Fall of Ashes (Spirelight Trilogy Book 1) by C. Ellsworth

Author:C. Ellsworth [Ellsworth, C.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2017-06-24T22:00:00+00:00

Chapter 20

Seventeen pyres sat unlit beneath the light of a sinking, amber sun, topped with bodies reverently wrapped in pale cloth. They were arranged in the courtyard such that the remaining guardsmen and the relatives of the deceased could gather around them in a great circle in that last hour of the hot summer day. Quiet sniffles and occasional wailing sobs from the families were the only sounds to be heard, and the air carried a faint coppery smell of blood mixed with the scent of pine from the timber stacks. It seemed a shame to burn all that new wood, but that was their way. No one wanted to be buried in the Faege-riddled earth.

Addy stood among her companions, head in a light fog and legs wavering beneath her. The attack had happened that very morning, but it seemed days since she’d last slept. And days since the tears had dried up. Her chest and throat were still tight, however, as if a single emotional thought might summon the sobs once again. She clenched her jaw. She would not cry again.

While most of the people gathered near their respective pyres wore downcast, sorrowful faces, a few had found Addy in the crowd and were leering at her. The guardsmen must have talked. How else would those people have known the attack was because of her? Then there were the two or three who were looking at her with desperate hope or wonder. What was more unsettling, blame or lofty expectations?

From his place in front of the gathered guardsmen, Guard Captain Aeric cast a final glance at the barracks gate, his whiskered face grim and impatient. For the past hour he had waited for any last-minute stragglers, but it was clear he was eager to get this ceremony underway. Honoring the dead was important, but protecting the living was more important still.

After another moment, Aeric spoke. “To everyone gathered . . .” His strong voice carried across the yard. “It is a sad thing that brings us together this day . . .”

Aeric continued, but his words quickly became a distant murmur to Addy. The skeg could have come in larger numbers, slaughtered them all. She could have been killed just as easily as Sorsia, but then the skeg probably weren’t there to actually kill Addy, were they? They were there to subdue and kidnap her. If they had been trying to kill her, she’d be dead.

Aeric was reading off the names of the dead now. “Talec Smith, Amber Kohl, Erwin Gale, Sorsia Lewin…”

Lewin. So that was what Sorsia’s surname was. She should have known that before now. She should have made more of an effort to know. She swallowed hard at the lump that tried to climb into her throat again.

There were no Lewins in attendance tonight, none that stood before Sorsia’s pyre with tear-stained cheeks, none to grieve for their lost daughter, granddaughter, or sister. It was a sad thing, having no family, but these were the days of many orphans, widows, and widowers.

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