Chapter Six

The tables from the feast disappeared so slowly around them that Lewis hardly noticed. It wasn’t until he, Emily, and Arthur were ushered away that he realised that all the villagers had disappeared. At first, they hadn’t spoken much, each happy to tuck into their first decent meal in a long time, but conversations had started, albeit slowly at first.

Rather than talk about what they had all gone through since they had been separated, they talked about their return to Tristan. They had agreed unanimously that they couldn’t wait to get back to a source of running water that wasn’t a stream or river.

Lewis missed the city. More than that, though, he missed his friends. Hopefully Captain Caldwell had made it back to Tristan since they had parted ways in Porthton with the news that they were coming home and that the crown had been recovered. He wondered about Robyn—what had she been doing without the job at the Hargrove bakery?

‘Sorry,’ Lewis said, standing up quickly.

The hunters waved away the apologies of their newest Elder, dragging the table away in silence. As they passed Arthur, he reached out, grabbing one last joint of meat.

‘Do you ever stop eating?’ Emily asked, looking at her brother in disgust.

‘You’re one of the Elders now, Lewis. Do you think you could get the recipe for this stuff?’ he asked, ignoring Emily.

‘I could try, I guess,’ Lewis shrugged.

While they had been hunting earlier in the day, Nirra had tried to explain the role of an Elder. Unfortunately, it had left him more confused than he had been in the first place. Before he could contemplate his new powers any further, Olivia and Achak appeared.

‘Where have you been?’ Lewis asked. ‘I was looking for you earlier.’

‘We were down by the stream; it got a little noisy with all the celebrations here,’ she said. ‘It was starting to get dark, so we thought we should come back for the funeral.’

‘What happens at a Cimant funeral?’ Lewis asked, directing his question to Achak.

‘It’s just a small ceremony committing the soul of the deceased to the Gods,’ he replied. ‘A pyre is built and the body placed on top. The fire burns away the body that encapsulated the soul, freeing it.’

‘Is there another feast?’ Arthur asked as he pulled the last of the meat from the bone in his hand.

‘Food is actually the only thing you think about, isn’t it?’ Emily said.

He shrugged, looking around for somewhere to dispose of the bone. In the end, he settled on tossing it into one of the large flaming cauldrons nearby. The fire crackled merrily at the greasy bone.

‘Lewis, you should take your place with the other Elders,’ Achak said quietly, pointing in the direction of the platform. In silence, the other Elders were taking their seats; a fifth was left empty, presumably for him.

With a nod to the others, Lewis headed for the vacant seat. As he approached, the woman looked up, holding out a piece of wood to him. Unsure, he took it from her, taking his seat.

When he looked down at it, he found words had been carved into it. They must be expecting him to lead the ceremony, he thought as he scanned over them quickly. At the bottom, he noticed a small instruction: Light the pyre.

A small cough from his right side drew his attention away from the instructions. The eyes of the other Elders were on him, as were those of the crowd that had gathered around the giant pyre in the centre of the village square. On top of the wood, Lewis could make out Cassandra’s blonde hair shimmering in the twilight.

Slowly, he got to his feet, taking a couple of shaky steps towards the crowd. ‘We gather tonight, under the stars and in the eyes of the gods, to bid farewell to one of our own. May their soul be released into the ether where they can watch over and guide us from this day on and for all the days to come,’ Lewis said.

In front of the platform, one of the hunters held out a flaming torch to Lewis. Taking it in his free hand, he stepped down onto the ground. ‘Cassandra Eal’vara, only daughter of Krora Eal’vara, we deliver you to Ilborh, the goddess of death. May you find peace beyond the veil that separates this world from that of eternal life.’

‘Ilborh, we call on you to take her soul from this world and into the world of everlasting life, to protect her and watch over her as she watches over those of us who remain. Ilborh, guide her!’

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‘Ilborh, guide her,’ the crowd echoed.

‘Ilborh, protect her,’ Lewis continued as he strode towards the pyre.

‘Ilborh, protect her.’

‘Ilborh, watch over us. For this day and all days to come,’ he finished.

Lewis was only vaguely aware of the crowd repeating his words as he stood before the pyre. She looked so peaceful, almost as if she were sleeping, as she lay atop the pyre, her blonde hair neatly braided and her sky-blue dress without a crease. He paused, considering her for a moment.

‘I’m so sorry,’ he whispered, the words barely escaping his lips as he lowered the torch to the twigs around the base of the pyre. With a roar, the flames took hold, spreading through the pyre almost instantaneously. ‘May we meet again in the darkness of the endless night,’ he added as he watched the flames begin to rise.

The words may not have been part of the Cimant ceremony, but he felt like he needed to add them. They were the last words his mother had uttered at his father’s remembrance ceremony. Lewis knew she would have wanted the words from the world beyond the forest—the world that she had been so excited to see with him. He only wished he could have shown her more of it.

Lewis didn’t know how long he stood there, silently watching as the flames grew, enveloping Cassandra’s body. He was oblivious to the shuffling of the villagers as they passed the pyre, some of them pausing a moment to pay their respects.

‘I did everything I could,’ a gentle voice said beside him, a hand gripping his arm.

‘I know,’ he replied. ‘I could have done more, though.’

‘You can’t blame yourself,’ Olivia said, turning him away from the flames so that he would look at her. ‘If you want someone to blame, blame Ellen.’

‘Her death doesn’t seem like a fair punishment,’ Lewis said bitterly.

‘She’s not gone, you know, Cassandra,’ Olivia said. ‘She’ll be watching over you.’

‘You believe all that?’ he asked with a glance at the pyre.

‘I do.’

With a squeeze of his arm, Olivia let go, drifting away into the dispersing crowd. Still, Lewis continued to stand by the fire. A part of him felt like it was his duty to stay with her, just as he had felt bound to bring her back to the village.

‘She meant a lot to you, didn’t she?’ A quiet voice asked from behind him.

Silently, he nodded.

‘Did you ever...? Emily trailed off, still not approaching him.

‘No,’ he said with a shake of his head. At her suggestion, Lewis found himself reliving the night when Cassandra kissed him at the tower. That was also the night they escaped as the tower fell around them. Suddenly, it all felt like a lifetime ago.

‘What did they do to you there?’ she asked as she finally approached him.

‘They taught me to control the precursor powers inside me. Or at least they tried,’ he replied. It was the first time that he had opened up about anything that had happened at the tower.

‘What about the scars?’

‘Two of my teachers, Ellen and Veronica, turned out to be members of The Dusk.’

‘Is that the same Ellen who Arthur killed in the cave?’ she interrupted.

He nodded. ‘She was the one who created the bond between herself and you the night they captured me in the forest. During their lessons, they would use these metal chains. Whenever I did something wrong, they would become red hot and burn me.’

‘That’s horrible!’ Emily exclaimed. ‘How could they do that?’

‘The scars would have been a lot worse if it wasn’t for Olivia,’ Lewis said. ‘One day when I was wandering the castle just after I had arrived, I found her in the garden with another student. When she saw the burns, she gave me a liquid that would help heal them.’

‘I feel terrible; I accused her of putting those scars on you,’ Emily said.

‘Don’t worry about it,’ Lewis tried to reassure her. ‘I should have told you what happened sooner.’

‘I’ll apologise to her as soon as I see her,’ Emily promised.

For several minutes, they stood in silence, watching the flames as the last of the villagers filled the streets before disappearing towards their homes. Eventually, it was just the two of them left alone in the village square, standing beside the pyre.

‘There were times when I thought I would never see you again,’ Lewis muttered as he took her hand in his.

‘You promised me that you would find a way back, and you did,’ she said. ‘That’s all that matters. We’re back together again.’

‘I can’t tell you how many times I’ve nearly died since I met you,’ he said, looking down at her. ‘Still, I wouldn’t change any of it.’

‘Neither would I,’ she whispered as she closed the gap between them, her lips meeting his for the first time since he had left Tristan. The fire deep inside him sparked in an instant. It wasn’t like when he had broken the chains inside the volcano or when he had ignited the spear the night before, though. The fire was different and calmer.

When they finally broke apart, Lewis looked down at her, the fire beside them casting flickering shadows on her pale skin. ‘I couldn’t have gotten through all of this without you.’

‘You’ll never have to go through any of it alone,’ Emily whispered as she leant forward to kiss him again.

This time Lewis lifted a hand, placing a finger on her lips to stop her. She raised her eyebrows at him questioningly. ‘I don’t want to do any of it without you. Emily?’

‘Yes,’ she muttered, pushing against his finger gently.

‘Will you marry me?’ he whispered, his voice catching in his throat slightly.

She stared back at him in silence, her eyes locked on his. Slowly, she blinked once, twice, and three times. He panicked; he had gotten so caught up in their reunion that now he had ruined it. Lowering his hand, he made to take a step back, but she caught his wrist.

‘Yes,’ she breathed, pulling him back towards her as she threw her arms around him. The breath he had been holding barely managed to escape his lips before Emily’s were against them.

There could have been a thousand people in the village square or none at all; he wouldn’t have noticed. The entire world around him disappeared as he poured all the months of longing into that one kiss. It was as if all the painful memories and the scars on his body had melted away, just as the firewater had washed away the painted symbols earlier in the day.

Slowly they separated again, Lewis’ hands on her waist as he held her at arm’s length, drinking her in as the firelight flickered beside them. ‘I know it’s customary to have a ring, but, well...’ he trailed off.

‘I’ll admit it was a bit disappointing, but I guess I could cut you a little slack,’ she said as seriously as she could manage. In the end, she dissolved into quiet laughter. After a moment, he joined in. There had been precious little to laugh about for a long time, and he was determined to make the most of it.