The pain eventually ebbs a bit, going from shards of jagged glass in my head to a low, unpleasant throb. My vision clears, and while the hollow feeling remains, I can more or less concentrate again. The day drags on, and as it does, the fires in the forest grow larger and more plentiful, until it seems that everything below us is ablaze. The scent of burning meat drifts up with the smoke, and my heart aches for the animals that traveled with us for so long.
At least, I hope it's the animals. A sick clench in my gut tells me that it could be anything.
As the day wears on, my anxiety increases. There's no word from Kassam, no white dove flying up to meet us overhead. My griffin continues to circle, and so does Margo's. When I look over at her, she's slumped in her seat, drooping in her makeshift saddle. She looks pathetic and weary, and I wonder if she's half as worried over Seth as I am over Kassam. I rub my stitches as we fly another leisurely circle overhead, the smoke thick in the air. By now, it's so smoky that everything seems to be burning—everything except the trees themselves. Kassam said they didn't burn, so I guess everything else must be on fire.
"Be safe," I whisper on the wind, and hope he can somehow hear it. "Please, be safe."
The sight of all those fires below terrifies me. Kassam says he can't die, but that doesn't mean he can't burn, that he can't hurt, that all the wild animals that pledged their allegiance to him can't die horribly. My throat grows tight with worry as the smoke invades my lungs, and still the fucking griffin flies circle after endless circle.
I feel like I'm losing my damn mind when a small white speck flies out of the dark, choking smoke, and circles around the griffin's head. Rubbing my watering eyes to make sure I'm not dreaming, the dove lands on my shoulder and I want to kiss the damn thing in gratitude. "Is it time?"
As if it can understand my words, the griffin underneath me lets out a mighty cry and tilts its wings, alternating the pattern it’s been silently keeping for hours and hours on end. Another shape flies out of the shadows, this time Margo's griffin with her clutching its back. Her face is dark with soot and she coughs as her bird circles mine. "Are we going down?"
"I think so," I croak, my throat shredded by the smoke I've inhaled. "I—"
The griffin dives before I can finish my statement, and then we're plunging through the trees, heading on a crash-course toward the center of all that smoke. Coughing, I squeeze my eyes shut and hold on tight as the griffin plummets, crying out in that noisy screech of his. When I feel him shift under me and slow, I peek an eye open just in time to see a massive central platform amongst the trees. It's burning, and the sight makes me want to cry. Houses are up in flames, people are running for their lives, and everywhere, everywhere, there are dead bodies. I see corpses of Seth's soldiers, their white tabards stained and torn. I see dead wolves and the corpse of one of the great wyrms, with a half-dozen pitchforks sticking out of it. I see the spindly legs of a deer hanging over one of the platforms, dripping blood. Somewhere in the chaos, there's a baby crying, and as I watch in horror, a man chases down a screaming woman, who rushes into a burning house.
Everywhere is carnage, and it makes me ache with the horror of it.
It's hard to comprehend just what war means until you see it, but as the griffin flies through the platforms, I see far too much. Everything is burning, the trees showing the strain. Branches are broken, platforms sagging and dumping their contents onto the ground below. As I watch, a rope bridge burns, a fleeing man falling to his death. There's so much screaming, so much despair. Sobs choke me, until I close my eyes, because I don't want to see any more. I can't and remain sane. I can't.
The griffin cries out, the sound different from before, and I open my eyes to see that we're heading directly for a new platform, larger than most, and it seems to be in the heart of the city. Less is burning here, but the smoke remains everywhere. The massive tree at the center of the platform looks as if it's hollowed out into a dwelling of some kind, and I can feel power pulsing deep within, like I did when we first met Seth, back on Earth. It's the pulse of another god.
This must be where Riekki is.
I twist, looking for Margo's griffin, and it's a short distance behind us, heading in the same direction. I can't see her face, but I suspect her expression is the same as mine. Life in a modern city on Earth hasn't prepared us for this devastation. I'm horrified that it's come to this, and even more horrified that I've had a part in it. How could Kassam possibly want this? How could Riekki?
"Carly!"
A voice calls my name, clear and loud above the chaos. The griffin swoops lower, toward that platform, and I see a lone figure with tall horns and bronzed skin. One of the horns is broken down to a stump, and soot and blood streak his body. He holds a staff in one hand, covered with the biggest thorns I've ever seen, and waits at the edge of the platform for me, one of the conmac at his side. I've never been so glad to see him. Sobbing, I clutch at the griffin, wishing I could get it to move faster as it carefully picks its way down into the madness.
When it finally alights on the platform, I tumble to the ground and stagger to my feet. My legs are stiff and my body feels that curious light-heavy that tells me things are Wrong Inside but I ignore it. All I care about is Kassam. I stumble my way toward him, even as Seth's army surges onto the platform, flooding forward from one of the bridges.
Kassam rushes toward me, and when I fling my arms around him, he tosses aside his weapon and grips me tight. His head rests atop mine and he holds me so, so close as I weep and weep in his arms. "You're safe?" I manage. "You're all right?"
He holds me closer, as if he wants to somehow squeeze me into his chest and never let me go. "My body is well, but my spirit hurts at what we have done this day," he tells me. "Most did not fight. The goddess lied to them and told them they would be safe, that she had seen it. And she is Knowledge, so they believed her."
I moan in horror. "So many dead—"
"Seth's army is out of control," Kassam says harshly, stroking my hair. I don't know if he's comforting me or himself. "Once they burst into the city, they went on a killing spree and he will not contain them. They are the ones responsible for this chaos. I realized what he was doing and scattered mine. The wild are leading those that flee to safety and returning to the woods. I will not have them be part of this." He holds me fiercely. "This is not what I wanted."
"I know," I say, gulping back my tears. I gaze up at him, at the devastation on his face. "I know."
Kassam loves life in all its forms. He wants the natural process, not this…disaster. He will not flinch at wolves taking down a deer, but as we watch Seth's men surge onto the platform with captives and loot stolen from the people here, laughing and shouting with glee, it's hard not to feel responsible. We needed Seth to win, but I'm not sure all of this is worth it. I cling to Kassam, fighting the horror I feel, and look around for his army. There are a few scattered animals, but like he said, most are fleeing. The griffins remain, and a limping striped cat hurries away as Seth's troops swarm forward. Now that I look around, most of the dead aren't the wild army, and as I watch, birds flutter away into the trees. The griffin remains near us, fluffing its feathers and glaring balefully at anyone that approaches, and the conmac are near, but that's all.