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.?+++++?
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, scorching even the rain-soaked grass beneath. Bodies and pieces of bodies lay everywhere. Most were the assassins of the Fortress, but here and there lay the darker shapes of the creatures that had served the master of the tower. The dead tiger lay on her back in the blood-soaked grass, her innards splayed over her torso.
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.
