Sentinelspire - Mark Sehestedt [142]
A group of figures huddled on the lawn outside the courtyard. When they saw the trio emerge from the tower, two of them ran over. Lewan recognized one as Valmir, but he'd never seen the other man. They had weapons in hand, but when they came close enough to recognize Talieth, they lowered them. The stranger slowed to an easy walk, but Valmir ran forward to embrace Talieth.
"Gods," said Valmir, "you look like…"
For once, Valmir was at a loss for words, and the impudence was altogether gone from his eyes.
"What happened," said the other man, and he nodded at the tower, "up there?"
Talieth said nothing. She didn't even look at the men, just gazed at the buildings across the street, obviously not seeing them. Her eyes seemed… haunted, Lewan thought.
"Everyone's dead," said Lewan. "The Old Man, Master Berun… everyone except us."
"And Sauk," said Ulaan.
"Where is Sauk?" asked Valmir.
"When we left, he was just sitting up there," said Ulaan, "staring into space. As far as I know, he's still there."
"Gorin, why don't you go up there and check on him?" said Valmir.
Gorin snorted. "Right after you hug me right and call me mother. You go check on him yourself."
Valmir scowled at Gorin, then looked up at the tower. "I'm sure he's fine."
+++++
Atop the Tower of the Sun, before the great oak tree, Sauk sat. The morning breeze off the mountain set the tree's leaves to whispering and tossed the half-orc's unbound hair into his face.
After a long time, he looked up at the body on the tree. Sauk's knife was gone. He made the sign of the Beastlord- three middle fingers curled like claws-on his forehead, dug his middle nail deep into his skin, and opened a fresh gash down his forehead and across his cheek.
"Dam ul dam, Malwun."
He sat there, looking up at Berun, and tears mingled with the blood on his cheeks.
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Table of Contents
Prologue
Part One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Part Two
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter Twenty-Three
Chapter Twenty-Four
Chapter Twenty-Five
Part Three
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Part Four
Chapter Thirty-One
Chapter Thirty-Two
Chapter Thirty-Three
Chapter Thirty-Four
Chapter Thirty-Five
Chapter Thirty-Six
Chapter Thirty-Seven
Chapter Thirty-Eight
Chapter Thirty-Nine
Chapter Forty
Chapter Forty-One