It had not taken very long to find the site of the grave, about a two-minute walk outside of Derban’s premises. The wilted, dry remains of flowers placed by the travelers who had discovered the mass grave lay atop of it. The 25 Black Shield soldiers who had been brought by the Anbieter went straight to work, digging away at the packed soil. Judging by the rough outline of the grave, it appeared that the bodies had been buried side by side in a row. It seemed that all 100 or so inhabitants had been killed in cold blood, their bodies having been given more respect than to them as they were alive. Vigdis had brought a contraption of hers—similar in appearance to a steam shovel but powered with Utrium instead of water. Work that would’ve taken the entire day and then some instead took only a matter of a few hours. One by one, largely decomposed bodies, still wearing the clothing they had died in were pulled out and laid on the surface. Vigdis struggled to keep her hands steady as she maneuvered the controls of her machine.
Thoughts of what had happened to her old friend plagued her, so much that at several points she had nearly ripped through the corpses of some of the villagers with the bucket of the excavating machine. She’d been sure that even though Kallista had long since retired from combat, her skills were still present enough that she was able to fend the invading Titanians just long enough that she could escape with Joakim and Ruben, and they were waiting for the moment that Stefan could be reunited with them. At the same time, that wasn’t like Kallista at all. She wouldn’t have let the dozens of elderly civilians who lived alongside her, many of whom were the parents and grandparents of her Free Army allies that died in what was often called the Millenium War, perish so cruelly while she ran away like a coward. She wouldn’t have allowed them die. In fact, Vigdis postulated that Kallista would’ve died fighting to protect them. She didn’t want that theory to be true, though.
Vigdis remembered the remaining Free Army soldiers who had evaded capture when Kallista had been arrested 15 years prior. She knew they were still hiding, waiting for the day some other revolutionary force hit the heart of the Titanian Army hard, to once again take up arms without the fear of being detained or even worse. That was why she had joined the Black Shield in the first place. Even though they had vastly different ways of operating, they were still the best hope she had at getting back at the alien invaders that had destroyed her village and later slayed her sister.
“Hey, Vigdis,” a soldier said, climbing halfway into the shovel’s cabin to speak to her. “There’s something you should check out.”
The soldier led her to a gathering where about half of the shoulders had collected, peering down into the grave.
“That body’s a lot different from the others.” one soldier commented.
“Could it be a martyr?” another asked. “It’s said that the bodies of martyrs, those who die fighting with unwavering loyalty, don’t decay.”
“There seems to be quite a commotion…” Vigdis muttered, keeping her arms close to her body to minimize her symptoms of anxiety.
“Go see it for yourself,” the escorting soldier offered. “Make way for her, boys!”
Sitting on her knees as she was accustomed to in her workshop, Vigdis was astonished to see that the skin of the body’s hands appeared completely unmarred as they lay folded on the top its stomach. It was as if the person had only been dead for no more than an hour or two. This was not the only distinguishing factor that caused it to be different from the other bodies. The appearance of the skin, not only on the hands but over the collarbone area indicated that the person was considerably younger than the rest of their grave companions. The most obvious difference, though, was that while the other bodies showed signs of being riddled with bullets, or ray-lasers, the injury that caused this one to stand out was the absence of a head. The clean cut suggested that it had been severed in one swipe using an Utrium-based knife or sword. Vigdis cringed at the realization, but she’d already seen her fair share of gruesome disfigurements. But even with the lack of a face, the condition of the remaining corpse allowed her to make an inference as to who this might’ve been.
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She’s a woman. A young one. It has to be—
She couldn’t make that conclusion just yet. There was one more thing she had to look at before she could properly identify who the body belonged to.
“Pull her out and lay her on her stomach.” Vigdis ordered the soldiers who were technically her subordinates but had little interaction with. As they hauled the dead woman out, Vigdis’ hand subconsciously flew to the nape of her neck, the sight of a tattoo just smaller than her palm. It depicted the silhouette of a dove drawn from the side; its wings stretched higher than the top of its head. It was a symbol of the Free Army, the bird’s pose of flight representing their continuous journey for freedom.
That same tattoo was present on the back of the headless woman’s neck. The tips of the bird’s wings were missing though, having been removed along with the limb they had been inked on.
There was no now doubt about who this corpse belonged to. It was Kallista Laine’s, a defender of Terra, a proud civilian of Derban, the loving mother of Stefan and Joakim.
Vigdis’ entire body shook as the weight of knowing that one of the last links to her past was gone forever. The task of identifying any corpse that might’ve been Kallista’s had been appointed to her by the Anbieter, a task which she didn’t wish to accomplish. She struggled to get back to her feet but was able to with the help of two soldiers.
“Excuse me for a bit,” she said quietly. “I need to inform the Anbieter.”
The tears falling from her eyes as she shuffled back toward the village were uncontrollable, but she was at least able to stop herself from becoming a sobbing mess.
It wasn’t supposed to be like this, Kallista, reminisced Vigdis. You told me you’d come back and fight once the boys were older than 16. I was supposed to have so much more time to spend with you.
She initially peered into a few buildings to see where the Anbieter and his company had gone too, but after hearing signs of a scuffle ensuing, she quickly knew where to look. She stepped into the doorway of the barn where she saw Gareth withdrawing his hands from the Anbieter’s throat, his face unmasked. Vigdis didn’t care that this was the first time that she’d seen him, or that he was not human.
“Anbieter,” she said. “You have to come see this.”
The man slowly got to his feet, still in a state of daze after being choked by Gareth for such a duration of time. But he was a Titanian, and he would recover from it, knowing that Gareth had been holding himself back. Rubbing his throat with his hand, he followed his co-leader out to the site of the mass grave.
“Well?” one of the soldiers at the grave said, a crowd behind him which had gathered around the unusual corpse. “Do you know who that body belongs to?”
“It’s Kallista Laine’s.” Vigdis said, straight to the point.
Even saying that the body’s hers feels wrong.
“Y-You mean the defender of Terra?” a soldier said in astonishment.
“The woman they say who ended the Millennium War?” another asked.
“Move along,” the Anbieter finally spoke, his voice hoarse. “Let me see her.”
The soldiers didn’t recognize whose face it was, but they certainly knew the voice. But seeing that their respected leader didn’t phase them, though. They were astonished that the woman who was responsible for ending much of the chaos against Yeupis had been buried in that village, that she was right there at their feet.
A few of them celebrated, knowing that the hero had finally been accounted for after so many years. Others quietly wept, realizing that she’d indeed breathed her last months prior.
“She was a martyr,” the Anbieter said quietly to reduce the irritation to his bruised vocal cords. “Her remains are a testament to that. I can only imagine how many Titanians were there when it happened. But… at least she remembered her warrior ways and died pushing on.”
Vigdis held her face in her hands, no longer able to dam back the storm that had condensed in her. The Anbieter had to ignore her. Unable to hide his Angel heritage, he quickly scanned up and down Kallista’s corpse. As she lay back up, he noted a single bullet wound to her spine. That, along with her missing head, allowed him to conclude that she had been incapacitated first before being swiftly decapitated. He reasoned that her head had been taken both to prove to the upper echelons of the Titanian military that she was indeed dead, and to be given as a trophy or gift.
“They can’t even respect the dead,” he said, turning away. “Disgusting brutes.”
About a third of the other bodies were still inside the grave, so he ordered the soldiers to snap out of their emotional melodrama and to continue digging the corpses out. They would invariably have to stay in Derban for at least a day, to build proper, individual graves for the deceased. However, there was also something that he had no reason to take his time with. He pulled two of his men out and spoke.
“Bring Stefan here, and let Anwen know that she can come if she wishes,” he instructed them. “The crusading cunt can stay there, though.”