Layla by D.L. Gardner

Author:D.L. Gardner
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: D.L. Gardner
Published: 2023-02-01T00:00:00+00:00

Part 2 Fallen Morning

Aftermath

THE WIND CAME FROM Inlet Bay, a salty gust of warm air stealing sand from the beach, scattering it over the grassy plains, and singing a hollow song as the breeze drifted above the bodies lay strewn across the killing fields. A torn banner eddied rhythmically; a gold lion embellished on its torn silk—a remnant of hope neglected. Broken spears protruded from the earth, their shadows a solemn sundial heralding defeat. Debris bounced across the field, and smoke floated on the breeze in steady streams arising from glowing embers.

A lone figure camouflaged by the rubble slowly rose. Simbatha’s long silver hair lifted in the breeze. Dirt clung to her cheeks. Her silk shalwar no longer shimmered blue in the sun like it had when she left Taikus. Instead, ash clung to the tattered balloon pants. Her tunic, torn and soiled, hung loosely off her slumped shoulders. Her hair wove a web around clumps of glass and bone, particles that had scattered in the dirt when the Magic Thief’s potion destroyed the Taikan army. She had survived by diving into a shallow ditch, and with the good fortune of the wind avoided the liquid poison spewed from that treacherous fiend’s vial.

With the enemy gone into the hills, she was safe to emerge from her hiding place. A lump formed in her throat as she regarded the overwhelming devastation. Two thousand Taikan warrior women’s bodies spewed across the plains. Only hours ago, they stood as a mighty force prepared to capture a dragon. Proud and majestic in their flowing silks, gemstones crowning their hair, swords at their sides. Gold bands on their arms dazzling in the sun now glimmered on the ground amongst the charcoal ruins. The iron chains which had been hauled from their ship lay on the ground—a collar protruded from the sand which had been forged the size and strength to harness old Stenhjaert the dragon. Layla’s ambitious plan failed the moment the Magic Thief appeared. Not only did the agile wizard pilfer Layla’s power that would have freed the serpent, suctioning it into a common cast-iron pot, but he released his rotting toxins over the entire Taikan army. The acidic solution immobilized the women and condensed them to mere bones in a matter of minutes.

Simbatha walked carefully among the corpses, looking for life but finding none. One body grabbed her attention, the Honorable Commander Layla de Luna. She had miraculously survived the torrent of acid but fell at the hand of a foreigner’s blade. Simbatha had watched the young man drive his sword through her and she had watched Layla die. She witnessed the old wizard as he prevented the dragon from escaping the portal with his sorcery and two youngsters ascended through the gateway. She had watched the Kaemperns seal the window in the sky with a massive crystal sphere. The portal had vanished. And during all of that, Simbatha could do nothing. She was not a warrior but a Savant. Without an army behind her, she had no power to prevent what had happened.

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