Read Spear Mother: A Tale of the Fourth World Page 15
* * *
The final note faded into absolute silence. She could hear nothing, not her own breathing nor that of her companions. The haunting dissonance that menaced this world was gone. All was still.
The floating chunks of rock had stopped spinning. The liquid clouds of blood no longer roiled. Even the metallic clang of chains that came from the shadow looming in the corner of her vision was silenced.
The world faded to darkness. Everything was obscured.
Everything, save Motherspear, which hummed with a warm, white light.
Sandrena closed her eyes, and then opened them.
She was standing on the parapet of an ancient keep, overlooking sweeps of mountains ranges, and valleys obscured by mists beneath an overcast sky. After so long floating through madness, though it had been perhaps only a few hours, the feel of stone under her feet was disorienting, yet comforting. Still in her hand was Motherspear.
Still in her arms was the Lady.
Sandrena stared in shock.
The Lady was whole once again.
Even so, her eyes were closed, her limbs limp, her chest unmoving. Unsure of what it meant, Sandrena gently laid her body down, setting Motherspear reverently down beside her.
Rayell and Korilia were standing behind her, and, to Sandrena's vast surprise, so was Semorie, her arm restored. All three of them regarded Sandrena with wide-eyed awe.
A distant roar of thunder and a tremor beneath their feet brought the amazement of their reunion to an end.
Semorie stepped forward, rubbing her arm where it had once been severed. "Spear Mother," she said. "The god. He was not defeated."
"I know." Sandrena turned to face the vista. "But you see, we are in my lands now."
Giving herself a few steps running start, Sandrena threw herself over the parapet and into the mists below.
* * *
The three of them gawked at where Sandrena had stood but a few moments before. Then Rayell threw her head back and laughed. "I guess that's why the Lady made her Spear Mother!"