Blood of the King - Khirro's Journey Book 1 Page 0,146
ruby sentinel. As they set her body down, the ground shook briefly, sending Khirro and Athryn’s hands to the hilts of their swords and their gazes scanning the woods. No giant shook the earth this time, no dragon. Instead, the hole in the ground closed behind them like a rapidly healing wound, sealing in its secrets and its dead.
It took them far less time to find their way out of the tunnels than it had to reach their destination despite the grim weight they carried. A dim glow radiated from Khirro like an ember in a dying fire, so they could see better, but the tunnels and the chamber had changed, too. Instead of a huge subterranean room filled with blue light, the chamber was only a widening in the tunnel which ran straighter than before. Khirro wondered how it could be but dismissed the thought quickly. Elyea had been taken from him, there was nothing more to understand.
Khirro and Athryn carefully searched the area around the keep but two lifeless giants, their charred flesh picked at by unseen forest denizens, were the only sign of the ruby dragon. No dragon, no third giant. Under other circumstances, Khirro would have worried, but he felt danger had passed. With no Necromancer, what need was there for a guardian anymore?
They gathered wood for a pyre and lay Elyea and her belongings atop it. Khirro kept one thing aside as a reminder: her dagger. The knife had set her down her life’s path when she stood against her father years ago; a symbol of the strength Khirro admired in her. Perhaps it would lend him some of her strength in the days to come.
Flames danced into the night sky, sparks swirled and twisted into the dark like lightning bugs at play. Khirro couldn’t take his eyes from the body prone at the center of the blaze as wood crackled and spat, her clothing charred and her hair melted. The fire engulfed her, flickering over her skin, and Khirro heaved a shuddering sigh.
It’s only her earthly body. She’s already gone.
He stared at the flames, wondered how he looked when he was aflame and if she carried the memory of Khirro as a burning tyger to the fields of the dead. He hoped not.
Despite how close he stood, Khirro’s body didn’t register the funeral pyre’s heat while Athryn stood behind him to avoid being burned. With his scar healed, Khirro supposed the magician would go to great lengths to keep from being burned again. Would that be possible? They were linked now and a fire burned within Khirro. Could he keep it from engulfing Athryn and anyone else around him?
Could he keep from succumbing to it himself?
When Elyea’s body was reduced to ash and bone and the fire burned down to glowing embers, Athryn put his hand on Khirro’s shoulder.
“We should go.” He wore his mirrored mask despite his face being healed. Khirro wondered why but didn’t ask. “A long journey still lies ahead.”
Khirro didn’t respond, only stared at the remains of the fire. A bone poked out of the ash and he fought the urge to pluck it out, hold it close and cry over it. Such actions wouldn’t bring her back. Nothing would.
“Where will we go?” Khirro asked finally. “I’ve failed. The king is dead. There’s no hope for Erechania.”
“There is hope, Khirro,” Athryn said squeezing his shoulder. “There is you.”
Khirro snorted a laugh lacking humor. “What good to a war is a simple farmer? What good to a kingdom is a man who couldn’t keep his friends alive?” He gestured toward the pile of bone and ash.
“The king is within you. You are much more than you know.”
“I’m not the king. No one would believe our tale, they’d throw us both in the dungeon and think us insane.”
Athryn sighed. “They will know you by what you do, not who you are. The kingdom needs you.”
“What can I do for the kingdom?”
“Maybe nothing,” Athryn said with a shrug. “But someone has to do something. And what else is there for you? Return to your farm?”
Khirro smiled in spite of himself. “No. I guess I’m no farmer anymore, am I?”
“No. And I am no performer of illusions.”
They stood a while in silence. A cool breeze moved the trees and brushed Khirro’s cheek, refreshing him.
So much time has passed, so many things have changed. I can never go back to my old life. My old life doesn’t want me. But what new life lies ahead?