he still feel that? Was that who he still wanted to be?
He shook his head. Of course not. Not anymore.
He shed Velixar’s old robes and donned the white. Azariah picked them up and folded them tight.
“When you feel ready, burn them in a strong fire,” the angel said. “Let that end the last link Karak’s prophet has with your soul.”
Qurrah accepted them but held in his thoughts. No, the robes would not be the last. Tessanna was the last. As long as she remained at his side, he could never be free.
“Thank you,” he said, bowing.
“Show the world who you really are,” Azariah said. He kissed the half-orc’s forehead and then took to the sky.
T he angels led the way. Antonil rode horseback ahead of his men, who he encouraged the best he could. Aurelia found her husband waiting, watching the bridge and the men working at a feverish pace to improve its defenses.
“Will you be all right?” she asked him.
“It’s like we’re cursed to never be happy,” he said. “Never to be together. Never to be peaceful and content.”
“It does seem like that,” she said. The dour look on his face hurt her, and she pursed her lips as she thought a moment. She had something to tell him, something she felt he should know, but wasn’t sure how he would react.
“Harruq,” she said. “I’ve been meaning to tell you…”
“Hmm?” He looked at her, but he wasn’t really seeing her. His eyes were red, and he looked like he carried an anvil on his back.
“Never mind,” she said. “Now is not the time.”
He pulled her close and kissed her.
“Care to give me a bit of time alone?” he asked her.
“If that’s what you need.” She kissed his cheek. “I’m here if you need me. I always will be. You know that, right?”
He smiled at her. “Yes, I know.”
She gave him his privacy.
The rest of the army moved on, but as Harruq watched, he was surprised to see he wasn’t alone. Lathaar neared, lagging far behind the rest. He constantly looked back, as if hoping to see a glimpse of someone who was never there. Harruq changed the angle of his walk so that he neared, and eventually walked beside the paladin.
“Lose someone?” he asked, chuckling.
“I think I did,” Lathaar said, and his tone showed he didn’t think it a joke.
Harruq glanced back the same time Lathaar did, and he sighed when he thought of Qurrah. No, it wasn’t much of a joke, was it?
“Sometimes life is a real bitch,” he said.
“Amen,” said the paladin.
14
B ram was sat in the Eye, staring at the enormous map of Dezrel, when Ian arrived home.
“Ian!” the king cried, rising to embrace him.
“They agreed!” the knight said, and his face was all smiles. “Theo and his soldiers will hold the bridge best they can against the invading forces. As for Antonil, he will join us in an assault against Mordan.”
Bram smacked his arm and shared his grin.
“Well done,” he said. “Now hurry, and bring Loreina to me. We have little time!”
“Time for what?” asked the knight.
To this, the king only smiled.
M elorak seethed as his pock-marked friend and advisor paced before him.
“Are you sure?” he asked. “Absolutely sure?”
Olrim nodded, his lips curled in together, as if he were ready to bite them off.
“As sure as we can be of anything in this chaotic world. Bram left only one survivor, a young priest named Joshua. They cut off his hands and gouged his eyes out, set him on a horse, and ordered him to ride. It’s a miracle he made it here at all.”
“I want to hear it for myself,” Melorak said, rising from his throne. “Bring him before me.”
“He is wounded and blind, my friend. Surely you cannot expect him to be lying.”
Melorak’s eyes shone red with anger. “I said bring him here.”
Olrim acquiesced. A few minutes later he returned, leading Joshua by the elbow. Melorak crossed his arms, feeling his fury rising. The man looked hardly older then thirteen. Acne covered his face. His bloody stumps had been bandaged, and a long white strip of cloth encircled his head to cover his eyes.
“You are safe, Joshua,” Melorak said. “You have endured much, and by Karak’s strength you come to me, to where we may right the wrongs done to you. Please, tell me everything you saw before they took your eyes.”
“It was the bells,” Joshua said. Though he was tall, his voice was still young, boyish. “They started to ring the prayer bells an hour too early for service. We thought it strange, so we came. Edward-my teacher-he said perhaps there was an emergency, and we should hurry. But the guards were waiting. They were everywhere! I tried to kill them, but my faith in Karak was weak. Please, forgive me, I couldn’t even slay a single soldier before they beat me down.”
“That you fought at all is enough to assure you no punishment for any failings,” Melorak said, hoping to comfort the boy. “Men fail. It is the very nature we embrace, and that Ashhur shamefully hides. Continue.”
Joshua swallowed, and his body tensed as the memories continued.
“They bound our hands and gagged our mouths. One told me he’d cut out my tongue if he heard a single prayer. Surrounded by soldiers, they led us to the courtyard.”
“How many soldiers?” Olrim asked.
“An army,” Joshua said, turning his head in the advisor’s direction. “Several hundred at the very least, and that was just with us. More searched throughout the nearby towns, finding every last priest and servant of Karak. Over a hundred of us, members of the faith. And then Bram came. He killed the first himself, and he wanted everyone to know it. Then the rest, they…they cut off their heads and tossed them in a pile.”
Melorak felt his blood boil. Surely this pathetic king did not think he could commit such an atrocity and live, did he?
“Why did they let you escape?” he asked.
“I was to deliver a message,” Joshua said. “But first they said they must make me look like what I was: a blind, worthless beggar.”
“Your message,” Melorak said, his voice low and quiet.
“It must have been the king,” Joshua said. Tears ran down his face. “I recognized his voice. They’d already taken my eyes. It hurt so bad. He said to come to you, Melorak, and say that only the bodies of priests are welcome in Ker, and that he must politely send back the heads.”
Melorak glared at Olrim, who bowed his head in shame.
“Three horses were with him when he arrived,” he said. “Their backs burdened with sacks. I thought to tell you later, so that the goad from Bram would not affect your judgment.”
“Affect my judgment? Are you mad?”
He calmed himself long enough to send for another priest to care for Joshua, then paced before his throne.
“This is just a desperate ploy for independence while we are still weak,” Olrim said. “He knows he cannot stand against us given time. He hopes to act now, before your position has been established. How many revolts might break out if you leave? How many lords will suddenly grow a spine knowing you are not here to cow their
