The Temple of Heart and Bone (45 page)

“Of course, my Lady,” he replied
crisply, though his eyes softened and his lips quivered.

“And Captain?”

“Yes, my Lady?”

“You have done well to release
your hatred for the East.” She looked meaningfully at Vae. “Your reward is well
earned.”

“Reward, my Lady?”

She smiled at him mysteriously
and turned away.

“Kelton?” she called to the
corporal behind Cardalan.

“Yes, my Lady,” he said, kneeling
before her.

“It’s okay, Kelton,” she said
gently, “it’s all okay.” She reached her hands down and urged Kelton to stand.
“You didn’t fail us. We are exactly where we should be, and you have done
very
well.”

“My Lady, I’m so sorry,” he cried
and broke down into tears.

“Let it go, Kelton,” Li told him,
embracing him as he cried. “Let it all go. It has no place inside you anymore.
The time for sorrow is passed, and the time for healing has come.” Cardalan came
over and put a strong hand on Kelton’s shoulder. Li kissed Kelton’s cheek and
wiped away his tears on her sleeve. She smiled at him and made the sign of the
Maker on his forehead. Kelton looked astonished for a moment, and a slow smile
dawned across his face.

“Petreus,” Li said, turning to
the old priest. “Get off your horse and give me a hug,” she demanded.

“Y-yes, my Lady,” he said,
slipping from his mount clumsily and walking over to her unsteadily.

“I love you, old man,” she said
warmly, and hugged the old priest fiercely.

“I love you, too, Li,” he told
her, his words choked with tears.

“Then give me another hug,” she
told him with a smile, embracing him yet again.

Li released Petreus and turned to
Drothspar. “Would you introduce me to your friend, Dear?” she asked him softly.
Drothspar turned to Chance, who had walked over to Kitti and stood, hiding,
behind her. Kitti stepped to the side, exposing Chance to the couple.

“Li,” Drothspar said, “this is
Sasha.” He turned to Chance. “Sasha, this is my wife, Li.”

“My Lady,” Chance said, her voice
on the edge of breaking.

“Hello Sasha,” Li said warmly.
“Don’t be afraid, Dear, I have so looked forward to meeting you.”

“You have?”

“Of course, Dear,” Li replied
with a gentle laugh. “You have cared for my husband and come with him to rescue
me—and to rescue him.”

Chance’s eyes widened.

“Darling girl,” Li continued,
“you have met love for the first time in your life, and you are afraid that it
might be taken from you. Don’t be afraid. Love is not a thing to fear, but a
joy to cherish.”

“You don’t mind?” Chance asked,
interrupting.

“Of course not, Dear, I
understand perfectly. I fell in love with him, too.” She smiled kindly. “There
is something you will have to do for me, Sasha, and I know that my trust is
well placed in you.”

“What is it?” Chance asked.

Li took Chance slightly away from
Drothspar and spoke to the young woman seriously. Chance’s eyes widened several
times and she objected fiercely at one point. Li put her finger over the
woman’s lips and stilled her objection. She asked Chance a question softly and
Chance nodded her head. Li embraced the girl warmly and brought her back to the
gathering.

“Drothspar,” she said, taking her
husband’s hands, “it was a long night’s walk, wasn’t it?” He started to
apologize, but Li put her finger to his mouth, just as she had with Chance. “We
are long past that night, my Love, and I have loved you all this time. I have
never been sorry that I married you. I have never been sorry to love you. You
have made my life more than I could have asked for, and shared with me a love
beyond any I could have known.

“You believed that night to be a
mistake, a fatal mistake from which we would never recover. Everyone makes
mistakes, my Love, and life is a constant state of change. Do not fear your
mistakes, nor dwell on them beyond their due. Learn from them, accept them, and
move on. That night, so long ago, is over. We have recovered, even if not in
the way we expected. There are other challenges ahead, other successes and
failures, more mistakes to make, learn from, and recover—at least for you…”

Drothspar looked at her sharply.

“I am going to leave you now, and
where I am going, you will not yet follow.”

“But—”

“You could choose to leave if you
so desired,” she told him, cutting off his objection. “I know you, husband, and
you will not.” She looked over at Chance who was watching them with wide,
worried eyes. “You have others who need you, here, in this place, and I know
you will not abandon them.” She saw a pain in his eyes, eyes that no one else
could see. “You don’t have to worry about me, Droth,” she smiled reassuringly.
“I will be fine where I am going.” She touched his skull softly. “It is a
wondrous place, my love, and my love for you will be ever-lasting.” She
embraced her husband fiercely, pressing his bones into her flesh. “I love you,”
she whispered.

“I love you,” he said softly in
his hollow voice.

“There is one more thing I need
to tell you,” she said, stepping back but still holding his hands. “That night,
the night you were drunk and your friend was killed. It wasn’t you,” she said
quickly.

Drothspar stared at his wife and
felt shock flash though his being and his bones. Seeing her, holding her, and
now hearing that he had not committed the terrible crime he had so long feared
was too much for him. He prayed with all his soul that he would be allowed to
cry. He let his head fall forward toward his chest.

“Drothspar!” he heard Li gasp in
surprise and felt her touch his skull.

He lifted his head and looked at
her face. Her eyes were filled with wonder. He looked at her finger and saw
something glistening on its tip. He touched his skull where Li had. His finger
was wet; he was crying.

Li caught him up in another
fierce embrace. She kissed his skull and stepped back, her hand lingering in
his.

“I have to go now,” she said, “my
time here is over.”

Drothspar fell to his knees,
holding Li’s hand. “Please… don’t go.” His tears fell to the ashen dirt of
Æostemark.

Li looked to Chance, who came to
stand behind Drothspar. “Thank you,” the women said, each to the other. Tears
streamed down both their faces. Chance rested her hand on Drothspar’s shaking
shoulder.

“Give my brother—” Kitti started
to say.

“Your love,” Li finished for her.
“I will, though he hears you even now.”

“I know,” Kitti replied. “But
still…”

“I understand,” Li said.

The sun slipped from behind a
cloud and brilliant rays of light flashed down into the center of Æostemark.

“I love you, Droth,” were the
last echoing words that Li said as she stepped into the light.

Time
passed and the sun began to set on Æostemark. Cardalan’s soldiers were the
first to stir, clearing bodies from the square and working on setting up an
encampment within the ruined city. Petreus issued a few orders and the brothers
joined in to help.

As evening settled on the
encampment, the time for explanations had arrived. A cheery fire glowed in the
center of town, driving away the shadows and bringing warmth and light to those
gathered. Petreus explained how he had “appropriated” horses for his men from
one of Ythel’s cavalry regiments. He had told the Duke that his men would come
in handy when facing the skeletal minions of the enemy. He just hadn’t
mentioned
when
he was planning on having them come in handy. By Petreus’
estimates, Ythel, tied as he was to his supply chain, would arrive at Æostemark
by sunrise. He winked at Drothspar and explained that he and the brothers
hadn’t been willing to wait.

To everyone’s surprise, Kitti
stayed with them in the encampment. The brothers stared at her in awe and she
seemed to enjoy smiling at them and watching them flinch. Taking a break from
scaring the brothers, she told the story of the bond she shared with her
brother, and the unique communications relationship they had afforded the
Necromancer. The better, she said, to keep track of him. Poson, she explained,
had been aware of her and her brother’s presence, but since the siblings had
been with the Necromancer back in the days of Empire, he hadn’t been able to
move against them. She adamantly refused to tell anyone Poson’s name and
admitted that she, herself, didn’t know the Necromancer’s.

“It’s one of those things I seem
to have actually forgotten,” she told them. No one even tried to ask her about
her own.

Drothspar watched the burgeoning
relationship between Cardalan and Vae. Chance explained that the Captain had
lost his wife during the same invasion in which Drothspar had lost his life.
She told him how Cardalan had nursed a hatred for all Easterners since that
time.

“How did you learn all this?”
Drothspar asked.

“Kitti and Vae tried to comfort
me after you—,” she punched his arm, “left me.”

“I’m sorry,” he said, rubbing his
arm to see if she’d splintered anything. “I just was afraid—”

“I know, I know.” Chance
interrupted him. “Don’t worry, we’ll have plenty of time to talk about that
later.” Her eyes flashed alternate scenes of compassionate understanding and
impending doom. “As I was saying, they were trying to comfort me, and Vae told
us about Cardalan’s past.”

“How did that help?”

“’Men aren’t the sharpest swords
in the rack,’ I believe were her exact words—and her overall point.”

“How did Vae find out? About
Cardalan, I mean?” Drothspar asked, trying to steer the conversation in a
better direction.

“Apparently, they had words a
time or two along our journey.”

“Ah,” he said simply.

Drothspar began to understand how
much of a trial Vae’s presence had been for the captain. That trial, however,
appeared to be over, and Cardalan was as solicitous of the Eastern woman’s
welfare as he could possibly be. Vae, focused mainly on her daughter, still
managed to appreciate the Captain’s attention. She smiled often and warmly at
Cardalan, and the officer melted like a block of ice under the summer sun.

Kelton walked around the camp
with Sergeant Glement, making sure that all was in order. There was a look of
peace in his eyes that spoke volumes to Drothspar. Kelton had found
forgiveness, and, moreover, found that forgiveness had never really been
necessary. He had done all that he could, and he had finally realized that had
been enough. The corporal looked at Drothspar as if he had heard the skeleton’s
thoughts. Kelton smiled and saluted and looked away quickly before the tears
came again.

Petreus and Steadword scrounged
up a few bottles of wine to help the evening pass more smoothly. They brought
Chance a tin cup from a ration kit and filled it with a deep red wine. She
smiled and accepted it, but refused to chase tin after tin with the tipsy
priests. After a quickly mumbled conversation, the two descended on Kitti and
offered her a tin cup of her own. She smiled and accepted. The two priests,
shocked, sat down to drink with the Rebel Fallen. After all, they argued, how
often would a chance like that come around?

After a short night’s rest,
everyone woke to the sound of the King’s forces arriving at Æostemark. Ythel
was in the lead, his eyes everywhere, his commands crisp. He spotted Petreus
holding his head in his hands, and shouted furiously at the hung over priest.
Drothspar decided to help his old friend and distract the Duke.

Ythel leapt out of the saddle
when he saw Drothspar. Several of the Duke’s soldier’s became uneasy when they
saw the skeleton, but what really shocked them was their Lord’s behavior. Ythel
ran up to Drothspar and embraced the skeletal figure. Tears ran down Ythel’s
cheeks and he laughed merrily. He held Drothspar close for a long time, and his
soldiers repeatedly heard their Duke call the skeleton “son.”

Li, as it happened, had stopped
to say goodbye to her father before making the last leg of her long-overdue
journey. She told her father of the happenings at Æostemark, and of the reunion
with her husband. She had also told her father how she had died, fatally
wounded by a soldier she had killed as he broke into the cottage. Though
wounded, she had made her way to the lake and the little boat that had been
tied to the pier. She had rowed out into the lake in an attempt to escape
Troseth’s men. She had died in the boat, which had, itself, expired—swallowed
by the lake in the storm that followed.

Drothspar and Ythel talked until
the Duke insisted on speaking with Chance. He bowed to the young woman,
prompting more quizzical stares from his men. He smiled softly and told Chance
that he had heard wonderful things about her, and that he was sorry their first
meeting hadn’t been more cordial. Before she could say a word, the Duke
informed her that he would be honored if she would consider his house, and his
family, her own. He told her that she was as much his daughter as Drothspar was
his son, and he was proud to call them both “family.”

The day passed in conversations
and preparations. Ythel and many of the Crown forces were heading east as a
relief mission to their wounded neighbors. The remaining forces were to scour
Marynd to be sure that nothing was missed. Drothspar and Chance were given
special medallions of safe conduct by the King himself, in order to ensure that
no mistakes were made on the account of the one known and remaining skeleton.

Drothspar and Chance saddled
their horses and left the next day for Arlethord. Ythel told them that the
house was awaiting their arrival and that he would join them as soon as possible.
There was much that the Duke wanted to discuss, but his duties to the Crown
came first.

Days later, as they rode westward
with the sun gleaming through the bare treetops, Chance turned in her saddle.

“Drothspar?”

“Yes,” came the whispering reply.

“How many dead did that Crown
quartermaster say they’d found around Æostemark?”

“Around a thousand, I think.”

“Doesn’t that seem…? I don’t
know, low?”

“Low?” he asked.

“Low, I mean, too few. Several
thousand people died in that first invasion of Æostemark. Those mass graves we
saw the first time, there had to be more than a thousand people buried in
them.”

Drothspar looked at her. “Many
more.” They both looked back toward Æostemark. “We’re going to have to warn
someone, but I don’t think we can catch Ythel—”

As they looked ahead, a figure
moved in the distance. The figure, a woman in a heavy cloak, made no attempt at
hiding herself, but walked directly toward them.

“Hello,” she called out to them,
in a voice as hollow and eerie as Drothspar’s.

“Hello,” Drothspar called back,
shocked to hear a voice like his own.

“There’s someone ahead of you,
not a very nice someone,” the cloaked figure told them. “Specifically, he plans
to kill you and take the girl.” The hollow voice chuckled. “Clearly, he doesn’t
know you.”

“You seem to,” Drothspar said.

“Some things I know, some things
I don’t.” She shrugged. “I came here to warn you. My warning complete, I’ll be
on my way—for now. We’ll meet again, I’m sure.” The figure pushed back her hood
and a grinning skull stared back at Drothspar. Raising her arm in an
open-handed salute, the skeleton turned to walk away, passing behind a tree.
When Drothspar rounded the tree to ask about the skeleton, he found the figure
had already vanished.

“Well,” he said, “at least we
know what’s coming.”

“I suppose so,” Chance said. “I
really need to get this straightened out, don’t I?”

“Let me ride in the lead?”
Drothspar suggested. “We can go spring this fellow’s trap.”

Drothspar rode ahead of Chance
and spotted movement in a dense thicket to his left. He heard a sharp twang and
felt a tug at his cloak. He lurched forward in his saddle and let his head fall
to one side.

The attacker stepped out into the
open, working furiously to re-cock his crossbow.

“Don’t try to run, Miss,” he told
Chance as he struggled with his weapon. “You wouldn’t get far enough to outrun
this.”

“I wouldn’t dream of it,” she
said lightly. “But there is something I should tell you.”

“And what’s that?” he asked,
finally getting the bowstring cocked and reaching for a new bolt.

“You really shouldn’t try to run,
because there is no way you would be able to outrun
him
.”

The attacker scoffed as he
fumbled with his bolt. “Nice try, Miss, but your friend is dead.”

“Why, so he is,” she replied
blithely, “Your point?”

The man turned his head just in
time to watch Drothspar’s balled up fist fall on the top of his head. The bolt
that had just been fitted into his crossbow sprang loose and shot the man in
the foot. He was, however, unconscious, and didn’t make a sound.

“Yes,” Drothspar said, leading
the man’s horse from around the thicket, “we really should do something about
this.” He picked up the attacker’s inert body and draped it over the horse. He
bound the man’s hands to his feet under the horse’s belly and remounted.

“We?” Chance asked, smiling

“You weren’t going to go without
me, were you?”

“I certainly hope not,” she
replied. She sat thoughtfully as Drothspar led the additional horse beside her.

“Are you okay?” he asked her,
concerned.

“I’m fine,” she answered almost
absently. “Drothspar?”

“Yes?”

“This isn’t over, is it?”

“No, probably not. Is that okay?”

“Do you know how to work that
crossbow?” she asked.

“This? Yes, I suppose I do.”

“Show me. We’ll make it okay.”