They’re Priests. They’re bricks in the wall against the storm, just like me. They’d rather crumble than let the wall fail.
Even though everything inside me rebels against it, I pull my bow off my shoulder and draw one of the red feathered arrows. Logically, I need to make sure that those demons die at the same time that I kill my teachers. I can’t fight them on the Shadow Road. I simply don’t have space to move, and I need to conserve resources.More than that, I don’t know if I have it in me to do this twice. I need it to be done in a single shot.
I draw the bowstring back to my ear, take careful aim as I have so many times throughout my life, and let the arrow loose at the demon standing between them. The arrow fires true, and as soon as it hits the demon, a burst of flame explodes outward in both directions, lighting the area up and leaving me night blind. All I can see is a red haze.
But that doesn’t affect my hearing. Cedric and Bram both scream. “Please, Fi. Stop the pain. It’s too much!” Cedric’s voice is choked with sobs. Bram doesn’t say anything. He just screams.
I can’t do anything about them until the red haze clears. Bram stands twenty feet away from me, clear as crystal. His foot is missing, and he’s standing on a gruesome stump. His face and shoulders are burned so badly that the skin left behind is blackened, and precious little is left.
Cedric is only a few feet behind him, his hands wrapped around his stomach. His glasses are gone, along with his gray hair. His cheek has been burned away completely, and I can see his teeth. He tries to take a step and falls to the ground. There’s no attempt to catch himself, and as he hits the ground, he screams again, his body writhing in pain.
“Please. End it,” Bram says through gritted teeth.
The tears fall freely, but this time, I don’t hesitate. They are Priests. Their lives have meant something. They held the storm back for decades, and sometimes the greatest gift someone can be given is death. I draw a steel arrow back and let loose. It hits Cedricin the head. His cries end abruptly. I draw another and watch it hit Bram squarely in the forehead. In this moment, I truly believe this is my teacher—my friend—because I see the light leave his eyes while his body slumps to the ground in a heap.
A moment ago, terrible sounds filled the world. Now only silence lingers. It’s the kind of silence that is so similar to glass, waiting for a tap to shatter it. Caeldra’s silence is the name given to it by many.
In that silence, I have to make a decision. I could give up. I could let my emotions break me because I possibly just killed two people I was closest to. They loved me, and I loved them just as much. They were more than friends; they were family.
And I just put an arrow into each of their heads.
I could give in to the ache in my chest.Sometimes death is the sweetest gift you can give to someone.
I take a deep breath and shake my head.What would Bram tell me to do? Cedric?
Cedric would analyze the situation. He’d tell me I can’t be sure he’s even dead. We know Nyxthos uses illusions. I shouldn’t let him trick me into believing anything. If I want to mourn him, then wait until I’m sure he’s even dead.
Bram would tell me that soldiers die, and if a Priest falls apart the moment someone she knows dies, she should join a monastery instead. You don’t mourn a sword if it breaks in battle. You find another and keep fighting.
I break Caeldra’s silence and turn from the terrors. My leather boots make brisk tapping sounds as I run. I know my teachers better than anyone else, and I’ve always listened to them. Today isn’t any different.
Chapter 12
Each of the gods created their champions and Godforged in different ways. All those ways were painful. All of them tore at the fabric of who the person was before they were altered. It seems to be a universal law that change and growth are painful, and drastic changes require drastic amounts of pain.
~Rhaskar Thorne, Book Two of the Priests
Fiona
It’s hard to run when I can’t stop seeing Bram’s eyes go dark, but I keep going. The tears are gone, though. Instead, I clench my jaw, ignoring the fact I should breathe through my mouth. I may be getting less air, but right now, it’s anger that fuels me.
The moon is directly above me, and I can see everything clearly now. I don’t know how long I’ve run at this point. I know I’m racing the moon, but I don’t know where the finish line is.
The duskthorn trees press close to me so that if I’m not paying attention and stray too close to the edge of the Shadow Road, theirthick spines will cut into me. My new cloak already shows signs of where it’s been caught.
I’m thankful I’m only wearing leather plates for armor instead of the heavy plate or chain mail that so many other competitors wore. I hope their burdens will keep some of the best warriors from surviving this trial.
Suddenly, the forest opens into another clearing with the Road passing clearly through the center. Unlike the last one where Bram and Cedric had been, this is…strange.
What looks to be a dinner table stands just a few paces from the Road. At the table are three people, a man and woman in their early twenties and a child barely five years old. Unlike the last clearing, they don’t seem to notice me as I stand on the Road and stare at them.
Where do I know them from?
The man glances around, his eyes passing right through me as though I’m not here. “I think he’s found out about our deal. Abouthistouch.”
The woman’s eyes open wide. “Then we must leave. Immediately. There’s no way he’ll leave her with us. He’ll find us, and he’ll kill us. He needs anyone withhistouch.”
The man looks at the little girl with messy hair who’s eating a bit of bread and stew. “Tomorrow then. I thought we’d be happy here. I thought we could live in peace. Finally. I guess we’re never going to do that, are we?”
