Tears of War (67 page)

Taela threw herself on her knees next to Kellinar, sobs shaking her body as she smoothed Anevay’s hair over and over. “No. No. No,” she moaned.

Anevay’s dark liquid eyes shimmered with tears as she turned them on Taela. “My bondsister…will always love…”

She looked back at Kellinar, pain filling her eyes and etching lines into her face. “It hurts, Kellinar.”

“I know, love.” He pulled as much of the pain from her as could, feeling Shryden move to block him from taking more than was safe. Kellinar brushed his knuckles across her cheek, the skin ashen under the creamed coffee color. Fear tightened like a vice around him. “Serena is coming, Anevay. She’s almost here.”

Serena staggered to a stop and fell to her knees across from him. Her eyes went wide and she gasped at the broad head arrow and the bloody mess on Anevay’s chest. She put her hands on the wound and closed her eyes.

Anevay’s face blurred as tears filled Kellinar’s eyes and he tightened his hold on her. If he could just hold onto her tight enough, she wouldn’t slip away from him.

She spasmed slightly in his grip and went still. Fear lanced through his chest as he looked frantically at Serena’s tear streaked face. Kellinar shook his head. No, Serena was here, Anevay couldn’t have…

He gazed down into Anevay’s face, one hand stroking her hair. “Anevay, wake up, love. Come on, wake up.” A strangled sob broke past his lips. “Please.”

Her beautiful eyes stared sightlessly back at him. He looked at Serena. “She can’t be dead, you were healing her.”

Serena stared at Anevay with hollow, lost eyes. “I couldn’t…not fast enough to save…” She raised overflowing eyes to his. “I wasn’t fast enough. I’m so sorry, Kellinar.”

With grief filled eyes, as dark and beautiful as Anevay’s, Latia laid her head next to them. A fading sorrowful keening coming from her throat. Ripples flowed along Latia’s scales, taking with them the bright yellow.

“Kellinar,”
Latia’s voice was faint, full of regret and sadness.
“I love you too. I’m sorry I didn’t protect her better. I’m sorry I didn’t feel the black Jumping in time. And I’m sorry we can’t stay with you. Forgive me. Take comfort that Anevay doesn’t go alone to Maiadar.”

Anguish crushed him at her words.
“I love you too, Latia. There is nothing to forgive.”

The other dragons gathered around Latia, their voices raised in keening sorrow as they bid their friend and mate goodbye. Shryden raised his head and roared his grief to the sky.

Taela wrapped her arms around her middle and bent over until her forehead pressed against the ground, her body shaking with silent sobs.

Kellinar cradled Anevay to him, rocking back and forth. She couldn’t be gone. This was a nightmare he would wake from; it had to be. What had he done? How had he failed to protect her? Anguish gripped so hard his heart physically hurt. Kellinar drew a shuddering breath, his throat tightened around the lump in it, strangling him as he looked at Serena and whispered hoarsely, “Heal her for me. Please, Serena. Bring her back to me.”

Serena shook her head and swallowed, more tears spilling over. Her breath hitched in a sob and her face crumpled. “I can’t heal death, Kellinar.”

Kellinar bent his head and wept into Anevay’s hair as he continued to rock her. His chest constricted until he could barely breathe under the weight of the agony in his heart. “No, no, no. Anevay, I love you. I need you, Anevay…”

A
s their friends gathered around, Serena gently tried to pull Anevay from Kellinar’s arms. He tightened his grip on her, begging for her to come back. The anguish and pain ravaging his face broke her heart. Blood soaked the front of his shirt. It wasn’t all Anevay’s. The arrow bolt had hit him too.

With tears in his eyes, Vaddoc put his hands on Kellinar’s shoulders. “You have to let her go now.” His voice was thick with sorrow.

With Vaddoc’s help, Serena was able to get Kellinar to release Anevay. Mckale knelt and gently picked her up. With tender care, he laid her next to Latia’s body.

Kellinar gathered Taela into his arms and they sat there clinging to each other as the dragons gathered around them. Serena laid her hand on Kellinar’s arm. “I need to heal you before you bleed to death.”

He shook his head, the devastation in his eyes wrenching at her.

“Kellinar, I know how badly you hurt right now,” she choked back a sob. “But I don’t think Taela can handle losing another bondmate today.” She took a shaky breath. “And, I can’t lose another friend.”

Taela, her eyes red and swollen with her own suffering, gazed up at Kellinar. “Please, let her heal you. I can’t lose you too. I need you. Shryden needs you.” Their shared grief overwhelmed Serena. A fist closed around her heart.

The mention of Shryden seemed to cut through the dark place where Kellinar’s heart dwelled. He nodded, though he refused to let go of Taela. It didn’t matter; she would heal him that way. If only she could take away all of his pain.

By the time she’d closed the wound and healed the other minor physical injuries, Emallya’s body had been laid next to Bardeck and Mernoth.

Vaddoc, Mckale, and Varnen waded through the dead on the battlefield to return Tania and Tallula to their dragons.

The dragons raised their voices in keening sorrow as they set fire to each fallen pair, the intense heat reducing them to ash.

Shryden and Paki each laid their heads against Latia’s for a moment before they backed up and released their fire.

Mckale held Maleena as Emallya, Bardeck, and Mernoth disappeared behind flames. Serena walked up and put her arms around Maleena and Mckale, laying her head on his arm. Vaddoc, Kirynn, Kellinar, Taela, Jocelynn, and Varnen gathered around, leaning on each other in shared anguish. The surviving mages stood in a half circle, their faces wracked with grief as they said goodbye to a couple that had overseen Galdrilene for generations.

Smoke from the pyres billowed into the sky, further darkening the day. As the flames slowly died back, revealing only ashes, Belan approached them hesitantly, his eyes haunted by the sadness of the aftermath. “Kellinar?”

Serena turned to Belan. Lost in his hurt, Kellinar was in no shape to handle anything else. “Yes, Belan?”

Behind him, a raggedy group of men stood covered in blood and injuries. All that was left of the men of the Mallay. Over five hundred had left and less than two hundred remained. The cost of their freedom was immeasurable. She took a deep breath, pushing her sorrow away in order to deal with everything that still had to be done.

Belan cleared his throat. “We have some serious injuries all over the field that need to be healed so we can get the women and children from the canyon and take them…” He looked around. Inside the wall, the Mallay still burned strong.

Serena nodded. There was a lot of healing to do. “I will Slide to Galdrilene and bring back more healers.”

Kellinar stared over Taela’s head at the battleground. A blessed numbness settled over him. The Ke’han, many of their numbers remaining intact, gathered slowly together with the Naga and Nagi. Mckale sat on Tellnox, preparing to take them back to…wherever they lived.

Lord Vesnar and Lord Telain and their remaining soldiers held a large group of Turindari and Hanoverian prisoners. A few chickens and goats set loose from the Mallay wandered lost and confused among the dead.

The soldiers from the border nations and the Border Guards moved about the battlefield, systematically killing any Kojen or enemy soldiers still struggling for life. There would be no healing for them.

Kellinar’s eyes drifted over the many Mallay men strewn across the field. Did he cause all of this? If so, was it worth the cost? His eyes strayed to the pile of ash that had been Anevay and Latia. He had no answers. Deep down, he knew the price of freedom from the Shadow Riders, though tragically high that day, had come nowhere near being paid in full.

The future and the knowledge of the many battles to come, the many heartaches to visit them, weighed heavily on him. Anger slowly started to simmer in his blood as he looked up at the walls of the Trilene. No one walked them now. The cowards in the Trilene hadn’t even sent their own soldiers out and now they cowered behind their walls in silence. They should burn for what they did. For everything they had done.

Abruptly, he let go of Taela and stormed to Shryden’s side, grabbing for the catcher strap. Shryden turned a big, sad eye on him.
“Your pain is my pain; your sorrow my sorrow. Nobody understands what you are feeling at this moment more than me.”
The dragon hesitated then continued,
“However, this is not the way Kellinar. I will not assist you in this.”

Kellinar sagged against the dragon’s side.
“They should burn, Shryden. They should…”
His eyes swept the field and the piles of ashes. The numbness and anger fell away as everything crashed down on him.
“I have to get out of here.”

“I will fly you home. Paki will bring Taela.”

He pulled himself slowly into the saddle, fastening the safety straps by rote. The blue launched himself into the air. Kellinar didn’t look back as they left the battlefield, and the ashes of those he had loved, behind.

Maleena focused through the sorrow in her heart and the tears in her eyes as they slowly returned allies back to their homes. The overwhelming grief from the loss of her friends and from those on the battlefield made her head feel as if it were breaking apart. Women and children wept for husbands, brothers, and sons lost. Even sisters, aunts, and daughters had been lost. Her first taste of battle had left its mark in the form of a deep scar on her heart.