Yarro and Kael finished tightening the bags on their horses in the early morning. He didn’t remember much after apologizing to Kael last night, and things were still a bit awkward. Army General Calina came out of the barracks with 2 army recruits flanking her sides, both holding extra supplies.
“Kael. Remember your training. Play defense. You will only have Yarro to back you up.” She glanced Yarro over with disgust. He wasn't sure if her caution was due to him being a guard or from doing the bidding of the Deities. Either way, he had no idea the Army General held such prejudices of either of those two topics.
Yarro squinted his eyes back at her, but kept his mouth shut for fear of retribution. On Yarro, or Kael. He needn't cause any trouble.
Kael nodded and quickly bowed. “Yes, Madam. I promise I’ll make it back safely.”
“Good. I have an assignment for when you’re done with all of this...Deity nonsense.” With a nod back at Yarro, she signaled for the recruits and went back inside. They stepped up, placed the extra supplies on the ground, and left just as quickly. No mention of what the assignment was either. She probably wanted it to stay classified, not that he can blame her.
This trip would be about a week long, so the provided supplies were a huge help. Yarro made sure to pack plenty of food, camping supplies, and a few changes of clothes as well as warm fur cloaks for the both of them. Going up the snow-capped mountains, to the general area of the suspected volcano would take about 3 days itself. Said volcano was still smoking as of this morning. The marshy tundra base near Dawic will make travel difficult, however, and would likely stall their efforts to travel fast. Yarro wanted to make sure they had plenty to eat.
After being sufficiently satisfied with the amount of packing and securing, the duo got on their horses and left for the northern city gates. By the time they had left the city, the weather had turned quite gloomy. Thick gray mammatus clouds rolled across the sky, fast enough to notice with a cursory glance as the horses trotted on down the road. The air became muggy and humid, as it did on many rainy summer days, the further they went away from the capitol city. He felt the water all around them and soon enough he felt a growing pressure above him from the water that loomed in the clouds. Most people would be complaining about it all, but Yarro felt like he had a heavy blanket wrapped around him. It was comforting.
“It’s a good thing I packed cold weather jackets,” Yarro said in an attempt to lighten the mood. He reached into one of the bags hanging from his horse and pulled out a long, brown fur cloak and wore it over his breastplate. The tail was long enough to drape over the horse and went down his legs. He handed one to Kael, which he took silently and put on.
As they continued on, cold wind picked up speed and pushed out the muggy air. The sky got darker and darker, and by mid-day, when the sun would normally be high in the sky, it instead was covered in near black rain clouds. Yarro felt the first few raindrops land on his face. He looked up and held out his hand. A few more drops, but not enough to pull the hood up just yet. Thunder rolled in the distance.
“Any minute now it’ll all come down in a torrent,” Kael said. He, too, was looking up at the sky. Yarro agreed. His own elemental senses were screaming at him. He could feel a massive body of water above him, pushing and pulling likes waves in an ocean. Yearning to release the downpour. These first few drops were like a leak in a dam about to burst.
“Yeah. I can feel it, too.” The rain came down as a light drizzle on and off for the next few hours, as if the clouds were desperate to hold back for some reason. When there was only a few miles left until Dawic, it came down all at once and began a torrential rain. Yarro could barely see the road ahead of them. “We’re pretty close! Should we make a break for it?” Yarro had to shout over the rain.
“Yes!” Kael shouted back. The two snapped the rains on the horses and broke out into a run, with Yarro trailing only slightly behind Kael. He tried his best to make a water umbrella over him and his horse, as well as one over Kael. But the man was too far away, and the jostling from the speed proved too difficult to concentrate on manipulating the water.
By the time the two of them made it to Dawic, they were both soaked to the bone despite their cloaks. The sun had gone down a while ago, and it was even more obscure the rain. It seemed to be even more miserable in this area. The entrance to the town was just barely visible. Yarro couldn’t help but note that the bodies from before had been cleaned up. Some of the blood was still deeply stained on to the wood, only barely noticeable from the current environment.
Yarro paused to take it all in. The ground. The unlit buildings. The empty tavern. In a heavy rain like this, everyone would be huddled inside by the tavern fire for drinks and games and crafts. In case of mudslides or if the waterfall flooded, the tavern was far enough away from the base to notice early on and would be able to evacuate everyone in a timely manner. He had experienced one of those rainy days and the tavern was quite rowdy that night and he considered it the turning point of his relationship with the townsfolk.
Kael turned around to see he had stopped to reminisce. Immediately, his attention immediately shifted to the road leading south-west. Had he sensed something? Yarro turned around to see a horse approach. He didn't see a rider was on it until it was closer. Governor Erica laid face down on the horse, passed out and nearly falling off as the horse walked to them.
If you come across this story on Amazon, it's taken without permission from the author. Report it.
Yarro rushed over to her the second he noticed. His heart dropped fear, his head raced with endless possibilities. Was she dead? Or just extremely injured? Where were the others? Hiding? Or dead too? Yarro hovered his hand close to her mouth. She was breathing, albeit haggardly and slowly. “She’s still alive. Kael, help me out here.” Without waiting, Yarro got off his own horse and began to help Governor Erica down from the horse. Kael rushed to help keep her up on the other side, and together they dragged her out of the rain and into the tavern.
Erica’s feet dragged behind in the mud and her head bobbed up and down, in and out of consciousness. They arrived at the door, but it was either locked or jammed. It didn’t matter to Kael, he was able to easily knock down the door. Inside passed the darkness, the tables had been pushed against the walls and its chairs placed above them. The Warrens must have done so with help from the military, before they were escorted out due to the volcano.
The duo laid Erica on the floor as gently as they could. Yarro’s hand came away from her body with a blood hand. By the time he looked back at her, more blood had pooled on to the inn floor. He couldn’t tell if so much blood was actually her blood loss, or if it was mixed in with the water they brought in. Kael moved to place pressure on the wound. She winced in pain but otherwise bared with it. Everywhere must have hurt. Hurt to move. Hurt to breathe. Hurt to move her head towards Yarro. She began to raise her hand, which he took. It was also bloody.
“What happened? Where is everyone?” Yarro asked.
Erica’s face shifted. She first frowned and her eyebrows furrowed for just a moment with her mouth open. Then it relaxed and her head tilted to an angle. Yarro realized she was trying to apologize with as little energy as possible. Yarro’s heart dropped in anticipation of what she was trying to say. She was likely going to die, and it was rude to stop somebody’s last words.
Erica opened her mouth and took a few deep, and raspy breaths. “I’m...I’m sorry.” She began. Tears began to form in Yarro’s eyes. She took a few more deep breaths, already breathless from those few words. Speaking seemed to make it worse. He wanted her to stop. To save her energy. Her eyes drooped as she struggled to keep them open. “It was too strong. I… couldn’t--”
Erica broke out in a coughing fit. Blood came up and she needed a moment to spit it all out. Yarro was afraid she was about to choke on her own blood after all she went through. She turned her head to the open door. “Put me… under the stars… I want to be… With my husband.”
Yarro looked to Kael, who looked just as devastated as he felt. Her last wish. She was hurt too badly and she knew it. He looked back at her worsening, pale face and nodded with a smile and tears rolling down his face. “We will guide you to the stars above.” Kael released his hand from the wound and blood came pouring out almost immediately. Erica winced.
Yarro carefully placed an arm under her knees and the other under her shoulders, and as gently as possible, he picked her up. He heard the blood fall and splatter on the wooden floor. It pained him to see her lose so much blood. She looked so pale. The sockets around her eyes were already hollow and dark. Her veins bulged in her arms as it tried to properly circulate the blood through an immense blood loss. Yarro made sure to be careful and not move her too much as he carried her over the threshold and moved outside.
By the time he had placed her on the ground out in the open, Erica was already gone. Another life added to the body count. Another grave to dig. Another person he couldn’t save. There wasn’t even a clear sky tonight. Yarro stood there, frozen in place. Staring at her now lifeless body. Tears rolled down his face, though it was difficult to tell with the rain. With her gone, his dream of rebuilding Dawic was gone as well. Kael bent over in a prayer, but Yarro didn’t register the movement. “Let’s bury her in the park. I’ll see if I find Mr. Beaumont and we’ll turn it into a grave.
Wordlessly Yarro left the mine entrance. It’s where he last saw Mr. Beaumont. It was kind of hard to find the man when there were multiple piles of bodies. The soldiers who were here before they evacuated must have begun the process to bury them all in a possible massive grave. He was glad they didn’t finish, because he should be the one to dig the graves for each one. At the same time, he had to hold his breath due to the fast approaching decay setting in. It was almost too nauseating to search, but he promised Governor Erica.
Yarro found Leo Beaumont at the bottom of a pile. Twisted in other body parts and partially mangled. He was soaked from the heavy rain and extremely bloated. With great difficulty, Yarro managed to free Leo’s body from the pile. Then tossed him over his shoulder rather recklessly and went back down the hill towards the previously mentioned tree. The man should be lucky he wasn’t dismembered or squashed or mangled beyond recognition like most of the others.
There in the place specified, Kael had made two neat rectangular holes with his element. The governor was placed next to one spot. Yarro and Kael placed Leo’s body in the other hole, then placed Erica’s body in the other. Neither made eye contact. Instead they focused on the task at hand, silently. Once both were buried, Kael said a funerary prayer and they left for the tavern.
Yarro wanted to talk about it. To reminisce about Governor Erica with Kael. To mention that he wanted to rebuild Dawic. After all, Kael did help bury her. Maybe he was coming around? But also maybe, it was only out of respect for the dead than it was for helping a friend. Kael was sure to have some comforting words, like he did before. But instead his back faced away from him, fast asleep already. Yarro sighed, and instead decided to remember her in his thoughts that night until he fell asleep.
More nightmares. This time they were worse. Piles of bodies screaming and writhing in pain. Bloated bodies exploding. The endless, heavy toll it takes to bury a body. Sometimes they would come back up, buried alive. Perhaps it was because Yarro was back in Dawic. Perhaps because he had to personally help bury the mayor and her husband. Maybe it was because of the massive pile of bloated and decaying bodies that made this dream appear. Yarro didn’t know. All he could tell come morning was that he couldn’t remember the last time he had a good night's rest.