Page 104 of Memory of Ashes

Chapter 24

Amelia

The army stopped as they waited to see who’d survived the blast.

Amelia could wait no longer. She needed to know if he was missing. She urged her horse into a gallop and raced off towards the mine.

“Wait!” she heard Danae cry.

But she couldn’t.

Danae’s horse galloped after her. She would soon catch up. She rode until her lungs burned and the sign of the army finally came into sight. Dust rose in the distance, dark against the fiery cloud behind it.

The sky lightened with the approach of morning as she urged her horse forward, faster.

She sobbed as she saw Casyl at the front, leading his men.

He galloped straight towards her.

“What are you doing here?” he asked, concerned. He looked behind her to see Danae approaching.

“I couldn’t wait. We felt the blast, and the scout said part of the army was missing. I had to know if you were okay.” She looked him up and down and noticed that he was injured.

The surviving fae soldiers bore the marks of the blast. Pieces of their armour had been torn away.

“We got as far away as we could before the explosion, but the rear ranks disappeared in the blast. We searched for them, but I suspect the earth entombed them.” His eyes were framed with dark circles against his pale skin.

They would become living ruins. Amelia shuddered.

He winced as he moved his arm towards her. That was when she saw the extent of his injuries.

His left side had suffered the most. Open wounds ran down his torso and arm with shrapnel embedded into his skin. He was missing some of his armour, too.

“I’ll be fine,” he said, noticing her concern.

“We’re fine too,” Ruven said, coming up behind Casyl.

“Where is Elthar?”

“He’s stopped near the mountain, waiting for your return.”

Casyl said something to Danae in fae before they galloped onwards to rejoin Elthar.

He sent out scouts. The blast and the remaining plume were sure to draw some attention.

Elthar and his army had waited where she’d left them.

She looked at Elthar sheepishly as he came to meet them.

“I’m sorry, Casyl. She left before I could stop her. Were you successful?” Elthar asked, clasping his hand. Casyl winced at the contact.

He nodded. “We lost some men, but the mine is sealed. The Lifesource is buried beneath it.”

Until humans found a way to reopen it, she thought. Their greed would not remain buried with the Lifesource. She could only hope enough time would pass and they would forget, although that seemed unlikely.

“The men need to rest, and so do you from the looks of it. We’ll camp here for a few hours before we continue,” Elthar said, and Casyl didn’t argue.

Amelia led him to the makeshift tent that had been erected for them. He lay down and allowed her to undress him and clean his wounds.