Book One: Rise of the King

Chapter Twenty-One

 The sun was going down over the mountain. He sat alone, watching the sun slip over the ridge. He felt hollowed out. Wreckage from the Komeh ship in orbit had finally stopped falling through the sky. He had sat there watching it, nearly gotten squashed a couple times. Still, he sat there. Right then, in that valley of destruction, he could have laughed at the ludicrous situation. He didn't, though.

"Gray?"

He had heard the horses coming up behind him. He hadn't turned. He knew who it was so there didn't seem any point.

"Where's Eli? Benton?"

"Oh, they're around here someplace probably."

"What happened?"

Gray looked up from his perch on a tree trunk. Nate gasped, staggered back. Charlie blinked, looked away.

"Good Lord, Graham. You're a mess." Charlie said, his voice soft.

He had assumed as much, really. He was probably covered in blood. There was a chance there was someone's guts on him, too. His face was pretty carved up. Whatever else they saw, he didn't think he wanted to know but he had to ask.

"My eyes are gone, aren't they?"

Charlie nodded, sat down next to him. "No colour left."

"I kinda figured that."

"We found Josan, Gray."

Gray pulled his lighter out of his pocket and searched his pack for a cigarette. He found a pack of them, lit one up, took a deep draw and exhaled.

"Could you get her loaded onto Zero for me?" Gray asked.

"Where's Eli?"

"He's dead. Benton is dead. The Komeh are dead. The Gauran are dead. Josan is dead. Everybody is dead. Maybe even me."

Nate and Charlie shared a look.

"It's been a long damn day, guys."

Gray sat there next to Charlie in the middle of what had once been a forest of evergreens. Nate stood facing his brother.

"I just wanna go home, go to bed." Gray said softly, tears welling up in his eyes. When they broke free, the right eye bled its tears.

"Then let's go home." Nate suggested.

Gray wiped at his face. "Where is that now?"

"I don't know." Nate admitted.

"He's dead, Nathan. Eli's dead. I couldn't stop it. I couldn't save him."

"He would tell you that we all have our time. He was going to Heaven and he knew it." Nate said, looking around at the disaster around him.

"Come on." Charlie said, standing. "Let's get out of here."

Gray looked up, nodded after a moment. "Sure, Charlie."

The trip home was long. The estimate of a thousand refuges wasn't far off. When Charlie counted, there were nine hundred and fourteen people making their way down the mountain, if he counted himself. They had lost seven warriors. Eli and Benton would never be recovered. Josan's body had been wrapped in the blanket she had shared every night with Gray and strapped to Zero to keep her from falling off before he could get her home. The other dead had been buried and left to the valley. The wounded were keeping Danna busy. The young healer had been working as best as he could under the circumstances. Food was scarce and the sick began to have even more trouble.

Gray slowed the pace and sent a runner ahead to warn his mother what was coming toward her. It took them a week longer than it should have to get to the Kimer River, but there was no way to avoid it. Gray was relieved to see the medics his mother sent, though a little surprised she didn't show up herself. One of the medics said she'd been waiting to assist with a delivery and thought she had better stay close. Leaving Nate and Charlie to tend to the refugees, Gray continued by himself across the river. He dreaded taking Josan to her father. He wanted to get it over with and wasted no time getting back to the village.