Kingdom's Fall

Chapter 26, Part 1

Jerek helped Cuan turn the last of the Carelian soldiers over. Just like the rest of them, the man was dead. The light was fading fast, long shadows pooling in the lee of the ridge and swallowing the bulk of the monstrous beetle. The rest of the Engineers had split up, and Cuan could just make them out as hump-backed silhouettes against the horizon as they wandered the area, looking for survivors. The Carelians were their enemy, but the horror of the monster's slaughter was too large and too close for the Engineers to walk away from it. It was unlikely they would find anything, but Cuan didn't blame them for trying. The excitement of the fight - the rush of clarity and purpose that had carried him through it - was gone now, and even standing felt weak. His hands shook, and waves of dizziness kept him from moving far from the cockroach's corpse.

Gray lay on the ground not far off, where the Engineers had laid him. He had regained consciousness but was unable to stand. Cuan stayed close, and tried to busy himself by checking the corpses of the soldiers that had been crushed last of all. It was grim work. They had fallen together and in the growing darkness it was hard to tell where one man began and another ended. Cuan reached down to feel the last man's chest, still warm but motionless under his palm. He searched, and found a place where the ribs gave way, folded inward by the weight of impact. His stomach tilted uneasily, but he held the feeling down. It was easy when there was nothing left to spit up.

"They're all dead," Cuan said. Even though he'd known from the start that checking them would be fruitless, the words still came out as though the fact surprised him. He felt as though something had broken inside him, as though he was watching his own body go through the motions.

"Aye," Gray's voice was soft in the shadows. Cuan wiped his hand on his trousers and resisted the urge to go check on him. The old man would resent the attention. "I'll give them this, though; they died hard. Fighting right to the end."

"What was that thing?"

"I don't know, lad. Aiden told me at the palace they came up against a giant worm when they were trying to save the princess. To tell the truth, I thought he was spinning a tale."

"It wasn't a worm, though. More like a giant cockroach."

"Aye, but I bet it started off just as small."

Cuan kicked at a chunk of carapace, expecting it to be as heavy. Instead it had no weight at all, and it spun off into the shadows to land with a clatter. He stood looking after it for a long moment, trying to push aside how tired he felt. Fatigue flooded him, soaking up through his ankles and making his knees feel soggy and weak. It was going to be a long walk back to the wagons, and he wasn't looking forward to it. He knew that the others weren't going to find anyone alive; he knew they should head back, but every minute they stayed was another minute Gray could use to rest.

Gray closed his eyes and licked his lips. They were dry, and he felt a desperate need to wet them. His left hand ached constantly now - his fingers had swollen up and it was hot to the touch. It was hard to concentrate when even the tiniest movement seemed to cause another wave of pain to shoot up his arm, but he suspected that the pain was the only thing keeping him awake.

Cuan stood over him like an honour guard. The boy had scampered up the back end of the cockroach like he was running up a ladder, clipped the damn thing's wings, and almost beheaded it. Damn thing had killed two dozen Carelian soldiers and yet there wasn't a scratch on him. He stood tall in the dying light, still holding Gray's sword, and Gray could see he'd made the right choice in bringing him along. It would be a few years yet before the boy hit his prime. Gray wondered if he would live to see it. If he did, it was probably going to cost him an arm.