The Spirit of Revenge (39 page)

Days passed in a fleeting glimpse, a mere blur in time as night and day slipped from memory.

On the fifth day, a massive fleet of black ships sailed into Morven from the eastern gates. The head of the column halted before the docks of the city. Creedoc descended the gangplank of the lead ship.

Twenty five thousand men now marched as an endless wave of crimson from the decks of the ships, swelling the roads and barracks.

Two hundred thousand soldiers now stood poised for war, ready for whatever end.

The week went by unwillingly for all. The morning sun shimmered in the windows of the palace. The Warriors began a silent meal alone in the empty guard’s room. They ate quietly, each in their own withdrawn thoughts.

Heavy footfalls thudded on the wooden floor of the hall and the group turned to the archway. Creedoc appeared from the hallway, his sabatons echoing in the domed room. The Warriors turned and looked at him anxiously. “The enemy is here.”

“How long until they’re here?” Darius screamed, his shout reverberating in the marbled throne room. “How much time do we have!” The Warriors watched the exchange from the side, Ethebriel and Armeth beside them, each with a vexed expression.

“How much time do we have left?” Darius shouted again.

“I know nothing more than you, brother,” Creedoc replied simply. Darius yelled and threw a hand around his brother’s breastplate, pulling him forcefully towards him.

“And what of your men, brother…what of the fifty thousand you promised us? You brought only half that number!”

Creedoc returned his fierce stare, their faces mere inches from the other. “I could not risk leaving my country undefended; we suffered an assault under Andred not long prior. I cannot leave my country unarmed for it would fall at the mere whim of the enemy.” Darius glared at him, a scowl pulling at his lips.

“Believe me, if I could have brought them all I would have, you are a king as well, you know we must do what is best for our country before all else. You understand my circumstances.”

Darius shook his head at this. “No, no I do not. You have damned us all! The entirety of Tarsha is in peril, hanging on the edge of a sword, on the very brink of destruction! And if you’re too afraid to sacrifice what is required for the greater good then no…no I do not understand your circumstances.”

He shoved him forcefully away. Creedoc stumbled back, gripping his maimed arm in pain. Darius sighed deeply, his shoulders heaving as he exhaled. “We must gather our forces,” he continued after a tense silence, hand twitching nervously on the pommel of his sword. “The enemy is upon us, we need to be ready as soon as possible.”

The King began to walk in a slow circle around the group, his arms outstretched to the skies beyond the palace walls. “The end is upon us, let us embrace it…”

The Warriors stood at the edge of the palace court, looking over the city from their vantage point. The streets below flowed with rivers of soldiers, distant glints of armor flickering under the setting sun. The rivers flowed toward the end, toward certain death. A grave silence filled all of Tarsha.

The bitter winter’s wind whipped across the courtyard. The gust lashed the Warriors, their hair thrashing about as they held their cloaks close. Not a word was spoken; they knew what lay ahead.

The last of the Citadel Guards began the long descent to the city. The column of wagons disappeared behind the bend of the road and the noise of their rasping wheels soon died in the wind. The Warriors stood frozen, watching the armies amass for war.

Adriel stepped back from the group, her footsteps shaking them from their thoughts. She caught Cain’s eye and gestured for him to follow. He walked after her and together they left the others and walked across the courtyard.

“Forgive me,” she murmured as they walked, finally breaking the unease between them.

“For what?”

“For everything. I…I didn’t come across properly when we met,” she continued, “I don’t want you to think I’m something I’m not. I just want to say sorry, before anything might happen to me.”

They reached the foot of the palace stairs and Adriel gently brushed her hand against the wings of a statue as Cain sat down on the marble steps.

“Something could happen to any one of us, Adriel. That is war, we stare it in the face and take our gamble, after all…we can only win or lose.” They fell silent for a while and gazed out across the mountaintop to a sky painted with the blood of a dying day.

Adriel removed her hand from the statue and looked at him. “All of you fight for revenge. If that’s all you fight for, then why continue?”

Cain fell quiet and gazed out over the sunset. It spread its hues fast across the clouds, filling the heavens with a deep and ominous scarlet. The clouds seemed to float atop rivers of blood. In the distance the sun sat, broiling and heavy in the cradle of the world.

Cain’s unremitting anger, after so many years of harboring its lonely walls, had finally died. He struggled to fan its embers through this journey, but it festered like rot on his heart.

Since the death of his wife and son, he fought for a renewed chance at vengeance, or so he had made himself and everyone else believe. However, this was nothing more than an unspoken confession of the pain that wallowed deep within. He longed to make sense of the unjust deaths of his family, and in revenge, he had found his scapegoat.

He never really knew how he would attain his vengeance. He never really knew how he could sate the insatiable. Revenge was nothing more than a fire amid fields; nothing could quench its desire. He crawled from its destruction, eyes illuminated. He could no longer morn for his family. The time for tears has passed.

He stood up and rested a hand against the wing of a statue. The pain of his loss fell at last from his heart. The sorrow he had carried with him since the fall of Andaurel faded to memory. The loss of his family would forever weigh on him, but the pain at last surrendered its hold. In its place was an emptiness, a void that must be filled.

Tarsha needed him; the people needed him. With the discovery of Ceerocai, he finally realized his importance to the people and the hope they placed upon him. This was more than himself now, the lives of millions were on his shoulders, and he vowed to protect every last one of them, to the death if need be.

Cain gazed out over the setting sun, its orange and scarlet lights filling his eyes. With the warmth of the sun against his face, he felt also a warmth in his heart at last. The void had been filled. He turned to Adriel and stared into her eyes with such heartfelt intensity, forcing a tear to rise in her eye.

“I used to fight for revenge, vengeance for the deaths of my family, vengeance for the senseless loss of it all. That was all I had.

But now, now my eyes are open, and I see the light of these truths. I see that life itself is worth fighting for. The freedoms we have never felt, the happiness we have never had, the peace we have always sought but never known, all that is worth fighting and dying for. It has become far more than my own convictions…my selfish revenge. I fight for the hope of peace; for hope is all we have left. I fight for Tarsha and its people now. I have found peace in my heart at last…”

The Warriors crossed the Alar; the entire river now covered in a thick layer of ice, the once still and lifeless waters now frozen by winter’s unforgiving hand. They crossed the drawbridge and followed the road past the endless buildings, walking on in silence.

They eventually came to a wall of steel, armed soldiers crowding the streets and buildings over a mile away from the gates. The soldiers immediately stepped aside for the Warriors.

Men saluted earnestly as they followed the long gap to the walls. They eventually reached the gates and ascended the flight of steps beside the gatehouse to the causeways above.

The King of Erias approached them as they came out onto the causeway. “Lord Verin has not come,” Darius informed them, “we must make do with the hands we have been dealt. Two hundred thousand men are now at our command. The enemy is close…now we wait.” The Warriors nodded in response.

“I have other matters that require my attendance; I take my leave of you for now. I ask you to wait with my men, I will return by daybreak.” With that, he turned on his heels and disappeared into the masses.

The Warriors joined the immense line of soldiers that stood shoulder to shoulder, each man peering out over the desolate plains of snow before them.

Ivory-capped mountains lined the horizons, mere silhouettes against clouded skies. The moon hung full ablaze in the night, its light gleaming across the streets like a mirror of stone that set all the city aglow. A chill wind blew across the causeway, caressing their skin with quivering lips.

Cain stood gazing over the beauty of possibly his last night alive, his eyes cast over the sea of shimmering snow. This would be the greatest battle any of them had ever known. He knew that any one of them could die. The last thing that had yet to be taken from them, their lives, could soon be stolen away, and they accepted this with open arms.

Isroc’s voice filled his ears. He turned to see his friend staring at him with concern, his brow furled in thought. “I haven’t known you for very long, my friend,” he said, “but even the blind can see when you are burdened by your thoughts.”

Cain laughed despite himself. “Aye…it would seem so.” He leaned heavily against the cold stone of the causeway and Isroc followed suit.

“You know,” Isroc continued, “after a night like this, I wouldn’t mind death.” Cain laughed anxiously. “Look at those stars.”

They looked up to the heavens, hundreds of thousands of tiny lights flickering in an ocean of solemn beauty. “Search the heavens and you may come to find the answer to your problems.”

Cain shook his head slowly, returning his gaze. “What if I am my problem?”

Isroc thought for a moment. “Aye…every man carries his own burdens. I cannot give you the answer you seek, that is for you to find. Alas, our burdens are our own.” He scratched his beard in thought. “You have lost your home, your family, why add another load to your already troubled mind?” He gestured to the sword at Cain’s back. “That’s only a burden, that’s all it is and ever will be.”