Joshua Simon - Forgotten Soldiers

Dekar whistled low.

I blinked. “Wow. What happened next?”

Ava took another swallow of honey. “He began slowly taking the army south, following the path that I think he expected you took to get home. It was like he was daring the citizens in other towns to try something similar to Damanhur.”

“What did the king do?” I asked.

“He sent a small team of our best High Mages to take Balak down and regain control of the army. The king had a lot of cleanup to do in the public’s eyes and there would be no satisfying end to Balak except one that involved his death.”

“Considering how much they hated Balak, the High Mages must have loved those orders,” I said.

“They did,” said Ava. “Until they got there. Balak must have anticipated the king using the High Mages and created a bodyguard of those resistant to sorcery. We received word later that they never leave his side. The High Mages didn’t have a chance with their sorcery negated. Only one lived long enough to tell us what happened.”

“The world keeps getting crazier,” said Ira.

I grunted in agreement. “How does all this relate to the artifact?”

“The king, like everyone else in Hol, was worried Balak would just decide to march on the capital and take Turine for himself. Who could stop him? The king wanted him removed immediately, but the forces he still commanded were too small and the High Mages were obviously hesitant to send more of their own against him. I sat in on those meetings. It wasn’t pretty. On top of everything already spinning around, there was a huge undercurrent of what the Geneshans would do once they got word that the Turine army was now under the control of a renegade. They could invade Turine again and we’d be defenseless to stop them if Balak chose not to get involved.”

“So, out of options, the king instructed the High Mages to use the Geneshan artifact,” I said.

Ava nodded. “The plan was to use the power of the artifact to initiate a massive transfer portal from Hol to Balak’s location. They’d bring in the king’s personal guard along with every other mage available. The hope was to hit Balak hard and in all the confusion seize him.”

“And you left?” I asked.

“Snuck away that morning, right before they attempted the transfer portal. I didn’t sign up for that. I felt the power of that artifact. And I sat in on some of the preliminary studies of it. The Geneshans had every right to be scared of using it.”

Dekar grunted. “Obviously.”

“Well, at least the worst of it seems to be over,” said Ira.

“I’m not sure,” said Ava.

“What do you mean?” Dekar asked. “People are getting better. You’re finally up.”

“Yes, but everything we learned about that Geneshan prophecy hinted that using the artifact would be the end of the world. Balls of fire dropping from the sky, earthquakes, and so on. If you can think of something bad, it’s supposed to happen after using this thing.”

Ira stood. “C’mon. I bet most of those stories are just meant to scare little children.”

“Explain the sky then,” Dekar said to his brother. “It doesn’t matter what time it is, day or night, but you can still see these bright colors over in the direction of Hol.”

Ira waved a hand. “Just residual effects from the artifact. We’ve seen stuff like that on the battlefield before.”

“Nothing like this,” said Dekar.

“It’ll fade eventually.” Ira walked to the window, peering out in the direction of Hol. He grunted and then went quiet.

Ira going quiet was never a good thing.

“What?” I asked.

“The sky’s changed.”

“Changed how?” asked Ava, sitting up a bit more.

“Well, it’s pulsing now. Going real bright, reds and oranges getting deeper in color. Then it dims, and it’s like its drawing itself back in.” He shrugged. “I guess the sorcery is fading already.”

“Tyrus, get me to the window,” said Ava.

She began to tuck the sheet underneath her legs and nudge herself over to the side of the bed.

“Are you sure? You haven’t walked in days. Your legs might give out on you.”

“I need to see things for myself.”

Dekar came around and helped me guide her to the window. Ava didn’t shy away from his touch. Unlike the rift her and Ira always had, she and Dekar got along well.

She put her head down as sunlight touched her eyes. “Tyrus, I need my hand back or I won’t be able to see anything. If you’re unwilling to let me go yet, then grab my shoulder.”

I did, and she used the free hand to shield her eyes.

She stared toward Hol for some time. We all did, actually. Confirming what Ira said about the pulses.

After a minute, Ira couldn’t keep quiet. “Well? Was I right?”

“No,” said Ava. “It may be pulsing, but it’s not going to fade away. It would have done that by now if that were the case. I think its building up for another eruption.”

“You mean where we all feel like garbage again?” asked Ira.

“That, and probably more,” said Ava. “We need to leave Denu Creek, Tyrus.”

“And go where?” I asked. “If this is the end of the world, we can’t outrun it.”

“Maybe. Maybe not. I’d rather at least try to go somewhere else than just sit and wait for whatever hell that artifact is going to cause. Who knows, if we get far enough away from Hol, the effects might be weaker. Maybe it’s just the end of the Geneshans’ world, not everyone’s.”

“I could buy that,” said Ira.

“What about you, Dekar?” I asked.

“It’s worth a shot.”

“All right, then where do we go?” I asked as we all stared toward Hol.

The sky pulsed brighter than it had before, bringing in hues of purple to mix with the reds and oranges. For a moment I thought my mind had played tricks on me, until a small gasp from Ava.

She clicked her tongue. “I’d say as far away as we can, big brother. And soon.”

* * *

Ava wanted to stay up longer to discuss our plans, but her lack of strength betrayed her when she needed Dekar and I to hold her up. We carried her back to bed, forced her to stay awake long enough to eat another biscuit and drink some water. Then I told her to get some sleep.

She never liked being bossed around, which was a testament to just how tired she was since she didn’t argue once. As soon as she lay down, she was asleep. She didn’t even wake when we started talking about where we should go.

The discussion didn’t last long, though, when I remembered that both of our horses had died after the initial eruption so our wagon was essentially useless.

In light of that, I sent Dekar and Ira out to see what sort of animals were available in town. I told them to buy something decent with the junk we had been given.

It wasn’t long after that I closed my eyes as well, leaning over my chair, head resting on Ava’s bed.

Myra and Zadok nudged me shortly afterward. Both insisted I go sleep in the other room. They said they would take over. I didn’t protest. Ava’s condition had improved dramatically and my body ached from being stuck in too many awkward positions the last few days.

Worried about what nightmares might plague my dreams, I almost said a prayer to Molak to ease my mind.

Almost.

I fell asleep before I made that mistake.

Two days later and life went on. People kept bringing us stuff, some junk, some valuable. Most of it I turned away only to find later that Ira had brought it back inside while I slept. We got into a couple arguments about that until I decided it wasn’t worth the trouble. Whatever was useless, I’d just make him leave behind anyway.

It took over a day to get mounts secured, mainly because Ira had been adamant about inspecting every horse in excruciating detail. He didn’t want to take any chances. The two he settled on cost nearly ten times what they normally would, but considering so many animals had died in the eruption, it had definitely become a seller’s market.