Empire of Shadows

30.

"I saw Olve last night."

Ketil limped beside Kaia who rode on the mule, Kaspar pressed tight to her chest. "Kaia, are you alright?"

"He was dressed in his wedding clothes with his hair braided." She smiled fondly, remembering. "He came to me when you were asleep and he kissed my forehead. He held Kaspar too, said he'd never gotten to say goodbye to his only child. He was sad about that. He'd never get to see Kaspar turn into a man. Never get to hear him say his first words."

An ache in Ketil's chest made him turn away.

Olve was dead because of his stupid actions. If he would have ran away, Olve would be alive and Kaia wouldn't be fighting an infection in her shoulder from a bullet.

"Olve told me we'd be together soon." She leaned forward, carefully cradling the baby. "He told me to tell you to take care of our son when we're together again."

Ketil shook his head, staring straight ahead at the road. They'd been on the move for three days but it still felt like they'd gone nowhere.

"You're not going to pass, Kaia. You're staying here with me. If we can make it to a city, I'll find the best doctors. I'll tell them who I am and they'll take care of you. You're going to be fine."

She let out a cry of pain. "Emperor Østberg, do you know what a revenant is?"

"Ketil," he corrected. "And they're ghost stories to scare small children into behaving. My mother used to tell me about them. She told us if we misbehaved our great Aunty who died from plague would come to get us and take us away. And then there's the folktale that when you see a revenant, your death won't be far behind. They're nothing but ghost stories, however real they seem sometimes."

"Oh, so you don't believe in them? Revenants are just stories? You don't believe the souls of those we lost can come back to usher us into our own passing?"

"It didn't happen the last time I died." He winced as he stepped on a rock and slightly turned his ankle.

"But you didn't fully die last time."

"I died enough. Kaia, please don't talk like this. I'm sure we'll find a doctor or a medic or an apothecary. You're going to be fine."

They were both silent.

Ketil limped on, his ankle that had at one point been on the road to recovery was now even worse. At least his ribs didn't hurt as much. Or maybe that was because the throb in his ankle and collarbone drowned it out.

Kaspar woke with a loud cry that echoed around them. Kaia shushed him, head bowed over the child so he could see her.

She finally spoke. "You'll take care of him, won't you?"

"What?"

"My baby. You'll take care of my baby, won't you? I need to know that when I die, you'll take care of him."

"You're both going to be fine." He looked up at her, exhaustion pulling at his eyelids. How much longer could they go on like this?

She swayed in the saddle, falling to the side. Ketil's still healing body broke their fall. All three of them let out a cry.

Ketil lifted her back on the mule before she could topple all the way over, Kasper screaming all the while. "Kaia, are you alright?"

He still knew the answer. Her skin was burning hot, her face flushed red and sweaty.

"I don't feel right," she whispered. She bent over, one hand grabbing ahold of the mule's short mane to steady herself.

"We need to stop," Ketil muttered. "They'll be looking for us in town but I have to get a doctor to you. I can't stop that infection on my own."