Epilogue

After adopting a potentially short-sighted attitude of 'we'll cross that bridge when we come to it', we trudged back to Sarthe. We weren't sure what to do with Edward's body. Before the fight I would have been happy to leave it where it was and let it rot but, with the revelation about him and the shield, that felt wrong. In the end, we carried it down to the cathedral to be buried.

There were bodies of monsters and soldiers everywhere. The fighting had gotten even more brutal by the time we had got to Edward as the monsters pushed every angle. It was a victory in the end, however. Once the prince's grasp on his army was lost, they became leaderless and disorganised. Rather than pushing weak points in the defences, they started to attack the nearest person to them regardless of what was around. This caused a lot of in-fighting as skeletons accidentally shot their own ranks and started a chain reaction of retaliation. All the soldiers had to do after that was mop up the stragglers.

By the time that we reached the castle to debrief with the Queen, we had agreed on our story regarding Edward. We told her that it was indeed the shield that was controlling him but said that we only found this out when he was already dying. I didn't need her questioning my actions. It was perhaps true that I could have showed a little more mercy had I been calmer, but I didn't see a choice in the moment. We also left out the mention of a potential way off the island, we were going to pursue that at our own pace and without interference.

She knew that he was sorry for everything though. We made sure of that.

Everyone helped to clear the city up after the battle. The stench of the morning as all of the zombies and skeletons burned up was horrific. Everyone had to retreat further into the city and stay indoors for hours as it dissipated. Once that was over, all of the soldiers and citizens that had lost their lives got buried and all of the non-flammable monsters were dumped beyond the Dene. Sections of the outer and first inner wall would need repairing but, for the time being at least, the monsters had been substantially thinned out so that could take its time.

Within a few days, the city was functional again. Its population was reduced somewhat, but the Queen put on a celebration of sorts in London Square. The city honoured its fallen heroes and drank to their sacrifice. We did the same in memory of Tom.

As for the sword, shield and amulet; I wanted as little to do with them as possible. Considering the city's affiliation with them, however, that proved tricky. Mary wanted me present at her victory speech fully adorned with the magical items. I obliged but didn't test the shield's power. That was too powerful for me to even want to attempt to use. I put all three items in their chamber and locked them away as soon as I could. Mary got a key cut for me so that I could access them whenever I needed, but I hoped that wouldn't be any time soon.

When everything had settled down, we found ourselves lost for things to do. After a couple of weeks, we still weren't feeling up to chasing after this escape from Henersey and the city had generally fallen back into its standard routines. Mary was fine with us leeching off her and staying in the castle as she seemed to see us as heroes. We felt respected in the city for once as well, but it was all a little empty.

I found myself alone in Mine and Kate's room fairly often. Kate seemed to enjoy acting as an advisor to the Queen and finally getting some respect from her courtiers. It was on evenings like that that I couldn't get out of my head. I was sure that I was doomed to stay in Sarthe forever. It wasn't a terrible life – we were fed, we had shelter and it was certainly an interesting place – but I couldn't help but think that I'd never see the rest of my friends, my family, or Lucy again. The others seemed more optimistic and I pretended to be on their level, but I spent many evenings shedding a tear or two at these thoughts.