City of Spells (Into the Crooked Place #2) - Alexandra Christo Page 0,56
do first, then,” Karam said. “We’ll send their spirits off well, so that they may join the Indescribable God. After that, we’ll figure out the rest.”
Arjun nodded. “Okay,” he said, and that was all he said.
Even as they gathered what little supplies they had left, rolling up their blankets into their bags and hooking knives to their belts and swords to their shoulder straps, Arjun stayed quiet.
It was only just before they left that he gathered the small barrel of rainwater and turned to her. “Swear that we’ll avenge them,” he said.
“I swear it,” she promised him.
And then Karam watched as Arjun threw water over the fire and the light turned to ash.
IN WRENYAL, when a person died, their body was turned to flame and thrown into sacred water, so that their spirit could be free to escape this world and travel on to the next to join the Indescribable God.
The Onnela Sea wasn’t divine water, but it was water nonetheless and it was the thing that circled this realm before joining on to the mighty ocean that led to Wrenyi. If Karam thought about it that way, then it seemed better, as though the ashes of their friends might just find their way back home to their own realm.
They had gathered the bodies of their fallen soldiers and placed them into a circle, where Karam and Arjun now stood in the center. Karam tried not to look at their faces, but she couldn’t help it. Asees looked calm, not like she was sleeping, but like she was taking in the beauty of the shores and the smell of the ocean salt.
“Let us pray,” Arjun said.
The spell took a few minutes. Arjun couldn’t conjure flame from nowhere like Saxony could and so he had to call upon the spirits to grant him the element.
Karam held his hand until the spell took hold, and together they watched the Shores of the Dead burn.
The bodies of Arjun’s Kin were alight in beautiful yellow flame, so close to the gold of their staves. As the fire grew, so did the wind, and Karam could see Arjun focus his powers to mold the breeze. It swirled around the flames until finally the fire diminished and ash circled in the air.
Arjun kept a tight hold on Karam’s hand.
“Go in peace,” he said. “Be with the spirits and with our god, and look down on us in love, knowing we are warm and we are safe.”
“Go in peace,” Karam echoed.
The ashes of the Kin danced together and swept toward the water. They hovered for a moment and Karam knew that Arjun was hesitating.
She squeezed his hand.
“Let them rest,” she said.
Arjun took in a breath and the ashes slowly fell into the sea.
Karam looked into the distance, hoping there would be answers somewhere on the shores. She wanted to think of something perfect to say to him or something perfect to do to take his mind off of everything. She wanted—
Karam paused.
She didn’t see answers, but she could see something on the part of the shore where the forest that had hid them met the sea.
“Are those boats?” she asked.
Arjun turned to follow her stare. “Are what boats? Those floating dots?”
“They’re boats,” Karam said, firmer this time.
She could see the outline of their frames and the way they bobbed on the small carcass of wood they were tied to.
“You’ve got eyes like an eagle,” Arjun said.
Karam didn’t answer, she just ran. She ran over the wet sand so fast that her thighs began to ache and the sound of Arjun calling her name as he chased after her faded, as the wind blew so strongly in her ears.
She ran for miles.
For what felt like an hour.
And then she reached them and she saw that she was right.
There were four rowboats pitched to a small pier that was barely the length of an old oak tree. The wood looked a little rotten, but she couldn’t see any holes in the frames and the oars were still intact.
“Are you training for some kind of athletic competition?” Arjun asked.
He was breathless and when Karam turned to face him, Arjun’s hands were pressed against his knees as he bent over to gulp in the air.
“This is how we get back,” Karam said. “This is how we cross to Rishiya without the railways.”
“They’re boats,” Arjun said, as if Karam hadn’t noticed. “You want to cross to another city in those?”