Saintcitia was nearly two days from the contested Lidarion
border. What had started as a single church not far off the Kings road had over
generations become the spiritual and educational capitol of Lidarion. There
were hospitals and libraries, shrines and monasteries, even the wild elves had
planted a small sacred grove of trees and plants. The Priestess that had begun
her hand built stone walled, one room church left behind no evidence of her
reasoning, none of the other who arrived to help ever received and explanation,
or passed it on if they did. The only thing anyone knew for certain about her
flash of inspiration, was that she would not be the last to receive it.
Trent had seen Saintcitia on the horizon backlit bit the
overeager rays of predawn light. By the time he had reached the city gates the
sun was well into its trek across the sky. The guards at the gate had
confiscated all his weapons leaving only Brandon after he explained the
contents of the sheath. No one in this town was a stranger to death, but
neither were they immune to the burdens of regret, loyalty, and heartbreak. The
reverence the guards had while they directed him to the Saintcitia
hospital was almost more than Trent bear.
He felt like he was moving in slow motion. The city flew
around him as if he were a boulder in a busy river. He knew it was impossible,
but the closer he got to the hospital where Lisa was working the heavier the
sheath felt.
He had considered it for two days and still had no idea what
he was going to say. The infinite echoes of his own mind blaming him got louder
by the second. He barely heard the smiling nurse but followed down the hall in
the direction she pointed. He could hear nothing now but the deafening howls of
his own judgement.
She came out of a room into the hall, a smile on her face. He saw her lips move and knew what she was asking, they were frozen in the eternity that was the deepest silence he could not find the words to end. Her smile shattered like cheap glass. Her lip quivered, he saw her mouth the question again but she already knew the answer. He pulled the sheath off his back for a thousand lifetimes, she was sobbing on the floor. His vision began to blur. He knelt beside her and could feel himself apologizing over and over again. She took the sheath and wrapped herself around it. She sank to the floor wailing with full body sobs.
