Rohak and I stayed with the other Life Bonded couple well until the early hours of morning, deep purple streaking across the horizon where the sun was begging to peek over the hills again. We stayed pressed together, taking comfort in our tight embrace, until the last of the flames flickered and died, the pyre and Ben and Asha reduced to nothing more than ash.
With a sigh I felt deep in my soul, the Mage conjured an urn from the soil adjacent to the burnt pyre. With sure steps, she approached Rohak and me, handing us the vessel before stepping back just as quickly.
“They deserve to be laid to rest somewhere their daughter can visit, somewhere their legacy can live on,” she said quietly, her words hiccupping slightly.
Rohak took the proffered urn with a nod of thanks, sentimentality pulsing down the Bond.
The Mage cleared her throat once before backing away, tucking herself beneath her Vessel’s arm once more as they walked slowly back to the lines of bedrolls, eventually disappearing from sight.
I stood frozen with Rohak, emotionally exhausted but not ready to sleep.
“What do you say we bring them home?” he asked into the quiet early morning, his words punctuated by the soft calls of morning birds and the chirp of crickets as the world began to wake once more.
I smiled thinly and squeezed his hand.
“Yes, I think that would be best.”
Chapter One Hundred Twenty-Four
Rohak
Vespera was obliterated.
The grey stone wall that once stood tall, protecting the city for centuries previous, lay in a heap of rubble.
The streets that once teemed with vibrant and diverse life were silent, their stones marred by ash and blood. Shops and taverns that once bustled with raucous activity were barren and dark, others reduced to unrecognizable piles of wood and rock.
This was not the Vespera I knew and loved—this was a graveyard.
Faylinn and I trodded quietly through the outermost parts of the city, though I could feel her despair just as keenly as my own.
Even this far removed from the inner city, the scent of death and decay hung heavy in the air. The caws of carrion and the snuffing of coyotes and other predators carried on the wind as the smaller beasts scurried to hide as our horses clacked slowly over the broken streets.
My heart plummeted, rage and despair coiling viciously in my gut.
Where were Sol and the others?
Didanyonesurvive?
Protocol required that there should have been, at the very least, a skeleton crew of two Mages and their Vessels hidden somewhere near the entrance to Vespera, ready to report back to whoever held command or stop intruders if necessary.
The pervasive silence punctuated only by the natural sounds of scavengers made it obvious that those procedures failed.
The hooves of our horses clopped along, ringing through the abandoned space and bouncing off the empty buildings. I stayed alert, ready for attackers that I was certain lay waiting in the shadows and silence.
None ever came.
“Whoa,” I said, pulling back sharply on Balios’ reins, much to his disgruntlement. My horse was just as uneasy as I was, his hoof pawing at the ground as he snorted and tossed his great black head.
“What happened here?” Faylinn asked in a hushed whisper, as if afraid to disturb the ghosts that lingered in the dust that still drifted lazily through the air, sunlight bouncing off the small motes.
The connection point of the main thoroughfare and the courtyard beyond was completely blocked—ravaged buildings collapsed inward, their stones falling atop one another to create a nearly impassable barrier.
The scent of death was heavier here, a few wayward crows perched on juts of stone, their beady black eyes moving erratically as they assessed Faylinn and I as if we were a threat to the meal they’d discovered beneath the ruins.
“CAW!” one barked loudly, spreading its rather large black wings before taking flight with a loud flap. Faylinn stuttered in surprise, her honey mare chuffing at the obnoxious bird.
My eyes scanned the pile of stone, assessing the situation and trying to piece together what happened.
