Eddie smashed Alek’s urn on Kerioth’s dirty sidewalk. The ashes scattered in a smoky cloud, the pottery sending flying shards that would be perilous for a barefoot drunk in the dark. Eddie gave the funeral’s committal by spitting on the rubble.
Rowan, who was saddling their horses, gave a sharp cry. ‘Why would you do that!? How will we scatter his ashes now?’
‘Consider them scattered and don’t fool yourself into thinking they were his ashes. I don’t even believe they questioned the kid before lopping off his head, why bother? His real body would have been vaporised yesterday.’ Eddie gave Ugly’s saddle a yank to make sure it was on right then swung on top. Ugly’s name was previously Bjorn, but Eddie preferred the name Alek had given him for the great scar that cut across his black snout. ‘That was just some furnace ash,’ he said looking at the shattered pottery.
‘Why would the church give it to us then?’
‘Don’t know. A sign of goodwill so we will take on more of their quests maybe, it could also be a funny joke to those bastards. I think the latter is more likely.’
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Rowan, with uncertain hands, climbed onto his own horse. A dapple grey the same colour of his old mule he sold for a carriage in Bryn Sturgis. ‘Well then what will we scatter?’
‘Rowan-’ he pinched his brow, ‘we ain’t scattering nothing.’
He stood looking very confused, rubbing his thick moustache. ‘Why did you lie to Jarrah and Aria?’
‘Jarrah’s too volatile at the moment, who knows what dumb shit he’d pull if I told him what I just told you. As for Aria, I just hated the idea of her carrying around that urn thinking it was Alek, letting their cruel joke play out.’
‘Well then what are we doing?’
‘We’re headed west to find the cardinal we passed on the road.’ Eddie kicked Ugly into motion, trotting down the road.
Rowan whipped the reigns of his own mount to follow. ‘And what will you do when we find him?’
‘I’m going to kill him.’
