From the Ashes

Chapter 37 ~ Within the Mouth

Four days passed before Tarion noticed the first sign that they'd reached their destination, the heavy scent of salt carried on a misty breeze. The trees parted to reveal an almost complete circle of sheer cliffs, rising higher and higher as they neared the open end of the Mouth.

The peaceful Une River swelled to a roar and emptied over the cliffs into the crashing waves below. Wicked peaks of underwater rocks broke the surface of the water like the open jaws of a beast awaiting its prey. For that reason, Tarion kept them walking another half a day.

He couldn't risk Morana jumping in blindly and splattering herself on the rocks, and there was only one area of the Mouth that did not have cliffs. Unfortunately, it placed them a river's width away from the Isle of Lorn, but gods willing, the Cahirim were already being drawn away by uprisings happening all throughout the Vidar Forest.

"Is it deep?" Morana asked behind him, staring across the lip of the cliff beside them. They were walking a safe distance away from it, but remained close enough to see within the walls of the Mouth.

Tarion nodded. "No one ever figured out how deep exactly, but ships used to try to harbor here during the Elder Age. They all sank on the rocks. I don't know how many wrecks you'll see down there, but you'll need to be careful."

She, not they, because she would be searching for the sword alone. They'd been discussing it the past few days. Morana was the only one who could touch the sword, if what Janus said was true, and being that close to the Cahirim's stronghold, someone needed to stand watch.

Besides that, Morana had a theory that her magic might be able to guide her to the sword. Tarion wasn't so sure, but he was willing to let her try. "Do you think the Isle will be empty?" Morana asked quietly.

Tarion glanced back at her. Her gaze remained fixed on the cliffs towering opposite to them. "Honestly, no. It won't be completely vacant. But hopefully Rhidian and Gaelen will have been called away to handle the attacks. They'll have taken most of their stronger warriors with them, so I'll be able to handle whomever is left behind if they discover us."

"How can you bear it?" Tarion arched a brow. "Seeing Rhidian and Gaelen. Knowing who they were and who they are now. What they've been through." Morana's gaze turned to him at last. "Gaelen was your mentor and like a second father to you, but he helped kill your parents. He helped Astaroth Corrupt you."

"I view them as separate people," Tarion answered, unable to mask the harshness of his tone. "Rhidian and I were never friends, but he was a decent male, and Gaelen..." He shook his head, not bothering to smooth back the hair that hid his face.

"Rhidian never came back from the poison Astaroth planted in his mind, and at this point, I don't think he wants to. I don't know who Gaelen is now. He recovered himself more than Rhidian did, but he could never be the male he once was. Those males are long dead."

"What will you do with them after all this? Will you kill them?"

"It would be the only mercy I can offer them."

"What if they can still come back?"

"It's been nine hundred years for them."

"It took over a century for you."

Tarion rounded on her and Morana stumbled backwards. "Yes, and even now there are days when I think I slip back into the madness Astaroth left in me. After nine hundred years fully immersed in it, it's cruel to have hope for them. Astaroth has put them through just as much as me. Maybe even worse."

"If their old selves are buried somewhere within them, they would beg for death for what they've done." Morana opened her mouth again, but he cut her off before she could speak. "I'm done talking about this. It serves no purpose and is only a painful reminder of my all my fucking failures, so let's make sure this isn't another one."