Welcome back, gang. Now I might be teasing you with this ending but that can be for you to decide. Enjoy.
Death and Injury
Gard ran through the tomb. Just like everyone else, he was running to get out of the tomb before it came crashing down. He wasn't even paying attention to what was going on, he was only trying to get out.
Autolycus was dead. He had not deserved to die like that. No matter how arrogant he had been Autolycus shouldn't have died like that. Gard would not wish that fate upon anyone. Autolycus had died a death that he had not deserved and it was quite possible that the collapsing tomb would bury him. It was quite possible that no one would be able to retrieve his body to give it a proper burial. It caused Gard to wonder that if in the years to come if Autolycus' body was to be found and retrieved who would find it? What would find it? Would they be the kind of person to treat Autolycus' body with respect or to drag it behind a chariot?
And now Sotark was free. The only evabon that fit the belief that evabon were monsters. Sotark had at one point been a shaman before becoming more war-like. He had become tempted by watching battles from a far and would often steal the results of the carnage. What he did with those results no one knew. Sotark was petty and cruel. He would play anyone smaller than him for his sport, plague them with suffering and besiege them with terrors. Sotark's first victim had been his own father whom he killed only for the sake of gaining power. His second victim had been his own wife for the sake of survival. Ultimately, it had been Sotark's favorite son that had imprisoned him in the crystal. Not powerful enough to destroy Sotark, his son could only imprison him. And now that monster was free, free to return to what he used to do.
By the time they all got out, Gard finally started paying attention to what was going on around him. Unfortunately, it was the worst possible way for him to come back to what was happening. He had heard a shout of "Get out of my way!" It had been from the Hunter. Gard turned around and saw the Hunter get Balor out of his way by hitting him in the side with his hammer. Gard starred at Balor. He couldn't even tell if Balor had survived that blow.
As the Hunter fled the scene, Tygra started to run after him until stopped by Gard. "Let him go." Tygra turned and looked at Gard. Why would he say that? "He can wait." Gard then turned his head to look back at Balor. Kat and Kit were kneeling next to the young evabon's form. "There are other people to worry about."
To be continued in "The Tale of Antaeus"
Well, that's the end of this story. Join me on Sunday for the beginning of my next story. Until then, read and review.