Siena (Forestfolk, Book 1)

Chapter 17b

When we got to the tree line, I recognized the path of my flight. It was a strange feeling. Galen and Remi allowed me to roam around in a semi-dazed state. I felt their eyes on me as I went from tree to tree, and then I found it. The tree I had collapsed against when I first got here. There were still blood-stains in the bark where I had leaned against it. My blood.

I crouched down and touched the stain. It seemed like so long ago that I had been bleeding to death right here. "Remi, where were you?"

He knew exactly what I was asking and looked up at one of the sturdy branches in the tree.

"You were right above me?" I asked in disbelief.

He nodded and kicked a pinecone.

I peered up at the branch, then out to the river in the distance. "Okay." With nothing more to say, I headed out into the plain.

Remi must have been expecting retorts or complaints from me, because he looked surprised when I marched past him without another word.

I traced my way back to the shallow part of the river and crossed it without even consulting my companions. They simply followed me.

I saw a few bodies between the river and the compound. They were the unlucky women who had been close behind me, attempting to dash to freedom. None of them looked like Nily, so I didn't approach the bodies.

As I got closer to the perimeter, I caught sight of a pole jammed into the ground. A man's severed head was spiked upon it, dried blood caking his face and half the pole, its dead eyes staring at nothing.

It was Magar, Zurbo chieftain. Now chief of nothing.

I wanted to laugh in his face. To scream that this is what you get for sentencing my mother to death. But the hollowness inside me sapped away any victory I might have felt, and all I could think was, now Meresh had no father. Which may not matter if Meresh was dead too.

I looked away and continued on past the perimeter entrance, stopping dead in my tracks at the sight. The compound was a desolate graveyard of burned huts and rotting corpses. I covered my nose against the smell.

Galen and Remi trailed along some distance behind me as I went farther in, fully expecting the memories to hit me like a lightning strike. I stood in the center of my old hut. All that remained were the crumbling mud walls and a lot of ash. The grief did not come, only a strange numbness, so I made my way toward the center of the compound.

I was not prepared for what I saw there. Everywhere was rotting flesh and blackened blood. The overpowering stench nearly choked me. The bodies were numerous and half eaten by vultures and other carrion eaters. I swayed as my stomach roiled and threatened to empty its contents.

Men and women littered the ground, and the overwhelming sense of loss devastated me even more than the foul air. I dropped to my knees and a sob wrenched out of me, but I couldn't tear my eyes away. These were innocent people, slaughtered for no reason.

Then I saw the silver hair. I rose to my feet and approached it. Cloudy gray eyes stared up at the sun. It was Nily. Sticky black ooze covered her abdomen, punctuated by a gaping wound. A branch lay next to her splintered hand. She had gone down fighting. I swallowed bile and fought back the nausea while my heart raced. I was done here.

I stepped back and tripped over another body. Breath ragged, I clambered to my feet, gagging on revulsion, the stench, and a touch of hysteria. I ran, stumbled, and ran again until I reached the other perimeter exit. I fell to my knees again and gulped for air. Tears streamed down my face and my ribs seemed to shrink, painfully squeezing my heart. The loss of life, the loss of Davin's sweetheart, an entire tribe wiped from existence.

It wasn't until a pair of strong arms enfolded me that I realized I was shaking. Remi pulled me off my knees, and I wrapped my arms around him, desperately clinging to something solid and alive. I felt his arms circle around me, and I began to sob uncontrollably.

He held me silently as my body shook. I leaned into him, savoring his strength. It bolstered me. When the sobs finally subsided, I slowly pulled away, ashamed at my excessively tearful display.

"I'm sorry," I mumbled. "I'll pull myself together."

Galen threw an arm around my shoulders. "Nonsense," he said with that easy smile. "You're supposed to fall apart. Death is hard. All this death is gruesome. Shall we leave?"

I nodded shakily.

"Then let's get out of here." His arm firmly guided me beyond the perimeter and back out into the plain.

As we got farther away, the crippling sorrow ebbed, replaced by fury. War was one thing, but extermination? That was inhuman.

My fists clenched. My role on this mission was no longer to simply keep my companions alive. With every fiber in my body, I would make sure they succeeded.

Uh oh, bad guys better watch out! Vote please?