Restored (A Caleo Selection)

31 ~ A Victory So Shallow

The blast knocked me backwards to the marble floor. I covered my face with my arms as debris flew every which way, raining down on soldiers from both armies.

A cloud of dust had risen from the explosion, and I couldn't see past the edge of the balcony. Coughing, I gripped the railing, fumbling for my gun. Leo, what did you do?

I heard shouting below, and desperately waved the dust away from my face. It was slowly clearing, but not fast enough for me to see the enemy ranks. Directly below me, though, I spotted Reyna hauling herself up. She seemed mostly unharmed, and I breathed a bit easier. The explosion had not completely leveled the courtyard, then.

Thalia stumbled out of the smoke, blood on her leg. She ran to Reyna, speaking in low tones. The blast seemed to have halted most of the fighting, and I almost screamed with the frustration of not being able to see the other side.

Illéan mercenaries were diving into the fray to search for survivors, and I considered going down to join them, but decided against it for the sake of staying out of their way. Instead, I forced myself to sit down against the wall, waving smoke away from my face. This time, I would let them find him. I told myself I was just being sensible.

In truth, I was terrified of what I might find.

An eternity passed before the air had finally cleared enough to have passable visibility. I readjusted my gun and made myself look down.

Although the haze still hindered me from seeing the entire courtyard with clarity, what I could see was so incredible I didn't know whether to laugh or cry. Enemy bodies littered the ground -- the blast had been forceful enough to launch them quite close to the palace. But upon a closer look, I could see guards checking and securing some of the bodies, and I guessed the blast had knocked some of them unconscious without killing them.

In contrast, an almost-perfect circle of charred black debris had been seared into the ground around where the bomb had detonated. A mass of scorched metal sat in the center, and I realized it had been Festus. I strained my eyes, but I couldn't make out anything moving around him.

Unable to take it anymore, I turned and dashed inside, tearing down the stairs to the main entrance. Ignoring the chaos of survivors and soldiers crowded in the foyer, I shoved open a side door.

The Illéan forces had begun rounding up captives, searching for survivors in the wreckage. A group of enemy troops had congregated near the fence, shackled and guarded closely. Reyna circled them, making sure they remained together.

I ran to her, ignoring the prisoners right next to us. "Reyna! You're alright?"

"I'm fine," Reyna reassured me. "Got the breath knocked out of me by the hit, that's all."

"Thank goodness." I hesitated. "What -- what happened? Where's Leo?"

Reyna glanced over at the pile of wreckage where Festus had been. "I'm sorry, Calypso."

Dread mounted in my chest. "No."

"The blast was concentrated in a ten-yard radius. It decimated everything within that area. That included a huge portion of enemy soldiers and almost no Illéans, but..." Reyna let her words trail off.

I waited for the unspoken end. I would not believe it until it was out there in the open. I could not.

Reyna shifted her weight from foot to foot. "There's no way he could have survived the force of the explosion," she said finally. "If he had, we'd have found him by now. They're still combing through the bodies, but they won't find him."

During those long days of captivity, I had wondered what it would be like if I found out Leo was dead. I'd imagined I would collapse in tears, or maybe I would just shut down and stop talking. Perhaps I'd run until I found a place to hide forever.