Selena turned to look at Liam, who stared at her with unreadable eyes. "I am sorry the anchor had to be placed here." She hesitated. "Your people should build a wall just beyond the circle. What was made here… I don't know what would happen to anyone who stepped onto that barren ground or climbed among those stones."
"When all the bodies are given back to the Mother, this will be a field of the dead. I don't think anyone will go near those stones after what happened here today, but we'll build the wall."
Aiden and Lyrra rode up on Minstrel, followed by Breanna and Falco on another horse. Aiden helped Lyrra slide down from behind him before dismounting. Hand in hand, they came forward. "It's done?"
Selena nodded. "The Witch's Hammer and his followers are gone."
Morphia rode up, followed by a few of the Fae. She gave them a brilliant smile, her face lit with happiness and relief as she dismounted to join them. "Ashk! Morag's here. Did you see her? I only caught a glimpse of her as she rode back into the trees, but she's here."
Selena felt Ashk shudder. Then Rhyann said, "Selena," in a quiet, tense voice.
She heard a muffled cry of fear, watched men scatter, leaving a clear path for the dark horse that walked toward her.
"Morag!" Morphia called. Then, puzzled and a little fearful, "Morag?"
Selena saw Aiden and Lyrra rush over to Morphia. She heard Liam whisper, "Mother's mercy." And she felt Ashk walk away as Morag dismounted and walked closer to them.
Morphia's face crumpled in disbelief and horror. "Morag!"
Selena grabbed Rhyann's arm, pulling her sister behind her. An illusion of protection, nothing more. But Morag stopped a man's length in front of her. She saw something savage in those dark eyes, something that would ride through villages and leave nothing but empty corpses in its wake. But the woman Morag must have been was also shining out of those dark eyes, pained and so weary.
I have the power to shape a world beyond this world, but I don't know how to change this. I know nothing that can change this.
"What do you want, Morag?" she asked gently.
One tear spilled down a dark, leathery cheek. "I want to go home."
Silence.
Then…
"Merry meet, and merry part, and merry meet again."
A moment caught by the eye, frozen by memory.
Morag, standing straight and tall, turning toward that voice.
Ashk, waiting, the bow drawn back, her eyes clear and yet filled with a terrible grief.
Then the arrow sang Death's song. Pierced the chest. Found the heart.
And Morag fell.
"Noooo!" Morphia screamed as Aiden struggled to hold her back.
Ashk dropped her bow, moved forward slowly.
"How could you?" Morphia screamed. "How could you?"
Ashk stared at the body. "I promised to do what needed to be done."
Mist rose from the body, took the shape of a slender, lovely woman.
Morag turned to look at her sister. Raised a hand in farewell to Aiden and Lyrra. When she looked at Ashk, she smiled.
"You'll be missed," Ashk said softly. "Don't stay away too long."
Morag raised her arms. Her ghost changed into the shape of a raven. As she flew toward the shimmering road that suddenly opened in the field, Selena watched ghosts flow up the road behind her as Morag led the spirits of the dead to the Shadowed Veil for the last time.
Before Selena could say anything, do anything, Ashk turned away from all of them and started walking toward the rise.
Ashk reached the top of the rise before Breanna caught up to her.
"Ashk! Ashk!"
Ashk stopped walking, but didn't turn to look at her.
Breanna reached out but didn't touch. Ashk looked like a woman about to shatter. She knew how that felt. "She shouldn't stay in that field, Ashk. She shouldn't be buried near that. . . place. Where should we take her to give her back to the Mother?"
Ashk swallowed hard. "Morphia is her sister. It should be Morphia's choice."
"No," Breanna said slowly, "I don't think so." She waited until Ashk looked at her. "You freed Morag from what she'd become, for her sake. Morphia would choose a place that gives her comfort, but you'll choose a place that's right for Morag."
Ashk clenched her hands, and Breanna watched strength battling grief. Finally, Ashk said, "Somewhere in the Old Place. A spot where there are shadows and light."
"As you will, so mote it be," Breanna said.
She watched Ashk walk down the other side of the rise. Alone.
Chapter 53
Ashk took a deep breath to steady herself before knocking on the guest room door. "Morphia? It's Ashk."
She waited a long time before she heard a muffled, "Come in if you must."
She stepped into the room, closing the door behind her—and simply watched in silence while Morphia packed her saddlebags.
"Where are you headed?" Ashk finally asked.
"I don't know yet. Maybe back to the home Clan for a while."
"If you can wait a couple more days, you can ride with—"
"I don't want to ride with you, Ashk." Morphia's hands clenched around the camisole she'd just folded. Sighing, she shook it out, refolded it, and tucked it into the saddlebag before looking at Ashk. "I don't want to ride with you, Hunter. You did what you thought was right—and maybe it was. But you didn't give it a chance. If I'd had another moment or two to collect myself, I could have put her to sleep for a while—at least until the witches had a little time to discover if they could have changed her back."
A moment or two, Ashk thought bleakly. You might not have had that moment or two. If she lost control of what was inside her for even a heartbeat of time, you could have ended up dead. Worse than dead. Would you have wanted Morag to fight her way back to clarity to find your torn body, to find no trace of your spirit, knowing what must have happened to it? But she couldn't say those things to the woman staring at her with dark, grief-filled eyes.
Morphia shook her head and went back to packing her saddlebags. "Maybe if Sheridan had lived . . . Maybe when enough time has passed . . . But right now, Ashk, when I look at you, all I see is the person who killed my sister. So I don't want to travel with you. I don't want to be in the part of Sylvalan where you rule. There's work to be done in the world. I'll find a place to do it."
"Safe travel, Morphia," Ashk said as she opened the door.
"Ashk." Morphia hesitated. "For Morag's sake, and in her memory, I wish you gentle dreams."
Ashk bolted out of the room, turned blindly down the hallway, and ran straight into Aiden.
He caught her arms to keep them both from a tumble. When he saw the door, still partially open, he slipped an arm around her shoulders and led her to the room she shared with Gwynith. She was grateful Gwynith wasn't there and wished desperately that Padrick was.
"Liam asked us to stay for the council meeting tomorrow," Aiden said. "He seems to think my writing is neater than his, and he wants to be sure the other barons can read the decisions that are made without stumbling over half the words. You're staying, too?"
Ashk nodded. "I'll leave after the meeting." I want to go home. The words echoed in her head, in her heart.
"You'll be heading back to Bretonwood?"
She nodded again.
"In that case, if you don't mind the company, Lyrra and I will travel with you for a while."
"Your company is always welcome, Bard."
After giving her shoulder a comforting squeeze, he left her.
She stared out the window for a long time, not really seeing anything. Finally she stretched out on the bed and did something she hadn't allowed herself to do. She cried.