Reckoning

by David Adams

  Darius shook his head, a gesture Silas at first misconstrued. “Oh, you’re right, Silas. I just forgot that he and his brothers might be able to come back again. If that happens, everything we’ve done has been in vain.”

  “Hence the need to deal with the book.”

  “So if we can’t destroy it,” Xanar said, “we either need to guard it, hide it, or both.”

  “What guard could we trust?” Uesra asked. “Aerlos and Glaze already declined such an opportunity. Aerlos might take it if pressed, but knows it would only draw evil to it, and therefore to the elven sanctuary.”

  “And I agree with your queen’s reasoning,” Silas said. “The dragon I would not trust, even if he was willing to take on the task.”

  “So who does that leave?” Darius asked. “The southern kingdoms are in shambles right now, nor could most men be trusted with such a thing, present company excepted, of course.”

  “I appreciate that,” Silas said, “but we cannot guard it, at least not forever. And we cannot look only until the end of our days when deciding what to do.”

  “Then we have to hide it,” Xanar said. “Bury it somewhere? Toss it into Myzor’s Cleft?”

  “Even there I would not trust to luck that it would never one day be found by man or beast.”

  “The sea?” Darius suggested.

  “Maybe if we went far enough out by boat,” Silas mused. “But the tides would still be a concern.”

  “Pinnacle Mountain,” Uesra said.

  The others paused, intrigued, pondering the possibility. “Go on,” Silas prompted, wanting to see if her logic matched that now forming in his mind.

  “Fairly isolated. A giant volcano that hasn’t had a major eruption in an age, but one that is deep and filled with molten lava. No creature could enter and claim the book once it was dropped in, not even the demons, from what I’ve seen. On this plane they seem quite susceptible to physical damage, even heat and fire-based damage.”

  “And if destroying the brothers has rid the world of the demons for now,” Darius continued, “all the better.”

  They talked for several more hours, but decided the volcano was the safest place to try to lay the book to rest. They agreed to tell no one else, knowing such a secret would be better kept the fewer that knew it. Silas, Uesra, and Xanar would see that the task was done, and Darius would be a most welcome companion. Seeing how torn he was, Silas told him, “Sleep on it. And then do what you must. You have responsibilities here as well, ones that do not burden the three if us.”

  When morning came they could tell from the look on Darius’ face what his decision was, even before he spoke. “It’s not just my parents,” he said. “I need to help them for a time, but then I need to look for Sasha. She’ll spend the rest of her days running from danger that’s no longer there if I don’t find her.”

  He gave them his pack, which was noticeably fuller and heavier than it had been. “Food and water,” he explained. “A gift from my parents and some of their friends.”

  “Darius, we can’t,” Uesra said.

  “You can. It’s only starting to dawn on them what’s happened, what you’ve done. They’d be insulted if you refuse it. Besides, you don’t know what you’ll face further north. The land wasn’t exactly the picture of health the last time through.”

  Uesra took the pack. “Give them our sincere thanks.”

  “I will. By the way, the book’s in there, too, in case you wondered if I forgot it again.”

  “The thought never entered my mind,” Uesra said.

  “It did in mine,” said Xanar, who then made a show of looking in the pack to confirm the book’s presence.

  “I guess there’s this, too,” Darius said, unbuckling his sword belt.

  Silas smiled and shook his head. “Gabriel is yours, Darius, and in a way, you are Gabriel’s. My prayer is that you never need to wield it again, but it stays with you.”

  Slowly Darius pulled the sword belt back around himself. He had been reluctant to let Gabriel go, and felt nothing but relief at having been told to keep it. It was not a thing that he coveted, but rather a bond he felt with the sword he was loathe to sever. After he had re-buckled the belt an awkward silence fell.

  “I hate goodbyes,” Uesra said, hugging Darius and softly kissing his cheek. “I will miss you.”

  Xanar followed his sister’s lead with a hug of his own. “I don’t have the words, my friend.”

  “I don’t either,” Darius replied. “Thank you, for everything. All of you.”

  “And you,” Silas said. He wrapped Darius in a bear hug, and only reluctantly released him. “Let us not say goodbye forever, but only farewell for a season.”

  They picked up their things and started north up the Coast Road. Darius stayed where he was and watched them go, fighting off the stubborn tears that wanted to spill from his eyes. When they were nearly out of sight they turned and waved, a gesture he returned, and then they went on, a company of three now instead of four.

  After they were out of sight, Darius remained where he was for a long while, still staring up the road. Finally he stirred himself to move, and with a heavy sigh went to see how much of his old life he could reclaim.

  Epilogue

  (6 months later)

  The six months since Kaelesh had fallen had passed with further hardship, but nothing that even approached insurmountable for someone who had been through as much as Silas, Uesra, and Xanar had. Much of Dalusia was a wasteland or near to it, and crossing it meant little in the way of food, drink, or welcome. But they had relentlessly made progress, always able to find what they needed before desperation set in. Now as they stood at the rim of Pinnacle Mountain and watched the Book of Dread disappear into the molten fire below, there was a sense that their journey was at an end, even though they had many miles yet to travel before they could say they were home at last.

  “The irony of dropping the book into what looks like hell itself is so blatant that I can’t even come up with a good line,” Xanar said.

  “Never stopped you before,” Uesra replied.

  “There’s hope for you yet, sis.”

  They made their way back down, careful not to lose their footing on the rocky slope. Below waited a man who had agreed to bring them to Sandovar Island, home of Pinnacle Mountain, in exchange for them acting as deck hands and helping him fish. The catch had been good and he respected their privacy concerning what they were up to, so the bargain had worked well for all involved. He had little news, other than the fact that none of the three human kingdoms had firm leadership in place, each having lost king or queen through the recent troubles. It would be far longer before the companions heard rumors that a few of the dark priests had survived, but each of these eventually came to a bitter end, usually at the hands of groups of ordinary citizens rising up to overthrow their ongoing attempts to rule through fear and acts of evil. The demons seemed to have all gone back to the pit, as the companions never heard so much as a whisper of one running loose in Corterra to the end of their days.

  Before they had reached the foot of the mountain Uesra asked, “Will you return with us to the Auerl Forest, at least for a time? You will find rest and welcome there.”

  “I’d like that very much,” Silas said, “if you can bear my company a bit longer.”

  “Not an easy request,” Xanar said, “but I think we can manage.”

  “You have my everlasting gratitude.” Silas paused a moment, then added, “Eventually I’ll go south once more. Not so much to go home as to find Darius and learn how he fares.”

  “In that case you may have to put up with my company,” Xanar said.

  “I guess I’ll have to suffer through it,” Silas said with a laugh, clapping the elf on the back

  * * *

  Darius’ greatest difficulty over the last two months had been maintaining his patience. The southern part of Longvale had rebounded nicely from the long years of suffering, and while the summer crop was poor by normal sta
ndards, it was bountiful compared to what the rest of Corterra experienced, and hope that next year would be even better was abundant. As such he had no trouble finding enough food and water to sustain himself on the road.

  Darius’ parents, along with several other families, had chosen an area just off the Coast Road another twenty miles north of where he had found them. There they had formed a small community, constructing a few simple buildings—large shacks really—for shelter and then beginning to work the land. But as the crops started to come in Darius felt the pull to search for his sister becoming irresistible, and as much as they feared letting him go the Stonemans wanted to see their daughter again, and so he left with their blessing. He had gone on a wide course around Old Bern—the blasted lands would not heal in his lifetime—and by midsummer was asking after Sasha, a difficult task considering the sheer number of refugees and the fact that she wouldn’t be using her own name. The only things working in his favor were that she had gone south before the worst of the end-time troubles—before the mass exodus when the blasted lands came into being—and his well of patience, as long as that held out.

  On the same day the Book of Dread was dropped into the fiery belly of Pinnacle Mountain, Darius was following up on his latest lead at a small farming village about halfway between Crescent and Dunham. His ability to describe his sister left plenty of room for interpretation, and he had many times over the course of his long journey been pointed toward someone only to be met with disappointment.

  He moved up a narrow dirt lane and saw a young woman on her knees in the field off to his left, picking green beans and dropping them in a basket. Her back was to him, but his heart skipped a beat even as he tried to stay calm, wanting to avoid getting his hopes up until he was sure.

  “Sasha?” he said.

  She turned and looked up, at first with fear upon hearing her true name, but then a smile bloomed on her face like a sunrise as she recognized him. “Darius,” she said, his name little more than a soft whisper as her voice cracked.

  They held each other for a long time, while tears streamed down their cheeks. They could find no words…and didn’t need to.

  The End.

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  Dave Adams lives in central Pennsylvania with his wife, daughter, and son. He has had over twenty short stories published in various magazines, mainly in the genres of fantasy, science fiction, and horror. This is his fourth novel.