Ascent From Ash, page 21
When the gurgling stopped, Nohan collapsed in front of Gabe who still had Nohan’s sword through his abdomen. Akiri ran to Gabe’s side to support him.
“You heard him, He’s dead! Leave my Kingdom, and never return.” Akiri shouted. The sound of heavy armor retreating was all Gabe heard before his vision tunneled and he felt his body collapse in Akiri’s arms.
“Help me please!” She screamed as Gabe’s light faded away. Kamara and Dominic cradled his shoulders, as Bastian supported his legs. They carried him inside and straight to the kitchen.
“Nadine, help him, please.” Akiri pleaded. Nadine rushed over to them and saw the sword in Gabe’s middle. She looked at Gabe, and then Akiri with tears in her eyes.
“I am sorry, Your Grace, his wounds are too great. I told you that I am not a cleric, I can’t heal his severed organs.” Nadine’s face streamed with tears as Akiri’s scream of anguish filled the room. They laid Gabe on an empty bedroll, his breaths were shallow and his heartbeat had slowed. There was a trail of blood droplets from the front door to the bedroll where he now rested. Akiri curled up beside him with her head on the bedroll next to his. She kissed his face as she sobbed and he reached for her hand. His grip was weak, but she held onto it firmly.
“My love for you will never die.” Gabe’s raspy voice whispered in Akiri’s ear.
“I will love you forever. I am so sorry, Gabe.” She held him even after his breathing stopped, and his heart was still, she lay beside her husband until his body went cold and Dominic finally helped her to her feet.
“My Queen, would you like something for the pain?” Nadine asked. Akiri didn’t know if there was anything that could take away the pain of a broken heart, but she was willing to try anything.
“Would you please get her cleaned up and settled in bed? I will bring her some tea.” Nadine asked. The two chambermaids that had been helping her nodded and helped Akiri to her room. It wasn’t her room- it was Gabe’s room. Her cries of sorrow returned as the chamber maids scrubbed Akiri’s body clean of the blood and dirt from battle. They dressed her in a loose-fitting gown and helped her to bed. One of them grabbed a warming pan and slid in under the covers at Akiri’s feet, and the other girl knelt at Akiri’s bedside and stroked her hair as she mourned her husband.
“Here you go, this will help you get some sleep.” Nadine came in carrying a cup of tea. Akiri sat up and took the cup from her.
“Uggh, this smells like sweaty stockings, what is this?” Akiri asked with a look of disgust.
“It’s tea made from the root of valerian, a wonderful flower with powerful medicinal properties,” Nadine explained. “It has honey in it too, so I promise it won’t taste as bad as it smells.”
Akiri held her breath and drank it down. Nadine was right about the honey making it palatable. She handed the cup back to Nadine with her thanks and then snuggled back down into her comforter. Nadine left the room quietly, but one of the chambermaids stayed behind to keep watch over The Queen.
39
Kamara
The entire castle was in mourning. The damages from the battle had been catastrophic, not only to Akiri, who lost her husband but to every citizen of Ash who lost their homes and their livelihoods. The city had been burned to the ground, and not a single structure stood unscathed, not even the castle. The Western tower was crumbling, and the dragon-sized crossbow had been ripped from the East tower and now lay on the ground beneath it like a pile of old junk, broken and beyond repair. The men who survived the battle cradled their sons, friends, fathers, or neighbors that didn’t make it through the battle alive.
Sorrow hung like a heavy cloud over all of them. Kamara, Dominic, and Bastian all sat in the council chamber at the long table. They were silent for a long time, contemplating their next move. “I checked on Her Grace this morning, she was still sleeping. She didn’t touch her breakfast.” I’m worried about her,” Kamara said.
“Me too, but we still have to tell Sophie.” Dominic looked at Kamara, who looked at Bastian.
“I know, he was her best friend, she loved him. I knew the first night we met when he asked to cut in during our dance. The way she looked at him… I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t a little jealous.” Bastian looked away from them with shame in his eyes.
“What are we going to do about all these people and Akiri? I mean, they can’t stay here, this place is nothing but...ash.” Kamara asked. They all realized how ironic it was, like the name of the Kingdom had been prophesied from the start.
“We could offer to take her back to Temple Ophay. We will leave there one day to rule Ledora anyway, and it will be good for Akiri to have friends in her court.” Dominic suggested.
“Do you think she will go for it? I mean, leaving your home after you’ve lost everything else seems like a kick while you’re down.”
“Why don’t you talk to her about it, I will fly to Ledora and break the news to Sophie, Bastian, do you want to come with me?” Dominic asked. Bastian agreed but thought the news would be easier to hear coming from someone who knew them well.
“I’ll let you do the talking, and I will be the shoulder,” he said.
When Dominic and Bastian left, Kamara went to Akiri’s chamber. Kamara looked at the tray on the nightstand, Akiri’s breakfast was still untouched. She hadn’t even sipped her water.
“Honey, come on, you have to take care of yourself." Kamara was nervous as she approached the Queen. Her eyes were open, but they were glossed over like she was somewhere else. Akiri was afraid that something bad had happened. She sat on the bed next to Akiri and put her finger under her nose. Akiri’s warm breath warmed Kamara’s finger and she sighed in relief that Akiri was responsive.
“You want me to make you something different to eat?” She asked.
“More tea.” Akiri’s mouth was muffled against the pillow and she made no effort to move.
“I think you should wake up, maybe take a bath, or get some air maybe?” Kamara urged.
“When I sleep, I dream of Gabe, when I wake up, he’s dead. I don’t want to wake up. It’s all my fault.” Akiri turned over, but her shoulders heaved and shook. Kamara knew she was crying.
“I know, it’s hard, but you have to get up or the grief will swallow you whole. Come on, one step at a time, let’s try sitting up.” Kamara tried to help Akiri sit up, but she groaned and rolled herself into her comforter. “Akiri, please.”
“Just leave me alone,” Akiri groaned.
“Okay, well, I have something I want to talk to you about and it’s pretty important. You are the Queen, so I can’t make this decision for you.”
“It doesn’t matter, there’s nothing left for me to rule, my people are gone, their homes are destroyed, and we lost so many good people. That’s all on me. It’s my fault.”
“It’s not your fault at all, Nohan was a terrible person and his actions are on him, not you,” Kamara argued. Akiri sat up and looked Kamara in the eye.
“You don’t understand, when I was captured, he told me that all he wanted was half a clutch of pure dragon eggs. He said that if I complied, then I could take half our eggs and come back to Ash with future dragons to protect the Kingdom.” Akiri wiped tears from her face. “He coerced me into copulating with him by dangling my Kingdom and my husband in front of me like some prize I had to earn. I finally figured out a way to escape and I had only ever seen two of them, Nohan, and the one in the dragon mask. I didn’t think he had that much support, so I risked it to come home, I put all of you in danger and now Gabe is dead. I’ve lost him forever now because I was selfish, and only thought about getting home.” Akiri leaned her head against Kamara’s shoulder.
“I know you feel like you can’t forgive yourself, but believe me when I tell you that Gabe was ready to go to war to find you, if you hadn’t come home, we would have taken the fight to Choddrath. There’s no telling if it would have turned out differently, but we can’t let the past beat us down, we can only move forward and worry about the future, and right now, there are a lot of people that are depending on you to lead them. Now, I know there is nothing left here, but Dominic and I have been thinking that you could move your people to Ophay. Dominic and I will have to rule Ledora someday, and we can’t possibly be in two places at once, maybe it’s time for a fresh start for you and your people and it will be good for you to have friends nearby.” Kamara said. Akiri nodded and smiled. This was the first time anyone in her life had called her a friend. She wrapped her arms around Kamara and hugged her tightly.
“I will think about it,” Akiri said.
“Okay. There’s one other thing, Dominic is going to have your people shipped back here for the funeral of those we lost during the battle. Gabe’s body has been prepared, but with the future location of the kingdom in question, we were wondering if you would like for us to prepare a pyre so that we might collect Gabe’s ashes in an urn so that you can take him with you?”
“I do think that is best, but we will need three urns, one for Gabe’s mother, one for me, and one for Sophie. She will be mourning too, and I think she should carry a piece of him with her too.” She started to cry again, and Kamara just held her in her arms and rubbed a comforting hand on her back. Kamara couldn’t imagine the pain Akiri was feeling, she didn’t want to think about ever losing Dominic. Her heart broke for Akiri, there were no words that would comfort her or lessen the pain, so they sat in silent despair well into the afternoon. When lunch was delivered to them, Kamara was able to coax Akiri to eat a little. She thought of Sophie, and knew that the grief she felt being here with Akiri, would be doubled when Sophie returned.
40
Sophie
The beach on the Western shore of Ledora was a little rockier than the beach on the Eastern side. Sophie had not gone to the castle or the Golden City. She stayed on the beach all night, waiting for Bastian to come and tell her that the battle was won. He promised that he would come back to her. She felt so helpless. She could still cast, and she could have helped, but Bastian insisted that she go to Ledora.
Sophie spent two days on the ship to get to Ledora, and she now had spent the night on the beach, waiting for news, so when she finally saw two dragons soaring her way in the early afternoon, she was overcome with joy. She watched Dominic and Bastian land on the beach and ran over to greet them, but stopped short when she saw their sullen faces.
“What happened?” Sophie asked.
“Maybe you should sit down,” Dominic suggested.
“Just tell me, please,” she said. Dominic tried to gather himself, to find the right words. No amount of delicacy was going to soften this blow and he knew it was going to be hard news to hear.
“It’s Gabe, Sophie…” Dominic’s voice cracked as he choked back tears. “He didn’t make it out of the battle.” he finished.
Sophie stepped away from them with her mouth open and her hands clasped tightly over it. She shook her head in disbelief.
“No, no, please tell me it isn’t true.” Her hands shook as she spoke.
“I’m sorry, Sophie, I know how much he meant to you.” Bastian moved forward to hold her and she collapsed into his arms and cried.
“I’m going to go get dressed and then gather Akiri’s people and have them go to the ships, are you okay here with Sophie?” Dominic asked as he handed Bastian a change of clothes from the bag he brought with them.
“We’ll be okay, we will meet you back at the castle,” Bastian said.
Bastian put his trousers on so that at least he wasn’t completely nude, and then sat down beside Sophie in one of the very few patches of soft sand on the rocky beach. He put his arm around her as she tried to stifle her tears. He didn’t speak, and Sophie wasn’t ready to talk about it, so they listened only to the ocean waves lapping onto the shore, and the sound of the seagulls overhead. Sophie laid down and rested her head on Bastian’s thigh. He stroked her hair, and let her tears dampen his trouser leg.
“Hey, maybe we should go eat something before we go back,” Bastian suggested. Sophie agreed and stood up. She had cried out all the tears she had left and now there was a painful throbbing at her temples and behind her eyes which she was sure were puffy and as red as her hair.
Bastian and Sophie walked into the Western gate of The Golden City and found a tavern that was still serving lunch. The smell of seafood chowder greeted them as they walked through the tavern door and Sophie’s stomach grumbled. She hadn’t even realized how hungry she was. They each ordered a bowl of chowder and a basket of fresh rolls.
Even though she was hungry, Sophie ate a roll, then took one bite of chowder and instantly felt ill. Her skin paled from its normal rosy complexion and she had to push the bowl away so that the smell wouldn’t be as strong.
“Are you okay?” Bastian asked.
“I’m- nope!” Sophie clutched her mouth as she shot up from her seat and ran to the privy, which was in the garden outside the back door of the tavern. Sophie never ran so fast in her life and barely got her face over the chamber pot before the bread she had eaten made a reappearance, accompanied by an acidic fluid that she didn’t remember ever ingesting. Sophie drew some water from the well to wash out the chamber pot and she cupped her hands and brought the fresh water to her mouth to rinse out the taste. She had almost finished when Bastian came out to check on her.
“How are you feeling?” He asked.
“Not great, but better than I was a minute ago.”
“I already paid so we can go back to the castle and rest before we fly back to Ash.” Bastian put his arm around her and she leaned into him as they left the tavern.
Dominic was directing groups of people to the caravan of wagons when they arrived at the castle. He carried bags for elderly citizens and helped others who could not walk long distances into the wagon.
“Hi, glad you made it back, we have one more group after this, they’re finishing up lunch in the banquet hall right now. Feel free to freshen up or get some rest, I will have Hannah come wake you for dinner and we can fly out just after sunset.” Dominic said.
“Okay, we will see you at dinner.” Bastian smiled and patted Dominic on the shoulder. This side of Dominic was not one that Bastian had ever been here to witness before. He admired Dominic’s helpful nature and thought about what a great king he was going to make someday.
Sophie’s room was just as she had left it the last time she was in Ledora. The dress she had worn to the ball the night she found out that Gabe was engaged to Akiri caught her eye as they walked in. It had been freshly laundered and hung on the hook beside the wardrobe. Sophie had purchased many dresses since she started participating in court life, the wardrobe was full of them. She opened the door to the old armoire and slid the dresses one at a time from the right to the left until she found a black one. It was made of lace and tulle. Sophie rubbed the material between her fingers as she pulled it from the cabinet and held it up.
“What are you doing?” Bastian asked.
“I need something to wear for the funeral, I should pack it,” Sophie said, the sadness on her face was apparent and Bastian wished he could take it away, and carry it for her somehow, but he knew that it was not possible.
“Kamara told Dominic that we would hold the funeral as soon as we got back, maybe instead of packing it, you should wear it.” Bastian walked up behind Sophie and wrapped his arms around her. He kissed the top of her head as she continued to examine the dress.
“I think I will wear it, that’s a good idea.” Sophie yawned, and Bastian took the freshly laundered dress off the hook, hung it inside the wardrobe, and then hung Sophie’s funeral dress in its place. He led Sophie to the bed and pulled down the comforter, blanket, and sheet for her to crawl into it.
“Are you going to lay with me?” Sophie asked.
“If you want me to, but if you need space, I can sleep in the chair,” he replied.
“No, I need you to hold me, I feel so lonely, and if you were not here… I don’t even want to think about that.” Sophie said.
Sophie was laying on her left side and Bastian crawled into bed behind her and held her close. He felt her body heaving as she started to cry again, but he continued to hold her and softly kiss her hair now and again until she fell asleep. He knew that he should get some rest too, but he couldn’t. He was worried about Sophie and wanted to be awake if she needed him.
When Hannah came to tell them that it was time for dinner, Bastian got up first and heated some water for the wash basin so that Sophie could wash up. He brought her a warm, wet, face towel so that she could wash the sleep from her eyes. She stood up and stretched, bending forward to touch her toes, and then to each side to loosen the muscles that had tensed up from crying.
Sophie was wearing trousers and a blue tunic and a brown leather belt which she thought was good enough for dinner. “I’ll change after dinner,” Sophie said as Bastian began laying out her dress to make getting into it easier.
“Okay, It will be ready for you,” he said with all the smile he could muster. He could feel her pain, like a blacksmith’s vise crushing his chest and he knew that her pain must be a thousand times worse than that.
“I’m ready, let’s get this over with,” Sophie said.
“We don’t have to go, I can ask Hannah to bring our dinner up here if you’re not ready.”
“No, I need to face this.” Sophie took in a deep breath and looked at the door.
“I’ll be right beside you.”
The table was set when they arrived in the banquet hall. King Haki, Prince Dominic, and Princess Kamara were already seated at one end of the table. Hannah led Sophie and Bastian to the chairs across from them and as soon as they were seated a server filled their drinking cups with water.
