The Winds of the Past [Rune Factory 4]

Chapter 67

As Sharmila knelt next to her prostrated husband, I leaped forward, no longer restrained, and dropped to the ground next to Avani where she had collapsed. I rolled her over onto her back; she was completely limp, like a rag doll. Her eyelids slipped open, and her eyes stared, blank and empty, at the sky above. Her chest was lifeless—no movement disturbed the stillness, no heartbeat broke the silence. I shouted her name and shook her, then flung myself across her and wept. To have come so far, to have suffered so much with her, only to lose her in the end… it was more than I could bear, and I howled in my grief.

With a flash of pale light, Sano and Uno appeared at her side, opposite to me. They set their forepaws on her chest, then Sano licked her face with a little whimper while Uno nuzzled my head with his nose. I sat up and looked at them, and they stood gazing solemnly at me for a moment… then they dove down into her, vanishing from sight. I gasped and scrambled to my feet, just as Sharmila stammered, “Y-your foxes!” I knelt again by her side, stunned, and stared where they had disappeared.

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Avani looked around, bewildered by the sudden change of scenery. She struggled to remember—who she was, where she was, why she was there. The name ‘Avani’ rang in her ears… it sounded familiar, then she recalled that was her name. With that, a few more memories returned: a brother, Rishi, and the names Sundara, Dylas, and Leon all came to mind—lovers, she thought, after thinking for a few moments.

She felt a slight tugging sensation in her hands and looked down at them. There was a tiny hand clasped in each of hers, belonging to two small children on either side of her: a boy to her left and a girl to her right. They looked up at her fearfully, but though they seemed to recognize her, she didn’t know them.

“Mama?” the girl said, again tugging at her hand. “Mama, I’m scared. I want to go back.”

Apparently she was a mother? Then she remembered a little more—Leon was her husband, and they were going to have twin babies. But then why were they here with her in this strange, grey, silent place? And where was Leon?

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Sano and Uno sniffed the stagnant air. The denizens here had no need of fresh air, they knew, but they still found it unpleasant after spending so long in the realm of the living. And there was no wind, which made tracking by scent difficult. But they were no ordinary foxes, and soon they detected the faintest trace of a familiar smell. They turned towards it and set off at a steady lope, pausing to sniff again now and then to be sure they remained on the right track.

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A formless shade, a puddle of not-light hidden beneath a grey snag in the monochromatic terrain—that’s all it was. Yet it radiated hate and malevolence and thwarted ambition as it expanded and contracted, seeking something, loose tendrils of shadow flicking out as if tasting the air like serpents’ tongues.

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The children crowded against her, clinging to her as they examined the strangeness around them with round, frightened eyes. She wanted to comfort them, but she didn’t know how—she was still trying to figure things out herself. As she stared at a fracture in the earth before her, she remembered another name: Bhima. The name filled her with both terror and triumph, horror and relief.

Then in a flood of color and sound and light and dark and scents and emotions, she remembered—remembered it all. She was startled by how much she remembered, even recalling the time before her birth, she and Rishi together in a warm, soft place, nothing but the two of them and the soothing sound of their mother’s heart.