The Shadows of Grace

14

B ecause of their proximity to the walls, they heard the sudden call of alarm.

“What are they shouting?” Harruq asked, staring at the soldiers atop the white outer wall.

“Well, let me find out,” Tarlak said. He put down his food, swirled his hands, and moments later vanished with a ‘pop.’ High atop the wall he reappeared, startling a nearby guard so badly that he nearly fell. Tarlak grabbed his shoulder and pulled him to safety, smiling and saying something that Harruq couldn’t make out.

“Guy’s going to get himself killed one day doing that,” Harruq said as he watched Tarlak point to something in the distance.

“If I had to make a wager,” Aurelia said, “it’d be that when Tarlak dies, it’s at the hand of a friend. It only seems appropriate.”

“Gambling’s a dangerous vice,” Lathaar said as he and Mira strolled over, hand in hand. “Especially over the death of a friend, and by another friend you say?”

“Easy way to win,” Aurelia said with a wink. “I roast him with a fireball and claim the coin.”

More guards pointed, and Tarlak looked down at them and shouted.

“What’d he say?” Harruq asked.

“I think he said Dieredon,” Aurelia said. She waved her arms, ripped open a small portal, and stepped through, reappearing at Tarlak’s side. Harruq grumbled.

“They get nifty magic, and I stab people with pointy objects,” he said. “How is this fair?”

“Life’s not fair,” Mira said, smiling at him even though she pressed against Lathaar’s side as if to hide.

Harruq grunted.

More guards shouted along the top wall, and accompanying their shouts the gigantic gate groaned to life. Harruq and the others hurried to it, curious as to what the commotion was all about. They waited before the gates as a thin sliver of daylight pressed through. Harruq sighed as he saw a white horse with wings banking low, straight for them.

“It’s Dieredon,” he said.

“Someone rides with him,” Mira said, squinting at his approach. A sudden hiss of air behind them signaled Tarlak’s return.

“Lathaar old buddy,” the mage said, wrapping an arm around the paladin. “You’ve got one awesome surprise waiting for you.”

Dieredon’s horse banked lower to the ground, and with a beautiful display of wings, she flapped and reared back, halting their momentum. When she landed, the elf atop her back leaped off and bowed, and in doing so, revealed his passenger, who smiled and waved.

“I don’t believe it,” Lathaar said, his jaw dropping.

“Miss me?” Jerico asked as soldiers swarmed around them, preparing their immediate audience with the queen.

“Told you,” Tarlak said, laughing and slapping him on the back. Lathaar was too stunned to respond.

H is discussions with the queen ended, Jerico left the castle to where the Eschaton waited. Lathaar embraced him first, his smile lighting up his entire face.

“How did you survive?” he asked.

“That’s a story for a warm fire and a warmer meal,” Jerico said as he hugged Mira and Aurelia. “The short version, they kept me prisoner instead of killing me, and when we reached the first of the Gods’ bridges I escaped. An elven scout spotted me a few weeks later and brought me to Dieredon, who brought me here.”

As if summoned by his name, the castle doors opened a second time, and out stepped Dieredon. He took his bow from one of the guards and slung it around his back. With a joyless look he bowed to the Eschaton.

“The queen here is far more agreeable than Vaelor ever was,” he said. “A pleasant surprise.”

“We’ve had enough chatter with the queen to last a lifetime,” Tarlak said. “Come, we need to eat, and celebrate!”

“Tar…” Jerico started, but didn’t continue. Dieredon, seeing this, finished what Jerico would not.

“The demon army is but three days away,” the elf said. “There is no time for celebration.”

“Three days?” Tarlak said, the blood draining from his face. “But that’s impossible, how could they have caught up so fast?”

“The dead in their army don’t tire,” Jerico said, shifting the shield on his back and wincing as if remembering a painful memory. “And the demons have incredible stamina. As for the rest, they are fanatical, and push themselves to near death every day without pause.”

“The queen has marshaled her soldiers from all over the country,” Dieredon said. “Many won’t make it in time. As for the outlying farms and villages, she has sent out riders warning of the danger. No matter what she does, though, thousands will die.”

“Enough,” Tarlak said. He grabbed Jerico’s shoulder and led him down the stone steps toward the main streets. “Tonight we celebrate. One we all thought was dead is alive. Tomorrow, we worry about armies and demons.”

Once gathered round a fire with warm food, they let Jerico tell his story. Antonil was not among them, for upon hearing of the enemy’s proximity he had begun rounding up his soldiers, finding them horses and preparing for battle. Lathaar and Mira sat side by side, while opposite them Harruq and Aurelia cuddled in each other’s arms. Jerico and Tarlak sat between the two couples, with the mage prodding whatever information he could out of Jerico.

“It was Tessanna that first kept me alive,” Jerico said. “I’m not sure why. Curiosity, perhaps, or vengeance. Qurrah didn’t approve, and that’s putting it mildly.”

“Does he control the army?” Harruq asked, the first time he’d spoken since they all had gathered.

“No,” Jerico said after a pause. “And neither does Velixar. One of the war demons commands the troops, but they treat Qurrah and Velixar with an odd reverence.”

“They need them to keep the portal open,” Tarlak said. “Lovely as Dezrel is, I’m thinking they want to go home after they’ve conquered everything.”

“It’s possible,” Jerico said. “I fought Qurrah once before, at the Sanctuary. He is a shadow of what he was. He looks sick, and very tired.”

Harruq frowned at this but kept silent.

“What are we looking at in terms of numbers?” Tarlak asked.

“Several thousand undead,” Jerico said. “And Dieredon said his scouts estimated a thousand of the war demons. Toss in the priests and paladins of Karak, and a few hundred of their ‘tested’ as they call them, and we’re looking at one formidable army.”

“You forgot to add Tessanna and Qurrah to that list,” Aurelia said. “They count as another five hundred or so soldiers.”

“If not more,” Tarlak added.

Harruq stood, and when Aurelia frowned he only shook his head.

“Just need to be alone for awhile,” he muttered. Jerico stood as the half-orc wandered off, bowing to the rest of the Eschaton.

“I need a moment with him,” he said. The others nodded, understanding.

Solitude was difficult with so many people about, but Harruq headed for a stretch of wall where no one lingered. Jerico caught up to him and walked at his side.

“Your brother,” Jerico said as he slowed to a walk.

“I know,” Harruq said. “He’s going to get us all killed, Jerico. My fault, my own damn fault.”

“How?” Jerico asked. “How could this be your fault?”

“Because he should be dead!” Harruq said, spinning so he could face Jerico. “I had the chance and I couldn’t do it. You paladins can preach about mercy and forgiveness, but when it all comes down to it, I should have killed him.”

“This is not the time for endless doubting and blame,” Jerico said. He grabbed the top of Harruq’s armor and yanked him close. “And your brother hates what he has become, as does his lover. They are stranded, and don’t know any other way. All they want is to escape.”

“Let go of me,” Harruq said, pushing the paladin away. Jerico spun his arms in a circle, parrying away his arms and grabbing the armor a second time.

“Tessanna is with child!” Jerico said, his voice a forceful whisper. “Now do you understand?”

Harruq’s whole body went limp, as if he had been struck paralyzed by the words.

“A child?” he said, as if distant from the world. “They will have a child?”

“Yes,” Jerico said. “She is close to five months.”

Harruq took a step back, then fell to his knees. Memory after memory of Aullienna flashed before his eyes. He remembered her life, her smile, her crying. The first time she had called him dada.

“How can he hope to raise a life in this world?” Harruq asked.

“He can’t,” Jerico said. “And he knows it. They want to escape. They travel with Velixar not out of vengeance or anger, but out of desperation. It is all they know.”

The paladin knelt down beside him.

“All they know is murder, anger, and betrayal. But what if they knew grace? What if they knew mercy? Qurrah has tasted it only once, and it was from your hand. He didn’t understand it then, and he still doesn’t now.”

“Leave me,” Harruq said. “Just leave me alone.”

“If the world ends, it ends,” Jerico said as he stood. “Even if your brother kills us all, it changes nothing. We will all die in time. I await rest in the golden eternity. What awaits you?”

“Punishment,” Harruq said as Jerico turned to walk away. “For everyone I murdered.”

“It is your choice,” Jerico said, glancing over his shoulder. “But why you would choose that, I don’t know.”

Jerico left him to wallow in his self-loathing.