Valley of Silence
Page 85

The ground trembled, and the wind blew like a fury.
“We call the sun!” Hoyt shouted. “We call the light!”
“We call the dawn!” Glenna’s voice rose with his, and the power grew as Moira clasped her free hand. “Burn off the night.”
“Rise in the east,” Moira chanted, staring through the smoke that swirled up around them while Larkin and Blair completed the circle. “Spread to the west.”
“It’s coming,” Blair cried. “Look. Look east.”
Over the shadow of mountains the sky lightened, and the light spread and speared and grew until it was bright as noon.
Below, fleeing vampires burned to nothing.
On the rocky, broken ground, flowers began to bloom.
“Do you see that?” Larkin’s hand tightened on Moira’s, and his voice was thick, reverent. “The grass, it’s greening.”
She saw it, and the sweet charm of the white and yellow flowers that spread over its carpet. She saw the bodies of the fallen on the meadow of a lush and sun-lit valley.
But nowhere did she see Cian.
Chapter 21
Though the battle was won, there was still work. Moira labored with Glenna in what Glenna called triage for the wounded. Blair and Larkin had taken a party out to hunt down any vampires that might have found shelter from the sun while Hoyt helped transport those whose wounds were less severe back to one of the bases.
After rinsing blood from her hands again, Moira stretched her back. And spotting Ceara wandering as if in a daze, rushed to her.
“Here, here, you’re hurt.” Moira pressed a hand to the wound on Ceara’s shoulder. “Come, let me dress this.”
“My husband.” Her gaze roamed from pallet to pallet even as she leaned heavily against Moira. “Eogan. I can’t find my husband. He’s—”
“Here. He’s here. I’ll take you. He’s been asking for you.”
“Wounded?” Ceara swayed. “He’s—”
“Not mortally, I promise you. And seeing you, he’ll heal all the quicker. There, over there, you see? He’s—”
Moira got no further as Ceara cried out and in a stumbling run rushed to fall to her knees beside where her husband lay.
“It’s good to see, good for the heart to see.”
She turned, smiled at her uncle. Riddock, his arm and leg bandaged, sat on a supply crate.
“I wish all lovers would be reunited as they are. But... we lost so many. More than three hundred dead, and the count still coming.”
“And how many live, Moira?” He could see the wounds she bore on her body, and in her eyes the wounds she bore on her heart. “Honor the dead, but rejoice in the living.”
“I will. I will.” Still she scanned the wounded, those who tended them, and feared for only one. “Are you strong enough to travel home?”
“I’ll go with the last. I’ll bring our dead home, Moira. Leave that for me.”
She nodded, and after embracing him went back to her duties. She was helping a soldier sip water when Ceara found her again.
“His leg, Eogan’s leg... Glenna said he won’t lose it, but—”
“Then he won’t. She wouldn’t lie to you, or to him.”
On a steadying breath, Ceara nodded. “I can help. I want to help.” Ceara touched her bandaged shoulder. “Glenna looked after me, and said I’m well enough. I’ve seen Dervil. She came through very well. Cuts and bruises for the most of it.”
“I know.”
“I saw your cousin Oran, and he said Sinann’s Phelan’s already on his way back to Castle Geall. But I haven’t found Isleen as yet. Have you seen her?”
Moira lowered the soldier’s head, then rose. “She did not come through.”
“No, my lady, she must have. You just haven’t seen her.” Again, Ceara searched the pallets that stretched over the wide field. “There are so many.”
“I did see her. She fell in the battle.”
“No. Oh no.” Ceara covered her face with her hands. “I’ll tell Dervil.” Tears flowed down her cheeks when she lowered her hands. “She’s trying to find Isleen now. I’ll tell her, and we’ll... I can’t fathom it, my lady. I can’t fathom it.”
“Moira!” Glenna called from across the field. “I need you here.”
“I’ll tell Dervil,” Ceara repeated and hurried away.
Moira worked until the sun began to dim again, then exhausted and sick with worry, flew on Larkin to the farm where she would spend one last night.
He would be here, she told herself. Here is where he would be. Safe out of the sunlight, and helping organize the supplies, the wounded, the transportation. Of course, he would be here.
“Near dark,” Larkin said when he stood beside her. “And there’ll be nothing in Geall that will hunt in it tonight but that which nature has made.”
“You found none at all, no enemy survivors.”
“Ash, only ash. Even in caves and deep shade there was ash. As if the sun we brought burned through it all, and there was none of them could survive it no matter where they hid.”
Her already pale face went gray, and he gripped her arm.
“It’s different for him, you know it. He’d have had the cloak. He’d have gotten it in time. You can’t believe any magic we’d bring would harm one of our own.”
“No, of course. Of course, you’re right. I’m just tired, that’s all.”
“You’ll put something in your belly, then lay your head down.” He led her into the house.
Hoyt stood with Blair and Glenna. Something on their faces turned Moira’s knees to water.
“He’s dead.”
“No.” Hoyt hurried forward to take her hands. “No, he survived it.”
Tears she’d held for hours spilled out of her eyes and flooded her cheeks. “You swear it? He’s not dead. You’ve seen him, spoken to him?”
“I swear it.”
“Sit, Moira, you’re exhausted.”
But she shook her head at Glenna’s words and kept her eyes on Hoyt’s face. “Upstairs? Is he upstairs?” A shudder passed through her as she understood what she read in Hoyt’s eyes. “No,” she said slowly. “He’s not upstairs. Or in the house, or in Geall at all. He’s gone. He’s gone back.”