The Book of Terrus: The Wise and Powerful

Chapter 11 - The Battle of Trosk

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The Giant's Shoe groaned and snapped as it went down, its wooden bones breaking under its own weight. Someone thrust a bucket of water into Lhara's hands. Numb with horror, she very nearly dropped its contents onto her boots. Tongues of flame licked at the edges of the hole where the inn's roof had caved in, occasionally sending a spray of sparks up into the smoky sky. It was impossible to tell where the smoke from the inn ended and the smoke from the battlefield began.

One thought overwhelmed all others in Lhara heart; unfair. How could fate possibly be this cruel? As if it weren't harsh enough for both her parents to have died young, now her eldest brother and best friend too? Marden and Yelaina hadn't even had a chance to make their own . For them to be gone was impossibly, unforgivably unfair!

The heat from the burning inn made Lhara's eyes smart and water. Tears streamed unchecked down her flushed cheeks. Still she couldn't bear to look away. The front door was a black void wreathed in orange flame, the scent of burning pouring out into the square. Lhara threw bucket after bucket of water into that yawning darkness, but it swallowed every drop up without a trace. If she fed that terrible blaze enough water, would it eventually yield up Marden and Yelaina?

Reaching back expecting to find another bucket, Lhara instead found a hand searching for one of hers; Alina, the sturdy butcher's wife with hair that had once been almost golden bright as Yelaina's. There was a strange sadness in Alina's face when she tugged Lhara down off the inn's stoop.

"Lhara...we can't do any more."

Lhara saw Alina's mouth form the words, but heard nothing. Only the sound of groaning timbers and snapping flames filled her head. The world took on a dreamlike quality. Her legs moved but did not feel like they belonged to her as Alina led her away from The Giant's Shoe. Heat from the fire had dried her tears into stiff, salty tracks. Someone was offering her water in a cup.

That's not large enough to put out the fire, thought Lhara dumbly. She did not take the offered water this time. Again her body moved without her conscious thought as Alina guided her to sit at the base of The Ram.

"Lhara, can you hear me?" Alina asked, lightly shaking the younger woman by the shoulder. When Lhara didn't react, staring straight through Alina as if she were not there, Magda wearily pulled herself to her feet.

"She's in shock. Eima, give your cousin your cloak."

"That's not what she needs," said Eima. Handing little Ristan to her ma, Eima all but pushed Alina aside to seize Lhara by the arms. "Lhara!" she screeched, shaking Lhara hard enough to rattle teeth. "This is no time for losing yourself. Marden is gone! Tarun's going to need you now more than ever now. And Da and Garrit will need us too. Now get up...get up!"

"Eima, that's not-" Quella tried to interrupt.

"LHARA! Get up, damn you!" screamed Eima. She slapped her estranged cousin once, hard, across her tear-streaked face. Tears were spilling down Eima's face now too.

Alina and Quella were both about to physically restrain Eima when Lhara seemed to suddenly come around. The faraway, lost expression cleared, leaving her sobbing for air but very much present once more. An angry red mark was quickly rising against her cheekbone.

"It's alright Alina, Quella," Rhena was saying, talking down the alarmed women. "We saw it happen before after Myra died. Leave her in that state long enough and she'll have an outright seizure."