Chapter 39. Loss

here’s Shikai, Great Master Grumpy?” Lemony slurred, taken aback by the scowl on Zhou’s face when he turned to look upon her.

“Do not speak to me again until you are sober, Liang Meng.”

“But where are you hiding her? I’ve looked high and low and you know Pendaran needs that jade charm back.  He’s hurting back there.”

Zhou looked askance at her.

“Why would you think Shikai has it?”

“Pen told me she did.  Told me to go find Shikai and get it from her but she’s hiding.  Isn’t she naughty?”

“Pendaran told you to find Shikai?”

“That’s what I said, grumpy man.  Why you looking at me like that?”

“I wonder why he lied to you and foisted your drunken antics on me instead.  Go tell Pendaran I will reward him for lying later.”

“He’s hiding, too.  I think he and Shikai are playing tricks on us.  And Brigit,” Lemony hiccoughed.

“Pendaran and Brigit are hiding?”

“Clean the wax out of your ears, Master Misery.  I told you, they’re hiding.”

“I’ll deal with them after we reach the compound.”

Lemony stumbled along cheerfully, resuming her favorite drinking ditty as they marched merrily through Wajjun Bazaar.  To her chagrin, Zhou stopped abruptly and she slammed nose first into his back.

“No,” he murmured, his voice hoarse with alarm and horror.  A sickly odor of low tide cleaved to the air and vast sheets of water coated the ground.  The once beautiful round gate was shattered, a burned piece of wreckage whose hinges and boards now lay scattered in the yard.  A black tarry substance was pooled amid the rancid water.  There was a body lying mangled on the pathway, face down in a puddle stained red with blood.

“Nandao!” Lemony screamed, running to his side and recoiling in disgust from his shredded form.  Bile rose into her throat at the sight of him, hardly human now that some hideous beast had ripped flesh from bone and left him there like an abandoned carcass.  Her legs quivered and she collapsed, vomiting even as she sobbed in misery.

“No!” she howled.  How could the gods be so cruel?  The sight of his violated body was too much.  It rendered all her sweetest memories of him to ashes, made a mockery of his smiling face and his happy go lucky ways.  He had died in fear and misery.  Alone.

She curled into a ball and sobbed, rocking slowly, all of her happiness and hope destroyed in an instant.  They were going to be married in the spring and there would have been children and laughter and a home of their own.  And now there was nothing but a big hole in her heart where her love for him had resided.

Zhou knelt at her side, his face stricken as her animal cries rent the air. 

“Come with me, Lem,” he murmured, “Let’s go inside.”

“I don’t want to,” Lemony sobbed, “Just leave me alone.”

“I’m sorry, dear one,” he said in Canthan, knowing it soothed her for it was her mother’s tongue.  His hands rested on her arms, his shoulder warm against her curled back, “Come inside now, it is cold out here and it may not be safe.”

“He’s dead,” she moaned, “He’s dead and I wasn’t here and he needed me.  I loved him.”

“I know,” Zhou said, coaxing her into his arms as if she were a child.  Lemony pressed her face into his breast and sobbed while he held her, his hand pressing over her shorn scalp as if he were holding her together, “Come with me now.”

She nodded, clinging to him as she whimpered, noticing for the first time that his guild members surrounded them as if forming a protective circle to contain her grief.  He guided her through the shattered remnants of the door that lead into the largest of the compound’s buildings, the place that Zhou called home.  Puddles of viscous water trailed through the entry hall leading to the base of the stairs and finally to the door of the study.  Lemony heard Zhou exhale in relief when he discovered it intact if not damaged.  Something had been pounding against it and moisture coated every surface.

He opened the door, gasping as he was greeted by the terrified survivors of the night’s events.  Xiang Yi hurried to attend to the wounded. Guild members flowed into the room behind Zhou to greet servants and friends and ask for details of the night’s terrible events.  Brekke came immediately to stand before Zhou and told him what had transpired, that it was Ashekoroth, the one he had banished.  Kantele was there also, describing how she had encountered Ashekoroth in the market in the form of a man.  Lemony wanted none of it, clinging now to Zhou’s waist as if she were a small child, shocked numb.

Until she saw Mabane weeping in his mother’s arms.  The little boy had suffered so much and now that Zhou had arrived, he yielded to relief and exhaustion, his emotions raw and unrestrained.  Teleri’s eyes were dull as she stared back at Lemony.  Uriel was at her side, holding her protectively.  Frowning, Lemony disentangled from Zhou’s grasp and went to her friends, kneeling at Teleri’s side and taking her hand onto her lap.

Then, with infinite care, she reached down to stroke Mabane’s brow.

“I want my master,” he wept, “I can’t find him.”

“That’s enough,” Teleri whispered, “He’s home, everything will be alright now.”

To Lemony’s dismay, however, she watched Zhou turn away from Brekke and Kantele.  She recognized the look of abject horror for it mirrored Mabane’s expression.  His balled fists pounded the desk once, causing everyone to grow silent.  A low cry of dismay escaped his lips. 

Ashekoroth had Pendaran.