Mordraud, Book One (89 page)

The
wind carried the last shouts of hope from his comrades.

Then,
silence.

A tumult of smoking corpses stretched
out as far as the eye could see, engulfing gutted buildings and homes annihilated by the blast. None of his men had survived. All had been swept away by that terrifying harmony conjured up by the chanters in the towers.

It was all over
.

The war
, Eldain’s ideals. His men’s lives.

Adraman. Deanna.
His son.

And
now, him.

“
I... didn’t... want... to... just... die...”

Mordraud
seized his brother’s wrist and twisted it with all the force he could muster. Dunwich dropped his weapon and fell to his knees.

“
You have to die too,
with me
!”

Mordraud
raised Eldain’s sword, placed it against Dunwich’s chest, and pushed, clinging on to it. The tip slipped between the metal plates of the Lance’s armour, found flesh, and buried into his shoulder, between the bones. His eyes sprang wide and he screamed in unbearable pain.

“
Now... everything... really... is... over...”

Dunwich
slumped into his arms. Mordraud clutched him, sliding to the ground with him. They both closed their eyes together, blinded by those lights and that colourless silence.

Now he could stop suffering
.

Deanna
was waiting for him outside, in the villa’s courtyard. By her side, a handsome dark-haired boy was waving to him. Behind her, his hands on her hips, Adraman was staring at him with proud eyes. Mordraud stretched out his hand, as if to stroke that perfect picture, but before he could touch Deanna’s face for a last time, the blazing skies tumbled down on them. The fire devoured everything.

He was burning too, along with
his family. And this filled him with joy.

Dunwich
was astride a horse, riding behind Seneo. He was leaving home. He could almost feel the teacher’s rough cloak between his fingers, could smell the leather of the saddle.

“
Dunwich, my little one!”

Eglade
was calling him, tears in her eyes, hand in hand with his father. They seemed happy and yet sad. Dunwich lowered his gaze. Cradled in his arms was a newborn baby.

A child with e
yes as deep as the sea.

I
’ve found you again, brother of mine.