Sentinelspire - Mark Sehestedt [141]
Talieth held her stance a moment longer, then relaxed. She arched one eyebrow and said to Sauk, "Are you done?"
Sauk chewed, drips of blood leaking out of the corner of his mouth as he considered. At last he looked down at Chereth's mutilated body, spat out the heart, and said, "He's done."
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Lewan, Ulaan, Talieth, and Sauk stood before the oak, facing Berun. Although the druid's magic had left the vines, they still bound Berun to the tree. Only his head was completely free, and it hung limp. Lewan still held the arrow on the bowstring, and he kept an uneasy eye on Sauk, but the half-orc, while certainly far from calm, seemed to have control of his rage. Talieth had dismissed Sauk entirely, and she stood with her hands outstretched, seeming hesitant to touch Berun.
"Is he…?" said Talieth.
At the sound of her voice, Berun's eyelids fluttered and remained half open. He coughed, and a thick gout of dark blood sprayed onto Talieth's outstretched hand.
"Oh, Kheil-" she said, her voice breaking. But when she turned and looked at Lewan, her eyes were cold and hard as new steel. "Help me get him down. If we can find a healer-"
"No!" Berun croaked. The one word brought another fit of coughing, and he splattered them both in blood. Neither cared.
"I won't lose you again, Kheil," said Talieth, looking to Berun again. She held his face in her hands and lifted it so he could see her. "Chereth is dead. We can-"
"No," said Lewan.
"Silence!" She turned a look on Lewan that bordered on murder. "You will help me."
Lewan did not flinch or even resist. He held her gaze a moment, then looked to his master. Tears welled in his eyes, and he said, "He's beyond saving, Lady. Let him die upon the Oak. It's what he wants."
"No!" Talieth threw herself forward and tried to embrace Berun. "Do not die! If you do, I swear I'll drag every priest of every faith here until one of them can call you back."
"I… will not… answer!" The last word came out of Berun in a wet gasp, and a fit of coughing seized him, bringing up more blood. But then he settled, and his next words were clearer, though scarcely above a whisper. "I go to my Father." He managed to find some last bit of strength, and he lifted his head to look at Sauk, Lewan, and Talieth. "Good to… have you three… here. At the end."
Berun let out a final, bubbling breath, then his muscles went slack. He hung upon the oak, a dead weight in Talieth's arms.
Talieth let out a long cry that Lewan felt sure could be heard on the distant canyon walls, then she slumped to her knees and wept at Berun's feet.
Lewan heard a frantic rustling of leaves off to his right, and when he looked, Perch crouched upon the ledge. The lizard seemed to realize that his master was gone. He threw back his head and let out a long, trilling wail.
Sauk growled and took a step toward the ledge.
Lewan half-raised the bow and pulled the string back. "Don't," he said.
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The full light of a clear morning shone down on Sentinelspire when four figures emerged from the Tower of the Sun. Lewan, hollowed-eyed and covered in blood, supported Ulaan with one arm and carried Perch on his left shoulder. Behind them walked Talieth, the Lady of Sentinelspire. All were scratched, cut, smeared with blood, and their clothes were little more than rags. The proud gait of the queen was gone from Talieth's bearing. She looked defeated.
The woods of the courtyard were in devastation. Many of the trees and much of the foliage had burned,