What Lies Beyond the Ocean

Chapter 11

I sat there, stroking Feralo's golden curls. I couldn't bring myself to believe he was gone. Yet, he truly was. I felt a hand on my shoulder. I didn't budge a bit. All of my attention was put onto Feralo. Alyard sighed of fatigue and anguish. We both remained silent. The only sound heard was the wind rustling in the trees.  My bones shivered against one another in the chilly breeze.

"Alyard?" I said quietly.
He looked up.
"What should we do? About Feralo's remains and also how should we contact his family?"
"We should give him an honourable burial," Alyard suggested. "As for telling his family, we would have to travel back to Geafra. Which is too far from here."
I nodded in agreement. "I agree."
Alyard stood up and picked Feralo's lifeless body.

We proceeded to the Grith. A hint of sunlight peeked from beneath the clouds like newborn babe peeps beneath its blanket.
"Where should we bury him?" I asked, my voice hoarse.
"I was thinking near our campsite, away from the Grith." Alyard proposed.
I thought for a moment and nodded. "Sounds appropriate," I stated.

We walked cautiously throughout the surreptitious forest, making no noise loud enough to draw attention. Crows harmonized in the nearby trees. Leafs crunched underneath our feet. I pushed away my locks out of my face as we finally made our way toward our campsite. Everything appeared to be intact. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary. The horses were even in the places they were beforehand. We paced over to the beautiful creek that split the Earth's terrain. Alyard gingerly set down Feralo's limp body on the soft grass. I walked up to Alyard. Alyard looked into my eyes. I could see the pain in his eyes. Tears were forming in his eyes, but they never slipped down his face. He was attempting to remain as tranquil as possible. I put my arms around him as he did to me. We embraced one another and hugged each other for a few minutes. We pulled away from one another and returned our attention to our fallen ibis.
"I think we should bury him the Geafran way," Alyard proposed.
"They have a certain way of dealing with the dead?" I asked out of curiosity and wonder.
He nodded gradually. He walked towards a nearby patch of roses.
"What they do is take a flower of any kind," he made his way towards Feralo. "They then embed that flower into the person's hand." He proceeded to do so.
I watched in anguish and amazement as Alyard cleaned Feralo's wounds up and tidied his locks. He then carefully picked Feralo up, with Feralo still holding the rose in his hand, and set him warily into the twinkling stream.
"They then set the body into a beautiful body of water, usually a river, and they let the body flow down the stream. They do this because they believe it allows the soul of the body to slowly and peacefully make their way up into the afterlife."
Alyard walked over to me. He let those tears fall as rain falls over a leaf during a summer hurricane. We watched Feralo fade off into the afterlife.
"Let's go find somewhere to rest," Alyard said in a faint voice. He offered me a hand, and we both headed towards the camp.

Nyx, Tide and Elfin gazed up. All three of their eyes beamed with jollification. Alyard took care of gathering all of our supplies while I took care of the horses. I went up to Elfin and grabbed his face in between my hands. I looked him in the eye, which was filled with discombobulation because Feralo was gone. I stroked his mane as I did to Feralo's.
"Elfin," he looked up as I said his name. "Feralo is now dancing with the angels. He's looking over you."
Elfin looked distraught as I told him his companion was now gone but relieved knowing that Feralo was watching over him up in Heaven. I hugged Elfin and went to tend Nyx and Tide, who seemed just as upset as me, Elfin, and Alyard. I fed them each an apple and allowed them to drink some water from the nearby stream.
"Erline," Alyard called my name. I averted my eyes away from the horses to Alyard.
"Yes?"
"I'm ready to get back on the road. Are you?"
"I guess so," I replied. "Are you, Fer-?" I stop as I once remembered that Feralo was gone. I shook my head and sighed as I hopped onto Nyx.
"What about Elfin?" I pointed out. Alyard looked on over at Elfin and thought for a second. A lightbulb went off in his head. He pulled some rope out of the bag and tied it around Elfin's neck carefully. He then tied the top onto the back of Tide's saddle. Alyard slung the bag over his shoulder and hopped onto the back of Tide.
"Good thinking," I insisted.
"Thanks," he said with a slight smile.
I waited until he was caught up, and then we resumed our arduous journey with Feralo gazing upon us from Heaven.