A cold breeze through the woods prefaced the lake nearby. Sylia felt the chill pierce his bones. He looked behind to check on the woman, who still had his nephew tied firmly inside her robes and found her calmer than before despite the cold. There is no way that she would survive a forced march for several days, especially in her condition. Rest was a good idea – no, it was essential. Suddenly the men halted.
“We walk from here on,” the leading man announced. As everyone dismounted, Sylia turned around to help the pregnant woman. Surprisingly she was already off. There was a small wooden ladder attached to the horse’s saddle – one of Strategus’ contraptions.
A short walk later they were just in front of the beach.
“This is where we stay till daybreak,” the leading man announced.
Some men, exhausted, fell down to rest right away while a few went on to gather the horses.
“Perhaps they were going to water the horses,” Sylia thought.
Some men laid down some twigs and logs to start a fire and poured some liquid in it from a grog. The fire immediately caught; perhaps they used oil.
“Expensive stuff, but not so perhaps for the wife of Strategus,” Sylia noted.
Sylia himself sat on the ground and felt the comfort of the heavens in the solid ground below. Just then he heard crying – it was his nephew. One of her aides asked, “Lady Andromida, what shall we do?”
As Sylia stood up to check on him and the woman, he heard her sing a haunting tune while she stroked his nephew by the fire.
The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.
The moonless night when the monsters come; stand by me my filial son
The westerly men come to skin your hide; fight them with me side by side
The eastern folk come to steal your crop; Ambush them may their corpses rot
From the northern hills the giants cry; Hit them with the fire and watch them die
From the southern seas the kraken roars; Pray for you’re at goddess death’s door
Somehow someway we will survive; the monsters in the moonless night
“Perhaps Akhilia is better off with lady Andromida than me. A child needed to be cleaned, fed, and kept warm; something a woman would know much better,” Sylia thought.
As he laid down on the ground and looked at the stars suddenly the flood of emotions, kept in check by his own fears and anxiety, came crashing down. The clouds also dispersed and made way for the heavenly objects to show themselves. Among the stars he saw his sister, the last of his 5 siblings, now passed on. The children he grew up with, hunted with, fought with, now all consumed by the constant war. His entire company of men – brothers in arms; lost in the ashes of the Queen’s Palace. A drop of tear ran through his cheeks and he wondered if he was a better man perhaps they would still be alive.
Perhaps they all now are amongst the heavenly host now; hunting in the divine forest. Perhaps the fiercest amongst them even found a place among the warriors of heaven. Even Thrasus perhaps, grumpy and unsociable, the lion of Harbook, who died in battle for the sake of his sister was there.
These feelings…
He could not help but weep softly, away from the others, for his fallen siblings and for his fallen comrades. In the lake beyond, perhaps, he could wash away the sorrow or at the very least his own pitiful face. So Sylia gathered himself, stood up and went to the lake Artemis.
---Preview of Next Chapter---
The calm lake reflects the shine of the moon and, for the moment, Sylia can embrace the peace for only the gods know how long it will last. Pieces are still moving behind the scenes on the next chapter of From Fire and Blood - Ch15 !
-----------