Dragon Knight - The Ancestor Gods Saga Book 2

12. The Apportioning of Blame

When I returned to the house, Lexon was waiting just inside the first hall. He looked as though he wanted to speak to me. I almost double-backed and went away, but that seemed churlish. I had never been accused of avoiding situations, no matter how difficult (possibly, sometimes it might have been prudent to do so) and I was not about to start now.

Lexon turned to me and for the first time in days he looked as if he was glad to see me. His blue eyes did not have that chill to them as they sometimes did, and he did not hold his head up in that way that seemed arrogant. I was reminded of why I had been attracted to him in the first place, when he had been vulnerable and needed my help.

Before we had involved ourselves with the dragon's soul.

"I have been thinking," he said.

My stomach lurched, a sudden twisting sensation in my belly. Despite all my tough talk, I was desperate for him to reach out to me and admit that what I was feeling, he felt too. I hoped this was the moment.

"What is it?" I asked, anticipation gnawing at me.

"I went back down the road leading out of town, and I looked at that burned out wagon once more. I was thinking we cannot just leave the bodies there to rot. We should bring them back into the town, back to their loved ones. To be mourned and properly buried."

He was absolutely right. In the turmoil of finding my grandfather and uncles badly injured I had forgotten about the wagon. I should have been the one to mention we go out and recover the bodies.

I was angered I had overlooked this, and I was upset that I had been so pathetic to think Lexon was going to say something else to me. I should have known better than to suppose the stoic knight would ever change his mind about his noble calling.

"What do you think?"
I had dropped my head when I realised Lexon was not going to speak about us. I had failed to reply to him, my weariness and muddled emotions getting the better of me.

"Yes, we should have done that already," I replied, not meeting his eyes. "There is a handcart in the yard we can take. I shall tell my mother what we are doing, and she will make arrangements."

I scuttled away faster than was necessary and no doubt revealed myself to Lexon in the process. I needed to get out of his gaze for a while.

My mother was in an annex off the kitchen area where she prepared healing potions and other concoctions. Some said she made magic potions, love spells and the like. This was nonsense, but the rumours persisted.

"There are two burned bodies and a ruined wagon just outside town," I told her. "I am going with Lexon to retrieve them."

"Gods forbid," my mother winced. "We have tried so hard to keep everyone safe while your grandfather was unable to do anything. How did we fail so?"

I placed a hand on her arm, saddened to see her guilt and hopelessness.

"All we can do now is retrieve them and inform their families," I said bluntly. "Do you know who they might be?"

"The only one to leave recently is Gert, the butcher."

Kelt had told me something similar.

"It must be him," I said. "Who was with him?"
My mother was almost in tears.

"His eldest son," she replied. "I have failed them, Riva. How did I let this happen?"

"You did not kill them," I reminded her.

"I may as well have. This town depends on our protection. I never realised how important that was until this happened. Now it seems all the wolves are out to get us."