Valley of Fires: A Conquered Earth Novel (The Conquered Earth Series) by J. Barton Mitchell

Author:J. Barton Mitchell [Mitchell, J. Barton]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781250020710
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Published: 2014-12-02T00:00:00+00:00

23. TONOPAH

THERE WERE MORE THAN FIVE HUNDRED DEAD. Their pyres stretched almost out of sight in the rail yard. The Helix had insisted on performing the ceremony here, it was preferred to cremate the remains at the sight of a battle. It was ironic, really. There were more dead in this White Helix funeral than any other, but it lasted the least amount of time. Mira wasn’t sure if that was because there was so little to say … or because they were just getting good at it.

She stood next to Dane’s pyre. They’d found his body near where the wreckage of the mother ship had fallen, and a charred length of wood that was his Lancet. Only the crystals remained unscathed, glowing in blue and green. She held the brittle staff in her hands, and it had made them black, covered in soot. His Arc had asked her to stand by his pyre. In a way, it was appropriate. It was because of her he was dead. In all fairness, she should be standing next to every one of these pyres.

Manny, Carter, Pershing, Amanda …

There was no way to remember all their names, it was just too many, so Mira settled for memorizing the ones she had known. It was a very long list regardless.

Five hundred. Mira felt sick.

The Wind Traders had piled onto their Landships to watch, the ones that weren’t burning or lying in heaps. The funeral was quiet, no one had spoken since they assembled, the White Helix standing in a half circle around the pyres. Each one was staring at her, but they weren’t looks of hatred or pain, it was merely as if they were waiting.

It suddenly occurred to Mira … that they were waiting for her.

It was a shock at first. Why? Who was she to them? Didn’t they blame her, didn’t they loathe her the way the Wind Traders certainly did?

We’re not dying for your cause, Dane had told her not that long ago. We’re dying for ours. And you need to learn to honor it.

She wasn’t sure she could; it was a hard thing to learn, but she would try. Mira swallowed and stepped forward.

“There is only one thing we must learn,” she said, surprised by how easily she remembered the words. “One last thing. Tell me.”

“To face death unflinchingly,” the crowd of Helix chanted as one.

“We do not mourn the fallen.” The words hurt to say, but this was not her funeral, she reminded herself, it was theirs.

“We do not mourn the fallen,” the crowd replied.

“We honor them.”

“We honor them.”

“For they have made us…” her voice broke, “stronger.”

“For they have made us stronger.”

She finished the rest of it, forcing herself to say words she didn’t believe. Then she raised up what was left of Dane’s Lancet and snapped it across her knee. She flinched like she had been struck. The sounds of hundreds of other snapping shafts echoed in the air, just as sharp and jarring. Mira placed the crystals on the pyre, underneath Dane’s body, and stepped back.

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