Part 5 Chapter 5

CHAPTER 36

 

 

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he whispers are gone. The cool breezes that come and go still come and go, but nothing follows them. Everything else is just the same: the fog still swirls at their legs and a strange unseen moon still spreads its glow around. But there are no whispers. Without that to help them Olraym and Trugaime find it hard to make their way out of Divinwood. They go by memory alone, the climb up the fallen tree again and fall down the other side. They dark tree after dark tree hoping something will look familiar soon.

  The usual Divinwood silence is filled by them constantly talking. Reminiscing about what has happened since Olraym returned to Tov’ra, something that feels like a lifetime ago to him. Discussing what they want to happen in the near future. Olraym knows the thought of being King did not appeal to him before, but the Twelve are right it does now.

  When mentioning the Twelve the conversation stops, they think of what they meant. Did they mean just twelve people, or the actual Twelve? The Gods that people have built temples and religions about, the Gods almost everyone prays to for help and guidance. The Twelve even Olraym prays to when he can and feels he needs to. They talk about it a little but it soon turns to sour arguing and they lose focus on where they are going. They both decide to stop and not speak of this again, and never tell anyone about those twelve men and women (if that is what they are) in Divinwood. Aft that decision things return to that smooth fun journey and they focus on where they are going again and find parts of Divinwood they had been in before when first entering. 

  It takes time and they back track on a few occasions. But soon find a familiar strip of light that marks the edge of Divinwood. The blazing heat and bright sun feel strange with them just being in the cool moonlight, but they adjust quickly. It looks the same as it did before, as if no time has passed between then and now. They make their way back through the road they had come in from, this time they walk at a slow easy pace. They are in no hurry now, no need to go fast.

  As a last minute thought they check on the Cultist village. Since it is on the road and they are on their way back they think it isn’t going to be too much hassle to check it out. As they get close the talk dies down and they tense a little. They have no desire for another fight but they both tell themselves to expect one just in case. They reach it and to Olraym it is a whole different experience seeing it in daylight. The high torches are not lit and the houses no longer have a strange look and feel. It looks more like any other village in the Highlands.

  Though they look everywhere for a sign the Starlight Cult is still here their main focus is on the barn. It too looks different: smaller and more natural. Olraym figures it was the fire light and the ominous feeling that morphed the village in his eyes the night before. They reach it and find the barn door open a sliver. Trugaime pushes open the barn door the rest of the way, listening to the creak. There is no one inside, it is empty but the hay on the floor looks disturbed, as if a large group of people have walked all over it within a short time. The trapdoor on the floor is wide open, but Trugaime heads to the ladder for the one on the ceiling, which is also open. Olraym follows her and is curious as to what is up there.

  They reach it and climb through. The whole room is empty but a look from Trugaime tells Olraym that was not always the case. There was something filling this room maybe something important to the Cult.

  “They’ve left, they’re gone,” says Trugaime. She sounds surprised as if she didn’t think Olraym’s blackmail and trickery would work on them, especially after Thorne came in attacking everyone.

  “What was in here?”

  “Equipment,” is her only answer.

  Olraym knows that ‘equipment’ means weapons. There was probably dozens of weapons in here of varying kinds. Swords, axes, bows and arrows, darts like the ones Trugaime has, all kinds of things.

  Trugaime walks around the empty room as if she is seeing what was here, like whatever it was is still in the room. She stops at the sound of a crunch underfoot; she lifts her foot and finds a small pile of ash on the floor. Olraym walks to be next to her and they both kneel down and take a closer look.

  It is hard for either of them to say for sure but it looks like it might have been parchment. Trugaime reaches down and gently spreads it around then stops as she finds a large piece of it still somewhat intact. She lifts it out of the pile and the two stare at it. It is burned all around the edges and is very small and it has a single word on it ‘Olraym’.

  Olraym doesn’t know what the parchment is or what it means now that it is burned, though Trugaime does on both counts.

  “What was it?”

  “It is, was, your Starlight Contract. And now that it is burned no Cultist will target you unless someone else requests it. You’re free.”

  “You mean we are free.”

  Trugaime nods and they both smile, then the smile becomes a chuckle, and then the chuckle becomes a laugh. They laugh so hard and so long they both nearly fall on their sides. As the laughter dies down the lie on their backs staring up at the ceiling, but not really seeing it. They lie there for some time without speaking and they are so close together their sides are touching.

  Suddenly Olraym kisses Trugaime. At first she is shocked but doesn’t try to stop it, but as the kiss goes on she starts kissing back. Soon the kiss turns into something more and they are quickly laying on their own clothes with their arms around each other.

 

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Moira replays that swipe over and over in her head. Like everyone else she holds her breath when the executioner holds the axe high above him for a second. She sees the hold, then the swipe, then the crunch of it landing in Bevil’s neck, first the Hold, then the swipe, and then the crunch.

  Thirty minutes after the head lands in the basket and the basket is taken away by one of the knights the crowd disperses and the executioner leaves, then one by one the rest of the knights leave until Moira is left with five more of them to stay with her. By the time she leaves her chair the main platform is already being slowly taken apart piece by piece. When she leaves more working class peasants come to her platform and soon it is being taken apart as well.

  When she gets back to the castle she cannot help but see how empty it now is. She goes to each of her children’s bed chambers in turn and looks in to them. They are each undisturbed and look to same as they did when they were each in their room last. These empty rooms hit her with empty feelings. Bevil is dead along with Gremborlin, Sertia is gone and probably dead as well and her other two children have been missing for some time now. It is no the thought of ruling alone that saddens her, she is fine with that and believes she can handle it. It is the fact that she just is alone. She is alone now.

  She hears a noise and turns around to find someone rushing towards her. He looks out of breath and maybe excited.  He has something small in his hand, a folded parchment.

  ‘Maybe he has good news.’ Her mind tells her. His bows gracefully, an achievement given he is so out of breath he looks like he is about to fall down. When he rises he gives her the parchment. She takes it and rips off the seal keeping it folded as he walks away. She unfolds it and reads the message. She is shocked at first that it is about Olraym, Trugaime is mentioned but she doesn’t focus on those parts. The message tells her Olraym has again been spotted a mile from Burden, her spies lost track of him after his sudden departure from Burden the day before, and he is now coming back home.

  Moira is so excited by this news she nearly jumps high and screams loudly, ‘for once some good news.’ Though she cannot see anyone around she is sure at least one person in the castle hears her scream. She doesn’t care, she wants to be heard, she wants them to know what is going on, why she is so happy so soon after such an ordeal.

  This is a big deal for her, a big deal for all of Tov’ra. She tells as many people as she can think of to prepare everyone for his triumphant return, even if Trugaime is still with him.

 

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An hour after they start kissing they are redressed and the Cultist village is far behind them. They still go that slow easy pace and don’t stop anymore. When they reach Burden they pass by it with only a small first glance and no second, they hear loud noises from inside by people close to the wall but it is none of their business, not anymore. At first they stop near Burden and they think about getting new horses for the trip back, but they have no coin and nothing to trade for them. Trugaime suggests they try and steal one, by quickly takes it back and they walk away.

  With them not stopping in Burden again they make good time and revisit familiar roads and see familiar sights in the distance only this time they are going the other way, seeing sights from the other side. They smile at the memory of the first time being on these roads and seeing these sights and at what kind of people they were like at the time, as if it was a lifetime ago.

  Their cuts and scrapes are now all but healed, there is not much evidence of a fight, but Olraym’s leg is still sore at times. He leans on his good leg most of the time but tries putting weight on the bad one at times and finds it better.

  They do stop when the day comes to an end. They get off the road and set up camp in a part of grass that goes downhill at a comfortable angle from the road between clusters of thick trees, it is a short distance from the road, but at the same time it is a safe distance from it. The night sky is cloudless and the stars shine as bright as Trugaime has ever seen them through the leaves. The two lie side by side much the same way as they did in the barn, though this time it goes no further as they fall asleep.

  When they wake they stand up together and walk back to the road. Though they have just rested the two are both still exhausted, not from the constant walking that they still have to do but from the mental and physical strain of everything that has happened. To them it is beginning to be too much and they are both glad of each other’s company. Their talks about their lives and important moments in them help some and they speed up a little just to get to Tov’ra and end all this.

  Their walk back lasts just under half the time it took to reach Divinwood, each day they walk slowly and each night they get off the road and sleep in the bushes. On the final day, when they are just about to fall over from the strain and exhaustion Olraym finds a very familiar turn in the road. He grabs Trugaime by the arm and he rushes to the turn, dragging Trugaime behind him.

  They reach the corner and when they see that sweet familiar sight of Tov’ra they laugh and nearly fall over. Then like children they run towards it like it is a loving parent waiting to give them both hugs.