The stench of charred flesh seared Ivo’s nostrils.
He opened his eyes and blinked up at the inky darkness. For a long moment he didn’t move. Slowly he shifted his legs, arms, and torso to test for injuries. His entire body ached viciously, but seemed willing, even if reluctant, to move. He grimaced as he sat up and jerked his helm free. He dropped it to his left where it clattered to the sandstone ground loudly in the eerily silent night. “Jaeger!” he turned and reached out his hand, but felt nothing nearby in the night. He clambered to his feet and dragged a hand through his dark hair as fear settled low in his chest. “Jadeth! Emaranthe!” “Ivo.” Jadeth’s voice echoed faintly on the wind. Ivo spun around, tilting his head to better locate her voice. “Where are you?” he yelled into the night. A sudden grunt of pain just to his left startled him. He recognized that usually snide sound and moved toward it cautiously. His boot collided with another iron boot sharply, and Jaeger’s familiar voice hissed sarcastically. “So you’re trying to kill me too?” Ivo ignored the sarcasm and dropped to one knee at his brother’s side. “Brother, you are alive, thank the Vigil.” he gripped Jaeger’s arm and heaved him upright. Though unable to see in the darkness, Ivo was certain he was being glared at. “What the hell happened?” Jaeger grunted as he tugged off his left gauntlet. Even without seeing his hand he knew that it was cut up and bruised badly. “I remember trying to get the skeletons off the women—women! Where are they…are they okay?” “I don’t know. I thought I heard Jadeth, but she sounded far away. I haven’t found Emaranthe.” Ivo squinted into the darkness but saw nothing. “Jadeth! Emaranthe!” Jaeger bellowed into the darkness. Somewhere distant they both heard Jadeth’s voice in the wind. “Where in the hell—“
A neon green glow lit up the night sky.
Squinting, both men stared at the source in mute alarm. High above them Jadeth was crouched on a ledge, holding her hammer high. “How in the—“Jaeger frowned at the Elf clinging to the cliff face. Jadeth was staring down at them with wide, terrified eyes and laid back ears. Her scarlet braids were undone, but other than that she seemed okay. “I can’t get down!” her voice drifted to them in the sharp wind. Ivo didn’t hear her; he was staring at the unmoving bundle of brown fabric at the base of the cliff directly below her. Jaeger felt his brother tense and dropped his gaze too.
“Aw, shit.” Jaeger dragged his helm free, wincing as it glanced over multiple cuts and scrapes and let it fall to the ground. “I’ll get Jadeth, you get her.” Jaeger cupped his hands around his mouth and yelled up to Jadeth, “I’m coming up, hold on!” He backed up several yards, gauging the distance to the ledge. With a blur of speed he broke into a short run and launched himself into the air. He soared across the narrow gorge and upwards to the ledge, landing hard next to Jadeth with a clatter of armor and slight grunt of pain. “Thank you…thank you” Jadeth gasped and clutched both arms around him in evident fear, still holding the unwieldy hammer in a death grip. She was shaking violently. “I am so sorry. I am so sorry.” Frowning, Jaeger gripped her upper arms and gave her a small shake, forcing her eyes up to his. Horrified blue eyes, vacant with memories long gone stared at him as if they didn’t recognize him. “Jadeth! Snap out of it!” “So many dead. So many. Mother tried to help them. B..b..bodies everywhere...blood,” Jadeth stammered and gasped as she trembled. Jaeger saw in her vacant stare that she was reliving something very very horrible. “Jadeth, that happened long ago. It’s over now.” Jaeger didn’t dare pull her down from the ledge without calming her down. “No, no. Mother tried to heal them, but there was too many. Too many.” She choked on a sob. “I watched the…the…sky demons tear them apart.” Jaeger shot a quick look down but he could see nothing from his position. “Mother tried to fight them off…she wasn’t a fighter though, she was a healer! She…she…fell…next to the chest I was hiding in.” she gasped and shut her eyes as tears slid in filthy trails down her pale cheeks. “Jadeth, you don’t have—“Jaeger whispered but she cut him off. “—I...I…grabbed her hammer and tried to fight too. They laughed and flew away.” Eyes still closed, she swayed slightly. Jaeger tightened his grip on her arms. “I followed them, searched for them…for years. My mother’s hammer was the only thing I had left from her.” she whispered into the wind as it dragged streamers of her hair, now unbraided and loose on her narrow shoulders, over her face. “I chased the wind for decades—” “Jadeth, that was long ago. Please, we need to get down to help the others.” Jaeger shook her again, gently. Her eyes opened, wide and sad, and she looked directly at him at last. “I found every air demon I could. I chased them all. I did everything I could to…die.” she sucked in an unsteady breath and blinked as the sharp wind whipped her hair wildly. Jaeger stayed silent… her agony was palpable. “I died at last. I welcomed it. I felt them pecking at me. I felt their claws, their wings, the ripping, the cruel wind… I wanted the wind to take me,” Jadeth sighed softly. “But I awoke again, in my body, with my mother’s hammer and bearing her gift of healing.” “You had proven yourself then, Jadeth. The Vigil chose you because you are the best healer of all!” Jaeger hissed sharply. “You alone healed us through that battle!” “It wasn’t enough.” Jadeth whimpered softly. Even in the green glow she could see the myriad of cuts, slashes and bruises on his face and neck. His pale hair was tousled from either helm or wind…and slightly singed looking. “My mother would have been able to heal you all whole. I am a poor excuse—“ “Stop it! You saved us!” Jaeger growled. “Without your abilities, I would have died. Something I vowed to never do again!” he turned and stared far down into the vaguely green-lit blind canyon, but still no movement below. Unable to see directly beneath their position on the ledge, he could only figure Ivo and Emaranthe were still there. “Come on. Let’s go see if Emaranthe is okay.” Jaeger glanced back at Jadeth and caught her look of utter horror. “Emaranthe…” Jadeth gasped and switched her hammer into the other hand. “I forgot…” “Do Elves still have Angelic Flight by any chance?” Jaeger watched stark fear tighten her features. “Yes. I’ve never used it.” Jadeth whispered softly. “I could never make myself fly…like them.” “Then will you do it for your friends?” Jaeger’s voice pierced through the buffeting wind and seemed to echo in the gorge. “Yes.” Jadeth closed her eyes and swallowed. Her grip on her hammer tightened as Jaeger tightened his on her waist. She inhaled firmly and the glow of her hammer seemed to intensify. “Now!”
They leaped off the cliff.
A golden aura glowed brightly, joining the eerie green, and giant ethereal wings, seemingly made of nothing but sunlight, erupted from Jadeth’s shoulders as they plunged downward. The wings buffeted and caught the air and wind, slowing their descent until they were gliding smoothly. The wings vanished in the wind as their feet grazed the hard packed dirt and stumbled into a slight run to halt their momentum. Gasping, wide eyed Jadeth spun around and launched herself at Jaeger, giving him a victorious hug. “I did it!” she laughed loudly.
Jaeger stood stone still and didn’t react. His blue eyes had scanned the green hued shadows and fallen on the huddled shapes beside the cliff.
Ivo looked up and locked eyes with his brother’s. Blue eyes stared at the limp, unmoving bundle draped over Ivo’s lap. “No. No…”Jadeth looked past Jaeger and cried out. She pushed away from him and darted forward, heaving her hammer high as it glowed even brighter. “It’s too late.” Ivo climbed to his feet, still holding the tiny body. As he walked from the shadows of the cliff, the wind stung his face. It was the wind, he told himself, that made his eyes tear up.
Singed blond streamers drifted in the screaming wind and a small, slightly burned hand swung freely as he walked heavily past Jaeger and Jadeth into the night.