Aurora - Book One of The BrightStone Saga

-Three: Kantos-

Staring at the muddy and blood-soaked ground, he looks up to see the rising of the two blue suns of Antar. Beautiful, he thinks, squeezing his eyes shut, feeling every ache, pain and cut on his body. Still kneeling, he opens his eyes to shouting. He wants to stand but his body will not move.

Kantos looks around to see his men, still lying motionless around him wondering if they are dead. But he cannot move his body to check. He tries to speak but only a croak comes out. He clears his throat and tries again. "Fer... Ferr... Ferren?" he finally gets out his throat dry as bone-dust. "Ferren? Bados?" he croaks again with no response.

He looks to where Derry now lies. A pool of his own blood surrounds him, his wounds no longer bleeding and his skin pale, he is dead. Kantos' head drops to his chest. Feeling ashamed he shouts.

"WHY?"

His eyes close and he licks his lips. "Why did this happen?" he asks again, one last time. This time hoping for something good to come from this gat.

"Flinn? Garret? Haden? Be alive..." He looks to his left hearing muffled footsteps. Blinking once, then again, he tries to focus his eyes in the brightness of the new day. He sees men running toward him but cannot discern who they are.

GAT! Is this it for me? Is this how I die?

"Come on then you sons of whores," he whispers. He manages to grab his broadsword. It feels heavy in his hand but familiar, he uses it as he struggles to his feet.

"Kantos? Kantos, put down your sword, please." He barely hears it, his sword still held high. It wavers, threatening to topple. "Kantos." The voice sounds familiar as it finally breaks through to him. "Kantos please," this time he hears it through his clouded mind. He looks toward the voice, at Blue Eyes, his short-cropped hair matted with mud and his leather armour splattered with red.

Kantos lowers his broadsword, the tip touching the blood-soaked ground. He blinks again and winces at the pain in his side. "Commander. You have found us. Thank you." He looks down at the ground again as his head flops onto his chest. Blue eyes steps to his side, helping him sit.

"What... Happened here?" he asks, looking around at the bodies.

Kantos looks up with bleary eyes, he swallows, his throat so dry. "It was a... Daemon." He coughs, bringing up blood. "Are they dead?"

"The men are checking now. Do not worry."

"It killed them all," he carries on. "I... I... don't know how." He looks up at the brightening sky, the green hues taking over from the darkness. He takes a deep breath, wheezing.

"Kantos? You are hurt, are you sure? A daemon?" asks Blue Eyes.

Still staring at the sky, remembering the slaughter and carnage, he finally speaks. "We found the bodies." He stops and looks at his Commander. "Then we found Derry." He nods to the corner, the pool of blood surrounding him like syrup now. "I didn't believe, I couldn't believe something could do that." He blinks again. "With its bare hands. Then we saw it, the daemon." He coughs again, a spray of blood adds another coat to his Commander's armour. "Black skin with pure white eyes and it moved. I don't know. I'm not sure, like a snake. It was strange but mesmerising." He takes another deep breath, the wheezing sounding worse. "It killed my men just by looking at them. It didn't work on me, I don't know why. I injured it with my dagger, but I couldn't finish it. I failed them." He trails off looking down.

"It's okay Kantos." Blue Eyes says. Looking at the corner, he closes his eyes, "Derry my friend, you will be missed." He scans the bodies scattered on the ground, his men checking to see if anyone survived. He turns back. "Kantos, my son. We will avenge this. I promise!"

Kantos blinks away the tears. "Yes... Father." He sets his mouth in a grimace. He almost sags, feeling the weight of the night's battles. His father and Commander catching him as he lands on his knees.

One of his men comes running up. "Commander Blakos," he says saluting. He is a small man, with wiry arms bare to the shoulders, his long straggly hair tied back against his head.

"What is it, Kain?"

"The other men, Sir. Ferren, Bados and Haden, they are alive! They were unconscious; they have started waking up, sir." He says all this with eyes darting backwards and forwards from father to son.

Kantos' eyes brighten, "Is it true? Maybe, we are luckier than we first thought."

"That is some good news, thank you, Kain. Prepare them to move if they can. We need to get home," Commander Blakos says, with a determined look, his blue eyes sparkling in the morning rays.

"Yes, sir. What about our fallen comrades?" Kain asks.

"We leave no one behind, not even our dead."

"Sir? We are not sure who is who." He pauses eyes averted to the ground. "They are in... pieces, Commander."

Commander Blakos looks at Kain with a sudden fury in his eyes. "We will take them all! We will not leave them to the dogs! Gather the men. Make stretchers if you have to. We will make a pyre for them all, but not here. Now go!" With that, he turns his back on the soldier to face his son again.

"Kantos? Can you stand?" he asks. "We need to go, and you may be our true saviour this night."

"I don't know what you mean, Father. True saviour?"

"I am not sure. But from what I remember from the stories of old. The black-skinned daemons, they are meant to be a myth. Scary stories for children. Fables. But you stood against it, even wounded it and survived. That is a feat in itself." He helps Kantos struggle to his feet. "We must consult with our elders, come now, we need to get home. Can you walk?"

He steadies himself, assessing his injuries before answering. "Yes, I think so. I will be slow though, Father."

"Slow or fast, it matters not, so long as you can move. Come now. We must go."

Blakos turns, still holding his son to steady him. He looks at his men working to collect their dead. "Time to go. Collect what you can. You have five minutes, then we move out."

He turns to Kantos. "Will you be okay?" he asks.

Kantos looks at his father and nods, "Yes, I will be fine." With that, he turns on his heel and marches towards his men. He leaves Kantos to his own thoughts, surrounded by blood and the smell of death.

***

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