Seeing his body on the floor caused time to stop. I knew the chances that this would kill him but I hadn’t mentally prepared myself for it. He had given himself this role knowing the danger of the mission, and it had cost him his life. He wasn’t the only casualty, but he was a casualty that was close to me.

I killed him.

He had disliked my plan from the beginning and was only willing to follow because he didn’t have much of a choice. I didn’t know if he could have come up with a better solution, but I had driven him down this path where he would eventually die. When I walked over to his cold body, I could see that his side had been torn through by burner fire, most likely during the run inside. My change in plans to do a direct attack on Galen which would obviously create more noise caused him to drop the same amount of stealth and to probably get hit by a guard who now was able to focus on it.

He was a life that I had given away in the pursuit. That was something that would have to weigh on me personally.

It was going to hurt Sera as well. It was going to hurt everyone who knew him. The losses we had accrued that day were going to be something which would weigh on us all as we pushed forward. I just hoped that it would motivate us to move forward, not to stop.

Elric wouldn’t have wanted me to stop and fall apart because of his death. He would be pissed at me if I was. The best thing I could do to honor his memory was to keep moving forward and to save as many others as possible. I didn’t want to make any more sacrifices like him.

I needed to be a better leader.

***

I walked outside with a dower look on my face. Even without speaking, my message was clear, but I needed to speak anyway.

“Elric died in the crossfire. He was able to do the job, but he didn’t survive. He probably bled out.” I couldn’t look at their faces. Not yet. I could hear Sera moving towards me even through the heavy rain as she balanced herself on her crutch. I could feel Alex pat me on the shoulder, attempting to console me. He had seen my connection to Elric and knew that it was hitting me badly. Elina was off on her own, although I could see that some of the losses hit her as well.

I took a moment to finally meet Sera’s eyes. Karla was at her side, holding onto her. The fellow child of Corith was someone that we both needed to protect in our endeavors.

“He’s dead. I’m sorry.” I spoke in soft tones, and the others around me seemed to finally take some time to think about our losses. I didn’t know the number, but it was enough to hit almost everyone in the camp.

Sera finally made her way over to me, her face close to mine and her hand on my other shoulder. Karla had stepped back and was now being held by a few of the other slaves.

“Don’t blame yourself. Please. You can’t save everyone.”

I’m naive.

“These people need to hear a voice. They want someone to assure them that the future is coming and that there is someone there to lead it.” Sera said, hoping to comfort me as best as possible. “I know you can do it.”

I nodded, knowing that what she said was true. The people needed to hear a voice of reassurance, and I needed to be that voice. If I didn’t take that spot, people like Nicole would take it for me and use them for her own selfish whims. I walked over to the raised platform where we put our baskets, pushing them out of the way so I could stand. The slaves looked up at me, the rain still pouring down all around us. In order to let myself be visible, I transformed a bit of mana into light and used it to surround myself to make me stand out in the dark, rainy night. I took a deep breath, and prepared myself to speak.

***

“Slaves of Arlin! My name is North, and I am a child of Corith. Today we stand free of our shackles and with those who held us down dead. We are free, and that is something to be celebrated. But this came at the cost of some of our fellow slaves who were also searching for the same freedom we fought for today. Their losses are a tragedy, and I am sorry that I couldn’t help all of us. Today is a day we should mourn for them, but it is also a day where we decide how we move forward.”

I paused for a moment to search through the crowd. I could see Nicole, smiling at me. I had just set up my first attack against her plans, and she knew it.

“Our choices from here on out are our own. But that doesn’t apply to the other mining camps. I had the luck to get strong allies who could help me down this path, but that is not the same for so many others. They are still in bondage. The cuffs and the guards kept us powerless, but now we have the ability to fight back. We are stronger than them. We have always been that way, but they found ways to separate us and convince us that there was no life beyond the mines. That changes today.” I took a deep breath to build my voice. “I ask all of you to follow me on a path where we can give others the same freedom that we may celebrate today. It will not be an easy path, but it will be a life that is so much more than what they forced on us here. If you wish to join me in my mission, I ask that you come to me tomorrow. The day after tomorrow, we will leave and go our separate ways. It is up to you which direction to go in. For tonight, we mourn and we celebrate!”

I wanted to give them inspiration. I yelled that last line, hoping for them to cheer in response, but it appeared that everyone was exhausted. I may have misread the mood, but it was something. As I stepped down from the platform, Sera patted me on the back.

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

“That was pretty good, although I think you might have wanted to prepare a bit better for this. After all, you want to be a leader, right?”

I turned to Sera and gave her a smile with all the energy I had left in my system. “Since when have I been good at planning?” We both laughed a bit as we moved back over to our crew. Elina appeared to have calmed down and was very happy with the results of the night and was quickly coming in my direction.

“I’ll follow you. You might be a Corithian, but it’s better than following a fucking Nacilian or just running back to Irebor. Plus, it sounds like I’ll get a lot of good fights along the way.” Elina placed her hands on her hips, clearly riding high on adrenaline.

“Yeah, I should probably come with you as well.” Alex walked from behind me to stand next to Elina. “She may be an idiotic Ireborian, but she’s on the right track. I think you’ll probably need someone to help you out with morale, and I know a few things about warfare that aren’t just running directly at the enemy.”

Elina punched him in the arm in response, which caused both of them to laugh. For two people who had an instinctual hate for each other, they seemed to get along quite well. I definitely felt good knowing that they would stick by my side.

I spent a moment looking around for Elm, hoping to see where he was. He was sitting on the platform, resting while watching all of the people interact with each other. There was a soft smile on his face. I let go of Sera and walked back over to him.

“Sir?”

“You’re not the worst at speeches, but you still could use some work.” He was seeming to struggle to hold still. “Honestly I’m on the verge of passing out. Haven’t seen combat in a while and I’m mostly working on adrenaline. You holding up ok?”

I nodded in response.

“My head hurts from the stuff in Galen’s office falling on it, but I’m good overall. You should probably take a good break tomorrow. You still planning on following me?”

He let out a soft chuckle, although he stopped in the middle from what looked to be pain. “I gotta keep an eye on your dumbass so you don’t get killed. You need my help, don’t you?”

I did. I needed a lot of help. Surely Nicole would make her own proposal in the morning for people to follow her to Mylia. I had asked for her to hold back on trying to convince people until the revolt was over, which she had kept her word on. Now that the deal was no longer in place, she was now free to do as she pleased. I just needed as many people as possible to help me on my mission.

“I do. You don’t get to die on me just yet, old man.”

I felt better, but Elric’s passing still weighed on me. I looked up into the sky and realized that the rain was starting to let up. I hadn’t thought about it beforehand, but we needed to do something with the bodies. The guards were a lot easier and could either be left scattered or be used to send a message, but it would feel wrong to just leave the people who helped us lying in the mud.

I need to do a funeral. The Corithian way.

***

The funeral pyre used wood from the wooden guard towers. Now that people had access to their aptitude, it was rather easy to move them about and set them up. Those with water attunements had an easy time taking them apart and moving them over into a large structure, although I swore that I could have seen someone carrying a massive log with their bare hands. The pyre stood tall, a proud structure which was able to fit our losses. The corpses all surrounded the body of the pyre, prepared to be burned away to ash so they could rest.

Marlisle’s funerals were not always a single person. There was a 30 day period after one death where the village would wait to see if another passed. Sometimes there would be no death, but when others died the funeral pyre would grow in size to accommodate them. It was a ritual intended to hopefully give the dead company when they passed so they weren’t alone as they returned to the earth. The fire cleansed away their body to go with the soul. Our village was small, so there was generally only one death at a time, but the funerals when there was more than one were big events. There was both mourning and celebration as people let their loved one pass away into memory and celebrate the effects they had on others during their life.

Arlin didn’t burn the bodies of Marlisle when they destroyed it. There was just a mass grave where they were piled one on top of the other before being covered with dirt. Their bodies were not allowed to join with their souls, which is considered a great tragedy. I didn’t know if they still practiced this ritual now that they were occupied, but I prayed that they did as it would be a small act of defiance against Arlin. It would be proof that they couldn’t erase our practices and culture.

There were 8 miners who died and 10 of the Penal Laborers. That meant that there were only 86 survivors in total, and that number could shrink depending on what Nicole had planned. It required a large pyre, but it was worth it. The fire that came from it was a beautiful sight, and was a sign of change. While they might not share the same freedom as the rest of us, they would be free in death. Twig was among the casualties which seemed to deeply affect Sera. Her attachment to the woman reminded me of my own to Elm, so I could understand why she might mourn them so much. All we could do now was move on and let their bodies join their souls in the flame. I cried while holding Sera’s shoulder that night. It was a moment which I feared would show weakness to the people I led, but I didn’t care. We needed to mourn before we could move forward.

***

I stood on the edge of the camp, looking over the forest. The sun was starting to come over the horizon, signaling the new day. It was a much more beautiful sight than the camps which had mutilated the natural beauty of this area in the name of progress. I started to hear footsteps from behind me and I turned to find Elm, still slightly off balance, moving to stand next to me.

“This was where we talked that night, wasn’t it? The night where you made your choice.”

I nodded.

“Yeah. Feels a bit different now that the guards are all gone. It’s peaceful, at least for the moment.”

“You feel confident you can do this?”

He was asking a fairly pertinent question.

“I do. I don’t have much of a plan but I can figure that out as I go.” I knew that I needed to do that sooner than later.

“I’ll hold you to that. So, where do we go next?”

I looked up at the stars which were starting to fade in the sky. I had a lot of choices I could make. I tried to get the image of the map in my head and where we were located. Boralis was a location I heard about in my childhood a bit, but it was only now that it truly clicked in my head.

“We head south. To Corith.”