Gabriel’s sorrow cutthrough Cyrus like the bitter winds of the North Sea. The giant stared into Uriel’slong-dead eyes as he paid his last respects to his slain twin. How lonely it musthave been for Gabriel to know that his sister was truly dead, that he was the lastof his kind? Cyrus thought of Niels.
“We made it,”Edward said, from Cyrus’ shoulder.
Knavish leanedagainst the waist-high rampart, studying the two forsaken islands before him.
“We’ve waited longenough,” Cyrus said, rising from his chair, “Fibian, you take command of the BattleHune. Edward and Knavish, to Virkelot with me. If Gabriel senses any foul playwhile we’re away, he’ll submerge and drown every last klops upon his shores,understand? Relay that warning to both fortresses.”
***
CYRUS AND KNAVISH made their way to the aft shore of the head fortress. There,a meager landing craft awaited. The big alveling and the bent batalha climbed aboardthe skiff and began to row towards Virkelot Island. Edward and three of his blodbadguards stood watch on Cyrus’ jacket. Cyrus could feel the halfbreeds scurry up hisshoulders and over the rifle slung across his back. He did his best to put the tinyassassins out of his mind. The spiders were there for his protection, nothingmore. Knavish sat unmoving at the stern of the cramped craft, staring fixedly atthe hairy demons.
Cyrus considered thepotential risk of a klops rebellion in his absence. His threat had been a bluff.He did not think Gabriel capable of submerging beneath the ocean, but the klopsdid not know that, he hoped.
Cyrus navigatedtheir boat along the eastern shore of Myrkur Island. The relic seemed to have ageda lifetime in the half year he had been gone. The trees looked dead from rootto tip, the cracks in the fossilized earth appeared larger than before, and nota single creature scurried or squeaked along its cliffs.
They crossed thechannel to Virkelot Island. Cyrus’ crumbling homeland had suffered further decay.Little inhabitable land appeared to remain within Hekswood Forest. Any alvelingstill alive would have to be huddled near the Dead Fence.
The rescuers drew nearVirkelot’s shore. Cyrus searched for life amongst the dark woods and tangled brambles.He rowed towards the cavern where he and Edward had first hidden their secret vessel.Daylight still illuminated the murky waters of the exposed lake within. The tiledshoreline beyond the beach appeared cracked and corroded. What had happened to hishome, Cyrus wondered?
The skiff struck land.Cyrus and Knavish leaped into the foaming surf and dragged the boat ashore. Cyrusinspected the cave’s interior, searching the exposed bone within. Then he kneltdown and grasped a handful of sand.
“You did it,” Edwardwhispered, crouched on his shoulder, “You returned the living hune to your people.”
Would Niels be proud,Cyrus wondered?
Unseen voices criedout in the distance. Then at the edge of the woods, shrubs and bushes began to shiver.Cyrus slowly walked across the beach and towards the broken bank. A ragged, greymob of villagers, wielding fence posts and sticks, stumbled from the trees and shambleddown the hillside. Cyrus recognized two of the men immediately. They were the guardsthat had tried to hang him, months earlier. The throng came to a halt atop thecavern, where once the island’s lone waterfall had poured. Cyrus saw hungry children,huddled and afraid, peeking out from behind their parents’ legs. Was this allthat was left of the village? Had so many perished?
The two guards leadingthe group glared down at the intruders, their weapons held at the ready.
“You’ll get back inthat contraption and flee to your demon’s rock if you know what’s best foryou!” the fat guard hollered.
“Stay here,” Cyrussaid to Knavish.
He placed the threehalfbreeds onto the klops’ trembling back. Then he leaped up the craggy bankand onto the tiled earth.
“He said stay back!”the burly guard demanded.
Cyrus recognized mostof the angry and terrified villagers. He advanced on the mob.
“Put your weapons down,now,” he ordered.
“I warned you!”the fat guard shouted.
The brute hurledhis pitchfork at Cyrus’ chest.
“Look out!” Edwardcried, from his shoulder.
Cyrus sidesteppedthe projectile with ease. The burly guard's eyes widened. Surprise turned to rage.With all his might, he cast his club at Cyrus’ head. Cyrus grasped the bat mid-airand broke it over his knee. The two guards looked at each other, then to theircomrades.
“Jensen, Hansen!”the fat guard shouted.
Two more of themayor’s thugs pushed through the mob and joined the attack. Together the four thugscharged Cyrus. The fat guard grasped Cyrus around the waist. To Cyrus’ surprise,the bully was a good head shorter than himself. The burly guard punched Cyrus acrossthe jaw. The big man had to reach to touch his chin. The strike felt little morethan a slap. Inspired, Cyrus countered with his own open-hand slap. He knocked thegoon out cold. Then he shoved the fat guard hugging his waist face first into thehard ground. The oaf struggled to regain his footing.
The remaining two menstruck Cyrus across the back with thick branches. He cast aside the clubs andgrasped both brutes by the ears. He knocked their skulls together like rocks. Theireyes rolled back in their heads and they crumpled into a heap on the earth.
Children shrieked andadults clung defensively to their shaking weapons, but none moved.
“Do you not recognizeme?” Cyrus shouted, “Do you not see who I am?”
He stared incredulouslyat the hateful, frightened mob. He held his bare hands up in surrender. The groupslowly began to retreat.
“Cyrus?” a younggirl asked.
Edward scurried withinhis collar. Sarah Heiler pushed through the crowd.
“Is that you?” shecontinued.
Her body was starvedand stick-like, her eyes were ringed with dark circles, and her skin and clothingwere soiled and stained. Cyrus’ heart weakened.
She walked up to himand studied his face. Cyrus felt exposed. Her eyes went to his hair, wilder anddarker than before, to his broken nose, to the crook of its once-straight bridge.She reached up and touched the stubble of his square jaw. Cyrus felt a twingewhere the shattered jaw bone had mended.
“It is you,” shesaid, astonished. “You came back. Why?”
Cyrus opened his mouthto speak, but could not find the words.
“LongBones?” a witheredvoice asked,
