by Jaxon Reed
Then they turned to the doorway and walked back home.
Epilogue
Dawn broke on Le Grand Menhir Brisé.
In a few hours, the docent would arrive in his car with a flask of coffee and a small container of beef soup for lunch, with slices of sourdough bread.
For right now, though, morning wildlife stirred. Birds greeted the rising sun with song and bees began buzzing among the flowers.
If anyone happened to be paying attention, they might notice the ground was disturbed in a few places around Le Grand Menhir Brisé. And, should they walk further back to the ring of trees surrounding the site, they might observe a few scuff marks where men had recently climbed into the branches.
But if they did notice such minor ecological disturbances, however unlikely noticing it might be, the persons involved would no doubt ascribe everything to tourists visiting the site.
Tourists were convenient scapegoats. While everyone liked the money tourists brought, nobody liked anything else about them.
So, if anyone noticed the ground was a little rougher this morning than it was yesterday, tourists would get the blame rightly or wrongly.
Also this morning, if anyone were present and could see it, a slight shimmering appeared in the open field, about a hundred meters from the menhir.
It remained for a while, just a shimmering presence, half in the physical realm and half in the spiritual where sensors for a certain computer would have a harder time observing it.
In time, several moments later, another shimmering air mass formed next to the first one.
Both fae looked out over the battlefield, cleaned up from the night before. They looked in silence for several minutes as the morning light grew stronger with the rising sun.
Finally, the second one abandoned his reticence.
He said, “This was a bad idea.”
“We were weak. This simply eliminated the weakest sooner rather than later.”
Several more minutes passed before the second one responded.
“I suppose you are right. It merely accelerated the inevitable. And, we had to try joining forces at some point. So, we tried.”
The first nodded, the motion barely perceptible in the physical realm.
The second said, “What will you do now?”
“I am going someplace far away. Away from you and everyone else. I will seek to hide and delay my date with Judgment for as long as possible. I suggest you and the others do the same.”
Several minutes of silence followed the announcement.
The second one said, finally, “Not me. I think I’ll seek revenge.”
“Seeking revenge against immortals when you are mortal is a fool’s game. Surely you know that by now. Better to hide and live.”
“Maybe. Maybe you’re right. I will spend a few centuries hiding. But I will also spend most of that time pondering how to exact revenge against the Hunters.”
The first one snorted.
He said, “Good luck. You’ll live longer if you stay away from them.”
A black slit in reality appeared, and the first fae drifted through it, heading to another alternate and ending the conversation.
It snapped shut behind him, leaving the second fae alone in the field.
It stood there, gazing out on the battlefield thinking.
A few moments later, the second fae disappeared, too.
The End
Other books by Jaxon Reed
The Redwood Trilogy
Redwood: Servant of the State
Redwood: Twelver
Redwood: Battle Cry
The Empathic Detective Trilogy
The Empathic Detective: A Mystery Thriller
Ghostsuit: An Empathic Detective Novel
Cybershot: An Empathic Detective Novel
The Forlorn Dagger Trilogy
Thieves and Wizards
Pirates and Wizards
Dwarves and Wizards
The Dungeon Corps Series
Dungeon Corps: Crypts of Phanos
Dungeon Corps: Maze of Menos
The Pirates of the Milky Way Series
Digital Assassin
Clarion’s Call
Condor Rising
Halcyon’s Heirs
Solar Storm
Tetrarch’s Dilemma
Operation Starfold
Golden Alliance
Subversive Elements
Terminus Epsilon
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Visit Jaxon Reed’s Patreon Page for sneak peeks of upcoming books:
https://www.patreon.com/jaxonreed
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Visit Jaxon Reed’s Amazon Page for all the titles above:
https://www.amazon.com/Jaxon-Reed/e/B00Q9N5TQ2/