Clouded Purity - Book 2 of The Trial

Clouded Purity - Chapter 21

Grim stared at the closed gate of the Temple, longing for his sister beyond the wall. It had taken a day to leave, despite their best efforts to the contrary. Due to the deaths of several men—one killed by Grim and two by Kaeral—the Masters were forced to conduct an investigation. Some had witnessed the final moments of the situation, but in the end, Veil's testimony had freed them from responsibility.

The Masters agreed that Grim, Prism, and Kaeral should leave for their own safety, and so Kaeral had gathered his family and their friends to travel north. They had packed their few belongings inside the streetcar they'd stolen from Kobinaru. It would take them some distance before running out of fuel, and they might be able to scavenge some along the way.

To the North lay the Dorram, the region of Prism's birth. Reports said the Dorram remained almost untouched by the rebellion, but the Dorramu had never heavily participated in the government to begin with. Effects of the rebellion would hit them soon enough, when failing infrastructure and the lack of trade isolated them from the rest of the world, but for now, it would be at least as safe as anywhere.

Grim wasn't convinced it was the best move, however. Fedain lived in the Dorram, too. How could he face his people? How could he look them in the eye without seeing the blood staining his soul? Somehow, they would know, and that would be the end of it. He had no place among his people anymore.

"Everyone ready to go?" Kaeral asked. He'd just finished checking the supplies in the storage compartment beneath the streetcar.

"I'd like to leave this place behind for good, I think," Prism said, casting a forlorn glance at the temple. "Get a fresh start somewhere else."

"As if there are any fresh starts to be had anywhere," Grim muttered. Before anyone could respond, the streetcar violently rocked back and forth, jostling the passengers. Kaeral's son, Villar, started to wail, and his father struggled to maintain his footing in the center aisle. Outside, the trees surrounding the temple complex trembled, and the walls themselves shuddered from the tremors in the ground.

"What the hell is . . ." Kaeral started as the tremors ceased. His eyes widened in horror, and whatever he'd been about to ask fled from him as he pointed toward Kobinaru. "Look!"

The group turned as one to the city. The skyline disappeared before their eyes, once-towering buildings falling as their supports gave way from the force of the quaking earth. Huge sections of the city wall collapsed both inward and outward, and a gigantic cloud of debris bubbled out from the city.

"The city is . . ." Grim gasped. "Was that Oligan's weapon?"

"It must have been," Prism said. "It must be . . ."

"No one could have survived that," One of Tala's wives said.

Prism grimaced. "Captain Tson, Grandmaster Valkean."

"Cousin Zaalf . . ." Kaeral whispered. "Sharda . . ."

"All my drinkin' buddies," Tala said.

Grim felt it all; the despair around him, and the responsibility to any survivors in the city. They were his people and had always been his people. Even after rejecting him, he owed them his help. Regardless of what Veil thought, Grim was a Fedain, and he needed to prove that to himself now more than ever. "All those people," he amended. "We have to go over there."

Kaeral blanched. "We what?"

"There will be survivors. On the fringe of the blast zone at least. Some buried in rubble, too. Who is going to help them if we don't?"

"Let's go," Prism said confidently.

"Are you mad?" Kaeral looked between Prism and Grim, laughing in disbelief. "We just escaped from that city!"