He had gone out into the woods away from the cabin alone, seeking some form of solitude, some room to think and straighten his mind. The events of the past month and particularly the last week had been a bit much to handle, and he was having trouble internalizing it.
'They tell a story in Pyre of the man who said too much. He walked into the city, marched in through the palace doors, and went before the king proclaiming himself to be the heir. He thought the people would rally to his call... but he was wrong. Zephyr had him beaten and dragged him through the
Kallida slapped the pale faced man again, a quick correction for another smart remark from the sharp tongue of the prisoner, and Kelvin watched astonished as the man touched with his tongue the blood of his lip. There were mere seconds of silence as the thin lips of the man, cut and bleeding, curled tightly into a contemptible sneer.'Five days of this... Kallida's been beating him ever since we got here. It's incredible to me, but he keeps making these snide comments anyway. The man can't seem to control his tongue. Well, no. He does control it. He controls
Eliezer and Dorcus sent for Samuel by letter, and Adrien carried it faithfully to Rivdul for them, placing the sealed letter into the hands of the friendly farmer.It was nearly a decade ago that Samuel Garner had gone to Pyre to visit his brother at High Palace, and it was during his trip that he had stopped in at the North Pyre Kingsmen Congregation for a service. There, Eliezer had renewed acquaintance and befriended him under the guise of his false identity. Eliezer wasn't sure how much Samuel knew or whether he had recognized him at the time. Still, he had insisted on taking him to
Avera came with Benjamin back into the living room of Eliezer's home, having finished their jaunt through the woods together, to find their host and his companion sitting, chatting, and sipping on tea along with another man."Hello, sir," Avera said sheepishly."Hello," the man replied with a well-humored grin.
He stood out by the edge of the woods watching for the men to come, but they never came. It was a relief not to be running, but, even so, he wondered why they hadn't followed them.'Perhaps, it is providence. God has stricken them with blindness; that or they're planning.'
The scent of death was in the air, carried by a gentle breeze from Elkshire as they approached the crest of the hill which overlooked the damaged city. Avera felt her body tense, and she noticed that everyone had become uncharacteristically quiet.‘Out of respect for the dead,’ she pondered.
'Surely, it is for the dead we find ourselves silent here before our King as we march onward into fate.'Her despair had evaporated at the spirit's presence, but the fact that Avera had seen him also intrigued her. Knowing him was one thing, but seeing their spectral friend was entirely another, and to hear him... that was something very rare, indeed.
She had never seen so many people from so many diverse regions, pasts, and occupations. Even in Pyre, there had never been such unity among the people, despite the government's efforts to make everyone the same. Here, it was different. There was something more genuine, and Avera knew that she liked it much better than Zephyr's form of unity among men.There was work going on to bury the dead there in Elkshire, which Jordan oversaw. Together, many of the men labored to dig the graves and transport the bodies of the people. For the most part, there was a communal grave prepared for all of them,
Benjamin stood at the height of the hill above Elkshire giving to the men who came pure white garments of sparkling pyrite which he and Eliezer had made from the materials which the men from Laoce offered. They had received a steady stream of travelers there throughout the days of their renewed presence in Elkshire, and the later they came, the more ragged they appeared.Then came some men from Asrymn on the second day, they having decided to tarry three in accordance with Representative McFarland's original timeline, and approached their prince with a humble weariness. These men were a