The Wrath

by D Glenn Casey

  She guided Venia to a spot just at the edge of the battlefield and had her land there.

  “I’ll fly again,” said Venia, “and keep a watchful eye over the fields.”

  Hilde patted her on the neck and nodded. Venia turned and launched herself back into the sky and Hilde turned and started walking into the remains of the battle. Everywhere she looked, she could see the bodies of fallen swordsmen and bowmaidens and every now and then, she would find the body of a royal soldier. She couldn’t help the feeling of uselessness that was washing over her.

  She and Venia and the other dragon riders had tried to protect as many of the troops as they could, but the forces of Kerrick had proved to be overwhelming.

  She stopped on a small knoll, that gave her a view of most of the battlefield and the devastation was more than she could handle. She considered herself a tough warrior, but this was too much for her. She fell to her knees and hung her head and cried. She didn’t know what else to do.

  As she opened her eyes and looked through the tears that were blurring her vision of the world in front of her, she saw a figure walking toward her. She wiped the tears away and looked once more, as Therese walked up the hill to her. The healer stopped beside her and knelt down, putting her arms around the grieving warrior’s shoulders.

  “It’s a mess,” she said as she looked out over the fallen.

  Hilde nodded and said, “I’m so sorry, Therese. I tried as hard as I could, but it didn’t make any difference.”

  “Hilde, stop this kind of thinking right now. You made more of a difference than you realize. The fact that you aren’t dead is a good thing. You and the other dragon riders allowed many of the troops to escape into the wilderness.”

  “But what good is it going to do? Kerrick was way too powerful and now our land is overrun by that madman and his army.”

  “I don’t know what the future is going to bring, but I don’t feel the final chapter in this war has been written yet. I may not have the power of foresight, like the wizards do, but I can see the future is going to turn out better than we think right now. It’s going to be hard, but it will come.”

  Hilde just sat there, on her heels, looking at the battlefield, wondering how she was ever going to make it to that future Therese was talking about. It seemed like the future she saw in her mind was cold and dark and without hope.

  “I have to show you something,” said Therese, “and you are going to need to be strong.”

  Hilde looked at her and could see in the healer’s eyes, that more bad news was coming. Therese stood up and held out her hand to Hilde, helping her to her feet. They walked down off the knoll and toward a small gathering of villagers. They had started bringing the bodies of the dead troops to this one area, preparing them for the funeral pyre. She led Hilde through the group and they came to a stop near a covered body. Hilde looked down at it and then at Therese and she could see deep sadness in the healer’s eyes. She was terrified at what she was going to find under the blanket. The way Therese was acting, she was growing weaker thinking that she was about to see the body of her dead husband.

  Therese knelt down next to the body and placed one of her hands on the top of the head. Hilde knelt down next to her and bowed her head. She was praying for the strength to make it through what she was about to discover. Then she reached up and took hold of the blanket and began to lift it off the face of the body. Her breath caught in her throat when she saw the face of the man.

  It wasn’t Jarell. But, it was just as bad.

  “Oh Symon. What have they done to you?”

  Therese leaned over and placed her hands on Hilde’s shoulders and laid her head next to Hilde’s.

  “I saw him fall. He fought with more courage and strength than any man I have ever seen. He fought to protect the apprentices and the healers. He was able to let them get away from this battlefield. He fought to defend his brother.”

  “It was just a few months ago that he and Jarell engaged in a severe battle between themselves and patched up hundreds of years of hard feelings between them. And now he’s dead.”

  Hilde looked up at Therese and asked, “Has anyone found the apprentices or healers? Or Jarell, for that matter.”

  “No m’lady. We have not found any of them anywhere. My hope is they escaped with the other troops, into the wilderness and are safe and alive at this time.”

  “But, we don’t know.”

  “No, we don’t know. So, I think it’s best to believe they survived.”

  Hilde looked back down at Symon’s face and leaned over and kissed him on the forehead.

  “I’m so sorry you didn’t get to see the face of your Laurelai once more. That you didn’t get to hug your children again.”

  At that point she stood up and Therese stood beside her. They looked around as more bodies were brought to the funeral place. Each one was being wrapped in a blanket and then they were being laid on racks of wood, being stacked like logs on a fire.

  Hilde looked at Therese and said, “Do not lay Symon in this pyre. Bundle his body in blankets and ropes.”

  “What are your plans for him?”

  “I am going to take him home to his family. I think they would want me to and I think that’s what Symon would want.”

  Therese nodded to her and signaled a couple of men to come over and she told them what to do with the body. As they carried him away, Therese put her arm around Hilde’s waist.

  “It seems like such a waste,” said Hilde.

  “It is,” said Therese, “but, as Lady Marnell would say, there will always be those that walk in the darkness and try to spread that darkness over all that are around them. It is our responsibility to fight that darkness and bring the light back to our world.”

  “I miss her, too.”

  “I think we all do. She was a shining light to all those around her.”

  They stood and watched the work going on around them and then Hilde took off her bow, her quiver, her shield and sword and laid them in a pile near a rock. Then she walked into the battlefield and began helping to bring the fallen to the place where the pyre would be set. For the next three hours they worked and when they had all the dead gathered, they walked back up the hill toward the road into Rosemoor.

  They all stood along the road and looked down at the massive pile of bodies. Hilde looked from face to face of those gathered around her and she saw nothing, but tear-streaked faces. Very few of the dead were from Rosemoor. They had come from all over Wyndweir to join in the fight against Kerrick and his dark army. They had pledged their lives defending people they didn’t even know and that was what hurt so much. The troops had stayed mostly in the encampment and didn’t venture into Rosemoor that often, so the villagers didn’t get to know them as well as they would have liked.

  After a few minutes, Hilde called Venia down and directed her to start the pyre. Venia landed near the stack of bodies and stood there for a few minutes, just looking at all the bundles in front of her. Even as a dragon, she felt her heart break for the loss of life that sat before her. Then she took a deep breath and started blowing dragonfire into the stack of bodies. Within seconds, the pyre was fully lit and consuming the bodies. When it was finished, there would be nothing left, but ash. Not even the bones would survive the dragonfire.

  All the people on the road above, stood and bowed their heads. It was the hardest thing they had ever seen in their lives and they hoped they would never have to witness something like this again.

  When the fire was going fully, Hilde turned to Therese and asked, “Is there a chance you can heal Venia’s wounds?”

  Therese looked at the green dragon, who was laying on her belly and staring into the fire.

  “I’ll see what I can do, but I’ve never healed a dragon before.”

  She walked toward Venia and began taking the bandages off her neck and looking at the damage that had been done to her. She shook her head as she saw the deep gouges in the dragon’s neck.

  “It
’s nothing, but a few scratches, miss.”

  Therese looked at her, “It is not just scratches. Now, let me see if I can do something about them. You are far too important to be injured like this.”

  She began running her hands over the dragon’s neck, closing her eyes and letting her mind drift through the body of the beast. She had only ever healed men and women. This was something new for her.

  Hilde stood back a few yards, watching and letting the healer do her thing.

  “M’lady.”

  Hilde turned and saw Toddie standing there. This was the first time she had seen the pub owner since she landed. She wrapped her arms around his neck and hugged him.

  “Oh, Toddie,” she said, “It’s good to see you.”

  “It is pleasing to see you, too. We have something we need to take care off and I thought I’d ask for your opinion.”

  She stepped back and asked, “What’s that?”

  “We’ve removed the battlewear and weapons from all the troops and are gathering them all together. We have swords, bows and arrows and shields. We don’t know what to do with them.”

  “Show me.”

  They walked down the hill, past the pyre and Toddie led her to a couple of mounds of supplies. There were some women and children folding battlewear and some men were sorting the weapons into piles. She recalled the way she felt last year, when she saw the troops removing battlewear from the dead troops. It had hurt her soul to see the slain soldiers treated in such a way, but she acknowledged the need for it.

  “With the fall of Guilden,” said Hilde, “these items have become more valuable than gold. We need to stow them somewhere where they will be secure. When the time comes, they will be needed.”

  “There are some caves in the hills behind the village that are pretty well hidden. We should be able to move all this stuff into them and seal them up, concealing them away from any enemy troops that might come back here.”

  “That will be good. We can assume the enemy troops will be coming back here. This road leads to the Eastern Desert and on to Gallyneer. If the dark wizard ever releases his troops from his service, this is the road they will take to get home.”

  As they talked, a young soldier came up to them and said, “M’lady, we have finished preparing Captain Symon’s body for you to take home.”

  Hilde turned to Toddie and said, “I shall return after I take care of this. Hopefully, we’ll have a better understanding of what we can do at that time.”

  Toddie reached out and squeezed her shoulder.

  “You take care, m’lady. I’m convinced we’ll find things are not as gloomy as they seem right now. We merely need to have faith.”

  She nodded to him and then turned and followed the soldier back up the hill. She found Venia standing near a group of soldiers, all gathered around the wrapped body of their captain. She recognized some of them as the soldiers she had met in Strafton. They had been fighting alongside Symon the whole time and she knew it was an especially tough time for them.

  Therese was standing near Venia’s head, stroking her snout. Hilde looked at the wounds on her neck and saw they were healed, but the scars were still there.

  “I did what I could,” said Therese, “but I’m afraid she will always carry these scars.”

  Venia nuzzled her nose against Therese’s shoulder and said, “I shall wear them proudly and they shall remind me of the kindness you have shown me.”

  Hilde stroked her neck and asked, “So, do you feel better now?”

  “I feel great and ready to fight again.”

  “Well, you might be ready, but we have another task to take care of first.”

  A couple of the men were in the process of lifting Symon’s body on the back of Venia, where a couple more soldiers were prepared to secure him to one of her spines.

  As she looked at them she said, “I’ve only just come to realize, I don’t really know where Symon is from.”

  The young soldier she and Symon had interrogated that first night she met him, spoke up, “He’s from a small village in the southern part of Gallyneer, called Mistburn. He used to tell me about his little piece of land there and how he thought it was paradise.”

  “Thank you.”

  She looked at the group and then said, “I don’t know what to say to you men. I know Symon was your leader and I could just tell you all to head home to Gallyneer, but something tells me most of you won’t do that.”

  “No, m’lady. As long as the dark wizard draws breath, our mission is not complete,” replied the young soldier. “Rumor has it that a group of swordsmen and bowmaidens escaped over the mountain and into Terranasia. Most of us are going to see if we can find them and join them.”

  “That would be fine,” she said. “When I return, I may go looking for them myself.”

  She turned and looked at Venia.

  “Are you ready for a flight to Gallyneer, sweetheart?”

  “I am,” said the little green dragon, “but I’m not quite sure what kind of welcome I will get there. Gallyneer hasn’t seen a dragon in over four hundred years.”

  “That’s probably not true. We should assume Kerrick rode a red dragon into Gallyneer when he went there to subjugate the people and build his army.”

  “Wonderful,” said Venia. “So, if they have seen a dragon, it was to devastate their lands and families. I’m sure they’ll welcome me with open arms.”

  “We’ll be fine.”

  Hilde turned and wrapped her arms around Therese and held her tight.

  “Thank you for helping her. Other than my husband, she means the world to me.”

  Therese kissed her on the cheek and said, “She is important to all of us. Both of you are. When you return, you will most likely become the symbol of the fight we still have ahead of us.”

  Pulling away, Hilde climbed into the seat and got herself settled. She nodded to Symon’s soldiers one last time and then, in a couple of steps, Venia lifted into the sky and headed toward the mountains to the east.

  Hilde looked down and watched the ruins of Rosemoor pass below, feeling her heart break again at the sight.

  “No Toddie, we are not finished. Not by a long shot.”

  Chapter 32 ~ The Master Of All Things Evil

  Garlan tried as hard as he could to break the hold the creature had on him, but he had no strength. It felt as if his neck was in a heavy, iron collar and he was being pulled along by an invisible chain. His wrists were held tightly at his sides by some magical force. He had no strength of magic or even just physical, human strength. If he tried to fight against the bonds holding him, the creature just pulled him along, even though the creature didn’t appear to be holding anything in its hands.

  In one instant, he was laying on the floor of Kerrick’s lair and the next, he was stumbling along a dirt road, following behind the creature, like some cow being led to market. His vision was blurry and he couldn’t see much of anything, but light passing by. He knew it was a dirt road and thought he could make out shapes of trees alongside the road.

  After what seemed like an hour of walking, they came to a stop. He could feel the presence of something large in front of him. It was white and blocked out completely what little vision he had.

  “Well, isn’t this quaint?” growled the creature. “Obviously the work of your sweet, little wife.”

  Garlan saw something pass in front of his face and he jerked back from it. It was the creature’s hand and after it waved in front of his eyes, Garlan’s vision began to clear.

  Before he was able to see clearly, he recognized the wall that Marnell had constructed to keep him out.

  “I said leave her alone! She’s suffered enough already.”

  “Oh, she hasn’t even begun to suffer,” snarled the creature in his face. “And the best part, you’re about to witness the beginning of her tribulations and watch her begin her descent into darkness.”

  Then he looked back at Garlan and grinned.

  “Oh, and before I
announce myself,” said the creature, “I should let you know that no one you are about to see can see you or hear you. You are here simply as an observer.”

  The creature turned back to the wall and said, “Now, to put an end to this foolishness.”

  He raised Blaze up and cast a fireball at the wall and it exploded in a raging inferno. As the smoke and fire cleared, Garlan could see a gaping hole in the wall and he could see into the front garden of Whitestone Castle.

  The dark beast walked through the large hole in the wall and along the path toward the castle door. Again Garlan felt pulled along with no power to do anything else.

  Just as they reached the door, the beast raised Blaze and the door flew open. Without breaking stride, he walked right into Whitestone Castle like he owned it. A place that Garlan had called home for many years.

  “Now, where might she be?”

  “I’m right here!”

  They both looked up to the top of the stairs and there she was, standing there in her red and black robes. The same robes she had worn when she defeated him in the wizard’s duel. She wore the red ruby jewel around her neck. Her hair was pulled back and held by a band of white silk and gemstones.

  In her right hand, the Staff of Fire vibrated and the crystal in the cage glowed as bright as the mid-afternoon sun.

  Just then, Molly came running out of the kitchen and to the open door.

  “I’m going to need the craftsmen to take a look at this door.” she said as she pushed it closed and headed back to the kitchen.

  The creature looked at her and looked like he was trying to decide if he wanted to waste any energy on her.

  “Your visit here was to see me, not her.”

  They looked back to the stairs and Marnell was about halfway down the stairs. Her eyes were ablaze with the fire within her soul.

  “Who are you and why are you here?”

  The black demon laughed, “Who I am is not important. As to why I am here, well, that’s to deliver some rather sad news to you.”

  Marnell had reached the bottom of the stairs and was slowly crossing the great room toward the uninvited creature.