I blushed bright red, warmed to the tips of my toes.
Keir looked back at his opponent, over the heads of the joyful crowd. "Oone, I think insteadthat your warrior-priests would leave you in this instance. What say you?"
There was much commenting on this. I frowned, a bit puzzled. Oone still had bishops on theboard at her command. Yet she was looking at them with distrust. And the warriors portrayingthem were standing with their arms crossed, glaring at all and sundry from beneath loweredbrows.
Keir's bishops had been taken from the board, long before this. Yet he didn't have the ability toforce a checkmate. It was clearly a draw. Why were they—
Oone nodded her agreement. "I concede the loss, Warlord. My warrior-priests are not to betrusted."
Stunned, I watched as the crowd erupted into cheers and Keir raised his arms in victory. Ididn't understand what had just happened, but I knew somehow that it was important. Whatkind of power did the warrior-priests hold that they would refuse to support a leader?
Movement distracted me, as Keir was lifted on the shoulders of some of the warriors andcarried high above the heads of the cheering crowd.
I cheered as well, but groaned mentally. There'd be no living with him now.
Keir had announced a mourning ceremony for the evening before we were to leave. There hadbeen no new cases of the Sweat since Gils had died. A full forty days had passed, and we werefree of our invisible enemy.
Free of the disease, but not free of its effects. These people had been changed profoundly bywhat had happened here, each marked in different ways by the experience. They hadconfronted something unknown to them, and learned new skills as a result. I knew that I toohad been affected. Never again would I walk into a situation so sure that I had a solution. Aloss of confidence, perhaps, or maybe more of facing the truth of my limitations that I hadn'twanted to acknowledge before.
As the sun started to sink behind the mountains, everyone began to gather for the ceremonyalong the shore of the lake. This time, a minimal guard had been set, for all would mourntogether. I watched the sun as I stood outside the command tent, wrapped in my cloak. Thegathering warriors were bringing blankets to sit on, filling in the area, sitting close together,side by side.
Keir emerged from the tent with blankets and a bundle in his arms. He'd released my guards tojoin the grieving, and Marcus had indicated that he would remain in the command tent withMeara. Without a word, Keir took my hand, leading me toward the rise that overlooked theedge of the lake.
I saw Iften and the Warrior-Priest standing outside Iften's tent. It almost looked as if they werehiding something, the way they looked about them as they talked. Iften threw open the tent flapand vanished inside. The Warrior-Priest walked off, disappearing behind the tent in thedirections of the herds. I was surprised that they didn't join in the ceremony, but it certainlydidn't bother me.
Keir stopped. I looked around to find that we weren't far from our tent, and were really at thefringes of the crowd. "Aren't we going to sit closer?" I asked.
Keir shook his head. "I think for this ceremony, we'd be better off here." He shook out one ofthe blankets and spread it on the ground. "Besides, we are not the focus of this gathering. Thedead are."
I sat next to him, and he pulled me close, drawing an-other blanket over us. He leaned in, andspoke for my ear alone. "When you grow uncomfortable, we will leave."
An odd statement. I would have questioned him, but a drummer had stepped out into the cleararea at the lake's edge. He sat, a large drum before him, and pounded sharply four times.
Everyone stopped talking.
Joden stepped forward, followed by four warriors, carrying small braziers. He faced the crowd,the warriors placing their burdens at the compass points around him, with Joden at the center.
Joden raised his right palm to the sky. "May the skies hear my voice. May the peopleremember."
The response rose. "We will remember."
Joden lowered his arm and spoke again. "Birth of fire, death of air."
One of the warriors knelt, and blew on the coals within, feeding fuel that caused flames to leapup and dance.
"Birth of water, death of earth."
The second warrior knelt, dipping her hands and letting the water trickle back into the brazier.
"Birth of earth, death of fire."
The third warrior knelt, raised a lump of dirt, breaking it up to let the clods fall back into thebrazier.
"Birth of air, death of water."
The fourth warrior knelt. He too blew on coals, but the fuel he added caused a thin trail ofsmoke to rise up.
The four warriors stood, bowed to their elements, and melted back into the crowd.
