No.
No.
The bard hissed as he was struck, pain blossoming in his shoulder as he was knocked back a step - but only a step before he was bounding out to reach Caiside's body, dropping to his knees beside his friend's corpse and reaching out to touch trembling fingers to long red hair. He was broken, was the smith, was dead beyond recall, and Jigano knew what he had to do, what he had promised to do, what he had bargained and traded oaths to gain the power to do.
But his throat was swollen shut with tears that blurred his vision and fell to mingle with the red, red blood that stained his hands and knees and so, so much of the body of his friend.
The friend he had been too late to save.
Only the memory of Kiada's quest made him move, then. The knowledge that her lover's soul was trapped in the dark, lost and twisted. He had failed Caiside once - would never be able to tell his friend his story, would never hear, never know how Caiside's had gone.
But he knew how it ended.
And he would not fail his friend again.
The song rose weakly, the notes shivering in the air as fragile as crystal about to shatter in the cold. He gathered his friend's - his guildmate's body to him and stood, unsteady and wounded in more than just body as he walked slowly towards the GuildHall door, singing to call Caiside's soul to his side a final time, until he could lead him to the lantern.
It was Caiside, he sent to Deimos , the bard's mental voice drowning in guilt. We didn't open the door in time...
No.
The bard hissed as he was struck, pain blossoming in his shoulder as he was knocked back a step - but only a step before he was bounding out to reach Caiside
But his throat was swollen shut with tears that blurred his vision and fell to mingle with the red, red blood that stained his hands and knees and so, so much of the body of his friend.
The friend he had been too late to save.
Only the memory of Kiada's quest made him move, then. The knowledge that her lover's soul was trapped in the dark, lost and twisted. He had failed Caiside once - would never be able to tell his friend his story, would never hear, never know how Caiside's had gone.
But he knew how it ended.
And he would not fail his friend again.
The song rose weakly, the notes shivering in the air as fragile as crystal about to shatter in the cold. He gathered his friend's - his guildmate's body to him and stood, unsteady and wounded in more than just body as he walked slowly towards the GuildHall door, singing to call Caiside's soul to his side a final time, until he could lead him to the lantern.
It was Caiside, he sent to Deimos , the bard's mental voice drowning in guilt. We didn't open the door in time...
