The Cost of Betrayal

30

S cattered among the forest of metal within Brug’s room was a great, hulking axe. One side was enormously thick, the edge sharpened to a lumberjack’s point. Harruq retrieved it, grunting at the weight in his hands. It weighed more than Aullienna. He didn’t know why, but that fact irritated him. He jammed it down on a broken chestplate, frowning as it punched a giant triangular dent across the middle.

“Good enough,” he said. They were the last words he spoke for the next three hours. His breathing ragged, and still wearing the thin sweaty clothes from the morning, he approached the forest. He knew the others watched him. This irritated him even more. The first tree he reached became his victim. Into the air the axe went, lifted high, both hands gripping the far bottom of the handle. When it swung, it swung with anger, with pain. The first bite drawn, he settled in for the rest.

The tree, a spindly, stubborn thing that had lost its leaves early, was just about to fall when Brug appeared.

“Thought someone should show you how to cut a tree properly,” he said, trying to sound callous, unimpressed, or bored. Harruq did not respond, nor did he move out of the way to let the smaller man move in with his thicker axe. So instead, Brug stood by and watched as the tree came tumbling down.

They needed logs, so Harruq began cutting off the branches and placing them in a large pile. Some were just tiny, while others were enormous chunks with many warts and growths. Meanwhile, Brug cut the tree into quarters, hefting the axe high above his head before crashing it down.

Haern arrived then, his hood removed. He knew kindling was needed, so he had retrieved a small hatchet from the tower. The smaller branches he trimmed and smoothed. The larger ones he hacked into smaller pieces. This he did while Harruq split the quarters into more manageable chunks, which Brug took wordlessly. With one great swing, he cut them into perfect sized logs.

With a polite nod to the half-orc, Tarlak arrived. Bearing no axe or hatchet, he instead took the branches to the place where the pyre would burn. Then he came for the logs, carrying them three at a time back toward the tower. He could have used a levitation spell to carry them, but he did not. Without sweat and toil, his help would be meaningless. The two women accepted his gifts with thanks given only in their eyes. It was their duty to prepare the pyre. It would be smaller than normal, much smaller. A web of the thinner twigs and branches formed the center, to give easy life to the fire. Surrounding it went the bigger logs, like a wall protecting a scattered bird nest. One or two thick logs went in the center for support, and then more twigs, branches, even dry leaves, all packed atop everything. They placed more logs around the sides as sweat ran down their necks.

When the pyre neared completion, Aurelia told Tarlak to bring them no more. He nodded, dreading the act. He didn’t want to speak. The silence and backbreaking work had done much to mask the grief that made them toil. A bond formed out of tragedy would soon be broken. His words would break it.

“We’re done here,” the wizard told them, crossing his arms to pull his yellow robe tighter across his chest. A large pile of wood remained to be taken, but they left it abandoned. Harruq plopped the head of his axe to the ground and leaned on the handle.

“You sure?” he asked.

Tarlak nodded. “Yes. I’m sure.”

The four left the woods. It was still the afternoon, but the days had grown shorter. The sun was already speeding its way toward the horizon. The orange light would soon be gone. Come nightfall, the fire would be lit.

Seeing the pyre filled Harruq’s eyes with tears and ripped apart his heart. It looked like an altar, one he would sacrifice his daughter upon. To what god would she go? What purpose? He imagined his own body lying atop of it, his flesh burning in the fire. He would bear it willingly, gladly, if it would bring life back to the water-filled lungs of his daughter. Still, despite all this, the pyre was beautiful. It was made out of love, and all things made this way are beautiful, to those who have the eyes to see it.

He hugged his wife and kissed her forehead.

“Well done,” he said. His voice cracked.

“Help me move her body,” she said.

“Alright. Let me get her.”

She seemed so peaceful, lying on her back with her eyes closed. Just like a nap, he thought. Never mind how blue her lips were, or how pale her skin had become. Just napping.

The weight of her in his arms was greater than he remembered. He held her away from his body, as if her very touch would set fire to his flesh. He walked slowly, a thief approaching the gallows. Her small frame fit snug atop the pyre. Crisscrossing twigs surrounded the very top, and if he stepped back just far enough, he couldn’t see her.

“What do we do until nightfall?” he asked his wife.

“We make our fire,” Delysia answered, touching his arm.

I t was an Eschaton tradition, not an elven one, the business about the fire. Several years before, one of their original members, a wily rogue named Senke, had died in a pointless brawl in a tavern. They had buried him in one of Veldaren’s cemeteries, but they felt it appropriate to honor him in a way all their own. From this came the bonfire. Delysia, Tarlak, Brug and Haern all found an object of theirs, something valuable, and tossed it into a bonfire.

“Why must it be something so valuable?” Aurelia asked as it was explained to her.

“We had lost something dear that day,” Tarlak said. “But it was nothing that belonged to us. I threw my first spellbook into that fire. The hassle, the cost, and the annoyances to regain the knowledge I lost took a mere five months. Before that, I had thought it something I could never live without.” The wizard sighed. “It put things into perspective. Any possession is a possession. Senke was so much more, as was your daughter.”

They piled a few of the remaining logs that Tarlak had brought back next to the pyre and soaked them with oil. The wizard used a tiny spark, just a little magic, to get it burning. Haern was the first to go. He tossed his gray hood upon the flame.

“It is about time the scum feared my real face,” he said, watching it burn as if losing a part of him.

Brug was next.

He pulled out a pouch, shaking it a couple times so everyone could hear the rattle. Yanking the string open with a quivering hand, he spilled out four precious emeralds onto his open palm.

“I was going to make her a necklace,” he said, smiling briefly. “You know, for her birthday.”

He sniffed. Out went his hand, sprinkling the four into the flame.

“Probably would have been an ugly necklace,” he muttered, staring at his feet.

Delysia removed a small gold pendant from around her neck, one shaped in the outline of a mountain.

“I’m sure Ashhur knows you mean no disrespect,” Tarlak said as she tossed it upon the fire.

“He’d better.”

Tarlak’s laughter was forced, and did not last long. Into his pocket went his hand, coming out with a single scroll. He read its words, the scroll in one hand, his staff in the other. At the end, the scroll shriveled, and a great shimmer went across the staff. This done, he let it fall into the fire.

“Had to make sure it would actually burn,” he chuckled.

It was Harruq’s turn. He sighed, unfolding the bundle in his hands. It was the cape Delysia had made him for his wedding.

“Always thought I looked good in it,” he said. He felt his wife wrap an arm around him, and it gave him the strength he needed. He folded it into the fire, careful not to let it drop flat and snuff the flame. The fine material caught and burned. Aurelia looked around to the others, and then removed a thin silk cloth wrapped around her gift. It was a bouquet of flowers.

“Harruq gave me these a long time ago,” she said, looking at them lovingly. “I’ve kept them alive. I don’t know why I did, even then. But I don’t need to know anymore.”

She threw them into the fire. They were consumed. In silence, the group stood. They watched the flickering of the flame, enjoying the warmth and loathing the meaning.

“I don’t think I should be giving a eulogy,” Tarlak said. He glanced around, tucked his arms, untucked them, and then continued. “But someone should say something, and it always seems to be me that does. So I’ll do it again.”

He turned to the parents, their arms wrapped about each other’s waists for support.

“I’ve never been around a baby,” he said. “Never. The crying, the feeding, the constant yelling at you to take care of her, Ashhur spare me such a fate. But we loved her here. I was hoping one day she might grow up and, well, learn a little from me. I wanted to show her a thing or two, and be there when she cast her first spell. I’ve never had a student, but I’m sure she would have been a great one. I know you two loved her, more than us. My hurt, I’m sure it pales, but it’s there, and Ashhur help me should such a day as this come to my heart. But to Ashhur she has gone. He has always said the lives of children belong to him, and to each one he will open his arms and embrace. If Ashhur grants me the same welcome, the first person I’ll ask to see is that little brown-haired girl, to see how she’s grown. To see…”

He stopped to swallow, and then stared into the fire.

“Thank you,” Harruq said. “For everything.”

“We owe you two for all of it,” Delysia said. “For the time we had with her, on behalf of us all, thank you.”

Two tears, running twin paths down each cheek, lined Aurelia’s smile.

“You’re welcome,” she said.

“It’s dark enough,” the wizard said. “It’s time.”

H arruq demanded the task be his. He dipped a branch halfway into the fire, letting it heat and burn for several minutes until it was solidly lit. His heart in his throat, he turned to the pyre. The rest of the Eschaton surrounded it, their faces somber. He wiped his sniffling nose on his other sleeve and then, slowly, reluctantly, lit the fence of twigs lining the outer rim of the pyre. As it caught, he stared at the face of his daughter. The feeling was surreal, but he knew whatever it was that had made his daughter able to love, to feel, to cling to his leg and look up with an emotion purer than anything in the world, was gone from that body. For the first time, he saw her truly dead.

He dropped the branch into the fire, put his arm around Aurelia’s waist, and stood straight. He watched the pyre burn. He felt his wife’s head rest against his shoulder, and the wetness there he knew was tears. All about, the others watched in silence. Brighter and brighter the fire grew. Smoke poured up, first light, and then a heavy billowing shield, protecting him from the sight of that little angel, chubbier than most elven girls, taller, her skin soft and her smile innocent and wonderful, being consumed by the fire. No animals sounded in the newly come night, and it seemed even the stars watched in sorrow at that small flicker of flame.

Harruq swore upon the pyre to avenge the loss of his daughter. He hated the bitter feeling welling within, but he could not deny it, only succumb and feed the entity. Under red visions of rage, he imagined killing his brother, ramming his sword through his forehead, shoving every shred of pain he felt into a crimson blade drenched with blood. Vengeance. Gods help him, it was all that gave him comfort.

But for the first time the images broke, unable to stand beneath their horrid weight. He was not a monster. He was not what Qurrah thought he was. He leaned his neck atop Aurelia’s head, their arms holding each other tight as they swayed in the heat of the pyre. In his heart, he cast aside his vengeance.

“It’s all right,” he whispered. Aurelia did not know to whom he spoke. “It’s all right. We’ll be all right. Everything will be all right.”

She turned away from the fire and buried her face into his neck.

They stood before the flame for more than an hour. At last, Tarlak put a hand on their shoulders and led them back to the tower for the rest they so desperately needed. Delysia went as well, preparing their bed and doing her best to remove bits and things of Aullienna’s before they arrived.

Brug and Haern, side by side in the orange light, held their solemn stand.

“What kind of man can kill another’s daughter?” Haern whispered to the pyre. “What kind of monster?”

“It doesn’t take a monster,” Brug whispered back. “It’s the act that makes you one.”

From his pocket, Haern pulled out the green ribbon he had offered Aullienna on the day of her birth. On it was the vow of the Eschaton to protect her. Haern dropped it into the fire, wondering how he had so miserably failed such a vow. Brug saw and clapped the assassin on the back. They left without another word. Unwatched, the ribbon burned and blackened until nothing but ash remained of the love that had made it.

Q urrah Tun stood below the star-filled sky, his body a motionless statue, his arms out at his sides and his legs stiff. His neck ached, and his clenched fists trembled with each ragged breath he took.

He wept, the stars his only witness.