I still had more stuff to burn.

I picked up the stones at my feet and walked into the orchard. It was smart to put distance in between yourself and a corpse pile you were about to light on fire. The blood trails I had made while dragging the corpses would be more than good enough to use to start the explosion. I dropped the stones at my feet one more time. It was becoming a hassle to keep picking them up, and it would still be dangerous for me to put them in my pocket.

The trail of blood caught on fire with the first spark. I picked up the stores and waited. It only took a few seconds for the explosion to tell me that the pile was on fire. I watched the trails burn and then set about stamping out the places where the grass had caught fire. It had rained recently, so the grass wasn’t very dry; otherwise, this could have started a wildfire.

With the small fires stamped out, I turned my attention to the bigger fire. I still had the stuff to do when it burned itself out.

I ran the blades of the swords and my dagger through the flames. Once they were cleaned, I waved the flint through the flames. Once I was sure it was clean, I put it back in my pocket and sheathed my dagger. All that was left was to finish the stones.

Heart stones were able to withstand some heat, but they would shatter if you left them inside a heart that you were burning. The trick was to wave them through the fire enough to burn away the last of the gore while not heating them up so much that they shattered. I placed the first stone in the indention in the middle of my sword. Bokor swords were crafted so that if stones had to be harvested in the field, then they could be used instead of the regular tools back on the island.

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I was nervous as I edged the sword into the flames. I had done this back on the island over a hundred times, but I had never done it with a sword before. In concept, the process was the same. In practice, it was very different.

The spoon we used on the island was a lot lighter than the sword. Also, the spoon had a head that was made to hold stones. The sword only had an indention. If I turned the blade just a little, then the stone would fall off into the fire.

I slowly waved the blade through the fire, pulling it out after every swing and inspecting the stone. It would take longer, but it was the best way to ensure that I didn’t break the stone. It would have been nice if the stone would stop burning once the gore was gone, but the stones would slowly burn long after all traces of zombie parts had burned up.

I continued the slow process until I was confident it was clean, then dropped it in my pocket. I repeated the process with the other three stones. It took a good part of the morning, but thanks to the early wake-up call, we had only lost a few hours.

With four heart stones in my pocket and the fire in no danger of spreading, I was ready to head out. I sheathed my sword and picked up the other one. Now all I needed was my companion.

I looked around. I had expected him to bother me while I had been cleaning up, but he hadn’t come back after I sent him away. When I didn’t see him at first, I began wondering if he may have run into some zombies, but I spotted him on the other side of the pond before I could start to worry too much.

I walked through the orchard, nabbing a low-hanging orange as I went. They were sweet and juicy and I planned on grabbing a few more before we left. Fruit was a common meal in the ward, but fresh fruit was not something that I got daily. Most of my meals with Master Bran had been dried fruit or weird vegetable soup. I was going to enjoy the treat while I had the chance.

I slowed down as I approached Max. The sounds of soft sobs were coming from his direction. My partner had run over here so he could cry.