The Forgotten Field Novel - Chapter 236

THE FORGOTTEN FIELDS (NOVEL) – CHAPTER 236

Chapter 236

THE FORGOTTEN FIELDS (NOVEL)

He fixed his gaze on the face of the guard who had been left speechless and questioned him sternly:

—I asked you what is happening.

—B… brother…

At that moment, a hoarse voice mixed with a gasp resonated in his ears. Varkas turned quickly to see Lina sitting on the ground, covered in dirt, and his face tensed.

—Why are you in a place like this?

—T… that…

His sister, who could not stop crying, raised her pale face and, being unable to continue with the explanation, lowered her head. As he was preparing to rebuke her harshly while holding her by the shoulder, the woman who was wailing in front of the pile of rubble suddenly raised her head and ran toward him.

—Your Excellency the Duke!

Varkas looked with frozen eyes at the face of the woman he was accustomed to seeing since his youth. The woman, who possessed the coarse features characteristic of the dwarf lineage, tugged at his blood-stained clothes and cried out in a loud voice:

—Help me! Our young lady is trapped inside!

At that precise instant, a sharp ringing pierced his head. He felt a sudden narrowing in his vision as he contemplated the rubble of the building, piled up like a mountain. The bitter crying of the woman resonated in his ears as if he were underwater.

—Please, sir, save our young lady! I beg you!

He pushed the woman away violently and approached the rubble of the collapsed building. The massive outer wall had fallen completely; piles of interlocking stones blocked the lower part of the building, and upon them accumulated the remains of the staircase that seemed to have collapsed from the top of the tower.

He bent down immediately and began to lift the massive blocks of stone obstructing the entrance. He felt sharp spasms in the muscles of his shoulder, arm, and fingers, but he did not care and began to remove the rubble and collapsed columns without rest.

The guards approached and began to help him remove the smaller fragments, but Varkas did not feel their presence. It seemed that all his senses had been paralyzed. He no light, nor sound, nor the passage of time; it was as if everything had frozen.

He did not know how much time passed repeating the movement of removing the stones in a state of semi-consciousness, until someone took him by the shoulder.

—Sir… blood does not stop pouring from your shoulder, you must tend to your wound first…

He shook off the annoying hand violently and bent once more over the ruins of the tower; as he lifted the base of a massive stone column, his eyes glimpsed something white and pale.

Varkas stopped moving completely upon looking at the pale face of the woman, partially buried beneath the rubble. As if his thought circuits had been suddenly severed, everything went dark in his head.

The soldiers, who remained as stunned as he was, bypassed him and entered the building to quickly remove the stones from her body, then carefully carried her limp body outside.

Only then did Varkas let go of the stone column and approach her with faltering steps. The soldier who was examining her condition fell to his knees and murmured in a mournful voice:

—… She is not breathing.

A bitter sigh spread among the people who had gathered around the castle, and the man added with a trembling voice:

—She… has passed away.

The wailing woman broke into an even more heartbreaking cry as she embraced her body, and Lina, who stood there dazed, began to cry as well. It seemed like a scene from a strange and mournful theatrical play.

Varkas remained motionless, limiting himself to looking at her face which was turning bluish; as he did so, his vision began to distort in a strange way, as if the entire world had been shattered to pieces. A deep darkness loomed over the world, which turned gray in an instant. As if the sunlight had been extinguished, he thought from the depths of that abyss:

“The dawn will never rise again.” “Light will never enter my world again, for all eternity.”

The funeral of the duchess lasted for three days.

While the influx of mourners did not cease, the echo of quiet funeral chants resonated endlessly in the cathedral, and the white flowers brought by the inhabitants of Kalmure accumulated upon the wooden coffin. It seemed that everyone sincerely mourned the death of the duchess.

During the three weeks that the siege lasted, tears had not dried in the eyes of the women who lived with the duchess in the castle of Raidegu, and the maids who attended her closely broke into tears, embracing one another.

Even the guards were among the mourners; they believed without a doubt that the duchess was the one who had saved Kalmure. This was because they had seen with their own eyes the pack of warg wolves that suddenly appeared to intercept the advance of the enemies on the day of the attack.

And the miracles did not stop there; the unanimous opinion of the citizens was that the wolf pack continued to appear in moments of crisis to hinder the enemies until the arrival of reinforcements. Among these people who lived through such an amazing experience, the belief took root that the duchess was perhaps truly the spirit of the earth, or an incarnation of “Teramir.”

Thanks to this atmosphere, a wave of mourning spread throughout the city, so all taverns and markets closed their doors during the funeral period, and black flags waved endlessly over the castle walls.

However, while the waves of grief surged, the duke did not shed a single tear. He merely remained before the altar with his face as pale as a specter, as if he were a man completely empty inside.

The duke remained in his place, steady as a statue, until the final day; as soon as the coffin of the duchess was buried behind the church of Raidegu castle, he immediately returned to his work and began to direct the reconstruction operations of the city as if nothing had happened.

After several weeks had passed, Kalmure began to gradually regain its vitality. Hundreds of masons who arrived from all corners of the east began to rebuild the collapsed walls, guard posts, and towers; the echo of carpenters’ hammers resonated as they built new huts in the destroyed villages. Even the fields that had been covered in blood and corpses began to clothe themselves in wild grass and flowers, silently erasing the traces of the war.

However, unlike Kalmure which was regaining life, a gloomy air loomed over the castle of Raidegu.

Edric Robon entered the hall, which was dreadfully silent; upon finding the head of the maids with a somber face, he asked her cautiously:

—I have come to see His Excellency the Duke. Is he in his office now?

—Yes, the master is attending to his affairs on the third floor —the maid replied dryly, made a slight bow with her head, and immediately entered the kitchen.

He scratched his head, turned around, and went up the stairs.

After crossing the dark corridor, the two guards stationed by the door recognized him and made way for him. Edric caught his breath and knocked on the door.

—It is Robon. Do you have a moment?

—… Come in.

As soon as permission was granted, the guard opened the door. Edric strode in and stopped subconsciously upon seeing Varkas sitting behind his desk, reviewing the records.

At first glance, Varkas seemed not to have changed, but Edric had noticed for some time that he was becoming thinner day after day. His features, already sharp, looked even more pronounced, as if his flesh had been sculpted, and his collarbone was more deeply defined than before.

It was like standing before a blade that had been sharpened until it became exceedingly thin.

Chapter 236

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