AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Thank you.” Her face was pale and emotionless.
Silas fought to pull himself up to a sitting position. “Water, please.”
Maria placed the bucket she was holding next to him, stepped away and folded her arms.
Silas’s right arm quivered as he used it to prop himself up, then used the left hand to slurp water. He wanted to lie down. Have time to recover. All his aches and pains to be gone. But that wasn’t an option. “The horse outside, I need to take it.”
“You don’t look like you could ride in your state.”
“I’ll be fine. Can you spare a bladder?”
“What happened here? The guard outside, he’s one of the king’s. Why would a king’s guard kill James?”
What to say? He couldn’t tell her the truth, she’d never believe it. How could she possibly comprehend it? “He was protecting me.”
Maria’s eyes shifted to the floor, then back to him. “And what would a king’s guard want with you?”
“You know my business, Maria. I am sorry, he should never have been involved.”
“Did he die in pain?”
“No, it was quick. He didn’t suffer.”
“Not my James, fool. The king’s guard. Did he suffer? Did he feel all the pain I feel now?” she shouted.
“I am sorry, Maria.”
“Sorry doesn’t cut it. James is gone, no words can bring him back. He was always good to you, and this is how you repay him.”
“I –”
“I told him you were trouble, to keep you away. Too gods damn kind. Look where it got him.”
“Maria –”
“I want you gone. Take that fucking horse and go. You will get nothing more from us.”
With that, Maria left, shouting and wailing in the distance. Silas couldn’t think of a single person he’d done good by. Sure, there were the victims of the people he’d killed over the years, but who was to say the people he’d killed actually deserved it? The Shadows? A faceless gang of drug pushers and killers. Everything he’d done in his life was morally wrong. Even as a child he’d done very little except commit petty crimes.
Talon can never be repeated. All those people dead for no reason. Mara must be stopped. If the one good thing I can do with my life must involve death, then let it be his.
The farmer hadn’t lied, the old horse had given up. It lay with its nose poked into the dirt, eyes shut. Alive, but only just. Mara felt bad for the horse. Animals didn’t deserve to die, no animal had ever hurt him. He stroked the horse’s back. “Sorry.”
He looked at the hills that led upward, the mountains above them, then below to the fields and forests that stretched away to more mountains in the distance. “A nice place to die.” He stroked the horse once more, then carried on up the steep hill, thinking he could see the top, but he’d thought that several times today already. It just kept going. “Stupid mountain.”
His forehead was wet with sweat when he finally reached the top. The sky red, pink and orange with the sun about to go down. He stood in front of a dim forest, staring at the well-used path that snaked through it. This must take me to Vespen, then it’s not far to the Shadows.
He looked forward to killing the Shadow Master. Nobody will have to listen to his stupid words ever again. He wondered how many other Shadows he would have to kill while he was there. He didn’t care either way, but he was excited to see what one looked like under the mask. Probably just wrinkly old men. They should have left me alone.
Night fell, and as he walked through the forest, he realised he wasn’t scared, not one bit. If he saw a creature like Mother, he’d just slow time and kill it. There was nothing to be afraid of anymore.
A loud hoot came from a tree just ahead of him. He slowed time. He’d heard the sound before with Silas, and just as Silas had said, it was a bird. As he let time go back to normal, the bird opened its big white wings and flapped away. He wasn’t lying.
He didn’t feel angry about Silas lying about Mother anymore. If he hadn’t, I might never have got to know my name. How did she know it? How did Lord Mansell? Can they see what I can see? Can they see the Beast? Can they make it slow? I need to find another one of those things and make it tell me.
Many hours later, the sun starting to turn the sky blue, a village appeared in the distance. Mara stopped for a minute and stared at it. The same snaking lines of smoke that he’d seen coming from the Vespen cottages before.
The smoke made him think of Talon and how amazing the chaos had been. The scared and angry looks on people’s faces. He could see that again if he wanted in Vespen. Not as many people, but it would burn all the same, probably easier. He’d think on it for a while, although the whispers in his head had already made up their mind. At the very least he would take a horse from Vespen, there was no way he’d be walking through the Blood Plain.
