“Malice!”
Her voice echoed through his head, almost distantly, as his eyes met Kani’s. In an un-calculated move, the warlord twisted his spear, ushering on even more pain than before. Fiercely, he withdrew his weapon and smiled.
“To think that this is what Gadriel has been reduced to…” Kani pushed his opponent to the ground and kicked him hard in the ribs, kneeling beside him with an arrogant sneer “Don’t worry. You’ll soon have company.”
He glanced up at the horrified figure that watched them from a distance.
“You may want to collect him now.” Kani called to Titania as he rose to his feet “It will be much harder once the animals get to him.”
Slowly, he backed away and watched, amused by the situation. A sick joy filled him as he saw the passing of his most powerful enemy.
Despite the icy ground, Titania ran her fastest toward Malice, collapsing at his side, and discarding any pride. Instinctively, she reached for his wound, but he brought up his own shaky fingers, clasping them over hers and laying them on his chest.
He coughed, the most horrifying cough. Blood ran from his cold mouth.
“Let me heal you…” she insisted, but he shook his head.
“There isn’t a spell that could close this wound.” He replied, “…Just stay…stay with me…”
He stroked her fingers, and she wrapped her arms around him, careful not to press against his wound. Nothing mattered now- death had scraped through consciousness and restrain. All that remained now was the truth.
With cold lips, she kissed his face over and over again, tears flowing onto his cheeks the whole time.
“Don’t leave me…” she pleaded, and he smiled, placing a hand on her chin.
“You make a good case…” he attempted to joke, but was interrupted by a painful cough that tore at his chest “Listen to me, I need you to do something … take my dagger to my father …tell him what’s happened to me.”
“No…” she shook her head “You don’t need me to do that…you’re not dying…just stay still and we’ll get you back, you’ll see.”
He smiled but shook his head. It was as if he had not heard what she had said “I’m sorry I can’t finish the journey with you… I know I promised to look out for you, but I…we’ll find each other again. We already know…death…war…even seven hundred years can’t keep us apart.
No matter what, we’ll find each other again… and again… until we’re allowed to be together.”
She forced a smile but her sadness overpowered her, and she looked down at him through tears, offering a few more tender kisses as his breathing slowed.
His gaze now was distant, and as he looked up at her it seemed as if he were staring elsewhere.
“I never realized before…” he began, forcing a laugh, “…how beautiful the snow…the sun…how beautiful everything is...”
“Save your energy,” she whispered, but he brought his hand to her cheek and held it for a moment, studying her face.
After a few moments he smiled, his voice becoming distant “…at least this time…” he mumbled “I can leave without regret…knowing that this time I didn’t let you die…”
“You’re speaking nonsense.”
“…
everything happens for a reason.”
He smiled and shook his head “This life…that life…our souls are the same. I knew what would happen if I hadn’t taken his spear. I knew from the day I began to look deeper in my memory. It wasn’t clear at first, and even until now... but now that death is so close I can see …it was more than just an impulse…”
He forced a smile, but was unable to hide the sadness and longing that lingered behind his bravery. In his eyes lay a sincerity she had never seen before, and in it was written his doom.
“Promise you won’t forget me…” he said, quietly, his breathing slow “I-.”
She placed her hand over his mouth, brushing it against his cheek. Tears in her eyes, she pressed her forehead to his “Never.” she whispered, “I won’t ever forget you.
He smiled and she kissed his lips, filling him with warmth as the life within him faded.
“…I love you”
Titania waited a moment and withdrew, looking at him with tears running down her face. She brought him close, clutching his body as if doing so would keep his spirit with her longer. She kissed his hair, her reddened hands shivering in painful sorrow.
“Don’t leave me!” She cried, her voice broken in sobs as she folded over, unable to hold herself up any longer. Her voice fell to whispers as she clutched his lifeless body, unable to accept that he was dead “…don’t…please… don’t…”
There was no life left in his body now, and though she pleaded with him, he could not answer. All he could do was stare with a glazed, empty expression.
Kani watched from some distance away, as the joy of victory coursed through his body.
“Hige…” he muttered, turning to his general.
The man was unable to look at him, his gaze frozen to the ground “What is it, my lord?” he asked, his voice falling cold in the snowy air.
“…get rid of Llideah.”
Kani turned away, disappearing into a flash of light and shadow, a smile tearing at his steady lips.
Hige could only go so far as to watch the scene before him. He saw the bloodstained snow, the bodies which lay lifeless and would never be properly buried. He saw the shells of people who had once been fathers, brothers, husbands, sons. He saw his own doing, and saw his guilt as clear as the crimson snow.
The wind pulled violently at his cloak, tossing it about as if enraged. He took a breath and moved forward, drawing his dagger from his belt. With heavy footsteps he moved closer, his eyes fixed on the girl who held the lifeless body of a man whose life he had once spared.
Titania felt him behind her and turned to stare, her arms wrapped protectively around Malice. That image – the pain in her eyes, the blood in her hands and on his face; the wound in his stomach, the red of the snow and emptiness of him- it would remain with the general forever and haunt his sleep for years to come.
“Don’t touch him!” she screamed, her words almost indistinguishable through her cracking voice.
Hige backed up slightly; silent in his guilt.
She turned once more to Malice, stroking his hair in an attempt to clean the blood from it.
“It’s not safe for you here…” Hige muttered, and though she heard him, for a time she gave no response.
There was a tenseness in the air until finally Titania broke it, speaking with a voice stronger but smaller than she had ever used.
“…if you’re going to kill me, then do it now.” She said, her words and eyes piercing him like knives “Get rid of me here, where I may be forgotten and never blamed. Leave me where no one will find me.
End my pain.”
He stared at her, his hand trembling uneasily. With cold fingers, he raised his weapon, only to drop it in the red snow.
“I will see to it that his body is properly taken care of.”
She ignored him
“I will perform the funeral rite myself. Now go, and find your friends.”
He knelt down next to her, seeing a part of his own daughter in this despairing soul “…I know you want to stay, but there’s nothing more you can do for him. Go now and finish what he’s started. I will arrange for you to be reunited with your friends.”
She looked at him with wonder and confusion; she still would not release Malice from her hold.
Hige swallowed hard, covering his face with a coldness he hoped would be convincing “Go now. Or else I will sever his hands and he shall wander the after life without them.”
At this, she moved back, but still could not let go. She gave Hige a pleading look, and to her surprise, he moved closer, offering his arms to receive Malice’s body. Slowly, she let go, though as she did so, pain tore through her, ripping her soul in two and leaving her with nothing but emptiness.
“Go…” Hige muttered once more; she did not leave.
Faithfully, she took the bracelets from her wrists and the rings from her pockets, placing them in Malice’s hand before pressing it closed. Still unable to leave, she ran her cold fingers over his pendant, and up to his cheek, her eyes focused on his lifeless face.
“…until we meet again.” She whispered, taking his daggers and slowly rising to her feet
“I will take care of his body. And all the others. This shall not become a mass grave like the other conquered cities. This site shall be remembered. And he shall be remembered.”
“Th-thank you…” muttered Titania, moving away and fighting every desire to turn back around.
Hige watched her leave, and his gaze fell down toward the man who he now held.
“You are so young…” he muttered “…just like I was when I died…”
*
Kani watched from far atop the rampart, knowing Hige could not see him.
“Hige…” he muttered, and Hector turned toward him “…I knew we could not trust Hige. This was his last mistake.”
“Do you want me to take care of him, my lord?”
“No,” Kani replied “We’ve given him a second chance and still he has betrayed us. I want him to suffer…to show him that disloyalty is rewarded just as much as its opposite.
Allow him to bury the dead, and then bring him to me. Let us see how well he can fabricate a story.”
*