Page 403 of Of Empires and Dust

He turned his wrist, angling the stone, then flicked it out over the water, watching as it skipped six times then sank.

“Not flat enough.” Dahlen Virandr appeared at Calen’s side, a heavy wolfpineskin cloak draped over his shoulders. He stared past Calen and out at the water, then dropped to his haunches and scanned the stones that littered the ground, eventually settling on one just under the size of his palm and smooth on all sides. Calen smiled as he heard his father’s voice in his mind.“Now that’s a mighty fine stone.”

Dahlen drew a long breath, stepped forwards with his left leg, and launched the stone. It skipped nine times, catching the crest of a wave on the tenth and sinking.

He leaned down once more, selected another stone, and offered it to Calen.

Calen took it into his hand, brushing his thumb against edges so smooth they were almost polished. He gave Dahlen a half-smile and a nod of thanks before loosing the stone.

“Eleven,” Dahlen said with a downturn of his lip. “I’ve never gotten more than ten, usually less than five or six. Erik’s lucky if it doesn’t just sink.”

“My dad held the record. Twenty-seven times. He always rode the horse back.”

“What?”

“Nothing, sorry…” Calen plucked another stone from the ground and launched it. Five skips. “Thank you. For everything you’ve done here. Erdhardt told me this place would be gone if you and the others hadn’t arrived when you did.”

Dahlen only gave him a nod, throwing another stone. Seven skips.

They continued like that without talking for a few minutes. Calen didn’t think he’d ever spent as much time alone with Dahlen. “I was?—”

“I didn’t?—”

They smiled awkwardly at each other.

“After you,” Calen said, gesturing for Dahlen to speak.

Dahlen ran his thumb absently over the surface of the stone in his hand. “I was jealous of you… I had trained my entire life for the moment we would find an egg. Every morning, every night, I trained… to be everything my father wanted, everything he needed. And then you appeared, and the egg hatched. You didn’t even want it.” He shook his head, still rubbing his thumb over the stone. “You cared nothing about the rebellion I had spent my life bleeding for. That my brother, my father, and I had sacrificed everything to build. I was jealous, I blamed you, and I hated you…”

Dahlen looked up towards the sky, biting his top lip. He threw the stone. Twelve skips.

“A new record,” Calen said in a half-whisper, staring out at the setting sun.

“That was until I realised what it was we took from you.” Dahlen grabbed at the back of his neck. “The people of this place, the way they fight for each other… the way they pull together. I’ve never had anything like that outside of Erik and my father. The night we met you, that was taken away from you. And I see now why you wanted it back so badly. I see a lot of things I never did before.”

“Like what?”

“That my father is a man and not some godlike hero of legend to be followed without question. He is a man with many flaws, who has made a thousand mistakes and will make a thousand more. And that still, to me, he is the greatest man who has ever lived. He has fought and lost and sacrificed for four hundredyears, and he has never stopped. No matter what this world did to him or the people he loved, he always stood back up. I have seen twenty-four summers, and already I am tired and weary. I could not do what he has done, nor would I want to.”

Dahlen grabbed another stone and squeezed it in his palm before looking into Calen’s eyes. “All this is to say I was a man stuck in my father’s shadow, trying desperately to be what he needed and blaming you because I wasn’t. And I’m sorry for it. My father always taught me that a man holds himself accountable for his wrongs. It’s about time I listened.”

“I was wrong to blame you for Rist – since we’re sharing.” The laugh that touched Calen’s lips never reached his heart. Rist’s name alone saw to that. “I was more angry at myself than you. I left him. I should never have left him. Not because I didn’t trust you, but because people of The Glade don’t leave each other. If we’d stayed together that night, maybe everything would be different.”

“Or maybe we’d all be dead.” Dahlen scanned the ground and grabbed another smooth rock, passing it to Calen. “That’s a good one.”

Calen wound back his arm and let his anger at himself flow through him. Three skips and a squawk later and a terrified gull was flapping into the evening sky.

Dahlen watched the bird’s flight. “The words ‘if’ and ‘should have’ can tear you apart quicker than any blade. You were a fucking arsehole that night. But I understand. If that had been Erik, I would’ve been the same.”

“If what had been me?”

Calen turned to see Erik, Tarmon, and Vaeril approaching down the dirt track that led to the water.

Tarmon grasped Calen’s forearm. “Queen Tessara invites us to eat with her this evening.” He paused for a second. “The elves fought bravely and lost many in the battle for the city.”

Calen nodded, letting out a short sigh. “Lead the way.”

“Dann?” Erik asked.

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