Page 128 of Grave Situation

“He was sent to Laisanne to give support. While on patrol, they found a village that had been attacked. It appeared abandoned, but they searched it anyway, and there was azombie in one of the smaller houses. Drey was between it and the master he was assigned to, and…”

And the zombie killed Drey before the mage could get a clear shot to burn it. Bitterness floods my mouth.“This is my fault. He could have saved himself, but I argued against teaching them to use magefire.”

“You can’t think like that,”Master argues.“The dean was against it also, and his word had more weight than yours. You were right to argue—more of them would have died learning to use it than are dead now.”

The logical side of me, the teacher who’s been working with first years for half a decade, knows he’s right. The rest of me doesn’t care. Drey is dead, and I’m part of that.

“Did they burn his body?”

“Yes. Those are standing orders across Vaderyn. The dead are to be burned until we can be sure this crisis is over.”

At least that’s something.“Thank you for letting me know, Master.”

“This isn’t your fault, Talon.”

“I know.”

He doesn’t seem convinced of my sincerity, but breaks the connection between us.

“What’s happened?” Jaimin asks, and I look up into his deeply concerned eyes. Beyond him, Coryn and Arimen are still cutting through the trees. It’s just us—a rare moment of privacy.

“One of my students was killed.”

His face floods with sympathy, and he puts his arms around me. “Oh, Talon. I’m so sorry.”

The hug is awkward—we’re both still holding our horses’ reins, and the woods press in close—but it’s exactly what I need in this moment.

“We have to find the champion. This has to end.” My words are muffled against his shoulder.

“It will,” he promises. “We’re going to end it, no matter what we have to do.”

Dusk has welland truly fallen before we reach the city. Coryn stops us when the buildings go from scattered with outbuildings to packed closely together along actual streets.

“We’re not wandering around after dark,” he insists. “Pick one of these houses for us to stay in tonight, and we’ll explore tomorrow. We need something we can defend—just in case.”

Arimen looks longingly through the gloom. Toward the center of the city, elevated higher up the hill, is a very obvious temple dome. He’s been chattering excitedly about it since he spotted it twenty minutes ago.

“First thing tomorrow?” he asks hopefully.

“As soon as the sun’s up,” Coryn promises. “But not alone—nobody goes anywhere alone.”

“That sounds sensible,” I say. I don’t think Arimen will argue—he’s frighteningly obedient—but it’s getting darker by the second, and we’re sitting targets if thereisanyone here. “Let’s pick somewhere to hole up for the night. Coryn, any preferences?” I’ve pushed my grief down into a tight, tiny ball deep inside me. I don’t have time to mourn now—it can wait until we’ve found the champion.

Coryn looks at the buildings nearest us with a dubious expression, and I understand why. These are the ones that have borne the brunt of the weather over the years and had the most animal incursions—and probably bandit incursions too. They look a little worse for wear, even considering they’ve been abandoned for a century. Most of them are completely roofless, and walls are crumbling on some.

Jaimin must be thinking the same thing, because he suggests, “We could try a little farther along, back from the water. Maybe it’s more sheltered there.”

Coryn shakes his head. “No, I want to be close to the water and this path in case we need to leave quickly. It would be bad if we got lost in a strange, abandoned city with zombies chasing us.”

I shudder. So much for sleeping tonight—that’s going to haunt my dreams.

He wanders in and around a few of the buildings, dragging me and a magelight with him, and finally decides on one that still has shutters on the downstairs windows. It looks like some enterprising squatter nailed them closed at one point, but that does mean the inside is warmer and there are fewer points of ingress that Coryn needs to worry about. It even still has most of its roof. It’s not supposed to rain tonight—I’ve gotten a lot better at predicting weather, and Coryn’s an expert—but if there’s one thing this damn journey has taught me, it’s that the weather is never reliable.

We settle in quickly, not bothering with tents and keeping our fire on the small side. The benefit to having trekked through the thickly wooded hills was the abundance of game, and we still have roast meat left from last night that Jaimin miraculously turns into stew. Another thing I’ve learned over the past weeks is not to be a picky eater. When I’m not having nightmares, I dream of the food back at the academy.

It's not until after we’ve eaten that I pull out the stone and put it on the floor beside the small fire we’ve allowed ourselves.

“Wait, let me get something to lay it on.” Arimen begins to get up, but I pull him back down.

---