Illara Chronicles: Swordplay

Farewell Friends

The shade of the forest was still cold this early in the morning as Taldren ripped violently through the brush. He moved as fast as his legs could carry him, over the gnarled roots and fallen leaves, willing himself to move faster still.  He didn't know where he was running to, or why. Though when he looked deeper he found that wasn't wholly true.

 It's those damn eyes. All of them. 

Dynin. His eyes were gentle, green, and damning. There too was a set of gray eyes, that he couldn't put a name to. But they held nothing but joy and love, they were beautiful once, but now they stared at him empty of all light, or life. A dozen others, troubled him but Keliths were the most vivid of all. His innocent brown orbs wide for the shock and the pain. How could you? They said. You called me Brother, they accosted.

Taldrens boot caught under a root and he hit the ground. If it hurt he didn't feel it, not for the burning in his chest. He'd only begun to get back to his feet when he saw the blood on his hands. Keliths blood. The vision of his friend as a child forced its way into his mind. Screaming and crying over a papercut. Wailing. 

Guilt pushed the burning in his chest up into his throat as he wiped his hands against the front of his black tunic in a panic. His eyes burned, he lost control of his breathing and began to cry tears deeper and more pained than he had any right to cry. He gnashed his teeth, pressed his nails into his cheekbones and grabbed fistfulls of his hair.

Kendreths voice pulled him from his moment of frightened self pity. Self loathing? 

 His moment of intense pain.

He's calling my name.

Taldren ran again, from the comfort that he knew Kendreth would force onto him. He fled from the kind words and warmth that he didn't deserve. The love that didn't belong.

Taldren ignored Kendreths calling as he raced uphill in the forest. 

He climbed higher, and harder as he broke the treeline. Roots and leaves gave way to short grass and rough stones. Taldren kept choosing the steepest and shortest route up. A climb Kendreth is not nimble enough to make. Taldren drove himself on without regard for the way that the stones bruised his knees, and rubbed his hands raw.

He spared a look over his shoulder to find Kendreth, slick with sweat, climbing quickly after him, and gaining. His larger friend had given up his yelling but Taldren knew that look. Those determined and pleading eyes turned his stomach. He pushed himself harder and made it to the top well ahead of his pursuer. A single tree sat at the edge atop of this mound, Taldren pulled himself up into the roots. The top of the hill was small, extending just fifty feet beyond the roots of the lone tree and ending in a cliff, more steep than the side he had just climbed up.

The morning sun broke the horizon just then, into Taldrens eyes and over the forest below, lighting trees in every shade of green. It was warm on his face, and the hand that came up to protect his eyes.

There was a glimmering dust in the air, that the sunlight lit like drifting flecks of
gold. The soft breeze stirred them gently about. The air tasted sweet. Taldren drew a deep breath, and started towards the edge just as Kendreth spoke from behind him, still half hanging by the trees roots. "Tal-"

"Stay back Ken." He ordered, and then went on under his breath. "You don't get to be the hero this time." He took in the beautiful scene once more, before hardening his heart.

"Let me help you." The oaf actually had the spine to flash that smirk. Arms out like he was calling the Laurells cat down from a tree.

"You can't save everyone Kendreth." Taldren glared over his shoulder. That smile melted away. "You of all people should know that."