Chapter XXX
Loss
As Dmitri, bloodied and battered from the assault is carried through the forest by his horse, he realises that it no longer matters whether he reaches the mountain or not, he would either die of this injury, or the disease that was rapidly killing him anyway. As if the horse senses this thought, it slowly comes to a halt allowing Dmitri to get off before he collapses to the ground.
He looks down at the wound, black blood stained his clothes, but with great effort he lifted them up to reveal the wound, it was nasty, the skin was ripped open and there was something hanging out of the gaping hole in his side.
Finding his way over to a nearby tree, next to a small pond, it wasn’t big enough to be a lake, he sat up and looked at his surroundings.
“There are worse places to go.” Dmitri said to himself smiling at the scenery, that was true enough. As he turned his attention away from the overly bright sunlight that came into the clearing and thought to himself, that he was ready to die.
At which point he saw a figure approaching him, guessing it was the hoard that he had managed to escape from, he made himself ready for an agonising death. But it wasn’t, instead, it was the one person he thought that he would never see again, the person, whose death had started him down the path of his life.
His mother, Edith Jones or at least a ghostly figure of her, walked across the clearing towards him. She looked identical to the last time that Dmitri had seen her, back at the age of eleven, right after he had gotten the news about her shooting. Only there was no gunshot wound on her at all.
“Mum?” Dmitri groaned slightly although he was smiling and truly happy for the first time in decades. He knew he had been happy during that time, but right here and now. He felt like this was the first time he had smiled in years.
“Have you been fighting again?” Edith asked softly as she knelt in front of Dmitri and put her hand on his face. Even though he knew that she was dead, it felt so real.
“Only the bigger kids.” Dmitri replied, as he felt the temperature become colder a thought occurred to him. “Am I dead?” Dmitri asked, he tried to raise his arm, but found himself too weak to do even that.
“No. Not yet. But it will be soon.” Edith said as he leaned his head back against the trunk of the tree.
“Does it hurt. Dying?” Dmitri asked, it seemed rather childish to ask, and hadn’t he tried to end his own life before. But now that the thing was actually here and in sight, he was unable to stop the question from coming out of his mouth.
“No. quicker and easier than falling asleep.” Edith said, as Dmitri winced after he asked the question.
“Is uncle Ray…” Dmitri tried to start but was answered by his mother.
“He is waiting for you. As are they all.” Edith replied smiling at her dying son.
At this Dmitri smiled, now content and he close his eyes, wanting the last thing he saw to be his mother’s face, and then everything was gone.
The hoard had long since dispersed by the time that Brutus arrived at the woodland, he had heard the sounds of battle from almost ten miles away and had hurried over as fast as possible.
Searching amongst the dead it took him a while to realise that this was a much smaller hoard than the one that had ambushed them all those months ago it seemed like. Too small in fact, as if it was only meant for one person. But it seemed like they had failed, as all the bodies were long since deceased.
He was about to depart, when he heard something in the far distance, the sound of a horse coming in from the south. His initial assumptions of the target of the hoard getting away, he quickly transformed back into a bear and rushed towards the sound. It didn’t sound frightened or scared at all. Meaning that there was unlikely to be any enemies.
It took him ten minutes or so to finally locate the sound coming from a small clearing with a large pond. As he turned back into a man, he slowly walked up to the blood-stained animal and began to pet it. He wondered for a moment where the rider was, and if he had missed them amongst the slain hoard, until he turned around to see what the horse was staring at.
He saw Dmitri laying at the bottom of the large tree, his eyes closed and a small pool of blood coming out of his clothes. He rushed over and sat the former captain up and felt his neck and wrists, but there was nothing, no pulse. Dmitri Jones was dead, the wear-bear got up and closed his eyes, saying a silent prayer for the fallen soldier.
They were a day’s hard ride from the mountain, meaning that he didn’t know if the horse would be able to carry the body back to the mountain. That was where it had to go, the group had to be told, as no-one was going to find him out here. The horse however, seemed to think differently, as it walked up and knelt down, next to her dead rider, nudging the body slightly.
“Clever sod aren’t you.” Brutus said to the horse, which looked up at him as he spoke to it as if she could understand everything that was being said. which got the wear-bear thinking, the horse, despite all of its natural instinct to run, had remained here with Dmitri for the gods only knew how long. In that moment he knew what to do, even if he wasn’t sure how to do it.
Picking up Dmitri’s limp body, he placed it on the horse which seemed to pick up slightly with her rider onboard. Then he turned to the horse. He had seen the ability to communicate with animals done only a few times before, although he had only seen it work once. He leant his head against the horse’s and whispered three words to it.
“Take him home.” Brutus whispered, wondering if it had worked, whether it had or not, he would not find out for a long time. as at his words, the horse began to move off, out of the clearing with Dmitri’s body on its back. he wondered if he should follow, as the body could fall off. He chose instead to trust in the horse, for no reason whatsoever, now that he came to think about it, only a basic gut instinct.
Choosing to trust this instead, he turned around and headed back in the opposite direction, back towards where he had found the hoard.
“He’s been gone too long.” Charlie said as she paced the quarters of the manor, almost a week had passed since the argument and Dmitri’s departure. Even if he had gone to check on the sight once again, he should have been back by now. Something wasn’t right and she knew it.
“I’m sure he’s fine.” Vernon said in as confident a voice as he could muster, even though he didn’t feel one ounce of confidence, Charlie was right, this was too long for the captain to be away for.
“I’m going out there.” Charlie said, making up her mind on the spot, it had been hard not to ride out after Dmitri failed to return after the first day. But had been persuaded out of it by Codsworth, a decision that she had come to regret.
“I’m not going to stop you m’dear. But do you think that you’ll find him alone.” Vernon said getting up and leaning heavily on his walking stick.
“I will.” Charlie replied as she smiled and exited the room and found herself hearing the words that would end up saving her a lot of wasted time. but would also from now on, fill her heart with dread.
“RIDER APPROACHING!” A guard from the ramparts shouted and Charlie could hear the sound of the steel gates opening. She didn’t realise that she was running until she came to a halt at the gates a few minutes later out of breath. However, she made it as the horse came trotting through the gates.
She could immediately tell that something was wrong. The horse was covered in blood, and the nearby dwarves attempt to settle the creature were proving futile, and Charlie wondered why the rider wasn’t trying to settle the animal down. That was when she saw, a north-man and a dwarf, lower the dead body of Dmitri of the horse and onto the ground.
“Send for the king.” Charlie heard one of the dwarves say, and a few of the onlookers rushed off towards the throne room, as they did, she saw Codsworth walk up to the body, he sank down onto his knees and howled like she had never heard the commander do before. It was almost frighting in a way, the death of Dmitri was one thing, but seeming the reaction of the usually steadfast Codsworth was another, it echoed throughout the large hall, attracting the attention of and drew more people to the scene. As Fierhand, Doraghek and what looked like half the garrison came up to the gates.
“The body must be moved to the medical wing father, too many people here.” Doraghek said in an urgent whisper that still carried. Fierhand looked around at the gathering crowd and nodded towards his guards. Who moved to pick up the body and carried it away.
Knowing where the medial centre was, Charlie was quickly able to locate the room where Dmitri’s body was being kept, but as she made her way into the room, she was stopped by Herfouck, the dwarf on duty in this section of the lab.
“I’m sorry miss sparrow, I can’t let you in.” Herfouck said, with a genuine look of sorrow on her face.
“Please. How did he die?” Charlie asked, hoping that the dwarf would give her that information at the very least.
“He suffered a fatal puncher wound to the side of his body. We believe that to be the cause of death at the moment.” Herfouck said before smiling at the young scientist. “Don’t worry, none shall know of his disease. As that wasn’t what killed him, I will not put it in my report.” Herfouck finished.
“Thank you.” Charlie said, that was at least something, although it may not matter as she was uncertain how many had seen the state of his body whilst he was on the ground, it still meant a lot to her that the dwarven doctor, was upholding her agreement about not mentioning the sickness. And with that having seen the table where Dmitri lay, she took her leave of Herfouck and returned to the quarters.
Two days had passed since Dmitri had been brought back to them. And it had taken a lot of time to gather the whole group in the quarters, as both Barca and Jimmy had been on guard duty at the other side of the mountain, when word reached them of what had happened to their comrade. But eventually everyone was there.
“As you p-probably are aware of right now. Dmitri is dead.” Charlie said, she stuttered slightly, but fought to get it under control. We do not yet have a cause of death, or a perpetrator. As Charlie looked around the room, most faces were some forms of disbelief, a few were angry, as Charlie appeared to be the only one who had reached the acceptance point of the grieving process. “All we can do now, is finish what we started and what Dmitri died for, and get back our missing group member, and bring him home.” Charlie said, and there was a murmur of ascent.
At this point Doraghek walked into the room, he had refrained from coming by till now, wanting to give the group a chance to be alone for a while, but they needed to hear what he had to say.
“I’m sorry to interrupt, but we’re ready for you.” Doraghek said mournfully, the dwarf wore a set of black armour, in honour of the fallen. “It’s time.” The dwarf finished.
“Where abouts will he be buried?” Codsworth asked, he needed to know, as he would not have the captain buried in some unmarked grave out there. But the answer shocked him even more than that initial thought had been.
“The Hall of Hero’s. By order of the king.” Doraghek said, and as he walked out, Charlie felt in one of her pockets, where the piece of paper that Dmitri had given her, her half of the combination to the safe, was tucked away nice and safe. Where not only the gems were kept, fortunately or unfortunately as it may have saved his life, but Dmitri in his quickness to leave had not taken the weapon with him. Along with what little research on the mysterious group he had managed to save almost a year earlier were now kept.
“The Hall of Hero’s?” Codsworth asked, stunned by the answer. Even in the south that place was famous, as only the best of the best got to be buried there. One last honour, for the fallen captain.
The tomb was dimly lit by torches but even so, the white marble tombs that lay in this place were clearly visible to the group as they made their slow progression through the rows of the dead. Ahead of them was a tomb larger than the others.
“The figure isn’t done yet. But the stoneworkers are on it.” Doraghek said, but it would do, they were going on a crude likeness of Dmitri for the figure that rest on top of his tomb, but this was an honour enough.
Behind the tomb, stood Fierhand, equally adorned in black armour, along with a scattering of his guard, in all there were about thirty people, men and dwarves surrounding the large white tomb. That was the better, Charlie thought, a lot better than having a crowded audience. As she thought this, the king moved forward and began to speak.
“The soldier has finished his final mission. Now laid to rest under mountain and under stone. Send him now too the deep. Into the earth and eternal sleep. Under mountain and under stone.” Fierhand said, his booming voice echoing throughout the quiet hall. “Let his ancestors know, that their descendent died a hero.” The king finished and bowed his head. As he did so, four dwarves, covered from head to toe in black armour, with only their eyes showing, raised a set of rifles, and fired into the air above the tomb.
“It is done.” Vernon said softly. As he stood behind Dave and Nick, looking at the white tomb with tears in their eyes. And he leads the boys out of the room, followed by the rest until only Codsworth and Doraghek remain.
“What will you do now?” Doraghek asked, as he leaned heavily on his axe.
“I am going to finish what Dmitri started, I’m going to find Martin and bring him home.” Codsworth answered bitterly, as he laid a hand to rest on the white tomb. Doraghek only nodded at this and then took his leave. Followed shortly by the commander himself, as he realises the enormity of the task that lays before him, but he was ready, ready to give his life just as Dmitri had done, and with that decided, he exits The Hall of Hero’s and back into the mountain proper, ready to begin his mission.
The End
