by M A Price
Even as Idyn walked to the men carrying the casket and looked inside. As Jengen handed him a note.
“With compliments from the King of Brodanna. Treason by all members of the so-called Kara’s Guild and by any User will not be tolerated,” he read, his voice choked. Jengen was shaking his head, tears falling from his face and Ivloch hadn’t stopped howling.
She managed to look round as Mara came to her shoulder, her arm going around her. She tried to shrug her off, to inform her she didn’t need anyone but instead she felt her body fall towards her, the girl’s closeness becoming the only thing holding her upright.
Camrin walked to the casket, his body shaking. He pointed to the floor and they lowered it, no words necessary. He pulled back the lid and yelped. The yelp of a wounded animal who begged to be given mercy.
Camrin looked towards her and not Ivloch as he nodded, and tears began to fall down his usually stony cheeks.
He turned and ran, before she or anyone else could say a word to him, before he had spoken to Ivloch, before anyone could do anything, not that she imagined anyone knew what to do. She certainly didn’t.
Any calm that had held her together since she came here, since Kyllian, had evaporated. There was just a darkness, a hole that she couldn’t escape from. Her power wanted to burn, to watch every single man that had ever helped Jefferson Landress or The Unforgiven go up in flames. For hurting the only people she had left in the world, she needed them to suffer.
Becca had saved her when she lost Kyllian but Katanya hadn’t returned the favour. She hadn’t been there, she wasn't good enough and now Becca’s body had been delivered by the enemy. Could she save anyone?
“Carry her inside,” Idyn finally sighed, his voice hollow and broken, “Carry her inside and we will put her to rest.” He passed the note to Jengen and a blinking Fendir. “Burn this. Now.”
Fendir rushed off instantly, orders helping him through what was happening, and Katanya felt the smallest tug of envy, even at Jengen as he wiped at his face and made to follow. Instructions were better than the void. The void of thinking, of caring too much…
“She’s gone,” Ivloch finally whispered, his voice like a lost child.
She remembered her own pain of losing Kyllian, pain so similar but also so different, so potent. Feelings that still threatened to take over every single day, to eat her from the inside and never spit her out.
It was that thought that made her will her legs to continue. She faltered and fell to the floor, grief shaking her, her body feeling distant and separate. Her power made it more difficult, its absence and its fury making even the smallest task impossible.
Still she pushed on, using her hands and her heaving legs to crawl towards him. To the man she had been so angry at, but who had now lost everything. To the father she had never thanked enough. To mourn the mother that had saved her more than once.
Maybe they could will the world to burn together.
She pulled him towards her, choked sobs rattling from his throat.
Her own held in, for later, for when she was brave enough to truly open the door to her loss, but right now he needed her, and she’d neglected that for too long.
Thirty-Nine - Mara
Camrin was still missing, Katanya had taken Ivloch to rest in her tent. It was just Mara, Idyn, and Yenna in the pavilion.
Becca’s body lay in the casket was placed on the long table usually used to plan their battles or supply runs.
Idyn hadn’t cried, just looked grim as he sent orders flowing this way and that. He was crouched by the bed in the corner with Yenna going through some clothes.
Clothes she imagined had belonged to Becca. Beautifully patterned gowns that looked far too big for the woman laid out before her.
Idyn had worried the delivery meant Jefferson knew the location of their camp but relented when Yenna had pointed out there was little they could do right now. If an attack was imminent, it would have begun when they had received the body.
Mara moved closer to look inside the casket.
Power reverberated from it and she knew that Users had been involved in preserving her for the journey.
They had just left her near the supply path, undetected and so alone.
Fighting leathers clung to her miniscule body. Her face was blank, her arms stretched out over her. One hand balled into a tight fist.
It was the fist that drew her attention. Her power that told her something was there, that she had to take a closer look.
She glanced toward the others, now pulling other garments out, muted conversation about what was best.
She should call them over, but if she was wrong… if those instincts Katanya kept telling her to follow were betraying her then it would be at the worst time. She'd be the cause of more unnecessary upset.
She touched the woman’s cold skin tentatively. It was the first time she had ever seen anyone dead like this, not just on a battlefield, let alone felt their flesh which was completely different from that of the living.
There was something white poking out of her balled hand. Adjusting Becca’s fingers sent a surge of sorrow through her.
She had not known her, only the stories from the lips of others, the grief which hardened them daily, but regardless she deserved respect.
If the tales were true, The Guild owed most of their lives to this diminutive lady.
Katanya and Idyn certainly did, and that meant she owed Becca Youchnore quite considerably.
The object finally fell free.
It was a piece of parchment, folded as tight as her grip had been. As if even in death Becca Youchnore had understood what she was holding. Or had someone placed it there? Someone who knew it was important and should never be found by anyone but The Guild.
She brought it closer, Idyn and Yenna were still distracted.
It uncurled in her palm, she wasn’t sure if by accident or if she had willed it to do so.
She read the words as quickly as her eyes allowed, a cry catching in her throat.
“Idyn, Yenna, you have to see this.”
They both rushed towards her, the clothes discarded on the bed. She passed it to Idyn who took in a steep breath.
“Help in the palace, it says Becca made a friend that will help us.”
Yenna swore loudly and took it into her own hands. “We should tell the others.”
“Let them sleep first. It can wait until morning. We can do nothing yet.” Idyn rubbed his forehead aggressively. It was the first time Mara could really see the man who raised him, mirrored so closely in his actions.
She stared down again at the lifeless form of Becca Youchnore. She couldn’t share the depth of heartbreak everyone was so clearly experiencing, but she certainly wished she’d been here in a time to know her.
If she could raise the people she loved so well and keep The Guild afloat she must have been one hell of a person.
One she would make sure the stories would always remember.
Forty - Katanya
Katanya had spent all morning trying to distract herself. She had found Mara and made her train, but Mara had improved, and Katanya's mind was elsewhere.
Mara had even knocked her sword flying from her hand and Katanya hadn’t been able to cope with the look of worry that had spread across her face. She walked to the stream after, to polish her armour and wash her clothes; taking longer than was necessary and still not completing the task to her usual standards. She considered using her power but something about the morning made her think the harder way was better.
The news Idyn and Mara had given her at dawn kept whirling through her brain. Becca had found an ally in the palace. An ally who might know more about the serum and one that could tell her of her final days. A mission there wouldn’t work but the idea she’d had…
Loss wasn’t unfamiliar to her, of all people, but it never made it hurt less.
Something about dealing with all the time in front of you, however long or short, without someone that made
the world a little better was impossible to fathom.
It took her until around noon, as the sun was highest in the deep blue sky, before she knew she must find Ivloch again. He had disappeared before she woke, and she’d seen no trace since. She tried the pavilion first; but only as a delaying tactic.
He wasn’t there, as she had expected, but she found Idyn staring at battle plans across the table where Becca’s body had been.
Idyn pointed across the tent, at the small desk which Ivloch had in the right corner. Most of the contents had been thrown across the floor. A drawing of Becca ripped to pieces and scattered with them.
The small wooden carving that his wife had once made him was broken in two amid the chaos.
“He was in here this morning…He took her with him.I’ve never seen him like that Kat…” Idyn shook his head and Katanya realized he’d been crying.
“Do you know where he went? Has Camrin…?” she left the words unsaid. Gone to comfort him, when I have not, didn’t quite seem appropriate.
Especially to Idyn.
“Cam hasn’t been seen since we heard the news.”
Katanya nodded, trying to hold back her own tears. "I never really believed this day would come."
"None of us did. I'm glad you're here though."
"I'll never forgive myself for not finding a way to get her out Idyn."
"Anything happening to you would have been the last thing she wanted. The Guild and the people meant everything to her and it's not your fault. Remember that."
"I promise nothing."
She turned towards the tent door about to leave but instead something made her move towards Ivloch’s desk.
Repairing spells weren’t usually her forte but she used all her concentration to slowly collect the pieces of the drawing from around the room. They whirled in the air around her slowly finding the piece they belonged with and reconnected, a swirl of power appearing round each piece as it stitched itself back to its partner.
Katanya looked at the happy smiling face held in the air before her and forced down the emotion that threatened to bubble over. She reached out and grasped the piece of parchment and placed it down on the desk, taking the wooden figure in her hands. She brought the two halves together sealing them with her power, not allowing her focus to waver. She put it back on the table. To wait.
She didn’t realize Idyn was right behind her; clearly the Usage had taken more concentration than she realized. He put his arms around her and pulled her into an embrace.
“Take care of him when you find him. If anyone can, you can.”
Of course, Idyn had figured out she would search for him. "I'll do my best. What if we can't bring him back from this?"
"For Becca, we can do anything."
She swept from the tent, believing no reply was necessary but thankful that at least someone believed in her.
She didn't bother to search the camp for him.
Her heart told her she had known all along where he would be.
***
It took her an hour on horseback to ride halfway towards Wylow and a further one to turn down the track and find the little farmhouse by the lake.
The house had belonged to Becca’s sister, before she finally took her son across the sea to safety, it had also been the spot where Becca had married her warrior roughly twenty-two years ago.
Katanya had still been a moon-turn away from being born but she remembered her birth parents, and later Becca and Ivloch talking of the day fondly.
The house sat away from the water, with a garden that miraculously still looked tended, separating it from the lake. A waterfall cascaded down the rocks above; the sun shone off the water and Citrix birds nestled in the surrounding rocks.
Becca had brought her here more than once. Shown her every part of her favourite place in all of Brodanna.
One side of the lake was surrounded by trees and the other side held only one, encircled by a weather worn wall. Becca had always been so proud of her sister's husband for finding such a spot for their family.
She knew Becca dreamt of ending her days here, Ivloch at her side. Katanya, Camrin, Elex, and Idyn visiting with their families. A dream that would never come true.
Ivloch sat by the singular tree. His horse, Yemtree, was drinking from the stream and bobbed his head at her as she approached. She patted his flank and let him nuzzle her shoulder, leaving Ballaca for company.
Ivloch was digging. His hair was wild and free, and she could see him shaking as he put the rudimentary spade into the ground over and over again. Earth wildly cascading over his shoulder as he completed his task. Becca’s body was in the casket next to him.
She didn’t mask her approach. Ivloch was an accomplished leader of hundreds of men and he would have already registered her presence; even in this state. He didn’t stop what he was doing until she stood right next to him, words failing her.
“I thought if anyone would ruddy find me, it’d be you,” he grunted, continuing to shovel.
“Hoped I’d come or stay away?” she countered quickly.
Ivloch paused briefly to look at her. Dirt was smeared across his beard and the entirety of the top of his lined face was swollen and red.
“I don’t know how to answer that or if you want me to.”
“Ivloch…what are you doing?” she asked, moving her hand to grip the shovel as he attempted to bring it down again.
“What does it look like exactly?” he growled, “…you’re smart enough to put the pieces together here and don’t need no ruddy explanation. If you want to be here, then either help or ruddy sit down and let me get on with it. I’ll be back later. I am not going to do anything stupid or abandon anyone Kat, you know me better than that”.
She didn’t reply instantly, and he grabbed the shovel out of her grasp and continued. She wasn’t immediately sure what to do but she did know, deep down, this wasn’t how Becca would have wanted things.
She never used her powers on Ivloch, not since she had once done so as a child and regretted it instantly.
The disapproval and shame often being something she’d thought of, even on the longest nights. But today she wanted to do what she believed was right and she had long ago learnt that sometimes the magic inside her had a better grasp of that than she did.
She concentrated on the shovel as he brought it down to meet the earth, her will faltering only briefly. The shovel moved away from the dirt beneath it and up from Ivloch’s arms, darting quickly to the highest point in the tree and nestling itself between the branches.
Ivloch whirled round to face her and cursed loudly, rage rattling his mighty body.
“That was a low blow Kat…what the hell are you doing? I’ll use my ruddy hands if necessary.” With that he crouched down in the dirt and started clawing at it with a ferocity that scared her.
She knelt down beside him and placed her right hand on his shoulder. He wore no armour, no leathers or fur. Just the green tunic Becca had always favoured.
He was not a warrior or a leader today; just a grieving widower who couldn’t cope with the loss of the woman who gave him reason to live.
“This…” her hand tightened on him, “…is not what Becca would have wanted is it? The place, maybe, but Becca loved her people. She loved you and she loved me, and for some reason she even loved Camrin and the others. They loved her too. Let them say goodbye to her and let her know, wherever her soul is now, that the people she cared about most will take care of each other. She would want that.”
Ivloch paused, his filthy hands resting on his lap. He was crying again. He looked like the old man he truly was.
“I loved her so much Kat, more than I’ve ever loved anything in this world.”
Her mouth set in a hard line she used her arm to pull him close. His head fell awkwardly on to her small shoulder and Ivloch, the acclaimed leader of Kara’s Guild, a Guardian of The Mark, a grieving husband and the closest thing she had ever really had to a father nestled into her and bel
lowed cries of despair that shook her very core.
Katanya Leshi had done many awful things in her short life, made more mistakes than she could count but she never would have been able to forgive herself if she hadn't been there this moon.
Forty-One - Jaxon
Jala sitting before a large pot in Reyn’s chambers. Her eyebrows were raised, and her mouth pulled into a worried expression as she slowly stirred the contents inside. “Is it meant to be blue? Most things you drink aren’t blue.”
Reyn was by the bookcase, which ran across one entire wall but moved to peer in. “I don’t quite remember it smelling like that either,” he commented.
Jax lay back on the giant chaise, unable to bring himself to look. It had been blue when Becca made it, but the smell wasn’t right. They were missing something; he just didn’t know what it was.
Being in Reyn's elaborate chambers made him horribly uncomfortable. This sort of luxury was not something he was used to. Thick fur rugs were laid out across every inch of floor, fabrics of every colour decorating each part of the room. Reyn had awkwardly explained that his mother had decorated the place for him and the only input he made was the impressive book collection but Jax remained sceptical.
The Prince's elaborate outfits suggested he was rather fond of the finer things in life.
She wiped the sleeve of her elaborately tied black tunic across her sweaty forehead and tugged at her hair. It was in pigtails and made her look even younger.
He saw Reyn examining her and wondered if he recalled their conversation by the kitchens.
Maybe the most they could do would be to save her, but that would be better than nothing.
Jala hiked up her huge black skirts to her thighs and stirred more frantically.
“We’ve got the ranbar herbs, the cherry tree root, something User made, and water from a holy source,” she cursed loudly, “…what are we missing?” An uncomfortable pause followed her words and Jax tried desperately to remember Becca’s telling of the recipe.