Cold Ashes

Chapter 16 - Separation

Leah didn't know what to expect from Ryan. He was dying, she knew that. In her head it was a fact that screamed at her every second that they were speaking in the apartment. When he was talking to another ghost in the road.

But now she didn't want to accept it. She didn't want him to just die - she didn't want anybody to die. It wasn't fair. None of it was. He didn't deserve this.

There wasn't anything to stop them this time - the occasional zombie that got too close was killed with such expert precision they could barely be considered as attacks. The noises, groans and shuffles of each dead thing were there, of course, and very loud, however they weren't enough to inspire concern from Leah.

But it was Ryan who Leah was petrified for.

He was barely conscious anymore. Despite walking ahead of the group, sometimes groaning, other times screaming out in pain, he wasn't at all fully awake during any of it. These were probably the final stages, she heard, and he wouldn't probably last much longer.

She didn't really know what to think anymore of him, he was breathing and moving, but his mind... she didn't know. Was he still there? Was he alive? She couldn't know. Surprisingly, with their kidnappers tightly enclosing them in their forced journey, they all arrived at the city at the first twilight moment of day.

The sun was below the horizon, awaiting its turn to rise, and the moon was retreating - in this strange moment of purple, dark bliss, they were at the gate. Boss' castle towered above them.

It was just as she remembered. A dark, cold, gloomy stone building, towering above all else; even standing in it's shadow felt patronising and made her particularly weak. It had only two towers, one on each side, the other two blown away in some explosion from some war played out in the past.

There were bright orange lights glowing from within, mostly electric, but a few candles remained. Below there was a deep river that poured through, tumbling and frothing with white foam. She had always been terrified of one day being trapped within it. She never really like the water.

She was pushed to the front, made to show her face to those guarding the courtyard above. They saw what she was only for a moment before letting them through. She wanted to help Ryan, but now he was being kept close by all the others.

Another bartering chip dragged along for the ride. It wouldn't be long before the final changes, and she wanted to make sure it would never get that far but her hands were still behind her. She couldn't even reach for her pocket, let alone for one of their knives so then she could end it all.

They went into the courtyard, the doors closing shut behind them. And for the first time in months, Leah stood in the Boss' castle courtyard. Knowing bitterly that she'd never see the other side of it again. At least, not as a free person. Not like before.

When they were through she stepped behind the bounty hunters, standing with Ryan, trying to reach for some part of him to comfort. She hoped just being near him would help, everything now turning into very distant hopes. But not daring to speak a word too loudly, especially as the familiar face of the Viceroy approached them.

"I suppose you have a good reason to disturb the Boss at this hour."

The thick accent of a sophisticated, educated English man rang through the empty courtyard like a siren through a storm. His sharp eyes and suit piercing the bounty hunters with a dozen daggers, the prowess of his gait as he flew through the pavement making all around him seem ogre-like in comparison.

This was the Viceroy, one and only voice of Boss, safely locked up in his golden cage. Whatever was said through his lips was said by Boss. Nobody ever questioned his word without questioning Boss'.