Of Blood And Fire by Ryan Cahill (best classic books of all time .txt) 📕

the haze of night, thick with an endless sea of trees. Then he heard it. Someone – or something – was making its way through the undergrowth at the northern edge of the clearing.

Aeson’s eyes opened. He stood, slung the satchel around his back, and drew his swords. Therin joined him, tiredness still set into his face.

“I live by day and die by night. I can fly, I can walk, and I can swim, but I do not get wet. What am I?” came a voice from within the obscurity of the forest.

Erik asked a question with his eyes. Aeson answered with a nod. It was Erik who spoke. “You are the shadow of a bird,” he responded, laughter touching the end of his words. “Now get over here, brother!”

Dahlen stumbled into the firelight. He limped on his right leg. He had a few cuts and bruises on his face, and his clothes were caked in dried blood.

“They made it…” muttered Calen, a smile widening across his face. I can’t lose anyone else.

Erik pulled Dahlen into a tight hug, then drew back and grabbed him by the shoulders, checking him over for injuries. “Well, you didn’t make it easy on yourself, did you?” He laughed. “Don’t worry. I’ll teach you a few things.”

“Oh, fuck off, will you!” Dahlen scoffed.

Aeson put his swords back in their scabbards and smiled. He gave an approving nod towards Dahlen, who returned the gesture in kind.

“Where’s Rist?” Dann asked, his tone curt. He peered off into the darkness. Dahlen didn’t reply, but his facial expression changed. The hairs on the back of Calen’s neck stood on end. Not Rist. Please, not Rist.

“I’m sorry,” Dahlen said, his voice meek. He stared at the ground. “I did everything I could. We fought our way through. He held his own, but—”

“What happened?” Calen shouted. His anger surprised him. He hadn’t felt it rising.

“A Fade – I think. I couldn’t do anything, I put my blade right through its heart, but it did nothing. It just tossed me aside.” Dahlen’s voice was vacant, his eyes pleading.

“A Fade? What in the void is a Fade?” Dann asked.

“What would a Fade be doing here, in Camylin?” Aeson said, ignoring Dann’s question.

“It came for the egg – I think,” Therin said. All heads turned to him. “I ran into it on my way to The Wilted Leaf. It had soldiers under its command. I only just escaped. It knew you were in Camylin, so it had to have been after the egg.”

“Fuck the egg,” Calen said. A shiver ran through his body as he took a step closer to Dahlen. “Where is Rist?”

For a few moments, there was silence.

“It took him.”

“It took him?” Dann and Calen repeated at the same time.

“What do you mean it took him?”

Dahlen nodded solemnly. “There was nothing I could do. It threw me around like I was just a plaything. It knocked me unconscious, and when I came to, it was gone, and so was Rist. I’m—”

“You left him?” Calen leapt at Dahlen and shoved him in the chest, causing him to stumble backwards. A droning noise filled the back of Calen’s head. It rose to a crescendo as it tried to outmatch his thumping heart.

Dahlen’s empty stare gave way to anger. “Do that again and I’ll put you on your back. I’m sorry that it took him, but there was nothing I could do.”

“You just fucking left him there? On his own?” Calen shouted, his eyes drawing up level to Dahlen’s. “You’re a coward. You ran when he needed you!” He pushed his hands into Dahlen’s chest again, his blood boiling over.

Dahlen stumbled for half a second, then dug his back foot into the ground. He pivoted and landed a punch on Calen’s nose. Calen felt a sharp pain, and a thump as he hit the ground. “At least I was there. Where were you?”

With his head still spinning, Calen leapt to his feet, anger burning through him. Before he could react, Dann put his arm across his chest. “Let it go, Calen. This is not the time.”

“Let it go?” Calen scoffed, wiping the blood away as it trickled from his nose. “He left Rist to be taken! He left him, Dann!”

“I know.” Dann gripped Calen’s shoulders, touched their foreheads together, and looked him straight in the eye. “And we will find him, Calen, but now is not the time to be fighting… okay?”

Calen’s hands trembled and his breathing was shallow. His heart hammered in his chest. He sighed. “Okay…” his voice dropped to a whisper. “I shouldn’t have left him, Dann. I shouldn’t have left him…”

Dann sighed and pulled Calen into a tight embrace. “We both did, Calen.”

“That was not necessary,” Aeson said, turning to Dahlen.

Dahlen was incredulous “What? He shoved me. I—”

Aeson raised his hand in the air and turned away, returning to where he was seated. He slung the satchel around to his lap once more, as if nothing had happened. “Come, son. Tell us what happened, and we will decide what is to be done. Dann, would you see if there are any rabbits caught in the snares we set earlier? I think we could all do with some fresh meat.”

Dann took a deep breath in, then pulled away from Calen. “Yeah, sure.” He snatched up his knife and a length of rope, then placed his hand on Calen’s shoulder. “Come on, come help me with the snares.”

“I think—”

“Calen, help me with the snares.”

Dann was right. Calen’s emotions were all over the place. One minute, he felt like he was at the bottom of a dark pit with no help in sight; the next, he felt like a bull let loose in a sea of red. He had never been so quick to anger. He should not have lunged at Dahlen, even if he did leave Rist to be taken by that creature. But he was never going to say that out loud. The thought of losing Rist just made him explode.