The Spell and the Scythe (Merrydian's Gate, #2)

  Chapter Seventeen - Waves

  I had walked down this rocky path numerous times with Crone. I felt the familiar hard, uneven surface through the bottom of my shoes. Little nooks and crannies in the ground that I usually manoeuvred around easily from memory were catching the ends of my feet causing me to trip. The beach was a favourite location for Crone and I, we went there to skim pebbles or build a fire to smoke fish we caught, but this time it felt different. The salty sea air, which usually ignited a sense of fun and adventure within me, was distorted by the poison mist of her presence. I felt a chill, not the usual coastal chill of a night beside the tempestuous sea. Instead, it was a chill that soaked into my flesh and permeated my bones. A chill that left me feeling as if I would never get warm again. Bettery shuddered beside me, she felt it too.

  Merl led the way, stepping from the rough edge of pebbles that framed the beach and onto the dusty sand. Bugul, who hadn't spoken a single word, followed him closely. His orb eyes told a thousand stories of the sadness he felt at Dahlia's turmoil, which in so many ways echoed his own personal tragedy. Jestin made a grab for my hand. Intertwining our fingers, he held tightly onto me, as if he were afraid I might fall off the edge of the earth if he did not. His evident fear hurt me both physically and emotionally.

  In this moment, I understood what he was trying to tell me that day in the thicket at Galdur Wood when he tore my heart in two. I realised as we made our way across the expanding shoreline how selfish I was to let him love me. To let him bind his fate to mine and to allow him to sacrifice his own life if I died when I had been doomed from the beginning. As if he were reading my thoughts, Jestin brushed the soft skin on my cheek with the back of his warm hand.

  "I will never let you go again. Hold onto me as tightly as I intend to hold you." He bent to whisper into my ear. I felt the burden of responsibility in his words. I had to survive whatever Agrona had in store for me. I had to fight for many reasons but mostly because he dared to love me.

  Gazing over my shoulder into Dahlia's distraught eyes, witnessing the pain etched into Merl's face every day, and feeling the sharp stab of terror in my gut for baby Airmid, I truly grasped Agrona's advantage for the first time.

  She didn't love anybody, she didn't care one little bit about anything other than power, power was her only love and she would do anything to get it. She had no-one to loose, no-one to protect and nothing else to consider other than her one and only goal. I felt a prang of envy at the freedom of such self-centeredness. It was followed by an instant sense of guilt and anger at my own stupidity. How could I envy Agrona? Yes, she had freedom but that was all she had. The power she spent her every waking moment chasing, it was a transient and unreliable thing. Power can be gained in one moment and then lost the very next. Power was not like love, love is gained and no matter what, it never really goes away. How silly of me to be envious of something as spectral as power as I walked beside the people I loved, people who loved me too.

  The wind whipped the sand into the air around us. I felt the tiny grains settle on my skin, working into my clothes and hair. The wind carried something else other than the sand; it carried a sound that froze my soul with terror, the sound of a babies cry.

  "There." Jestin pointed over the shoreline above the turbulent ocean. My human eyes couldn't see with as much accuracy as his own but I knew that what he saw, hovering above the choppy seas, was baby Airmid, and I could tell by the tone of his voice that she was in grave danger.

  "Where is she? Where is she?" Desperation permeated Dahlia's voice.

  "The child is safe, for now." The soft tones of the mocking voice emerged from the shadows followed by its speaker. No, not emerged from the shadows, something so evil could never emerge from darkness; she colluded with the shadows bringing them with her as allies. My blood ran cold at the sight of her stood before us, her sleek black dress like oil around her body, her red flowing hair tumbling over her shoulders as turbulent as the sea. She was unafraid, even of Merl, in her arrogance. A sneering smile formed on her mouth, a flash of joy in her eyes when she noticed Dahlia's obvious distress.

  "How dare you come here. You coward, sneaking in like this. Taking a baby away from those who love her." Balthus raged but Argona didn't even bother to acknowledge him. He wasn't important to her in the slightest, a crippled ex-Worlen General meant nothing to her, neither had his daughter who now lay slain in the cabin. I felt anger for Elba bubble within my stomach, I wanted to hurt Agrona in a way that I'd never wanted to hurt anyone before. What stopped me was the need of Airmid. Airmid's need was much greater and in this moment, Airmid needed us all to remain level-headed. All it would take was one wrong move and who knew what Agrona might do with her.

  "What have you done with her? Why have you taken my baby? She is no threat to you. She is of no use to you? Why, Whyyyy?" Dahlia cried. Agrona's smile grew wider as Dahlia dropped to her knees on the sand.

  "How very wrong you are. She is of great use to me. You see, she is my bargaining tool." Agrona laughed at her own cunning. "At the moment, the child hovers above the waves, dangerously close to the water." Her eyes widened tauntingly at Dahlia with a sickening sense of glee as she spoke. "The only reason she is not in the water is because I am holding her in place."

  Dahlia gulped a lungful of air and then expelled it, creating with her outward breath a desperate noise, a noise that laid bare the terror that had taken hold of her very being. Bettery placed a comforting and protective arm around Dahlia as if to shield her from Agrona's merciless onslaught. "If Merrydian gives me the Scythe, the heir, and my torque, then you can have the child. If he fails to do so, I will drop the child into the water and it will drown." She stated coldly, suppressing a laugh but the elation in her eyes was unmistakeable.

  I looked out over the waves, a tiny bundle that was only just decipherable in the moonlight wriggled above the dangerous water below. A flash of flesh underneath her, an arm I think. She would not be Agrona's second victim tonight. Some other unfortunate soul had already taken that title. I felt sick.

  "You know that Merl will refuse your 'bargain' he hasn't even got the torque with him. The thing is, you want him to refuse you don't you?" I said, barely able to contain my fury as the wind whipped up the sand around me once again. "You want a fight don't you? You don't want me to come quietly because that would be boring for you, it would prove nothing about how powerful you are." Agrona eyed me, almost impressed by my intuition.

  My stomach lurched, I wanted to vomit I was so afraid yet so angry. An internal battle of fight versus flight played out within me. My legs wanted to take off, to turn and run from the maleficent witch that stood proudly before me. My pounding heart told me to stay, to try to fight, to wipe away the smile that lurked on the corners of her scarlet lips.

  "How brave, I wonder if you will be as brave when I hold your wet heart between my fingers? Will you be so outspoken when your young blood trickles through my hands? When your life ebbs away in the glorious pain of your final moments, will you be so brave then I wonder? You will witness your last moments, I know this, I have seen it before." Her eyes found Merl who tensed in revulsion but did not give her the satisfaction of a response.

  "Let her come back to me, please let her go." Dahlia sobbed, wiping her teary face with her sleeve.

  "Pathetic. Your mother died a painful death with less ignominy." Agrona sneered. "Give me my Scythe, the heir and my torque and you can have your precious child."

  "Over my cold dead body you can have my girl." Bettery puffed out her chest as she spoke.

  "That can be arranged." Agrona laughed. "Tell me Bettery, how is your daughter, you know, your real girl, the one you didn't endeavour to save."

  "Don't you dare speak of her, you're evil you are, through and through." Bettery's voice wobbled with grief. The waves lapped onto the shore ominously. I gazed back over the water to see the tiny bundle, suspended slightly lower than before. Once again, an arm or maybe even a leg, it was hard to tell, bobbed
around underneath her. I felt bile rise into my mouth with nerves. I swallowed hard, unwittingly taking in the smell of poison that lingered around the witch. An unseen vapour of evil, the taste of my own stomach acid would have been preferable. She was too close, had too much control of the situation. Merl stood stoic before her but Balthus and Jestin had begun to growl behind me.

  Agrona's position was close, too close for comfort, so close that I hadn't noticed the shape stood behind her. The shape was not that of a Gnarl, but a young woman. Observing my attention shift to the figure over her shoulder Agrona invited her friend to step into the light created by the moon with a swift movement of her hand. Messed black cropped hair, deathly pale skin and blood seeping from her mouth, a smiling Elba stepped into the light.

  "What have you done girl?" Balthus bellowed with both shock and anguish.

  "I have chosen a side." Elba spoke but her voice wasn't the same, it no longer had any warmth, sounding instead like an echo of a creature that wasn't fully here.

  "Please, it cannot be." Balthus begged. Agrona chuckled softly.

  "Oh but it is. Who do you think opened the portal for me? Very clever indeed to keep the blood soaked rag, perhaps in future heir, you will be more cautious with your precious blood." She said as she eyed me scornfully. "Or perhaps not, your future is a limited concept of time after-all." She laughed. Elba laughed too but it wasn't her usual laugh, it was something darker, lacking in humanity.

  "Elba, my little girl, you don't know what you've done." Balthus shook his head in despair.

  "It can be reversed. Agrona, she is powerful, more powerful than Merl. Anyone who sides against her will pay with their lives. I have chosen the right side, the side where protection is offered at the price of compliance." She said smugly.

  "Oh no Elba deary." Bettery spoke up sadly, "There is no coming back from what you have done there isn't."

  "Of course there is." She shook her head. Agrona eyed her curiously, as if she was astounded that Elba had actually believed whatever lies she had been fed.

  "The spell you have done, well, its dark magic deary. You can never drink the blood of a corpse and recover back to full life. You have damned yourself to a living death."

  "What?" Elba seemed both enraged and petrified by the revelation. She looked to Agrona for an explanation. Uncaring, Agrona shrugged her shoulders before she answered.

  "I will keep you supplied with fresh Gnarl blood and teach you how to harness your new talents and in return you will fight for me or you will die." She stated coldly.

  Elba's face broke, her pride evaporated before us with the witches words. Merl stood curiously still, he didn't even seem to be listening to the exchange. Agrona continued, "Now, somewhere in Merl's home there is a torque, it will be hidden but it will also have minute traces of blood on it so you should be well equipped to find it. Go now; stop wasting my time with your frivolous conversation."

  Elba looked at her new master, her anger flared but not enough for her to retaliate against Agrona. Her eyes filled with scarlet tears of blood. Betrayed and defeated she swirled once on the spot before disintegrating into a mist of black smoke and then disappearing into the cool night air.

  Despite everything, I felt sorry for her. She had been so afraid of death that she had been tricked into willingly embracing a half-life for Agrona's gain. Balthus exploded in a furious howl. As if he was imploring the might of the celestial moon to beam down light and eradicate Agrona's darkness. Jestin joined the howl as the pack mentality began to take hold. I felt it too, a strange magnetic pull, as if I was one of them, only I wasn't and I remained externally calm, trying to take Merl's lead in the game of life and death that Agrona was playing with Airmid.

  I could hear the seams of their clothes ripping against the strain of their expanding muscles. Their anger was getting the better of them. They were turning, becoming more animal than human in their anger. Not now, it would be a disaster if either of them lunged at Agrona right now, she would lose concentration and drop Airmid. I put my hand out to rest against Jestin's arm comfortingly, it was larger and warmer than usual, and his hairs sharper, more bristle-like. With the tension between the two sides reaching a fever-pitch I had to act.

  "I'll go with you, if you bring Airmid back to the safety of the shore. Give her back to Dahlia, she belongs with her mother." My voice was even but inside I felt my heart drop into the pit of my stomach.

  "No Violet." Merl finally spoke. A short and sharp exchange, as if by him speaking aloud some level of concentration had been broken. Jestin growled furiously, a sound so loud it seemed to fill up the cool night sky. It was followed shortly after by a snarl matching in ferocity emitting from Balthus. My heart pumped. Adrenaline rushed through my body. I felt Bettery's small, chubby fingers grasp my wrist firmly.

  I looked out swiftly over the ocean again but I could no longer see the bundle, Airmid must be close to breaking the surface of the water. If Agrona let her slip any further, she would die. A bubble of fear took form in my stomach, rising and falling like the waves. I wanted to retch from the terror of it all, instead, I took a desperate step towards the witch.

  "Bring Airmid back to shore and I WILL come to you." I promised, emphasising the 'will' part for effect. Another growl from Jestin. He was not going to let me go without a fight, why should he? It was his life at stake here too. Once again, I put his life in jeopardy but what choice did I have? I couldn't let Airmid drown.

  I braved another step, filling the gap between the witch and me. The closer I came to her, the stronger the bubble of fear became, now inflated by the innate sense of revulsion I felt for her. The emptiness of her heart, the blackness of her soul gaining tangibility with each grain of sand I crossed. She reaches out her hand, filling the rest of the distance between us in her eagerness.

  Bettery's warm hand tugged me backward, back to the safety of people who love me, it contrasted with the icy touch of Agrona, who's only goal was to destroy me for her own personal gain. Elongated white fingers reached out. I looked up into her face, my blue eyes meeting hers and I bore witness to an all-consuming evil. She was everything and she was nothing, she was all around me and she was not truly present. I felt transfixed by her. I wanted to vomit. Her hand made contact with my skin and the bubble of dread that had formed in my stomach burst, filling my veins with a new kind of fear that infected my organs and sent chills down my spine.

  "Now!" I heard Merl's voice in the background and I turned toward the noise. Bettery tugged me back toward her and we tumbled together into the sand. At the same time, Bugul threw an almighty amount of sand up into the air, creating a distracting sand-cloud that formed a solid wall before us as it rained back to the ground. Balthus and Jestin, now fully transformed in their fury, advanced toward Agrona, their sharp claws extended for battle.

  Momentarily stunned by Merl and Bugul, Agrona regained her composure and leapt into the air with force and speed that propelled her at least eight feet above the sand. Balthus and Jestin collided with the ground. Noticing their error in judgement, Agrona shot a spell that created a luminous green snare trap around their massive wolf heads. The trap held their long snouts into the ground. They struggled, digging desperately into the sand around them but with each movement, the snare pushed them further in. Panicking, I push toward the two struggling bodies but I was halted in my advance when I heard the sound of Dahlia screaming in the distance. A sound that is mooted by the crackling of spells flying to and fro. I spun on the spot to see a shadow that is unmistakably Dahlia advance toward the shoreline. Airmid! Everything was happening so fast, my mind was spinning, what to do? Who to help?

  I darted toward Dahlia but I was stopped in my tracks by Merl's voice in the distance. Calling out to Dahlia between the cackles and whizzing of luminous spells, he was trying to warn her of something. It was hard to tell exactly what he was saying but two words were clear 'Airmid' and 'safe'. I heard the witch cackle maliciously and then Merl shouting stopped as his attentions we
re diverted to the battle he was fighting. I felt a wave of relief loosen my body. Airmid was safe. Merl would never have risked an attack if Airmid were still in any danger.

  "Airmid is safe." I tried to call with all the might in my lungs but the sight of Jestin and Balthus laying still in the sand distracted me. I ran to where Bugul was desperately trying to pull their faces free but his huge claws were getting in the way. I felt my whole body shake with energy. Yellow sparks flew from my hands before I had even reached my target, and I shot a spell that was imbued with desperation and hope. I didn't know if my concentration was acute enough to execute the spell well but what choice did I have?

  I caught a glimpse of Agrona as she whirled around in the wind, shooting spells onto the beach without discrimination. I dodged a red jet of light that exploded into sand, diving out of the way and hitting the ground at an angle. I raised my head to see my spell had worked. Another wave of relief as Jestin and Balthus lay on their backs, their snouts in the air, they were panting rapidly with reprieve, Bugul surveyed the night for the source of the spell, smiling a wide, yellow-toothed grin when he saw me in the sand.

  As I looked into the night the battle between Merl and Agrona raged on. A stream of purple bubbles rose from Merl's position on the ground floating speedily into the sky, searching for their target. A lighting beam of amber shot toward the ground in reply, missing Merl but hitting the surf and lighting up the sea with electricity.

  The water fizzed as it tumbled onto the beach. The smell of burnt fish permeated the air as they washed up with the waves. I put my hand on my chest to steady my beating heart, thankful that Airmid was no longer hovering above the deadly water. Relief- sweet, blessed relief but only for a moment and then with the horror of realisation I drew in a deep and fraught breath. Grasping that the last I saw of Dahlia she had been heading into the deadly water. I had to search for her. I felt the sharp stab of panic puncture my gut. Oh no please, let her be somewhere else!

  I pulled myself from the sand and bounded toward the surf stumbling but catching myself before I fell. When I reached the shoreline I saw Dahlia there, stood upright with her back to me, she had waded into the water but the weight of her royal dress had slowed her down. My heart leaped with joy, thank goodness, she was alive. Her hand jerked at her side, it was an unnatural movement, she must be hurt in some way.

  "Dahlia." I called desperately, but the sound of spells exploding around us as the battle between Agrona and Merl raged on, drowned out my voice. "Dahlia." I called again. I felt Bettery's presence approach me. I could hear her long, exhausted breaths by my side. And then, a thud as she dropped to her knees beside me on the sand. Dahlia gave another jerk before falling stiffly face down into the water.

  Time stood still. The world stopped spinning. The waves no longer rolled onto the shore. The moon no longer shone light into the dark. I could hear a new sound. It was louder than the spells, louder than the explosions of the battle behinds us, louder than the heaving sobs emitting from Bettery. It took me a moment to realise that the sound was coming from me. A visceral scream of distress- of grief- that I didn't know I had within me. Dahlia was dead. Agrona's spell had electrified the water where she stood, trying to reach her baby, and now she was dead.

  BANG, POP, BOOM, CRACK, I could hear the sound of spells shooting back and forth behind me. Did Merl see what had happened? It sounded like he was fighting with more intensity than before. Tears ran freely down my cheeks. They should've been warm, taking the heat from my body with them as they tumbled over my cheeks but they were not, they were ice-cold. I felt as if the whole of my being was suddenly ice-cold. I was numb. Growls rumble into the night air once again from somewhere behind me. They seemed angrier, more aggressive, they wanted blood. I want blood too. I felt angry, really angry, like a fist of rage was trying to tear its way out from the pit of my stomach. Deep down there is a white-hot heat burning with the fires of grief but I dare not embrace the feeling on any deeper level than to know it was there. Dahlia's body begun to roll in the surf and I wanted blood.

  I turned toward the streams of light that hissed in all directions across the beach, my body began to shudder, not just my hands but all of me. I shuddered violently as I ran across the sand at a speed no human should be capable of. I charged, feeling my muscles not only pump with blood but begin to grow and elongate. My eyes saw everything so much clearer in the dark, as if it were day again. I felt pain somewhere within me, a physical pain that I was not in the right frame of mind to acknowledge as I pushed my body forward. My primary focus was Agrona. I didn't care about anything else other than her. Before the sun rose over the horizon, I wanted to see her cold dead eyes staring into the abyss the same way Dahlia's did and I intended to rip that disgusting organ she called a heart out with my teeth if that was what it took. I bounded past Merl who was shielding behind a huge wall of sea shells he had magically fashioned together. He shot a spell in a straightforward direction and I followed it, hoping to catch the witch before she spirited away. I knew her fighting style. I'd witnessed it last summer in the chamber of light, she was fast, but in that moment, I was faster.

  I saw a flash of black, the trail of her dress lingered behind her as she spun away from the emerald spell I'd followed. I caught the black fabric trail, spinning her back toward me. When she came to a halt, we were face-to-face, nose-to-nose. I hear the rampant thudding of her heart underneath her ribcage, it sounded wrong, its staccato rhythm was a reminder of just how wretched she really was. She seemed disorientated for a moment and then in her eyes there was an anger that almost matched my own. She was offended that I have dared to approach her let alone touch her. Her breath smelt acidic, so potent that I could almost taste it. My gut reaction should have been to turn away from her, to let go but I was not in control of my actions. It was the anger inside that controlled me. A low grumbling sound gathered within my throat and released as a ferocious growl right into Agrona's face, she was shocked at first and then something else, something I have never seen in her face before, she was afraid. I raised my hand to strike and then I was flying.

  I felt a backward pull on my shoulders, the sensation of my skin being pierced multiple times by a something fiercely sharp. Despite the pain, I felt strong, I wriggled free from my captor, my skin tore easily against the sharpness of it talons. I felt the warmth of my blood running down my shoulders as the talons loosened their grip but there was no ground beneath my feet to catch me. I felt a rush of confusion as I plummeted toward the unknown below and then I slammed with a splash into the salty sea.

  I bobbed around for an instant in the cold water, I knew I had to gain my bearings. If I swum the wrong way in the dark, I would be swimming to my doom. I could taste the grains of as the water invaded my mouth. Survival mode kicked in and I pushed my body upward in an attempt see above the waves. I had to try and gage which is the right direction to head in.

  I hoped Bettery had brought Dahlia onto the beach. I couldn't bear to see her face down in the water again. A thought occured to me, what if I just stopped? What if I stopped treading water and simply allowed myself to sink. In this moment the temptation to join my best friend, to give up, is overwhelming but I banished the thought. I couldn't kill Jestin too and Dahlia would want me to look out for Airmid. I had to find Airmid and make sure she was safe.

  I noticed a green jet of light illuminate the silhouette of Agrona in the sky. A huge black, bird-like creature carried her away to safety. Her cowardice didn't surprise me, but I still feel irate at the image of her fleeing from a battle that she had started.

  As the bird climbed higher into the sky, I watched as she shot a spell back at the beach, a red, angry streak that has the same shape and speed as lighting. A blood-curdling scream just seconds after it touched the earth shook me to my core. Bettery! Oh no not Bettery too. This, the sound of Bettery's pain was enough to motivate me to continue. I pushed furiously toward the shore, not even the mighty pull of the sea current or the strange sensation of
my body shrinking could stop me from reaching my destination at breakneck speed.

  As I reached the shore, a more human-looking Jestin bounded into the water to help me. He pulled my arm over his head and propped me up as we staggered together from the surf.

  "Bettery, Dahlia, Bettery, Airmid?" I force the names out between gasping breaths. Jestin shook his head.

  "What happened to you, Violet you changed, why did? How did?" Jestin stumbled over his words. I held my hand up to stop him. Whatever he wanted to discuss could wait.

  "Bettery, Airmid, and Dahlia first." I repeat.

  "Merl and Balthus are with Bettery, she is hurt but she will be ok." There's something in Jestin's eyes that indicated to me he wasn't quite convinced by his own words. "Idris has Airmid, he saved her Violet. He swam out to her and caught her when the magic faded." He ran his fingers through his tight black curls. His eyes were wide with amazement. I noticed a scorch mark above his right eye. He had narrowly avoided a nasty spell. "Dahlia, she, Violet she?" He couldn't finish the sentence. He knew his words might crush me, he's unaware I've already been crushed.

  "I know." I whispered. Fat bell-bottom tears ran freely down my cheeks. The pain pulled at me from the inside, I wanted to vomit again, the ache was indescribable. "Where is she?"

  Jestin's brow furrowed in uncertainty before he tentatively raised his hand and pointed in the direction of the wall of shells that Merl had formed as a protective barrier.

  My eyesight had faded again but I could see that the wall has been shattered in more than one place with the force of the spells that had been shot at it. Tiny shards of shell cracked under the soles of my wet shoes. As I rounded the wall, my eyes met with Idris's.

  He was soaking wet and thoroughly exhausted. He was the second body I could see in the water, only he wasn't dead, he had jumped in to save Airmid, if he hadn't been there to rescue her then, well, it didn't bear thinking about.

  In this moment I knew I'd had him all wrong before, I could see in his eyes that he felt loss too. He hadn't loved Dahlia by his own admission and I would always be angry at him for that, but there was something there, a sense he had failed in some duty perhaps, and right now that was hurting him.

  He had Airmid bundled close to his body. Wrapped in Balthus's huge, torn smock, her desperate cries for her mother broke my heart. He stroked her head softly, gazing toward the ground where her mother lay lifeless at his feet.

  I dropped to my knees beside my motionless friend and took her hand in mine. It's still warm with the life that had coursed through her just moments before but that warmth is an illusion, a mirage of life. She was no longer here. I know she's gone but I'm willing her to breathe, to get up and tell me how silly I look now. How could this happen to her? Why her and not me?

  "I'm sorry." I whimper. It will not bring her back, it doesn't give me any comfort to say this to her as she lies empty before me on the sand, but it's the only thing I can say.

  "Idris, take Airmid to the village, there is a young Bobbin lady by the name of Gretanne who will wet-nurse her." Idris takes his eyes from Dahlia and regards his brother before looking down at the bundle in his arms. "Take her now, we will stay with Dahlia and Airmid will know that you didn't just abandon her mother. She will know that, I promise." Idris seems unsure at Jestin's words although he remains silent in thought. "She will be cold," Jestin urges. The word 'cold' is like a knife in my gut. Soon Dahlia will become cold and she will never be warm again. I lean over her lifeless body and begin to sob heavily.

  I stay at Dahlia's side on the beach until the sun rises, sleeping for short, sporadic periods when I become so worn out that my body simply can't do anything else. Jestin stays too, he doesn't try to speak to me or touch me, right now, I wouldn't have wanted him too. He simply sits and waits for me to be ready to leave.

  When daylight began to break over the horizon, I realised that if we didn't move Dahlia now, she would have to suffer the final indignity of having her body carried through a crowded village for all eyes to gaze on her. I rubbed my red eyes, stinging and sore from weeping and pulled myself to my feet. Jestin rose too. I don't have to speak to him, just a look tells him that it's time to go. He manoeuvred Dahlia's body into his arms as gently as if she were still alive and simply sleeping.

  "Embraced may she be." I hear him whisper as we set off toward Blossomdown village.