that everyone in the Palace was dead and that he had helped murder them.
“We’ve got to get away from here,” said Asea.
“I’ve taken us as far as I can,” said Rik. “I don’t have the energy to take us any further.”
“There’s a small boat down there, get aboard.” Rik saw the vessel she had indicated and began to clamber down into it. Asea and Tamara joined him and began to pull up the anchor. He continued to watch the destruction of the Palace, certain that it was about to get much worse.
The hot winds screeched around them and the earth shook like a waking titan. The screaming reached a new pitch of intensity and he could smell burning now. Most of the buildings near the Palace had caught fire.
Asea had raised the sails and begun to chant a spell that seemed to guide the wind into them. The little boat started to move out of the harbour very quickly but he paid almost no attention to it. His eyes were drawn towards the final stages of the dreadful spectacle that was unfolding in the heart of Askander.
The light burning beneath the Palace had become so bright as to be unbearable. All of the buildings had vanished, devoured by the new sun being born beneath them. There was a moment of absolute and utter stillness and silence, as if the night held its breath, and then a thunderous roar as if a hundred thousand barrels of gunpowder had exploded.
The enormous cliff ripped asunder. Gigantic chunks of burning rock, each weighing tens of tons, were hurled into the sky and then arched down in fiery meteors of death, smashing into the buildings, and shattering them like eggs hit by a sledgehammer. The earth rippled in a huge wave that transferred its energy to the sea, and came rushing and roaring towards them. He thought for a moment that their little craft might be swamped, but somehow it managed to climb the wave and stay afloat, and Rik found himself looking back at the ruins of what had once been a mighty city, in the centre of which a new volcano burned, it’s light turning the night into something like a hideous, infernal day.
'What happened, sir,' Toadface asked. 'Why are we still alive?'
'I don't know,' said Sardec. 'But I'm glad we are.'
He turned around and hugged Rena. She did not flinch away from him even though he was covered in the black blood of the walking dead. She was just as surprised and delighted to be alive as he was. She kissed him and then again and then she echoed Toadface's question.
Sardec considered the matter. All he could think of was that something had gone wrong with the spell animating the walking dead. They seem to have lost much of their energy and a good deal of the intelligence that had guided them. He had no idea whether this reprieve was temporary or permanent and at that moment, he was too tired to care. He looked around to see if anyone was badly wounded. Pteor and his wife were already bandaging wounds and making sure that everyone was all right. Sardec ordered the Foragers to begin clearing the corpses out of the ruined farmhouse. They would stay here the night and then move on in the morning.
There was something in the air that told him that things had changed. He was not exactly sure what it was but he sensed that something was different and he hoped that the change was for the better. Maybe it was just the fact that he was still alive when he had expected to be dead. He told himself not to get his hopes up but his heart felt lighter than it had done in days and it seemed like the weight that had been pressing down on him was removed. The darkness of spirit that had oppressed him for months was gone almost as if an evil spell had been removed.
Nonetheless, that did not absolve him from the responsibility of performing his duties. He made sure that sentries were posted and that the area was clear before he bedded down for the night.
At dawn they would continue the journey Westwards. They had the cure for the plague and they needed to take it to where it would make a difference.
Epilogue
Sardec walked into the main square of Redtower. It seemed like an age since he was last here although barely two years had passed. The place still looked more or less the same as it had been when he was billeted there. It seemed strange and absurd that it had changed so little when he had changed so much. The callow youth who had first visited Lady Asea in her Palace was gone as surely as if he had died in battle. Sardec was not sure that he would have approved of the Terrarch he had become but he did not really care. He was happy with himself and with his new life in a way that would have seemed simply impossible to the person he had once been.
Rena was safely ensconced in their apartments near Asea’s Palace. He had told her that he loved her and he was happy with that. Some of his fellow officers did not approve, particularly the younger and the priggish such as he had once been but most of the others did not care. They thought of him as the hero who had brought back the cure for the Great Plague and he suspected that many of them were simply jealous. That was the Terrarch way, after all. Some of his commanders might disapprove of the fact that he had made the knowledge common property but they could not come out and say that now. He had managed to preserve Talorea’s armies from disease and allowed them to keep in the field when it looked like they might be overcome.
And of course everyone knew of his friendship with the Lady Asea, now once again the most powerful and respected adviser to the Queen of Talorea. Asea’s destruction of Askander had reminded everyone of exactly how powerful she was and once again she was feared and envied in equal measure. All the most powerful politicians of the realm now courted her good opinion and she ruled the Kingdom in all but name.
Sardec was not at all surprised to see the Barbarian standing on guard by the gate. Asea had bought out all of the old veteran Foragers from military service and taken them into her own employ if they desired the position. All of them had taken her up on the offer even though she had settled a generous pension on them that would have allowed them to live independently without working.
She had done the same for Marcie and her children. A fact that became evident when young Daved came out to take his horse. He was dressed as a groom and seemed happier and healthier than at any time on their long march back through Kharadrea. He seemed pleased to see Sardec which only made Sardec feel guilty when he thought of the boy’s father. He pushed that thought aside and walked further into the Palace across the courtyard. He had last been there before he and the Foragers had set out for the lost city of Achenar.
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Weasel. The man noticed him at the same time and give him a salute with some of the old mockery in it. A servant came and led him into the drawing-room where the paintings he remembered from the old days had been replaced with new ones from Asea’s treasure trove of artefacts. The lady herself was waiting for him along with Rik and Tamara.
“Captain Sardec,” said Asea. “It is a great pleasure to see you once more.”
Sardec was suddenly aware of his new epaulettes. There were still times when he felt like he was wearing them under false pretences and this was one of them. He smiled at Asea and then at Tamara and then Rik.
Tamara was dressed in the full Court finery of a Terrarch noblewoman. The long blue dress suited her very well. She looked more like a guest than a prisoner and Sardec supposed that was what she really was. The war between Talorea and Sardea had petered out as both nations needed their troops to deal with the threat of the walking dead who had gone completely out of control once Asea had closed the Askander Gate. Officially they were still at war but their troops had yet to meet on a battlefield since Azaar’s defeat at the Battle of Weswood. There were rumours that both sides were negotiating in secret. With the Empress dead it looked like there was the possibility of Queen Arielle becoming the ruler of both nations. Such a stabilising influence was going to be needed, for politically much had changed in the past few years.
All manner of rumours abounded concerning the plague. The tale had gotten about that the disease had been engineered by Terrarchs in an act of genocide against the human race. Rebellion was far closer than it had been in many a year throughout all the Terrarch realms because of this.
“You seem to be in good spirits,” said Rik.
“As do you,” said Sardec although it wasn’t quite true. Rick still looked thin and very unhealthy. There were shadows beneath his eyes and his face looked bony. There was an intensity in his gaze that was unsettling. He should have looked happier, Sardec thought. After all, he had been accepted into one of the greatest Houses in all
