Chapter 64

Maybe it was them showing respect, or maybe they were too eager to look at what was coming. Lady Maria believed that David's soul left his body like a gust of air, and the most important thing was to bring his body to the underworld as fast as possible, so his soul could get there safely. His body was anointed in oil and wrapped in a shroud, a coin was placed under his tongue to be given to the ferryman of the underworld river, the boundary between their world and the underworld. Together with the other fallen, they buried them under the heat of the afternoon sun.

Jerome's men were wearing a fresh cream wool sweater. The silence settled as they entered the little shed in the center of the garden one by one, paying their respect.

Harry held Anna's shaky hand the whole time. She wiped her tears onto her sleeve and lounged on his shoulder. All the memories came flooding back like a tidal wave. David's face seemed so alive and happy, and she couldn't help but wonder what he looked like under the wrapped shroud. She stared at it, hoping that a miracle would happen, and he would rise again and come back to the world, come back to her. But nothing happened.

It's crazy how things can turn upside down for her in a single snap. Yesterday, she saw David's optimistic face, alive, and; now he was gone and when he was gone, a part of her went with him too.

When her adopted parents died, she spent so long in that first stage of grief in denial. She was in denial not for days or weeks, but a couple of years or more, sometimes the resentment would strive to come, but she didn't nurture it, after all, it's not her. 

She never underwent sorrow this bad before. It all started when she lost her parents. It sneaked up on her quietly and seized her under its arms in an instant. Every memory played like a movie in her head, repeating itself for what seemed like forever. Anna was lost, mostly because she had lost a big part of her.

At first, she thought grief was something bad that drew her unfortunate self into oblivion, but she learned that it was just the price she had to pay for loving and caring for someone too much. As her barefoot caresses the soil, her toes are bathed in the endowed rain. It gurgles, bubbling as she strolls, soothing in its calmness. However, she felt miserable and empty.

Jerome Wallace was an alpha all the way, but the true kind, Robin Wood kind. He was all about devotion, family, and security. He was the type of man people wanted to be overseen by, to be in his band of rebels. Furthermore, he guesses that the original meaning of "Jerome Wallace" was anyway — "home," that with a natural leader he felt at solace. Just as with Kingdomship, a King was trustworthy and optimistic, a role model — a leader yet paternal and prudent. Jerome Wallace could tell he'd never met a person who could wield a candle to him, and when he opened that door, the only scary part was the possibility that it would close again before he dared to walk through. Yet, this woman, Anna, this descendant of the Moon was someone whom he wanted to lead altogether. To battle for what was appropriate for them from the beginning, to resist the evil lurking in this land. To combat Lord Colton's soldiers and avenge the fallen.

After the funeral, a solar eclipse covered the skies. And Lady Maria breathed for unexpected circumstances. Tales about the serpent have been the center of the conversation between her and Jerome's men. They said that it caused eclipses. During ancient times, Pre-fairyland folks believe that there were seven moons created by their supreme god to light up the sky. The serpent, amazed by their beauty, would rise from the ocean and swallow the whole of the moon, angering the gods and causing them to be mortal enemies.

To keep the moons from being swallowed by the serpent, woodlander folks would go out of their homes with pans and pots and would make noises to scare the serpent into spitting out the moon back into the sky. Some people in the villages would play soothing sounds with their musical instruments, hoping the serpent would fall into a deep sleep. Thus, the woodlander men of the village hoped that while the musical sounds hypnotized the serpent they could somehow slay the creature. Although the serpent was recognized as a "moon eater" it was also known as a "man-eater." Fear of solar eclipses still exists. Many people around the fairyland still acknowledge eclipses as evil omens that bring death, destruction, and disasters. And Lady Maria's wishes weren't true. Or is it?

Harry wrapped his arms around Anna in a moment, and she let her head rest upon his chest. All her thoughts stopped as if her heart took over from her head when they were close. Next, Harry squeezes her hand as if he desired to check if she was there with him, there and true... and she was, body and soul. They talked about returning to the human world. She needs to take her mind aside from the pain, away from the memories of David. Yet, what if the Lord Colton soldier would attack again? And Anna wasn't around. Do they have a chance of winning? 

Could Anna forgive herself if she would leave Jerome and his men along with Lord Colton's wrath? Or when they needed her the most?

However, Anna's hatred for Lord Colton's soldier was all that was left. She buried David with her own hands, his body into the soil, eyes closed. She kissed him before the dirt-covered him and in that kiss, her kind heart left her body forever. Without it, all she could focus on was revenge. She prefers them dead, all of them, every last one. She wants him who ordered his soldiers to know her first love was dead before she would cut his throat or maybe burn him alive. What then? She had no idea. She doesn't care what's next, all she ever wanted was retribution. Nothing but revenge.

However, more hatred only promises more bitterness, more anguish, more death ahead, never more healing, or an improvement in her humanity. It can be flown like a dark flame from one generation to the next, burning cold, waiting for the later opportunity for another battle. 

Anna's hatred convinces her that others will come to harm those she loves and the only way out was to end their lives first, for without the abuse of loving feelings' hatred was too weak to cause damage. But she has Harry with her. Was his love not enough? Or she was just too afraid to lose someone again?

Lady Maria could see her hostility from miles away, she could understand her doubts and her plots of revenge. 

"Anna, I need you, to be honest with yourself, is revenge really what you wish? If so, I prefer you to be honest with yourself. And remember that self-honesty was the key to an understanding of how to become a better, better fighter. Only when you can see yourself as you truly can the tasks begin. All the mindfulness in the world won't help you unless you will accept your weaknesses, so dare to acknowledge them... because foreseeing you at the other end of your quest is the truest possible version of yourself... and that's someone this land needs so much."

"I don't know Lady Maria, I don't know!" Anna thought that she was the master of her mind, yet fate took a different turn. Her emotions came like hands on the wheel of her "heart," which held her somewhere different from the place she hadn't expected. The destination may be beautiful, bewitching even, certainly though she was afraid, for it was all strange and her heartbeats all the harder. Could she kill the enemy? Is retribution absolutely what she wanted? Or maybe could she let her fate decide? 

Suddenly, the wind was screeching in the great bare trees of the garden as if it were some wild dark grove deep in a forgotten land. The leaves flew over the ground and took small flights into the air. Anna tosses her head back and raises her eyes to the dim sky, a smile spreads from her hardened face. The branches sway like the arms of a lover, and it was their chaotic dance that was hypnotically beautiful. Her mind relaxes, and she feels the unexpected happiness of her life bubble up from within, even from the loss of someone she cared for, yet the lights she kept inside escaped from her pores. Her body was burning, she could feel the warmth embracing her from inside out. And now she knew what to do. Her fire had acknowledged her doubts, struggled with her worries, embraced her sorrows and her pain.

"Let's plan! A thorough plan! And by that, I need all of your cooperation." Anna announced in front of everyone in the garden.

A couple of days passed.

Anna stared through the slits in her scarf. Her protector thought it wise to keep her identity from their associates, and to Jerome, it was enough that she was with them. No one would be tempted to question him on that, and his men had no interest in her either. She was just a woman to them, despite her battle outfit and her position as his right hand. His men would have understood the significance of the gesture, that being standing beside Jerome, put her in a position of authority. They knew that they needed her help if they wanted to succeed in this battle.

Outside the garden they mounted the waiting horses and left the small cottage, Harry and Lady Maria were with them but Anna advised the two not to go with them in the battleground, instead, she instructed the rest to stand by the concealed clearing and wait for her signal. They rode less than a couple of days before they took a path between two mountains that led them near and above the castle grounds. Harry protested but after some explanation that he needed to be out from the enemy being the lost prince.

Before halfway into the castle, Jerome sent his men to obtain more people to accompany them with their mission. His fellow men were uneasy in the unforeseen close quarters. Two ridges further down and hidden by land that was vegetative and dreary, a large valley lay even deeper below them. It was a place that no man or creature would find on his own, an oddity. Yet they needed it. Water flooded into a profound reservoir at one side and in between almost close a hundred rebels spared, snoozed, and labored.

"Welcome everyone," Jerome Wallace drawled, and their faces proclaimed more than words. They hadn't expected too many men, and they never presumed that they were right on top of Lord Colton's mansion grounds behind the hidden valley. They were just common people who wanted some changes in the kingdom. Their swords and arrows differed from each other, and they weren't even well-trained, nor did they learn how to aim at a specific target. Instead, they intended to just shoot into the crowd from a safe distance. Jerome reckons that most arrows wouldn't kill but hurt enough to neutralize the enemy. 

Yet, the novices knew that the fight was a shitty nasty place to be, and the horrors of reality were nowhere near what they had expected. They armed most men with spears, axes, clubs, or repurposed farm tools such as scythes. Even Jerome's men would use battle-axes and maces against their well-armored counterparts. They recognized that this incoming battle was, as always, not elegant but a vicious and brutal responsibility.