Lacuna - N.R. Walker Page 0,115
drag all those Ascii dead into the courtyard and set them on fire. And about another few dozen things, but we need to do what Tancho said.” Crow smiled at him. “We need to stick together, no matter what. All of us equal, always. We need to listen to each other and be willing to learn. So when we face a new enemy, be it in perhaps another ten years or a thousand, we will face them together again. And we will kick their arses again.”
Elmwood, Samiel, and Tancho all grinned at him. “You’re good at this, also,” Tancho said.
But they’d talked enough for now. Leaving the new Elders’ Consul to their work, Crow, Tancho, Samiel, and Elmwood began theirs. They led the way, limping, walking stiffly and sore, to the courtyard. Soko, Karasu, Kohaku, Kearmore and Cardwick, and Fazluna and Addax followed.
The remaining soldiers had made a start: dead Ascii lay in disregarded piles, while the fallen soldiers were laid in respectful lines. The injured soldiers ambled slowly, giving a round of applause to the kings and queen as they came down the stairs. They cheered even louder when the food arrived, and as the sun crept over the horizon, the soldiers rested and the kings’ and queen’s work began.
The two sSister Moons were parting ways from their Brother Sun, another thousand years until they would meet again. Another thousand years too soon, Crow thought. He smiled at Tancho as the sunlight caught his flame-red hair, shining a light on this new dawn, this new life, and on the man he hoped to spend it with.
The space between them was a mere few feet, but the emptiness—the lacuna—that once lived in his heart, was full.
Two months later
Crow and Tancho had spent a week with Samiel visiting with Elmwood in the Southlands, deep in the jungles and stifling humidity. Crow tried not to complain too much and had resorted to wearing only a sleeveless shirt with his pants and boots, matching the standard attire of all the Southlands’ men.
Tancho had pretended not to approve, but Crow caught his gaze wandering down his biceps a few times too many to believe him. They learned how to throw axes and use flying foxes, they climbed the sky bridges and marvelled at the brightly coloured birds and tasted the amazing tropical fruits. They swam in pools under waterfalls and cooled down in tepid baths.
Elmwood then joined them for a week in Eastlands with Samiel. It was a dry, baking heat that Crow could only describe as oven-like. The sun shone with an unforgiving touch, the wind barely a relief. But Crow had never seen such beauty in a landscape that moved; giant sand dunes of red and gold that rose and swelled with the wind like slow-moving water. The winds whistled at night, strange howls and moaned sounds, and Samiel told them stories of how long ago, men would go looking for lost souls in the dark, only to become lost themselves.
They rode absurd desert beasts with huge humps that bellowed and spat; they found magical water oases with sparkling water and the tallest palms. They practised spear-throwing—in which Crow bested Tancho—and Crow enjoyed the crossbow even though Tancho schooled him in every attempt. They ate foods with spices Crow could not have dreamed of, and he soon learned the sun was not the hottest thing in Eastlands. Crow would rather take on an Ascii creature with his bare hands than eat the qutil chili ever again.
But at least he provided good entertainment for his friends when his head felt as if it were melting and on fire at the same time.
They next spent a week in Westlands, and both Samiel and Elmwood were enamoured with Tancho’s palace, his land, and his people. The pace of it, the food, the wine—and yes, Kohaku and Soko both lost that drinking contest to Karasu, who left them both slumped under the table while she finished off the last bottle.
They walked amongst sugar blossoms and ponds with lily pads, they swam in the ocean, and they set lanterns aloft on the River of Wishes; a Westlands’ tradition where small rice-paper lanterns with a gentle flame inside were let go on the shore with a wish. They practised their swordsmanship with katanas, and Tancho, Karasu, and Kohaku showed off their skills at stealth and silence.
And lastly, they all spent a week at Northlands with Crow in his home. They were mesmerised by the mountains, and by the