Forest of Spirits – S.J. Sanders Page 0,42

his name. I am coming to look for him even if I have to drag myself.”

Silvas held back an exasperated sound and strode forward. “If you insist.”

At his other side, he heard Diana’s light steps as she joined them.

“They dropped after the wyrm threw them from its back. I know I heard Keena yelp,” Diana said. “I think they were thrown somewhere over there.”

She gestured to a shady area within a thick copse of trees. Nodding his thanks, he strode toward the trees as he repeated the call, first to Dagani and then to Keech and Keena. The mated pair answered him, though there was something subdued about their usual excited cry.

Silvas broke through the tight cluster of trees, sorrow filling him as his eyes landed on his crocottas. Keena and Keech appeared unharmed, their bodies pressed close around Dagani, who lay crumpled at the base of one tree. Dam and sire lifted their heads at his approach, and Keena dropped her head again to nudge her pup forlornly.

Kneeling beside them, ignoring the hard carpet of bramble beneath his knees, Silvas bowed his head, his dark antlers lowering as his white hair swept over his shoulders in respect. Reaching forward, he stroked one hand down the male’s side, and then again. He continued to stroke him even as he willed the forest to reclaim what remained. He had done so thousands of times, easing suffering in his domain, seeding life with the remains of death. Centuries of witnessing the cycle though being separated from it. This loss was perhaps as close as he would get.

Just behind him, he could hear Raskyuil’s choked, hard breath even as Diana freely wept. He latched onto their grief, allowing himself that outlet. He who had never truly understood or known grief, or any deep emotion, born as he was among the eternal ones, remained untouched by the living world and never truly knew the bonds of love. This was as close as he got to knowing love and showing it to another.

Despite that, through the spark of instinct that he had been trying to ignore, he felt and tasted the complexity of Diana’s sorrow. It coiled through him, squeezing his heart and blocking his breath. His hands trembled, and beneath his palm the body slowly faded into the earth. That done, he stood and looked over at his companion and was startled when two wet drops slipped out of his eyes to trail down his cheeks.

Raskyuil, though battling his grief, looked at Silvas in shock as his eyes tracked the path of the tears.

Hardening his jaw, Silvas glanced once more toward the remaining crocottas, summoning them to his side with a low click, before giving his order. “Return to Arx with Keena and Keech so that they may be in the comfort of their clan, after which you will see the healer and see to your own recovery.”

“Please reconsider,” the troll replied gruffly. “This journey has barely begun, and already there has been loss to unexpected dangers. At least return the human with me so you can travel unimpeded.”

“You know I cannot,” Silvas said as he held the male’s gaze. “These things must be done as fate wills.”

Raskyuil let out a harsh sigh as he turned his head toward Diana. “You keep watch, girl, and return safely. Both of you.”

Running his hand over his head, he grunted in resignation and approached Keech. Though the male crocotta’s head hung with grief, his ears pricked forward once he was turned in the direction of the palace. The crocottas warbled softly to each other. Although they didn’t have a language in the formal sense, Silvas understood the desire the communicated between them. Though they cried for their offspring, they were eager to return to their den, their young, and their clan.

At Raskyuil’s command, they sprung forward, their tails whipping behind them as they broke into a fast lope. They soon disappeared into the gloom of forest as the sun sank behind the mountains.

A sound at his side drew Silvas’s attention to the human who remained in his company. Her arms were laden with wood, and she gave him a small smile. As quickly as she seemed to have found the wood, he understood how the wyrm had come upon them so woefully unprepared and away from their most effective weapons.

“I’m sorry about Dagani,” she said as she stepped closer to him.

“Thank you,” he replied as he stepped away from her.

The words were sharp as they dropped from

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