by L. Cyrus Whelchel
This wasn’t how things were supposed to end. After everything that happened, this is how things would be settled? Cacovis always knew her brother could be as stubborn as an ox, but she knew in her heart that he was beyond saving. Berelmir’s actions over the past year had more than proven that.
And now, thanks to his foolish choices, he was going to die.
Cacovis stumbled over a pile of stones on the path and caught herself, ears flat against the top of her head. The tufts atop her ears fluttered in the wind. She pulled the plain scarlet robe tighter around her body and redid the knot of her sash, continuing the march upwards. Two long tails emerged from a slit in the robe near the base of her back, twitching erratically.
The wind bit deep into her neck, through the thick mane of black fur covering her upper chest. She had forgotten how bad the chill could be this time of year near the summits. Thankfully, the wind would prove more cumbersome to her brother than her. Berelmir had always despised the cold and avoided it when possible, and so was unused to traveling through it. The only reason she knew he would be following her up this remote mountain trail was the nondescript pouch fastened to her sash. A short length of string fluttered in the wind from a hole cut near its top.
Rounding the corner, Cacovis reached a short outcrop that looked out over the forests below. It would be roughly another ten minutes of walking before she reached her destination if her memories were correct. She sighed and let her eyes take in the view with a nostalgic gaze. Cacovis and Berelmir had grown up in those woods at the base of the mountain. Littlehope was nothing more than a tiny hamlet of Norzen in the depths of the Libodian forests, but to her, it was home. Not that any of the inhabitants remained; they had all fled to the north on her orders. Now all that remained in the abandoned town were her brother’s soldiers.
Even now, up here in the cold embrace of the mountains, she could detect the sweet scent of laurel blossoms and see the many colorful flowers growing along the riverbank. She and her brother had played in that river as children. They had both met the loves of their lives in Littlehope and started families there. A lone tear slid down her cheek as she remembered her sons and hoped that her friends had done as she asked and taken them far away.
If Galen and the others had dawdled and not gotten to safety, then there wasn’t a spirit or god in existence that could save them from her wrath in the voids of the hereafter.
Soon, all that would be left of her and this place would be memories. But even memories lived on in the hearts and minds of those who remembered.
Cacovis shook her head and continued trudging up the rocky path. This was no time to reminisce. If she let herself get distracted, then Berelmir would catch up and put an end to her mission, and everything would have been for nothing.
Each step forward felt heavier than the last. She knew that these thoughts of the past were her mind’s way of trying to turn her back, to try and find another way. Reminding her of times when things were simpler. When they were happier. Her mind knew what was going to happen, why it needed to happen, but that didn’t make completing the act any easier.
“Matthias…” Cacovis murmured under her breath, blinking away fresh tears. Thinking of her mate hurt. He had never been the ideal Norzen mate, which would explain why her parents had been so against their bonding. Matthias had been a competent siegewright, so while he earned decent wages, he would never have been extraordinarily wealthy. But he still provided their family with love and stability, and that was what mattered to her.
Her mate had worked for one of the local Norzen lords, a man who now kneeled before Berelmir as one of his many bootlickers. Thoughts of that man caused Cacovis’s blood to boil. She remembered the look of glee on his face when her brother had offered the man a prominent rank in the new order he planned to establish. All he needed to do to secure his future: Surrender Matthias for immediate execution.
The lord hadn’t even hesitated. She remembered watching from the safety of the trees as her mate was thrown at Berelmir’s feet. The bastard’s soldiers lifted him and tied his limbs to the posts where Matthias spent his final minutes while they…no. She refused to bring herself to think about the events of that day again. She couldn’t lose focus when she was so close to ending this senseless war.
A muffled chattering echoed along the path behind her. Cacovis smirked. The woman had always told her brother his stubbornness would be the end of him one day, and it seemed as though she would be proven right. He would have been better served retreating to the flatlands as her friends had done. But he was so determined to hold onto his power and the surrounding lands he now controlled that he was willing to risk death to stop her. Ducking into the wind, she pressed forward and quickened her pace. The more distance between her and Berelmir, the greater her chances of pulling this off.
When she reached the plateau at the summit, Cacovis flinched at the heavy winds cutting across her eyes. Looking to the side, she noticed a dim glow emerging from beyond the edge of the cliff. She breathed a sigh of relief. They were still here. Perhaps this really would work.
Cacovis approached the edge and peeked over. The gorge below was lined on every side with glimmering crystals, each a bright shade of lilac. She shivered in anticipation. Her last encounter with crystals like these was a story to remember. She could still hear her friends’ hysterical laughter from that incident in the back of her mind. If the ones below her had the same reaction…well, she was certain her brother and his minions wouldn’t be walking away from this. If there was anything left of them, that is.
“You can stop right there, Cacovis. I think you’ve caused enough trouble, making me chase you up this mountain,” a voice called out from behind her.
She clenched her jaw and turned to face her brother. Two pairs of grey eyes met in an unseen match of will and hatred. Cacovis felt her tails and ears flail in anticipation while her hands trembled. It was still hard to believe that her baby brother had turned down this path. Shy little Berelmir, often teased for wanting to be a knight despite his smaller size, had become the very thing he swore as a child to destroy.
As a mother, she wanted nothing more than to be with her own children, to hold them and say everything would be alright. But she couldn’t, not with Berelmir and his mad ambitions standing in her path. To save those she held dear, she would finish this here.
Where it all started.
“We don’t have to do this, Caco,” Berelmir said, his eyes glazed with a hint of fear. “I know my plans can bring peace to all of Alezon. Think about it, sister. A land where Norzen are not used as disposable slaves, where we control our own fates. Just trust me, please.”
Cacovis shook her head and removed the pouch from her sash, stepping to the cliff’s edge and gazing at the brilliantly shining crystals below. The jagged purple surfaces were blinding in the sunlight. Beautiful to look at certainly. Yet they hid a fearsome power. A power that Cacovis would use to protect everything she cherished.
She had been fooled before by her brother’s lies. He cloaked himself in an aura of nobility and sympathy, but behind that smile lurked a monster. Berelmir was as slippery as a fish, yet the number of bodies left in his wake, her mate among them, proved he was much more dangerous.
“You are wrong, little brother. What you call peace is nothing more than eternal bondage. Your plans would see all licking our boots while our people bring pain and agony to any who oppose us. You simply want to reverse the roles we play by subjugating both humans and the other faumen tribes. I know you’ve heard the tales being spread. The other tribes call us demon cats now. Everyone fears our people, all because of your actions! We were raised better than that.”
“We are Norzen, sister! We are better than them! So many of our people were brought here from the Belomas Highlands in chains and have been treated with apathy and malice since our arrival. We deserve better, Cacovis. We deserve to rule!” he snarled. The raw fire blazing in his eyes exposed his inner rage clearly. Cacovis could see Berelmir’s desperation mounting, his hand twitching towards the sword at his belt.
“That is where we differ, I’m afraid. I want my children to grow up in an Alezon where all tribes are equal. Where blood has no say in how we forge our path and it is normal for a Norzen child to play in the fields with humans, Soltauri, or even Aerivolk. I am a proud Norzen woman, but you have allowed your pride to rot. All that’s left within you is arrogance and hubris, and that would lead us all to ruin. It’s a shame, Berelmir. Your charisma would have made you one of the most beloved leaders of our tribe’s history, equal to our ancestors that led the founding of the Highlands Council! But you have let your grief and anger over our parents’ deaths corrupt you into this…this beast!”
Berelmir took a step forward and drew his sword. “Put that damned pouch away, Caco. I swear I’ll cut you down.”
Cacovis smirked and pulled a chunk of flint and her dagger from her sash. “Do as you wish, but I refuse to give you a chance to hurt anyone else. You have already taken Matthias from me, you will not take my sons,” she said with a defiant huff, her shoulders squared back. Striking the flint with her blade, the string hanging from the pouch quickly caught fire. Giving Berelmir a knowing smile, Cacovis threw the pouch over her shoulder, where it plummeted towards the crystals. A dusty black cloud of powder escaped the bag as it fell.
“No!” Berelmir screamed, charging with his sword thrust forward like a spear. He bore down on his sister with eyes and lips twisted into a vicious snarl. Cacovis stood her ground with a serene look on her face, even as her brother’s blade pierced her heart. The brightly burning pouch struck the crystals.
“Goodbye, Berelmir,” she whispered.
A sudden flash, then nothing remained but smoldering ruins. Mountains and forests. The rivers. The town of Littlehope. All reduced to ash and scorched dirt. Everything within a day’s journey of that spot, swept away in a single, fiery wave of destruction.
The Desolation was upon them.