by Elian Tars
“My friends,” I said, standing up. The villagers fell silent, and I continued my speech as the insects chirruped and leaves rustled in the wind. “Today we won. Yes, we won. And although we lost Ilyenta and a lot of our friends, we fulfilled our task! We managed to protect the Lake of Grace, which now lies hidden under the ground. Our enemies can’t get to it, but I can. However, the value of the Lake is not only in the potions we make from it. While the Lake exists, we can fight the Decay. People will have a chance not only to survive, but to build a world in which their children will be able to live. Yes, a lot of pain and hardship awaits us, but so do salvation and a happy life. Only together can we achieve them. The God of Darkness needs us, and we need him. Only with the powers of the Darkness can we come to light. We won’t forget the fallen. We won’t forget the pain we lived through today. We’ll rest and continue on our way. We won’t aim to conquer, get rich or something of such sort, but to work hard so that, years later, our children can live happily in this dark world.”
I tried to speak as convincingly as I could. More than anything, I had to make myself believe in my own words and find strength to move forward. Yes, we won… But for me, it was a Pyrrhic victory. There were too many deaths. Too clearly the image of a young girl who blew herself up to buy us a few seconds stood in front of my eyes. Thanks to those few seconds we were still alive…
Epilogue
About one mile away from the camp I sat on the grass, reclining against Vella’s warm back. She and her greatly decreased Wolf pack joined us at dawn some four hours ago.
“Grrr!” she suddenly growled and wrinkled her nose.
“He’s here?” I asked, standing up.
“Woof!” she replied quietly.
Mounting the dog’s back, I rode up the hill, where a knight in dented armor was waiting for us. His armor hasn’t restored itself? He can’t be a very high level then. Yeah, level 55… Strange, I thought that Rugus would send a more important person to discuss battle results. Honestly speaking, I was hoping to see Una, because I had discussed the arrangement of this meeting with her. Glozeysk should have also known about the appointed place and time. It looked like he decided not to come; a part of me was glad for that. Rationally, I understood that I had no reason to be pissed at him. But Rira’s death… He had convinced the girl to sacrifice herself and even took her as his Follower, or maybe even a Disciple, so that the Auras of other Gods do not affect her.
“Greetings, Sir Daerk,” greeted Rugus’s negotiator tiredly and, as it seemed to me, hopelessly. Taking off the helmet, he revealed his completely bald head and a horrible scar on his cheek.
“Good afternoon, dear Liro,” I replied. “I suggest we get to the point at once. Did the Followers of Rugus manage to retreat?”
“What?” he mumbled uncertainly. “Yes. The Great One opened up a portal to the Abode for us. However, not everybody survived. Mister Gotz died in that battle.”
So that was it… The baron was gone? I heard he had a grown up heir. I hoped that the guy would follow in his father’s steps and continue serving Rugus. After everything we had to live through, the last thing we needed was to lose an ally.
“I’m sorry to hear that,” I said sincerely.
“Yes… Yes, thank you,” he nodded, still distracted. Was he put off his stride? Or maybe it was my upgraded Gloominess that was bothering him? He looked at me askance and pretty suspiciously. Maybe it was just my paranoia again.
“What are Rugus’s plans?” I asked. “As far as I understand, that’s what I should have discussed with Una, right?”
“Yes,” Liro nodded. “That’s why I’m here. The Great One said that she was captured by Tsunter’s people and they were bringing her to Ekheim. The Great One asks for your help.”
I clenched my fists involuntarily. Damn it, did she let herself be captured? Did she decide to act like a hero and got caught? No, that was unlikely. She was too careful. And she understood that she would be the first person they would hunt down. Why? Because several days before the battle she, with the Followers of Rugus, attacked Baron Tsunter’s squad that was carrying the Part of Zurtarn and the Splinter of Unity to the king, which they got after they killed Godwin Elliot, the former mayor of Ekheim and Rugus’s Disciple.
And so, the two valuable artifacts were in the hands of Rugus’s Gleam. And the easiest way to return them to Carl Tsunter was to catch Una and find out where she hid them.
Damn, yes she was a Gleam, but as she said: “a good executioner could make even a relatively immortal person lose their mind.”
I couldn’t call Una my friend. She had too many secrets, and it was hard to understand her true motives. But she was definitely my comrade in arms, who had, at least once, saved my life. And one good turn deserved another, as was the saying.
“So, will you help us?” Liro asked impatiently. “The Great One thinks that if someone can rescue her, it’s you.”
***
Two days later, sitting on Vella’s back, I was arriving at the largest city in the county. I could already see the fringe of the forest and was about to see the walls and the gates…
“Oh no…” I gasped in despair, stopping the dog before going down the hill, the same place one I went down during my last visit here. “How could it be?”
The northern gates of Ekheim were wide open; leading to and from them was a line of mutilated corpses. The picture of what happened formed in my mind; people, practically unarmed, tried to run but the Decayed that flooded the streets of the city followed them till the very end. Dozens of Spiders tore open the bellies of poor men, women… and even children.
“Boom!!!” Sounded a muffled hit. Lifting my gaze, I saw two Warriors of Decay on the city’s walls, attacking the defenders of the city. Judging by the noise, the same monsters were fighting inside Ekheim.
I was pretty far from the city, but I thought that I had seen a few women on the wall. Though they were all wearing dresses, they were all rather calmly observing what was happening.
I realized that the greatest city of these lands was doomed.
“Una, damn you,” I muttered under my breath. “Are you really still in Ekheim?”