.”

  “That is well for all of us,” Adrianna said. “And I was not questioning his right to bear the sword. I was wondering what has become of your sword.”

  “It is with our things for now,” Darius said. “I was going to leave it behind...extra weight.”

  “I would have it, with your permission.”