Forgotten Embers

72. The Gathering

The scent of death was in the air, carried by a gentle breeze from Elkshire as they approached the crest of the hill which overlooked the damaged city. Avera felt her body tense, and she noticed that everyone had become uncharacteristically quiet.

'Out of respect for the dead,' she pondered.

Her mind could not fathom the destruction which was surely waiting on the other side of that hill top, and she swallowed, steeling herself for the gruesome sight.

The messengers from Asrymn had told them that when the people inquired as to where they might assemble to serve their King and his prince, McFarland had directed them back to Elkshire prior to his capture, and they all had done so after him. So, the group had decided to travel again to Elkshire, bringing with them only light accommodations for the journey.

Avera's feet reached the top of the hill and stopped, looking down upon the remnants of Elkshire and scorched earth. Soot and ash covered the ground below in the circle of the black and barren wood. Bodies laid red and rotting all throughout the streets of the razed city. Avera looked on with horror, and she felt her stomach turn as the smell of human decomposition filled her nostrils.

'How could they do this?'

Benjamin stood beside her, and she saw his eyes close in pain and anger as he hung his head and cried. His fists and teeth were clenched as the tears fell softly from his princely face.

'His heart is torn. These are his people and his heart is broken with them, but weren't they Zephyr's citizens, also? And yet he slaughtered them...'

"I could have saved them," Benjamin muttered as the tears rolled down his cheeks.

She looked at him, alarmed. "Ben..." she breathed, trying to console him, but she didn't have the words.

As the others came up to the hill top, they paused in the same shock and horror. Jordan's eyes dropped, welling with tears, and he grabbed his wife and held her tightly as he silently wept. Ignatius was speechless, his eyes wide with astonishment at the godless sight of an above ground cemetery without any stones. Justice and Kypher kept their eyes fixed on the remnants of the city, and she saw the anger burning in their fiery gaze. The messengers from Asrymn removed their hats and held them, their heads bowed in a woeful reverence while the others stayed in saddened silence.

"Reminds me of the raids," Vanguard quietly noted, his face fallen like the evening sun.

"You were right," Eliezer said, his eyes shifting over to Dorcus beside him, "this is worse... far worse than what we had seen before."

Dorcus turned her eyes over to him, glazed with dark shadows of long gone memories. "It is, isn't it?" she despondently responded.

He nodded sadly in acknowledgment of all the hurt the years had rent tearing at her heart. "My dear, all shall be well," he assured her, reaching to touch her face.

She turned away, still clearly grieving. "Will it, though?" she asked him, despairing.

"Dorcus..." he appealed to her gently, seemingly hurt by the doubtful remark.

"Yes!" Sam said, lifting his head and looking past them. "Look!" he cried, encouraged with his sights set on the city before them.

Avera turned her eyes ahead as the others lifted their heads to the marvelous sight of a growing multitude. There came people from every region and tongue as they journeyed from north and south and west to gather there before their king.

"What?" Benjamin breathed, wiping his eyes on his sleeve, amazed.

Adrien smiled. "Your citizens, my lord," he said, placing an encouraging hand on Benjamin's shoulder. "It seems you have an army."

Benjamin broke down again to tears with water flooding from his eyes. He held his head in his hands, and he said, "If my Lord has pleasure in his servant and delights himself to honor him, though I am lowly and a youth, lightly esteemed among men, then let the gates of Hölle arise and swallow up my enemies, because they have raised their heads against my Lord and his servants to war with them, let Himmel cast them down into the depths of utter darkness and unending fires beneath."

Avera looked at him, astounded. There was a certain power which accompanied his words, a power with which she was relatively unfamiliar, and, when she raised her eyes, she saw a ghostly figure like a translucent specter wrapped in light with light radiating out of him. She was amazed by him and trembled at his majesty for there was a mighty force surrounding him. When he appeared, it was as if he had come from nowhere, his body fading into view as walked up the grassy slope to meet them. The closer he came, the more she feared for his holiness, because she knew that he was different than she was, glorious and right.

She stepped back as she felt the weight of his presence, and he paused in his progression to look at her with his empty face.

'Who are you?' she asked in wonder.

"Don't you know?" was the reply, spoken in silence to some place deep within her. "I am the one sent from Himmel to help you, the promise of the King to His people. As they have called me, so I come."

His words were gentle and pleasant to her inner being, and she smiled at him, finding some strange attraction to the man.

'Were you the one at the library before?' she asked again.

He nodded.

She returned the gesture with thoughtful consideration. 'You're the reason I'm here, then.'

Again, he nodded.

'Thank you.'

She felt him smile, and he placed a hand on her shoulder, causing a love like warm liquid honey to flow softly through her. He was so very kind that she felt a great comforting relief under the weight of his gentle touch.

Then, he turned to Benjamin and placed his hand over the prince's heart as he raised the other in a pledge. "I, your Lord, have promised, and I will not change my mind. I will give you strength and help you in the fight. Therefore, let your heart take courage. I will deliver the kingdom into your hands and strike down your enemies before you."

He spoke the words over his prince and a smile appeared on Benjamin's face as he spoke it, the young man given to glowing countenance in the glory of his splendor. Then, just as suddenly as he appeared, he vanished in a brilliant flash of sparkling white light.

Avera blinked, amazed, and looked on Ben with wonder. "You'll win," she said, smiling at him.

He looked at her with a questioning glance, intrigued. "Oh?"

She nodded.

"Hm... fascinating," Eliezer said, watching her.

Dorcus's eyes moved to Avera with an inquiring gaze. "You see him, too, dear, don't you?" she asked her.

Avera looked at her, surprised. "Yes, ma'am," she said, feeling as though she was being examined. "Do you, then?" she asked, returning the question in an attempt to remove herself as the object of their consideration.

Dorcus nodded. "I do."

"But so does she," Eliezer remarked, his eyes moving over to Dorcus as he touched a finger to his mouth in silent contemplation. "How interesting."

Dorcus smiled, studying Avera with careful examination and deep thought. "Interesting indeed."