Blades Falling Softly, page 15
part #1 of The Brightest Shadow Series
The Hero stared at him, the broken pieces that formed her at war, and then she slowly went to sit down beside him. To her surprise, the mists looked much fainter from the heights, letting her see over a vast swath of the Taynol Valley. She knew there must be fires and destruction spreading throughout, yet for the moment, it appeared tranquil.
"Did you order my husband's death?" she asked. There was no need for further detail, regardless of how much he understood of her question.
"I didn't, but does that really matter? My presence killed him nonetheless. It will not be the last, but I trust that there will one day be a final death."
She closed her eyes and concentrated on the wind moving past her, not trusting in hope. "If we killed one another, would it end?"
"No, I don't believe so." The Dark Lord shifted audibly and she opened her eyes to find him staring down at her with something new in his gaze. "But I am not willing to accept that outcome. You have seen what others have done with the power they were given. I must carry this role until the end, or there will be no end."
"And what end is that?"
He didn't answer for a long time, and when he spoke his voice was even softer. "Your home is beautiful. I will not say that I am sorry, but I do wish that it could have been different. If I had understood the consequences, or found some other way..."
"Is there anything more I can do? Not for myself, but for everyone left."
"By stepping off the path, you have already done all you can. For the first time I have witnessed, the light has receded into uncertainty, if only for a moment. The world will know another Hero, but not here, and not now. Perhaps in the Chorhan Expanse, or perhaps across the oceans. There, we might hope..."
"Hope is my domain, Dark Lord. Shouldn't you be talking about terror and destruction?"
The monstrous face split into an inhuman smile and the Hero felt that she sat alongside another person for the first time since she had lost all the others. She knew how it would end, yet she found herself reluctant to accept it. If she could have stared out over her home, surrounded by both her families, she would have been content. Only now, when it was beyond mattering, did she find herself here.
"Was I..." The Hero didn't want to ask the question, but she forced herself on. "Was I in control of myself, or am I in the grip of something else? Has it controlled me, or has some part of myself done all these things?"
"Would either answer make you feel less guilty?" the Dark Lord asked. It was no answer at all, and yet all the answer she needed.
"Can you spare the valley further violence? I don't care if you needed something here or if it was all lies... is it possible for you to lift any of the burden from them?"
"I will try."
"Then I suppose there is only one more thing to ask: can you bury the man I brought with me? He deserved better than I could give him. And, when we've played out our roles, can you bury me next to him?"
The Dark Lord nodded and she knew that he would keep his word, the first certainty that didn't leave her sickened in a long time. She breathed deeply of the mountain wind and stared out over the Taynol Valley one last time. Though it was no longer her home, it might be a home again.
The Hero lay back and Anyinn closed her eyes to rest.
X X X
Thank you for reading this novella! This was a story I simply wanted to write, so it's going out into the world without any real business plan. If you enjoyed it, it would mean a lot to me for you to leave a review.
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BFS is a standalone novel that takes place in the world of my epic fantasy series, The Brightest Shadow. It's a different sort of beast, attempting to tackle similar themes from a very different angle and over a much larger canvas. If you're interested, you can begin reading here:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0856ZMG9Z/
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Acknowledgments
Thank you to all my alpha and beta readers for their feedback, particularly the septuagenarian squad for offering all their perspectives on older protagonists.
Thanks to Cultivation Novels, Western Cultivation, and GameLit Society for the community.
Sarah Lin, Blades Falling Softly
