Bjorn blinked from the intense light of the sun as the clouds faded away, giving way to the light rains the Dragon had summoned before.
His skin was blistered and aching from the storm summoned by the Dragon.
Atop a roof, Taya had beaten him and raised her sword up.
Yes! Yes, this is it! He watched with enthrallment as Taya dealt the finishing blow of this battle.
"Glory lies beyond!" She roared like a lioness.
Then a wide, flat glaive blade punched through her chest cavity.
Its steel shined in the sun, though it glowed with green flames. It was stainless. Not a drop of blood on it. And ever so detailed.
Taya's sword clattered to the ground.
Only now did he realize what had just occurred before him.
Gongsun Guanyu appeared from nowhere behind her, hands trembling on the shaft of his glaive.
Taya coughed, blood mixed with spittle flying out from her mouth as crimson welled up around her lips.
Guanyu tore his weapon out of her chest, leaving a gaping, bloody hole in her torso.
The crash of Taya's body on the roof tiles echoed in his mind endlessly. She slid downwards and fell to the street with a thump.
Blood pooled around her, mixing with the rainwater.
Bjorn screamed. He didn't know what he screamed, since the rain was the only deafening noise he heard. Just the beating of the rain on the cobblestones.
He knelt next to her. Her beautiful grey eyes shifted to him.
Bjorn forgot what he'd said the moment the words left his mouth. It was a question.
Taya's fingers gently brushed against his face, "Bjorn..." Her voice sounded much like his mother's had when he was an infant. How did he know that?
"Yes?" he got closer to her.
Weakly, she smiled. Despite her state, it was the strongest, most confident and most beautiful smile he'd ever seen. "I...I found it, Bjorn. I'm so happy I found it...the infinite...journey."
Bjorn didn't know what to say to her. Just that he had to say something.
"Join me...someday..." Taya's fingers interlocked with his.
The last wisps of breath escaped her lungs. Her stormy grey eyes remained wet, but they were no longer bright.
That was it.
Taya Sergeyev was dead.
What action was there left in the world but to weep? To weep with the rain.
YOU ARE READING
The Call of Crows
FantasiBjorn Stormtamer's world has been turned upside down in more ways than one. His shipmates have left him for dead on an island for quarantining victims of a disease that he now has. His partner in battle despises him, his family thinks he's dead and...
