"What was that?" Tagan’s eyes were still wide with shock looking at the empty space that had housed the corporeal form animating Grawton's body. Or Draax as Braulor had referred to him.
Braulor had stopped recoiling and moved closer to the tied body, looking at it in disgust.
"What was that?" Tagan repeated himself, this time with more urgency as he whipped his head around, letting his gaze fall on Braulor.
"This is Draax." Braulor, pointing, studied the twisted visage that was once Draax's body. It was split from shoulder to pelvis, right down the middle. Innards exploded outward like something had forced its way out with great violence. But for all its gruesomeness there was not the amount of blood one would expect to see from a wound this invasive. What little blood there was had already stopped flowing and coagulated along the skin where it tore apart. Braulor had seen many wounds in his day but nothing to compare to this. It was so sterile and clean to the point that it almost didn't seem real.
"That, that, shade or whatever it was that came out of the body then was Grawton? Was that his soul?" Tagan was still confused, struggling to try and make sense of what he had witnessed.
"I'm not sure. He called himself the shadow keeper"
"Who is that?"
Braulor looked at the body a little longer and then stood up and walked away, motioning for Tagan to join him.
"The shadow keeper is an old tale. It says when people die, they move from this world to the afterlife. If they led a good life and worked hard, they would enjoy an eternity of ease and luxury for the toil they endured during their lives here."
Tagan had never heard anything like this before. Everybody in Brankin Huoh was taught that the Citadel was everything. You worked for the Citadel. You did what the Citadel commanded and you never questioned it. You worshipped the Citadel and its ruler and everything you had in life was thanks to the Citadel. And when you died, that was it. There was nothing more after that. If you worked hard during your life and served the Citadel well, that was your only comfort when you died, and it died with you; nothing after that. "Where does this shadow keeper come in then?"
"That's the other side of the myth. If you didn't work hard during your time here and you did bad or evil things, when you died, you went to another place to serve out eternity doing penance. That is the land of the shadow keeper. He rules there and is the one who dishes out the punishment to those damned to be there."
Tagan wasn't sure what to think. Before all this started he would never have believed anything like that to be possible but he had learned so much since then. That Quanna Eresse wasn’t a figment of his imagination and now this whole episode with Grawton or Draax or whatever it was. If he hadn't seen these things with his own eyes he would have thought they were made up.
"What did the shadow keeper mean 'we will meet again soon enough’?" Tagan was suddenly afraid that is where he would be going when he died.
Braulor looked at him, his face stern. "That's what concerns me. The whole way we found him. Alone and having been tortured at the hands of Jolon. It didn't make much sense at the time but now it all seems to make sense."
"How so?"
"Well, the way the camp was deserted. We chose that place for a camp because it is difficult to be ambushed there and easy to defend. Grawton said there was an ambush but thinking back I didn't see any signs of a struggle or a fight. There should have been something. Bodies, armor, and things you would expect to see after a battle but there wasn't any of it."
"What do you think happened?"
"It all keeps coming back to Grawton. It's hard to tell what really happened but if he is the shadow keeper then something drew him from his world to this one. The Greejon camp being abandoned had something to do with him." Braulor looked back to Draax’s vacated body and a bunch of pieces fell into place and he started to grasp what the shadow keepers ominous warning meant.
"But he was unarmed and untied when we found him. And what about his injuries?"
Braulor didn't acknowledge Tagan and stood like a tree, staring at the body, not blinking, not moving in any way. It was like he wasn't even there.
"Braulor?" Tagan looked from Braulor to the body and then back again.
Thoughts were flying around Braulor's brain like moths around a flame as he reasoned everything out. "You’re right, he wasn't tied or anything and it makes sense. It was because of him that camp was abandoned."
Tagan didn't know what to say and let Braulor continue.
"Don't you see? I think part of his story was true. He did interact with Jolon but somehow he convinced Jolon to get the camp to pack up and leave."
"Do you really think?"
"Jolon could have said anything. Told them they were threatened with an attack or something and they would have listened to him; especially if he managed to convince the council."
Tagan wasn't familiar with life in a clan so he had to agree with what Braulor was saying.
Braulor was pacing back and forth now, ideas racing in his mind, making connections. "Before I came to the Citadel, Tyran came to me and told me that Jolon was acting strange and had left camp. He had gone to meet Draax." Braulor stopped as he said it, like he hit a brick wall, nodding as the final piece fell into place. "C'mon we have to go." And he darted to where his pack was and started shoving his stuff back into to it.
It was Tagan's turn to stand still and he didn't move until Braulor hollered at him over his shoulder. “Move it Tagan, we can't waste any more time here."
Tagan followed suit and ran to his pack and scooped up the contents he had strewn while he was getting his rope out and crammed them back into his pack in a jumbled mess. His hands were shaking as he closed the clasps and hoisted his pack over his shoulder. He didn't know what was going on but he could tell from the urgency in Braulor's voice that it was something serious.
Braulor spun around then went to the body, pulled out his knife and cut the rope near its feet. He sheathed his knife and worked the rope undone and coiled it up, returned to his pack and stuffed it inside and closed it. He whipped his pack over his shoulders and with a quick nod to Tagan took off toward the mountains.
Tagan didn't question and fell in step behind him.
Chapter 27