Chapter Thirty-Eight

‘It all came down to one man; one single name that tore the Wardens apart at the seams.’ 

Caid glanced over to Alis. She walked along behind him. Her head was down, her eyes forward, her resolve seemingly unchanged. Caid wondered if she was the bravest of them all, or at least the most determined. She had a purpose, and she had stuck to that purpose since the day he met her. She had met all challenges head-on and still plodded forward.  

“Do you still want to be a warden?” He called back over his shoulder.  

Alis had seen a lot of death in the last few hours. She had caused many deaths, from the looks of her shirt. She had done more than he would have ever asked her to do, more than he would have thought she could do. He regretted underestimating her.  

Alis lifted her head and her hair fell back from her face. “You still owe me the last secret to the daliwin,” she said, grabbing at the necklace around her neck.  

Caid had promised her that if she helped him, then he would help her. He had hoped all along she would change her mind or forget. Yet here she was, heading toward possible death and still holding on to the hope that she thought being a warden provided. He shook his head.  

“After this,” he answered. He meant it this time. He would really show her what the last step was, and she could finish her journey. He would make no promises that it would help, but he would finish out his obligation to her. Maybe then, he could save some semblance of what the Wardens had been. Maybe the group could survive this if the right leader took Rawn’s place.  

“What do you think we will find?” Alis asked.  

Caid shrugged. He knew what he wanted to find at the end. He wanted to stop Pryce and end this war before it destroyed Maralay from within. He wanted to get his hands on Rawn and stop the madness he had caused for the Wardens. This time, he wanted to succeed in killing those who had done the city so much hardship. But to Alis, he only said, “I don’t know. I just don’t know. But I believe we can see it through together.”  

That was the kindest thing he could do for her. She was in this with him now. He could no longer shield her from the death and destruction that was building behind them. All he could do was provide her this last bit of comfort before they were exposed to the real danger ahead.  

“My parents are here, Caid,” Alis said.  

She sounded certain. Caid hoped she was right, but something told him that if they were, it might not be a good thing. He doubted Pryce had kept anyone here alive with his secrets.  

“I hope so,” he replied. No reason to dash her hopes against the rocks, not when he wasn’t certain.  

“I know so. I can feel it.”  

Caid looked around with her. If she said she could feel it, then he believed her. Alis had shown him already countless times that she could be counted on.  

“Then we will find them.”  

Alis scanned every inch of the tunnel. Caid reached out and put his hand on her back. He provided the only comfort he could provide to her in this place. 

The purple fog that had risen from around Caid was now pouring from the sides of the tunnel. It was like no fog he had ever known; it was like fingers creeping along the dark floor. The light it produced was enough to see a short distance, but not quite enough to guide them forward with any confidence. 

“This is the farthest I have ever been. We moved the rocks from here toward the entrance, and only those who never returned went any farther,” Alis said.  

They crept up on another corner slowly, the anticipation was almost painful at each turn. When they finally reached it, Caid was disappointed to see nothing but more walls and dirt. He started forward as a steady wind picked up on the tunnel path. The farther Caid got, the stronger the wind grew. There was a scent on it, the sickly scent of blood and death. Caid had known this smell his entire life¾and there was no mistaking it.  

“What is that smell? It is putrid.” Alis coughed quietly into her arm.  

“Blood,” Caid replied.  

He kept walking. They were getting closer; he could tell by the smell’s building intensity. Around the next bend, he froze in place.  

A disheartened moan escaped his lips.  

Alis darted around him. In front of them was the highest mass grave Caid had ever seen. There were bodies stacked as high as the ceiling. High above the purple fog and as far as the eye could see, all of them mangled. Cakes of mud made from the congealed blood of thousands of former slaves hid the ground from view.  

Caid held in his sick, but beside him, Alis couldn’t. She expelled the contents of her stomach onto the ground beside them. What could he say to comfort her? There were thousands of her people piled up as if they weren’t even human and not a single man or woman was there to protest the grotesque treatment of these people. Not a single person outside these mines cared at all. Caid would have never thought of or known about this if he hadn’t been on his own mission.  

“Why?” Alis sobbed between choking breaths.  

Caid had no answer to give. Nothing could soften the carnage before them, the loss she must have felt.  

“My parents,” she cried as she fell to her knees. “This is where they have been.”  

Caid knew she was right. Every slave that had disappeared must have been here in this room. Pryce had clearly been committing this offense against humanity for a very long time.  

“We have to go through it,” Caid said.  

Alis shook her head. “I can’t. I won’t.”  

Caid reached down, grabbing her by the shoulders, making her look at him. “There is only one way to prevent this from happening to anyone else that you know or love. We must walk through this and get to those who are responsible. If we don’t, then it will never stop, and someday it will be you and I who join these bodies.”  

Alis shook her head. “I just can’t,” she sobbed again.  

“You can,” Caid insisted gently. He knew she could do it. He had watched her strive forward through so much already. He felt that if there was any young girl in the world who could manage this, it was Alis. “For your family,” he said.  

Alis dried the tears on her cheeks and nodded. She kept her thoughts to herself, but she stood, and with fresh determination in her eyes, they started forward toward the mound of the dead.  

Caid couldn’t blame Alis for not wanting to follow him. If he had any other choice, he would have turned back too. He couldn’t escape it though. If Caid turned back, who would stop it? Would the next person turn back too? He refused to take that chance. He had already taken that route one too many times. Now it was time for something different. Now he had to move forward and take the responsibility that he should have taken such a long time ago.  

“Hold your nose and breathe out of your mouth,” Caid called back.  

The smell of death was one of the most sickening things a human nose could ever smell, and here it was, compounded with rot, blood, and the smell of smoke from the mines. He was having trouble not retching.  

“It burns my eyes,” she said.  

He turned back for a moment and saw that her eyes were indeed watering. He said nothing. He just tucked his head and put his chin to his chest, holding back his hand for Alis to grasp. 

There was nowhere to look away from the carnage as they walked. Even with his eyes down, he still saw mounds of dead slaves. Some bodies were chopped into smaller pieces, others were whole, their eyes were blank and lifeless. There was nothing to distinguish how they had died, but he was sure they had suffered.  

Caid almost slipped in a puddle of blood that had congealed in the dust and mud, but he caught himself on the wall of bodies next to him. He jumped back from the wet, clammy skin of the dead and wiped his hands on his pants. He looked around, hoping to see some exit, but there was nothing but bodies and the purple fog. 

“It feels like they are all watching us,” Alis said.  

Caid saw them as lifeless, but he knew Alis had more connection to these people. “Just a trick of the imagination,” he said anyway.  

The Nine Wardens would be guarding these souls. Hopefully, they were in a better place than Caid and Alis were in now.  

Caid turned away. He had to stay focused on finding the Seer of Cros. He had to stop whatever the man had planned. He rounded another mound of bodies and the purple fog grew higher, the bodies thinning out. He turned back to make sure Alis was okay. 

Caid pushed through the fog, leaving the smells and sights behind them. He turned another corner and came up right behind Rawn. His body tensed and his feet froze to the ground. Maddog had been killed by another, but Rawn would be his. Caid would have the revenge he had promised Geth’s soul.  

Caid pulled at the cuffs of his shirt and felt the buttons fall open. He felt Alis put her hand on his hip, but he brushed it away. This was the time to finish this. First, Rawn and then Pryce and then it would all be over.  

Caid fiddled with the handle of his sword. He had used a lot of the daliwin energy when he faced Maddog, but there was still some left to draw the twin lights from the source. Caid knew Rawn could pull them too. He hadn’t been the favored child of Galmont, but he had gone through much of the same training.  

 “Turn around and face me,” Caid said clearly.  

Rawn didn’t turn. He continued just staring off into the purple, not bothering to acknowledge that Caid was behind him, ready to fight.  

“I know you have been looking for me, Rawn. I am right behind you,” Caid said.  

Caid felt the daliwin slowly draining his energy reserve. Rawn wasn’t going to turn and face him.  

Caid stepped a few feet closer and cleared his throat, knowing that Rawn heard him. A warden was not an easy man to sneak up on and Caid was deliberately noticeable.  

Rawn still didn’t move. Caid almost growled out his vengeance. “This is for Geth!” He lunged forward, shoving the daliwin’s sword out before him. It was taking the last of the energy he had left, but it would be worth it to part the ribs of Rawn. He felt no resistance as the blade parted flesh and then organs. There was no sound of pain or surprise. Rawn didn’t hunch over. Caid let the daliwin blade drop, feeling the overwhelming tiredness catching up to him. He reached out turning Rawn; he saw the eyes void of life staring back at him. Rawn had been dead for some time, and whoever had done it had not even lifted a sword. Rawn’s face would forever be engraved with the look of fear; something evil had stopped his heart. Caid took a step back, feeling like he could barely stand on his own feet, but the anger flooding him kept him standing.  

He was ready to scream to the Nine Wardens above, letting them know his anger. An extraordinary pain ripped through Caid’s torso. He looked down shocked to see, a sword rammed through him from behind.  

Caid put his hands to the wound trying to pull from the daliwin, but there was nothing left. He had used all his reserves on Maddog and Rawn. Caid turned to look at his attacker and stumbled to his knees. He saw Alis’s body had been knocked to the ground, unconscious.  

He felt the blood from his wound warming his hands. It wasn’t the thought of revenge that fueled him to stumble forward, it was the thought Alis was in danger. He made it only a few feet before he fell to the ground. He felt a boot poking at his ribs.  

“Truth be told, I thought you would have saved yourself, but I guess this just saves us time later,” said the voice of his attacker.  

Caid felt the man kneel beside him. Caid pulled hard from the daliwin and felt a flutter, but it wasn’t enough to get him back to his feet. It wasn’t enough to fight. He pressed with all his strength left and turned, feeling the sword shift inside his body. He coughed and blood trickled down his lips.  

His attacker was beside him now. Caid could see directly into his hooded face. The eyes of the overseer were determined and unforgiving. His hand reached down to Caid’s neck, and he pulled the empty daliwin away.  

“You won’t be needing this anymore,” the overseer said.  

Caid glanced back to Alis and felt the pain that he couldn’t save her crush him. Then he felt the hand of the overseer brush across his neck, followed by the hot flash of pain from his dagger across Caid’s throat. With a final understanding of failure, Caid closed his eyes. He was going to the Nine Wardens above, hopefully Geth was there to meet him.