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Something inside me was screaming to stop, to let them live. I had never done something quite so callous, but I didn’t care.
Not anymore.
Not when everything was so covered in blood.
I pushed that voice away, shoved it in that dark hole with all of that pain as I watched the last of them slide into the open maw of the ground.
Their screams were still echoing behind me as I sealed the ground together; the planes of dirt and mud closing as though it was nothing more than a mouth snapping shut. I released my hold on my magic, the growl of the world slowing to a low rumble and then to silence as I walked away into the night, the last scream of the last living man falling to nothing.
My body was roaring in agony, each step becoming more and more excruciating as the squelch of my own blood slid against my boots. I shouldn't be standing up, let alone walking, but I forced myself forward, knowing there were reeds that grew by the road that I could use to stitch myself back together and allow my body to heal. I had always healed faster than others, this would be like every other time.
This couldn’t be the end. I wouldn’t let this be the end.
My fingers slid against the warm blood that was trickling from the hole in my gut, the long slender harpoon having moved straight through. The long lines of the barbs that were usually used to hook the fish were clearly visible against the leather of my tunic, the hole in the middle wide enough I was sure I could press my thumb into the wound.
That I could press a few fingers straight through.
So much bigger that I had thought.
I usually carried powder to stop the flow of blood, but even if I had anything on me it would not have been enough to stop this. I needed to reach those reeds. I needed to find a needle and thread. I needed to find Jayse; tell her I was sorry. Tell her that everything was wrong.
The sun was down, leaving only me and the stars as I trudged down the road, my blood soaked footsteps following me like a long cape. It would have been beautiful, these stars that reminded me so much of that night when I promised Jayse I would stop killing, that I would settle down with her. But that was as long ago as the night I watched Lily fade into another smothering abyss. All the darkness, sucking everything in my life away. It was all there was, a hollow void that took everything. It would make sense it would take me too.
But not yet, I still had a Queen to kill.
Cresting the hill, I caught sight of a lantern of a wagon swaying amongst the stars near the horizon. The spot of light bounced over the road, the yellow flame dragging through the ebony night and leaving streaks of yellow and gold behind. Just like the stars that were spinning overhead, all of that inky black turned into beautiful streaks of light. So much light, swirling everywhere, swirling around me. It swallowed the pitch until everything was flashing in pops of gold and silver.
“Beautiful.” I lifted my hand, reaching for all of that light, ready to ask it for help.
I didn’t even get a word out before all those spinning lights went sideways and the taste of dirt mixed with my own blood filled my mouth.
Then everything went black.
Chapter 24
Caspyn
Iheard the creaking first.
The sound was familiar from all the panel wagons I had traveled in with the Wave Walkers when moving from Qit to Qit, or from every time I had needed to stow away in a farmer’s carriage to get past the guard at the gates of Turin. But to hear it now, right after I had died, seemed an odd thing. Everything my mother had told me said that the endless gardens that the Goddess tended for the afterlife were full of bliss and beauty, not pain and the smell of blood, sweat, and food left too long in the rain.
It also seemed an odd thing to be in quite as much pain as I was, having just died. Of course, with all I had done in my life the gardens of the Goddess would not have been tended for me. Which meant that this was the dark underworld that was cultivated by the sister. My mother had warned me of this place, and now I had arrived.
I attempted to shift my weight, to open my eyes, to do anything to see what this underworld was and why it hurt so much, but pain lashed through me with the slightest motion and I let out a sound that was half wince, half shout. The loud growl echoed against the creaking of the wagon, an angry horse answering in distaste.
“Easy there, you don’t want to tear anything.” The smooth male voice was as calm as the waves in the middle of the night whispered over the creaking, warm hands immediately pressing against my abdomen, right where the pain was.
Right where that harpoon had cut its way through me.
“I’m mighty glad you survived that, friend, but you move too quick and you’re going to ruin all of Lyani’s hard work,” his voice remained calm as his hands pressed against my wound, the warmth of his touch flooding over everything and shaving down the hard edge of that pain.
I tried to shift again, to look at whoever was next to me, but one movement sent pain cutting and slicing through me again. That time I truly cried out in agony.
The man tsk’d slightly, although the horse whinnied as if he was the one giving reprimands. The low mumbles of the driver hissed through the creaking wagon as he tried to calm the beast.
“You should have known better. Here.” The stranger’s hands moved from my abdomen to my shoulders as he pushed me down, shifting me right into the position I had been attempting. My eyes pulled open painfully as though they had been glued in place.
The roof of the wagon came into focus first, the painted wood illuminated by a lantern that swung on a hook causing a sway of light that was both hypnotic and nausea inducing. The bright glow of the flame sent ribbons of light and shadow dancing around each other with each sway, revealing the wagon’s walls that were lined with what looked to be pack rolls and bags upon bags of dried goods, enough food to feed an army. Now I knew where the smell of damp grain was coming from. The hypnotic glow of the small space was warm and welcoming, the wagon well-kept even if it had a stale aroma of dust and grain mixed with my blood.
