Healing roots

Chapter 2

Cedar stepped off the stage. The crowd parted where she walked. She exited the courtyard. A great cheer resounded round the palace. "Huzzah, the wicked queen of the dark is dead! Hail queen Gildas! Hail the great warrior Cedar!'" She walked slowly away. Why were the people celebrating? So many were dead. They had fought against their own friends and family, controlled by Zehnobia. She could still hear their pleas for mercy ringing in her ears. When she closed her eyes, she could still see the blood-soaked battlefield, the people weeping as they cut down those closest to them. She could see Zehnobia, her talismans covering her neck, arms, and waist, holding Gabriel by his throat, stabbing her sword into his heart... She was farther away from the palace, and could just hear the joyful cheers of the people on the breeze, but they were quickly overwhelmed by another sound. The cries of the mourning people filled the air. Sobbing, screaming, praying. She walked past the funeral pyres, saw children holding their remaining parent's hand, parents weeping for their children, pyres surrounded by friends, pyres with no one to see them, all bringing their people up to the sky in a cloud of smoke. Further on she saw halflorns being buried, their half-plant bodies already starting to sprout the flora and fauna that they would become after death. So many had lost their lives in this war. Zehnobia had done this. She went further down, and ended at the crystal ocean. No one knew how long the crystal clear water went for. She walked over to the boat in which lay her husband, Gabriel. He looked just as he had in life, his golden hair falling tousled around his shoulders, his freckles like the dappling of a fawn, about to open his eyes and smile at her. When she had found his inert body, she was in denial. She had bandaged his wounds, tried everything she could. But his pulse had slowly faded out. She had to accept it. He was dead. Now for his funeral. She placed a pink rose between his cold hands. He had bought her a small rosebush, and taught her to garden. They now had a beautiful garden around their house, carefully cared for by them. She whispered a goodby in his ear. She pushed the boat out into the sea, and shot a flaming arrow at the boat just as it went over the horizon. He would fly up on wings of smoke to the land of joyful souls. She whispered a plea to him under her breath. "If you are given the chance to come back, and live a happy life as another person, I beg of you, please don't. Please wait for me. I know that you will be up there, composing poetry to your heart's content. And when I come and join you, I will listen to every piece." She walked back to the castle, and felt sick as she heard the joyful voices. She grabbed her sack and her cloak, and before someone could see her and offer congratulations on her victory, she was gone.