Sovereign

CHAPTER 36

Lynan gave Kendra to his Chetts for one day. He left the city and rode to the top of Ebrius Ridge. Korigan, Gudon and a small escort of Red Hands came with him. He had wanted Ager to come too, but the crookback was nowhere to be found. The last anyone had seen of him he was by the bedside of Prince Olio.

From the ridge Lynan looked down and could see a dozen fires burning in the city. Even this high up he could hear the screams of the dying as the Chetts slew those who tried to stop their looting. He wanted to turn the horse around and ride away, and not stop until he came to the Oceans of Grass and the kind of freedom he knew he would never experience again. He had not realised when he crossed back to the east what he was going to lose, that more than the lives of his friends would be sacrificed to secure the throne.

But Lynan could not turn away. All of this was his doing. He could no longer blame Orkid and Dejanus for all the suffering now experienced by the people of Kendra.

He stayed on the ridge until the sun set. For a moment the dying light blazed off the four Keys of Power hanging around his neck. Kestrel Bay shimmered. When night came the stars were blotted out by smoke rising from the city.

Gudon dismounted and took the reins of his horse. 'Your Red Hands have made a camp for you. Let me take you there.'

Lynan looked out over Kendra, aglow with fire, and said in a voice so quiet that only Korigan and Gudon could hear, 'What have I done?'

'Why, my lord,' Korigan replied as Gudon led his horse away from the ridge, 'you have destroyed a Kingdom. And now…'

He heard her sigh deeply. '… and now you must create another.'