Page 98 of Kingdom of Embers and Ruin

That was the last time this rune had appeared in their world until ten years ago when her father had taken a blade and dragged it roughly across her face. When Maude was finally brave enough to inspect the fresh scar, she instantly recognized the jagged lines cutting through her eyebrow and cheek as the runeansuz.

In the mirror, the rune was reversed, so she knew that she had been deceived and had no doubt that the deception was her father’s doing. From that day on, Maude trusted only herself.

Now, Maude stood on the rooftops of the empty town of Amsbrook with people she had just begun to trust, unable to ignore the irony of thisrune appearing before her as she bore the same symbol forever etched into her flesh.

Gunnar and Liv caught up to them and finally took in the repeating rune.

“This is the work of Vidar,” Gunnar said, motioning to the slice on each person's throat.

“The god of vengeance?” Liv asked, looking at Gunnar.

He nodded solemnly.

“Vidar is sent by the Allfather when he feels we have strayed too far from the correct path,” Gunnar explained. “This was why this rune, discovered before The Elemental War, launched the kingdoms into conflict. The Kingdom of Flame had found the rune burnt into the ground of the town square belonging to a town on the outskirts of Logi. They interpreted the sign as the Allfather being upset with the power imbalance between the Elven and humans. The Kingdom of Rivers had not agreed, stating the Elven were their allies, and this argument resulted in the war.”

Maude could only stare at the people lying in the center of the square as she half-listened to Gunnar’s explanation.

“It sounds like the Kingdom of Flame was looking for an excuse to start a war,” Liv scoffed, her anger radiating around the group.

“It doesn't matter why they are like this,” she bit out, cutting off whatever Gunnar was about to say. “We need to burn them. We can’t have a traditional funeral for them, so we’ll just have to burn them where they lie.”

They were silent. Maude looked up to see her friends, who were unsure of her words.

“What?” she asked, skin crawling with the wrongness of this place.

“The whole town will be lost,” Herrick said. “There will be no way to rebuild.”

“I don't think you’ll want to rebuild here, Herrick,” she argued. “This is cursed land now. We shouldn’t be lingering here either.”

“They were our people, Maude,” Gunnar said, looking between her and Herrick.

“Then do right by them now and burn them. Give them a proper funeral. The only change is we can’t risk moving them onto the longboats, sending them downstream as they are carried to the afterlife,” she growled, her emotion beginning to spark within her. “We have supplies to get us to Ljosa; we hunt when it runs out. We need to grab a longboat from down the shore and leave.”

They all looked at her and then at each other, coming to a silent decision.

Herrick spoke to her as Gunnar and Liv nodded and made their way back down the drain pipe attached to the building.

“We burn them,” he said, defeated. “And then we leave.”

Maude saw the despair and guilt cloud his eyes, and before she could stop herself, she moved toward him and grabbed his hand.

“It’s not your fault,” she said gently. “They were chosen, and as awful as it is, they did not seem to suffer.”

“I failed them,minn eldr,” Herrick said, looking down at her hand and squeezing it. “I should’ve sent soldiers out here when I found out they had been struggling with their crops.”

“They wouldn’t have made it in time,” she said. “These people have been with the gods for some time now.”

Herrick looked up to the afternoon sky, quiet. When he finally spoke again, Maude didn’t know what to expect from him.

“We are taught the gods are our protectors, our guides to this world,” he said quietly. “But it seems to me that they are only playing with us. Slaughtering entire villages, pushing us into the arms of people we cannot belong to…”

He trailed off and finally looked at her.

“I don’t know if I can burn them,” he said, pleading with her now.

“With me, you’ll never have to,” Maude said as she squeezed his hand once and let go. “Let me do this for them.”

Herrick studied her face, his eyes tracing over the scar that haunted Maude every day. She knew he had recognized the shape of her scar as his eyes flicked to the people of Amsbrook and how they had been laid out. Maude silently pleaded with him to ignore the coincidence.

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