Page 115 of Memory of Ashes

Casyl

A knock at the door interrupted Casyl’s grief. Amelia’s last moments replayed in his mind. Her face before the rift closed had been contorted in pain. He’d only ever caused her suffering. He shook his head and stood to open the door.

Ruven was on the other side.

“I’ve got something for you.” He walked in uninvited. “Amelia gave it to me for safekeeping when she went with you to rescue Tharos. I’d forgotten about it until I found it in my saddlebag.”

He pulled what looked like a bundle of rags from inside his shirt. He passed it to Casyl.

“What is it?”

“Open it.”

As he unravelled the fabric, the weight in his hands felt familiar. Broken shards emerged from between its folds.

Amelia had repaired part of the figurine where the fragment had been incorrectly placed by his own hands, but its face remained missing.

His hands shook as they closed around it.

She had preserved it.

*

They left that afternoon, riding freely down the high road, knowing they now wouldn’t be attacked.

As they approached the border, Casyl stopped.

He couldn’t go back to the fortress, to their home, not knowing that his men were still trapped. He needed to try.

“You need to go on without me.”

“I’ll come with you,” Ruven said.

He knew without asking where he was going.

“No. You need to get the men home. You’re my second-in-command now, after all.”

Ruven began to protest.

“Must I order you to do this?” He was in no mood to argue. Being king should surely give him some advantages, such as having his orders followed without question.

“Yes, you must. You can’t go back into the forest alone.”

“I will return. Either when I have news or when I bring Tharos and the men home.”

“Will you?” Ruven asked, his brows raised.

“Hold the fort, Ruven.”

He clasped his friend’s hand before heading back towards the mountain.

*

The ancient oaks towered above him as they shielded the mountain from view. He wasn’t sure what he was going to do, but he had to try.

The men Elthar had left to keep watch started at his arrival but left him alone, observing from a distance with curiosity.

The ancient forest was quiet. There was little sign that a battle had recently taken place until he saw the carnage left by the creatures.