The challenge word is Hold (Held). Happy Birthday to ilovesam, sidjack and the tribblemaster
He held it tightly in his hand. The brass amulet biting into his flesh as his blood-stained fingers gripped it desperately, willing it to somehow bind him to his fragile sanity.
His exhausted gaze took in the pyre before him, smelled the familiar stench of death on the acrid smoke that rose from the shrouded form.
Was he to bear this again? How many more would he be asked give to the purifying flame? How much more of his soul must he sacrifice, to dance heavenward with the motes of fire, before there was nothing left of him to give?
Thanks for reading.