Hi all. Please don't hate me for not finishing this for several years. This last chapter is not as good as the others, I'm afraid. I really couldn't find a great way to end it. I find the last part to be overly emotional, but I did want to emphasize the bond between siblings to some extent. I also took some liberties with what the effects of Lavan's death would be like for those actually caught within the fire storm. Again, for any of you still reading this, thank you for your infinite patience.
Chapter 3: The Great Traitor
I could feel my mind being ripped apart by some unseen, unstoppable force. My soul was one among many; I could feel the agony of every living being in the valley being pulled into one maelstrom, one chaos. The inhuman cry still rang, binding us together with its pain. Divisions of faith and politics faded from existence as we all became men going to our deaths.
For a moment, I thought that the agony would end, that we would merely be burned into oblivion. But life was much crueler than that, for death was coming through a Demon-lover, a sinner of the highest order. The physical agony disappeared as my body became numb to more pain, but it was replaced by an even worse pain as the worst memories of my life rose to the surface.
"Brother, what are you doing?"
I was standing in the kitchen, watching my brother lighting the fireplace. We were forbidden from entering the kitchen alone, but we had escaped from our elder sister and Brother had decided to explore. He, at 10, was my six-year-old self's idol and I followed him like a Priest follows Vkandis, unquestioning. Turning around, he grinned briefly before turning back to his task.
"Watch."
I stood transfixed as he closed his eyes and held his hands over the flames, seemingly not feeling the heat. Slowly, the flames died down until only the burning embers remained and then it flared, flooding the kitchen with eerie blue light. As my brother opened his eyes, the fire died down to nothing, leaving only ashes. He turned around, triumphant, waiting for my praise.
I could feel tears falling from my eyes and disappearing instantly in the heat. That was the day I had learned that my beloved Brother was Demon-touched. I knew I should have denounced him, but I did not. I kept his secret for years and despite the evil of his powers, I could not bring myself to regret protecting him. That was the first time I had directly defied the will of Vkandis. The first time I lied to a Priest of Vkandis was the day after my brother left.
I was a nine, watching from my well-hidden roost in the stable loft as Brother stealthily crept away from home. We had grown apart, slowly, since that day in the kitchen although I had never even once considered betraying him. He could see the doubt and fear in my eyes and I know it hurt him dearly, but I could not bring myself to accept him.
Now, over three years later, Brother was committing the ultimate betrayal, leaving home with a Demon-Horse. I had seen them over the past several days, meeting in secret. Brother had been talking to the Demon-Horse and it had seemed to understand him, as unnatural as that seemed. I'd known since the first time I saw them together that Brother would be leaving in the near future. I also knew that I was honor-bound to tell Father so he could tell the Priests. So I did.
Not that day, of course, because I was too grief-stricken to move from that loft. I had stayed there all night and well into the next day, praying my brother would see the error of his ways and would return Demon free. I knew even then that I prayed in vain, but I did not stop hoping until the Priests found me the next morning.
The Priests had led me to the stable proper, where Father had been waiting. The stable hands and the horses were all absent, leaving the building eerily deserted. While I stood in numb silence, Father quietly explained to me that the Priests had sensed witch-powers coming from our farm and that Brother was nowhere to be found. He was being uncharacteristically gentle, as if he feared to be unduly harsh in the presence of the unsympathetic Priests.
So, standing in that musty barn, I committed the ultimate betrayal to my faith and told them everything I knew, with a few hastily thrown in lies. I never told them I had seen Brother leave, never told them that if we had sent out riders that very morning, they would have been able to catch up with Brother, provided they had known what road he had taken. Unfortunately, I also conveniently forgot that particular little detail. Needless to say, Father had been furious and, I think only my youth and ignorance had saved me from the Fires.
Since that day I have been waiting for the wrath of Vkandis to strike me down. It now seemed, as I lay burning alive in an inferno of a battlefield, that my day had come. I was dying, taken down by the very power Brother, the Great Traitor of my life, had possessed. Perhaps this was my comeuppance for although Brother had been labeled a traitor, I never fully renounced him. I had placed a boy destined to be a Demon-Rider ahead of Father and the Priests and even the Holy Vkandis and now I was paying dearly for that choice.
The pain was incredible, the physical pain of burning paling in comparison to the inner pain of my memories and chilling cry of chaos still swirling around us. I could feel the pain of every creature in this valley and I was being overwhelmed by it, becoming less human, less me, and become part of this great cry of grief that was a hurt worse than any burn. The longer the mental anguish lasted, the better I understood it and the more my sanity slipped away. This inferno around and within us was not one of hatred, but one of pain and a grief so overwhelming it literally stole the life from our veins. My greatest losses, my brother and my faith, were a grief that echoed that of this fire storm Demon-Rider.
Is it sacrilege to hope that my brother is safe beyond the walls of this valley, safe within the borders of Demon-touched Valdemar? I hope it is not, for it is one of my last thoughts as I feel my mind slipping away, being engulfed into the inferno above me. If this is to be my last moment, then I hope that you, my brother, are safe, I hope you are well, I hope you are among those who will love you for your kindness. I hope you know Brother, though I commit a great crime against Vkandis for it, that I have always loved you.
