by J B Cantwell
But nothing came. No Wicks. No Howlers. Not a single Creeper.
"You can trust Angus, you know," Connell said. "Do you believe it now?"
"I think so, and I hope you're right. I don't think my two knives are going to be able to fight this war all on their own."
I had them out, though they weren't lit. I figured it was better not to take the chance of being spotted.
"That staff," I said. "It has served you well?"
He smiled and held out the staff before him. "Very well. Do you want it back?"
"Maybe someday. It… reminds me of someone."
"That man, Bevyn. He was a friend of yours."
It wasn't a question.
"He was murdered by his brother in front of me."
"He was good to you."
"Yes. Very. Though cranky."
He laughed. "You seem to have a penchant for cranky people." He looked ahead in the crowd and saw Duna walking in the middle of her people.
I smirked. "You're lucky she's not here to hear you. Besides, she has good reason to be cranky."
We walked on.
"What you think we'll find when we get to the other side?" he asked. "Do you really think there will be an army there?"
"I don't know. That was what the tortoise told me back in the Wild Lands."
"What else did he tell you? Anything that came true?"
"He told me I was being tracked. There was a man who was honed in on my magic. It took us a long time to figure out who and what to do about it, though. In the end, we were able to kill him, but I fear his spirit lives on. He was vile."
He blew out a low whistle at my story.
"Any pieces of wisdom that have come your way you can share?" I asked.
"Only that I should crawl into a hole and die," he said.
"Who said—?"
But then I knew. It had been Phalen, the one who’d taken his power away.
"What happened to that Keeper?" I asked. "The one you were defending?"
He looked down at his feet, and he didn't answer.
"When all this is over," I said, "I would like to someday journey to the Zemira Kingdom. I've always wanted to go there. That's where I was headed, you know. I was hoping that they would allow magic."
We were quiet for a few moments.
"I would like to go home," he finally said.
"To Eagleview? Even with Zahn?"
"My mother," he said simply.
I thought about this, and for the first time in days, I thought about my own family.
"I have my father back in Eagleview," I said. "But I doubt Zahn would ever allow me to return."
I thought about Grandmother, about the fact that she would probably be gone even if I did go home. So it would just be Father there. No grandmother. No mother. No Oriana.
But there are the kids.
I wondered if they’d all made it back yet, how they were getting along with no Light to sell. Maybe Father was working in the fields now. Maybe Brennen and Regan were, too.
"Maybe we can fight Zahn off," Connell said, a touch of anger in his voice.
I took a deep breath, looking around. "Something tells me that by the time this is over, we might get our chance."
It wasn't something I looked forward to but rather something that seemed inevitable. Whether on the battlefield or back home in Eagleview, I was certain a confrontation with Zahn would eventually happen.
"I wonder what life would've been like in Eagleview without him," I said.
He chuckled.
"What's so funny?" I asked.
"I think that maybe everyone in Eagleview has wondered that at some point in their lives."
I didn't laugh because it was true. Certainly, we could've gone without the lawmen. Father could’ve sold Light without a tax. And maybe Oriana could've lived.
I let that sink in, and I realized that the sadness I felt over her loss had followed every step I'd taken along this journey. I had new friends now, but somehow none of them compared to her. There had been no need to prove myself when she and I had been together. I tried to think of only the good times we had, but I found those memories irrevocably intertwined with thoughts of her illness, and ultimately her death.
"Well, it seems like it’ll be quite some time before we get there again," I said.
I wanted to say something about his mother, something comforting, but there was nothing. If anything, she was in more danger now than ever before. I wondered if Zahn saw Connell's path as one of desertion. If so, I felt it was likely that she was paying the price for it.
"That's okay," he said. "My brothers will take care of her. I have three."
If it hadn't been so dark, he might've seen the surprise on my face.
"Three?" I asked. "Do any of them have magic?"
"No. Just me."
"And your father?"
He didn't answer me, just kept on walking. I put my questions down.
We continued for a while, walking next to each other but not speaking. Maybe it was talking about our families that was giving us pause. It was for me. I tried to imagine a world where my magic wouldn't be a crime. I supposed I'd found one in the Shadow Mountains, but this was the last place I wanted to stay. Maybe when this was over, I'd have a chance to find somewhere safe. But thinking about this made my stomach clench, and I knew how unlikely it was that I’d survive the war.
Maybe after the war. If I survive. If any of us do.
I’d never seen the ocean, and that seemed like a travesty, to live one's whole life without smelling the salty air some adventurers spoke of in their stories.
Maybe there will be time. Brista is a port town.
Yes.
After a couple of quiet hours had passed, I heard a tune somewhere up within the group. The voice singing it was soft and quiet, and it was soon joined by another. We were too far back in the crowd to make out the words, but I peered through the group and found it was Tosia and her mother who were singing.
The tune, while beautiful, was sad. It seemed all of the giants knew the song, and they quietly hummed along.
But no one else sang—only them.
I looked up at one of the giants who was walking close by. He wasn’t humming, I noticed, and so I felt it was okay to bother him with a question.
"What's it about?" I asked. "The song they sing."
He looked down at me, and I realized how tall he was, how tall they all were. It was something I had somehow forgotten. We were one, the tribe and I, and I only saw them now as brothers and sisters.
"It's about when the starlight was taken from us," he said. "The voice who sang it died many years ago. Or maybe she simply left, like Angus. I can't remember. It was so long ago."
The sounds of their voices were haunting, and while it passed the time to listen to them, the song didn’t bring joy or bravery.
I could just see Tosia and her mother up ahead, and I noticed they were holding hands. They'd been through so much together, and even though their mother was partly responsible for their mistreatment, they were joined by that very thing. They had weathered it together.
All at once, the humming turned to singing, and every giant, even the one who had refused to hum, took up the song.
* * *
The day he came to tell us all
our lives were full of mystery
Everyone believed him, then
a kindness from our history
* * *
Our brothers rose to stand beside
the man who told them lies
And when his curse had touched the earth
that same curse touched the skies
* * *
The world that we had known was gone
shrouded in his name
And when he left us cold and dark
He'd finished with his game
* * *
He took with him the lives of those
we wished we could replace
But when we searched our lands for them
* * *
That man who had enamored us
his robes of charcoal black
put a smile upon his face
never to come back
* * *
Tonight we look high up above
hoping for a glimpse
of skies clear black with burning stars
we've not seen ever since
* * *
The tribe grew quiet then, and only the soft sound of their footfalls reached my ears. No one wanted to break the silence, maybe not wanting to forget the wisdom in that song. A reminder of their history. A warning.
Duna came to join us, but she didn't speak. And so the rest of the endless night went, our hearts broken as we faced the relentless black.
After a while, I noticed her eyes were on the sky.
"What's going on?" I asked. "Is someone up there?"
She lifted her chin and sniffed the air.
"Smells like death."
I looked up, and far above us, I saw a swarm of Wicks all circling around something in the sky. My blood ran cold as my imagination took flight. There was only one of our party up there.
"Angus!" I screamed. "Angus, she's up there!"
In the distance, I could see his face turn upward, and he stopped walking, focusing his efforts on the sky.
There she was. Trina. Her body was being lifted up and dropped down like a puppet on strings. The Wicks flew around her as if she were their evening entertainment. I felt certain that if they could laugh, they would be doing so.
I looked up at Angus again.
"Angus! Get her!"
He saw her, and he focused his efforts on protecting her. High above, the Wicks dispersed, and I saw with alarm that Trina began to fall.
"Duna! Connell!"
I raised my knives and shot a blast of power up toward her.
Carefully, carefully.
The three of us were able to bring her back down to the ground, and as soon as her body hit the dirt, I broke into a run.
Tosia was screaming, and I saw her mother beside her rocking back and forth. Tosia ran for her sister.
We arrived at the same moment, and I dropped to the ground, eager to help her. But it quickly became apparent that her wounds would not be healed, not by me. She was covered in bites, her skin inflamed with the green venom that was now coursing through her.
"Duna!" I yelled.
Tosia's face was a mask of pain, tears streaming from her eyes and landing on her sister's cheek.
Trina looked up at Tosia and opened her mouth to speak, but only a green bubble escaped her lips.
Duna flew to our side and dropped down to the ground, laying her hands on Trina's chest and closing her eyes.
We waited. But nothing happened.
"We need Light!" I cried.
"No, child," someone said.
And I realized that Light wouldn’t help this giant. Duna alone could heal her.
Trina's lips moved again, and we all leaned in to listen.
"Elephant… destroyed." She gasped for a moment, then went on. "The bear…" Her eyes started to flutter, and Tosia held desperately to her body.
"Duna!"
But I knew it was too late. Duna was on top of her, her hands floating all around her body, searching for something to heal.
But there was nothing.
Trina didn't speak again, and as she passed over to the Great Lands in that other place, she kept her eyes open, ready for the next.
Chapter 26
I ran. Without protection, without company, I ran.
I would kill them all. Every Wick. Every brother. And ultimately, him. The devil. The master of evil.
I could've gone on, but my chest hurt too badly to continue. I hit the ground on my knees and put my head in my hands.
"Bree!" Connell called as he chased me. Finally, he came to my side and knelt down.
"It's not your fault," he said, winded. "You know…"
I rolled onto my side, vaguely aware that soon the rest of the giants would be upon us. And what would they think of my reaction to her death? Was it warranted?
I wiped my eyes with the back of my sleeve and sat up.
"I know it's not my fault. None of this is my fault. It's Torin's fault. His followers, his willing followers, have done this. Not because they’re possessed by him, but because they wanted to."
"You need to get up."
He stood up before me and offered me his hands. I felt lost, but I took them and stood. In the distance, I could see the faint outline of our group slowly approaching.
"They're looking for somewhere to bury her," he said. "Everyone is devastated. Even Angus. I think he's taking the responsibility all for himself."
There was something about this that made me feel better. If Angus was upset about what had just happened, if he felt he was to blame, then maybe my decision to allow him to continue with us was a good one.
"Where are they looking?” I asked. “It seems dangerous to bury her out in the open."
"They're planning to enter a cave and cover her with stone, a tomb."
I was going to need to get used to this, people dying. This was a war, not a stroll around town. There may have been an army waiting on the other side of the mountains, but we needed an army here as well. The giants, with Angus, only numbered thirty-one. Thirty now. And I felt sure that more of them would lose their lives as we made our way across the shadow.
"I'll start looking," I said. "Go back and tell the others. It won't take me too long."
"Are you going to be okay?"
Okay? Were any of us?
"Yes," I lied. "I'll be okay."
Only then did I notice the stinging, wet scrape across my left knee. I looked down and found my pants were torn, blood seeping out. I would need Duna, but for now, the pain felt good, necessary, and though I understood that what had happened wasn’t my fault, it felt deserved.
I walked away from Connell toward the foothills leading up to one of the many mountains. It didn't take me long to find a cave; they were plentiful here in this valley. I stepped inside and lit my knives, my heart beating hard despite my intention of staying strong, courageous. But when I walked further in, I saw nothing, just a few rocks here and there.
I might've gone right out, met the others in the valley, and told them about what I’d found. Instead, I sat and crisscrossed my legs on the floor of the cave. My tears were gone, and I was glad for it because now was the time to start planning. So much had happened, and all of it seemed on nothing more than a whim. Had I been wasting my time all along? Running away from the reality of my situation?
Cowardice was something I didn’t want to be associated with my name. And yet, it seemed to have found me.
You are no coward. You know that.
Maybe though, if I’d gone straight through the mountains to begin with, I might've already made it to the other side. I thought about the whispers that had tortured me in my mind, my ascent up the sides of mountain after mountain, lost and searching. And for what? Light? It seemed to be plentiful here despite the blackness. No search was required. Not really. There was so much of it that the giants had lived off it for thousands of years. Maybe more.
Rather, Light was plentiful before Torin’s creatures had begun to destroy the Keepers.
No, there was no need for me to search for Light. If I thought about it, I had actually done quite well. I'd undergone a reasonable amount of training. I'd befriended a group of enormous men and women, many of whom were ready to fight by my side. And then there was Connell. My friend from home had appeared before me, having found his way, just as I had, to safety within the protection of the Ezvar.
What now? Which was the right path? I wondered what the elephant might have told me if she'd survived her attack. Trina had said so little, only that she’d been destroyed. Was there any life left within her rubble?
No. Not likely. That left only one destination, one last Kee
per with whom to seek counsel.
The bear.
Watching the giants bring in Trina and cover her with the stones of the mountain was more than I could take, but I didn’t let myself cry. As much as I cared for these people I had found, Trina belonged to them, not me.
Connell came to stand by my side along with Duna and Kaelin. Then, before the final rocks were laid over her head, each giant approached one at a time, kissed their fingers, and touched them to her forehead—a goodbye.
I was the last, not quite ready to leave her body behind. I watched as Tosia and her mother struggled away from the cave, their sadness heartbreaking. So much lost in recent days. And though their father had been wicked, he counted, too. No matter how difficult their lives had been, how nightmarish, things had still been changed—changed for all of us.
I could see the shadow of Connell waiting for me. The rest of the Giants were moving slowly away, but he seemed to know that if he didn't wait, I might not come at all.
I stood up and made my way down the little hill to where he was standing.
"Are you ready?" he asked.
I didn't answer, just walked by, following the sad trail of giants.
Connell touched my hand then, sandwiching it between both of his. I felt a jolt of power pass between us. It surprised me, and I felt relieved. I had found a friend amongst the remains of a shattered world. And it was enough.
There was only one place to go now, but nobody spoke about it. I didn't think any of the giants had ever seen the bear, but nobody seemed frightened. Losing yet another one of their own, and one of their youngest, was enough to keep the crowd quiet for the entire day's travel, and when we made camp that night, no one seemed willing to sing.
"This is your fault," I heard someone say.
I looked up and found one of the giants, someone I didn't know, pointing her finger at Angus.
"If you hadn't returned and brought all of that evil with you, none of this would've happened."
I stood up and walked over to where they were standing. Though I dared not to get too close. I wasn't too frightened for my safety, but an angry giant was still not to be trifled with. I let her continue.
