Bright One | Empire of Blood and Swords Series

27. Right Thing

-27-
-Right Thing-

"Connie is dead," I told the others who stood outside my tent. My voice cracked, unrecognizable. But my tears didn't fall, my face was dry.

"Are you. . . all right? It's okay to cry, you don't have to—" Herman asked but I cut him off.

"I'm fine. I'm not crying for anyone anymore. This time, I'll make him pay."

No one spoke after that, the quiet in the camp didn't help as much. Jimenez was furious, his unknown anger hiding beneath the skin he is wearing while cleaning the camp. We didn't speak as we went to check the corpses, beheading them if we realize they were bitten. There was no cure, and those who are bitten will turn into one of those creatures eventually. It had to be done. Most of the warriors who got bitten killed themselves instantly, afraid they won't be able to hold back. Most of them from Ava.

Such brave souls. We piled up the bodies of the dead, except for Connie's, I held her hand until the end. I sat on the ground, watching them stack the bodies up. A familiar scent filled my nostrils.

"Her chest will rise again," Seth said beside me. "But she will become another."

"No," Sapphire cut in. "She may not wake up. She's a human. If Crom wanted to get his throne back he would've transformed the humans. But he didn't, so it must not have worked the same way it did to Achilleas."

She's dead.

I bit my lip, needing physical pain to numb the one inside. She can never go home, she never got to go home. I gripped the hem of my shirt as the thought sank in. I never got to fulfill my promise to her, I never got to send her home. Her parents wouldn't know that she had died, how she died. This doesn't feel right at all.

"I want to sent Connie's body back to her parents," I said aloud. That's the right thing. The only right thing I have left to do.

Sapphire turned to me, her face emotionless but her eyes full of understanding. I held her stare, making sure she knows that I'm serious. Finally, she nodded.

"I'll let Saoirse know. After they burn the corpses, we have a meeting with the guards. Let's make it quick," she told me.

I nodded, accepting Seth's hand as I stood up. Sapphire transmitted to Saoirse and fished out a Home Stone. Five minutes, we drop her body off at the front door and leave.

"Is there anything you would want to return? We might never go back again," Sapphire asked me.

I shook my head. "She didn't bring anything here. And there's nothing she will bring back."

Sapphire nodded, summoning the Home Stone to the little mountain I live. I tried not to feel hollow as I watch the familiar mountain, the mountain which I called home for ten years. Holding back the tears, I followed Sapphire into the Home Stone, with Seth carrying Connie's body behind us.

It was night time, not much people out on the streets. But the smell of smoke and other particles in the air send a itchy burning feeling to my nose and lungs. Humans, so dirty.

"Her house is here," I guided.

We walked casually, like how the people here walk to avoid suspicion. I remember it all so clearly, the familiar streets, shops and houses. It's like none of this ever happened. Somehow, a strange nostalgia filled my heart and I grew heavy. I sped up, I didn't have time to bid farewell to everything here.