Death of the Immortal King

by Sarah McCarthy

  Did I make a mistake? Was I wrong?

  He opened his eyes, looking up the street. A chicken pecked at the dirt around the baker’s. No. This had been right, he felt sure of it. His stomach grumbled. Did that mean something? He smiled. Probably just hunger. Hard to tell, though. He pulled a biscuit out of his pocket and chewed it thoughtfully, focusing on the taste, letting his mind empty. Something would come to him. Or maybe it wouldn’t.

  He finished the biscuit, brushing the crumbs off his tunic. That’s when it came to him. Coralie.

  24

  Coralie

  Thwak! Coralie’s arms shook as the axe embedded in the log. She grimaced, picking it up and banging it down again, trying to force the axe head the rest of the way through. A nice, clean, split, that’s what you needed. But you had to really get the axe head moving fast. If you hesitated at all, if you tried to be careful, tried to slow things down, it wouldn’t be going fast enough and then it just got stuck. Coralie almost always had to dislodge the axe and try again. It made splitting wood her least favorite chore. Her grandmother made it look easy, but that’s why Coralie said she had to do it.

  “If I let you do everything that’s hard, I’ll never learn,” she said, and her grandmother smiled.

  “True. On the other hand, there are sometimes things that we are best at, and things that other people are best at.”

  She was right, Coralie thought as she heaved the axe overhead and brought it crashing down into the half-split log. She flinched as the two halves flew away from one another.

  She set up the next log and was about to lift the axe overhead when a throat cleared politely behind her.

  “I’m sorry to interrupt.”

  Coralie jumped, set the axe down carefully, and turned to see Aron de Tamley leaning against the fence.

  “I’ve never been much good at that.” He inclined his head towards the pile of split logs.

  Coralie pushed her sweaty hair out of her face. “Me neither.” She paused. “Did you need something?” Was he here to ask her not to come with him and Lilianna? No… more likely he wanted to surprise Lilianna with something. Maybe he wanted to know what kind of food she liked, or what size ring she wore. She repressed a grimace.

  “Well,” Aron clasped his hands, looking down at them briefly. “I talked to Lilianna this morning. Just now, actually.” His adams apple bobbed once. “She’s decided she’d rather not come with me.”

  A shock, like the reverberations of a bell after it was struck with a hammer went through her. “What?” She barely heard Aron as he elaborated.

  Lilianna had decided not to marry Aron. But she hadn’t told Coralie. What changed her mind? She must still be planning to leave. Would she tell Coralie? Was she already gone? She straightened, her fingertips thrumming, her chest lighter.

  “Thank you for telling me.”

  “Of course.” He glanced at the woodpile. “Sorry to have interrupted. Is there anything I can do to help?”

  With the logs?

  “With Lilianna, I mean,” he added.

  “Oh, no. Thanks.”

  “OK, well, it was nice to meet you.” He bowed.

  “Nice to meet you, too.”

  He smiled politely and turned to go, whistling as he went down the street.

  What a decent, if slightly strange, person. Coralie shook herself. She grabbed the axe, stuffed it back onto its hooks inside the forge. A twinge of guilt made her pause, but no. She had to go now. Her grandmother would understand.

  She skidded into the cottage. Her grandmother was sitting in her rocking chair, humming and filing a large fishhook. She glanced up and her eyes twinkled.

  “Where are you off to?”

  “Umm… I…” she stammered.

  “I’m glad. Have fun.” Her grandmother inclined her head towards one of the cupboards. “You’ll need that, I think.”

  Coralie opened the cupboard door to find a cloth sack. Inside was a wax packet of cookies, two loaves of bread, a flask of water, needle and thread, a small hatchet, a bright purple knit cap with a flower on it, and a mysterious packet of herbs.

  “That’s for seasickness,” her grandmother said. “Your mother used to get it terribly.”

  Coralie stared down into the sack, her throat constricting. “Thank you,” she said at last. “I’m sorry, I didn’t…” she gestured to the wood pile.

  Her grandmother smiled fondly. “Oh, that’ll get done. You go have fun.”

  Coralie paused, taking in her grandmother’s face for several seconds. She swallowed hard, wondering if she would ever see her again. “Thank you so much. For everything.”

  “It’s been my pleasure, dear.” Her grandmother set the fishhook off to one side and pushed herself up out of the chair. “Now, come give me a hug and then you get going.”

  Coralie crossed the room and wrapped her arms around the old woman. She closed her eyes, feeling her grandmother’s strong arms around her. Her grandmother’s hand brushed the back of her hair and patted her back. “All right, that’s enough,” she said, smiling and pushing her away. “You get going, now.”

  Laughing, Coralie nodded, blinking away tears. “Do you need anything before I go? A cup of tea?”

  Her grandmother waved her off. “No, no, I’m old, not an infant. I’ll make my own tea if I want it.” She kissed her roughly on her cheek.

  “OK,” Coralie said, picking the sack up and putting it with her other supplies into her pack. “Thank you.”

  “You’re most welcome, dear.” Her eyes twinkled. “Remember, naked swimming, right?”

  Coralie grimaced, but laughed. “Yeah, maybe. All right.”

  As she left, she heard the familiar creak of the rocking chair, and the sound of her grandmother humming as she resumed filing.

  25

  Coralie

  Coralie jogged up the trail, her bag bouncing against her back. As she’d guessed, Lilianna hadn’t been at home or anywhere in the village.

  Which way would Lilianna have gone? East towards Kulem seemed mostly likely. It was the closest village. It had a busy market and a port. It was the only place besides Harfoss that either of them had ever gone, but maybe that made it less appealing. Lilianna wanted a fresh start. She wanted the unknown.

  Coralie paused at the intersection where the road split, chewing her lip. The plan had been for them to go to Kulem. Would Lilianna want to go her own way? Would she guess that Coralie would follow? If so, would she want to be found?

  Coralie shrugged. Kulem was closer. She could make it there and back and head the other way if she didn’t find Lilianna.

  She nodded to herself and took off at a jog towards Kulem. Not fifteen minutes later she saw the slim shape of Lilianna picking her way along the cliffs, her long brown hair blowing behind her.

  “Lilianna!” Coralie called, coming up behind her.

  She couldn’t be sure, but she thought she saw a mix of relief and guilt in Lilianna’s face as she turned sharply.

  “Do you really want to go alone?” Coralie asked, skidding to a stop in front of her.

  Lilianna looked at the ground. “No.”

  “Then I’m coming with you.”

  Lilianna kicked a rock with the toe of the ratty boots she almost never wore. “I can’t ask you to do that.”

  “You haven’t.”

  Lilianna threw her arms wide. “I have no idea what I’m doing. No plan.”

  “That’s what you have me for.”

  The corner of Lilianna’s mouth quirked up and Coralie wanted very badly to hug her. But no. There were practical matters to be dealt with.

  “Come on,” Coralie said, resisting the impulse to reach for her hand. “Let’s get going. If we hurry, we might find someone who’s leaving with the afternoon tide.”

  For a long time, they walked in silence, and a deep sense of peace settled into Coralie’s heart. She didn’t care where they were going, or what they ended up doing. She was with Lilianna, who wasn’t getting married aft
er all.

  Some time later Coralie noticed a strange smell in the air, and that the sky seemed darker.

  “Do you see that?” she asked.

  “Yeah,” Lilianna answered quietly. “What do you think it is?”

  They crested a short rise, coming around a bend and now they could see a column of smoke rising into the sky a few miles ahead. Coralie paused, digging her stick into the ground. “I—I think that’s Kulem.”

  Lilianna cut off the trail, pushing through the bushes, heading for the cliff face. Coralie scrambled across the rocks after her.

  “Wait, Lilianna!”

  They burst out onto open ground, the cliff dropping away beneath them. A mile along the coastline they could see into the Kulem harbor below. Or what had been Kulem harbor.

  The charred stumps of the pilings thrust up out of the water, everything else had burned. Between these pilings, Coralie could just make out the shadowy images of sunken ships. The city itself was in flames. Bits of detritus floated everywhere. Coralie blinked. She’d thought those were bits of wood, but they weren’t. They were bodies.

  Her hand went to her mouth.

  Lilianna’s features were tense, her fists clenched. She crouched down, wrapping her arms around her knees and glanced back at Coralie.

  “This…this must have just happened.” Coralie’s mind went back to the woman she’d sold the rings to. Was she one of those now floating in the bay?

  “Raiders,” Lilianna said.

  Coralie swallowed hard and nodded.

  Lilianna stood. “Well, they’re long gone by now. Do you think we should just keep heading up the coast?”

  Coralie’s hands were shaking. “No… we… we have to go back… warn them.”

  “Warn them? What good will that do? There was already that guy, and no one listened to him.”

  “Yeah, but they’ll listen to us. My grandmother will.” She gestured to the burning rubble beneath them. “And now they have a reason to.”

  Lilianna looked at her evenly. “OK.”

  “You—you don’t have to come back with me. I—”

  Lilianna rolled her eyes. “No, no. I’m coming. We’ll go back, warn them, figure out another port to go to, and then leave again right away, yeah?”

  Coralie nodded, her breath rushing out of her. “OK. Thank you.”

  “Of course.” Lilianna pushed past her, back to the trail. “Let’s get going. I don’t want to spend one more night in that gods forsaken place.”

  Two hours later they were back where they started. Coralie nearly laughed, thinking about how four hours ago she’d passed each of those familiar rocks and trees thinking to herself that was the last time she’d ever see them. And now here she was. Except that she couldn’t bring herself to laugh. Not after what they had seen. Every time she blinked, she saw the burned buildings, and the bodies.

  They passed the lone madrona tree, hanging perilously off the edge, and the smell hit them. Smoke. Burning hair.

  Coralie bent and threw up off the side of the trail. Lilianna placed a hand on her back, but when Coralie glanced at her she saw she was looking at something else in the distance.

  Harfoss was a pile of rubble, a burned-out husk.

  Fires still burned in some places. The streets were coated with ash as, followed by Lilianna, Coralie made her way back down the streets, back the same path she’d walked less than half a day ago.

  They stood outside the ruined cottage for several minutes. Coralie couldn’t bring herself to go inside and look. Lilianna squeezed her hand, then darted forward. She was back a minute later, pale and coughing, her eyes haunted.

  “Is she—” Coralie asked. Lilianna nodded. Hands shaking, Coralie sprinted forward, pushing past Lilianna and into the burned wreckage of her home. There, in the remains of her bed, was her grandmother, barely recognizable, a cup of tea beside her. Coralie sank to her knees. I should have done something. I—if I had been here… she trailed off. If she had been here, she would be dead, too. Or gone. Wherever everyone else had gone. But maybe she would have heard, could have woken her grandmother in time, gotten her out, gotten her away, to safety. They must have arrived just after she and Lilianna left.

  Coralie reached out, wiping the ash from the teacup with her sleeve. She heard Lilianna’s foot crunch through charcoal behind her. The ground was hot under her knees.

  Lilianna knelt next to her. “I’m sorry.”

  Coralie wrapped her arms around her friend’s neck, leaning her head on her shoulder and closing her eyes. Lilianna stiffened, then wrapped her arms around her, too.

  “It’s not your fault,” Coralie muttered. She looked up into Lilianna’s face. Her friend had a faraway look in her eyes.

  “Your father,” Coralie said suddenly, sitting up and wiping her eyes.

  “He’s dead. I saw him in the street.”

  Coralie’s eyes widened, and she tried to find the right words to say. Any words. “I’m sorry.” She knew they weren’t the right ones, but it was all she could think of, too.

  Lilianna looked away, over Coralie’s shoulder. Then she squeezed her hand. “Let’s take care of your grandmother.”

  They had a tiny, proper funeral for Coralie’s grandmother. There was no boat to send her out in. But they found enough unburnt wood to create a floating pyre and covered it in flowers. Lilianna said a few words as they sent her out to sea. Then they sat in silence on the rocky beach, watching it float away.

  On to your next life, Coralie thought, the tiniest of smiles surprising her. Your turn to swim naked somewhere.

  Together, they watched the tide recede.

  “OK,” Coralie said finally, scrubbing her hands across her face. Her fingers smelled like ash. “We need to figure out what to do now.”

  “It’s OK,” Lilianna said. “We don’t need to figure it out right this second.”

  “No,” Coralie said, standing and looking at the sky. “It’s getting late. We should have found a boat to take us the Kreiss by now.” She looked around. “I guess we can go the other way, up the coast, but how many towns have they hit?”

  “There has to be something left somewhere, right?”

  “Yeah.”

  “I mean, not everyone can be dead. There has to be somebody with a boat who was out fishing or something, right?”

  Coralie took a deep breath, nodding to herself. She looked up and down the coast, scanning the waterline. “Right. OK. Let’s go… west, I think. It’s at least fifteen miles to the next town, but there are smaller towns inland. They can’t have hit all of them.”

  Lilianna patted her on the shoulder. “OK. Great. Let’s do that, then.”

  They cut inland until they hit the main road that travelled up and down the coast, then turned left, heading west. Once they were away from town, everything seemed normal again. The road looked just like it always did, overhung with scrubby trees and brush. The birds chirped, flitting from tree to tree, and small animals rustled in the undergrowth.

  A sense of unreality washed over Coralie as she hiked along. Her feet were aching, her eyes stinging, but here the world looked again like it always had. Even though everything had fallen apart.

  After two more hours of walking, Coralie’s legs were heavy, the bottoms of her feet burning in pain. She lifted her foot to step over a rock but didn’t lift it high enough and the toe of her boot caught, sending her sprawling to the ground. Her knees hit first, then the palms of her hands.

  “You OK?” Lilianna asked, bending over her.

  “Yeah, yeah, I’m fine,” Coralie said, examing the scrapes on her hands. It wasn’t too bad. There was a slight tear in her dress, but it wasn’t too bad.

  “No, you’re not.”

  Lilianna’s hands were on her hips. She surveyed the forest around them. “We’re stopping here. I’ll… build us a shelter… or something.”

  “No, I’m fine,” Coralie said. “Let’s at least make it to the next town.” She struggled to her feet, but Lilianna shook
her head.

  “Nope. You’re exhausted. You sit down. I’ll figure something out.”

  Coralie sat back down while Lilianna gathered firewood. She realized she was starving and reached into her pack to rummage around for something to eat, but the first thing she grabbed was the packet of cookies and her throat closed. She set the pack down and stared fixedly off into the forest. Lilianna thrashed around for several minutes, returning with an armload of wood. She flopped down next to Coralie.

  “I have no idea what I’m doing. Do we need wood? I thought we might need wood.”

  “Wood’s great,” Coralie said, smiling in spite of herself. “If there’s a stream nearby, fresh water would be good, too.” They’d passed one several hours ago, she realized, but she hadn’t thought to fill their flasks.

  Lilianna clapped her hands to her knees and stood up again. “All right. Fresh water on the way.”

  She was back a few minutes later. “OK. So… no fresh water after all.”

  Coralie hadn’t moved. “It’s OK. We’ve got enough for tonight. But we’d better find some tomorrow. Remind me, if I forget?”

  “I will. What else do we need?”

  Coralie pointed to her pack. “There’s some food in there. Not the wax paper, but there’s a bag further down.”

  Lilianna began rummaging through the pack. Coralie saw her pause, glance back at her, and then move something aside before she pulled out a sack.

  They chewed on dried fish and seaweed cakes for a while, and Coralie felt herself reviving. She glanced over at Lilianna who was angrily biting into another cake.

  “Thanks.”

  “Sure,” she said around a mouthful of food. “For what?”

  “I was kinda out of it.”

  “Of course you were.”

  “I think we should still try to get to Kreiss.” Everything looked different now. She felt… unmoored. Like everything had shifted and suddenly the world was a vast place where she didn’t belong anywhere. “It’s huge. There’s no way it’s been attacked.” That was something that made sense, something she could cling to.