a brief excerpt of more raw material from near the beginning..
Autumn was
approaching, the morning air before the dawn felt cooler to Krish.
The past two days, the darkness seemed to be closer then ever, it
was a race to the light of day. He checked his horse again and
looked around at his friends as they prepared for the journey
north. Sam and Larissa stood by the wagon carrying the body of
Carnac, Sam's horse tied to the back. Vaughn
and Logar stood
holding the reins to their horses, while Storm paced through the
group, impatient to get started. Krish was going to hold to ceremony
and ritual and waited.
As the sun crested the treeline to
the east, casting long rays of light through the trees, Krish
began to sing the dawn of the morning. He looked over at Sam, who
had joined him, arms upraised in greeting. Everyone else stood, eyes skyward and waited for the beginning of the day. Finishing,
Krish nodded to Sam and looked with sadness at his friends. The
death of Carnac was hard enough to bare, but with the traces of
the funeral pyre still smoldering in the remains of the Grove, Riggs
murder weighed like a mountain upon their shoulders.
I think
they all knew now that the end was just the beginning, that
in reality, the past was still chasing them into the new world. It
was a thought that had crossed Krish's mind since the death of
Carnac, and now it swelled to an overwhelming sense of dread. He
had a cause for what he had been feeling for the past week. The
betrayal was still there, an unhealed wound that began to bleed
again. It was not something they had ever forgotten so much as
they had hoped it had ended many years ago. The death of Riggs left
no doubt in anyone's mind, that Caldor was still alive, and
still bearing the betrayal after all the years that had
passed.
This what the right decision. Krish knew that from his
readings of Carnac's Journal and in his own heart. They had to
take Carnac to the Isle, to honor him and put him to rest. Maybe,
thought Krish, the peace they all had searched for they would find
at the monolith on the isle of the lake. They could make sure that
Carnac would find that final release that so many had been denied
for so long. It was shame they could not have done the same
for Riggs, but Krish knew they had done the right and honorable
thing. Krish knew he would lay down his life to prevent the
desecration of Carnac's body, and if that was what it took to
release them all from the binding of the betrayal by Caldor, then
so be it.
A fierce pride ran deep through the remaining Chosen
and Krish would use that to finish what they had started so long
ago. He sighed, feeling old and tired and washed out like the autumn
sky. Time to put the ghosts of the past and the present to rest. Time
for one final ride of his friends, one final chance to live and
die like the people they had become. One last chance to make
everything right and to greet the new world with open arms, and to
pass into the mists.
'Time to go my friends,' said Krish
mounting his horse.
'One last ride of the Chosen,' said Storm
with a bitter smile.
'Time enough to bury our ghosts, our
friends,' mumbled Vaughn.
Sam looked sharply over at Vaughn,
flicked the reins of the horses and the wagon edged away from the
stables, headed west.
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