Mortality: The Story of Mortanius

Chapter Twenty-Six

Galhonen was not the first human Guardian to die. Two other Guardians had died prior to that, making Galhonen the third. Luyonda, the first human Guardian of Energy, died during a lightning storm while she was experimenting with her powers. Uldofus, the first human Guardian of States, died in a tragic riding accident before he was even sixty years old. Even though the Guardians were extremely long-lived, they were not strangers to death.

The Sarafan soldiers had the grim duty of retrieving Galhonen’s body. They placed him in one of the boats and cut open a burlap sack to cover him with. Mortanius barely made it down to the ledge without falling. When Galhonen died, Mortanius had felt the psychic shock of his death, just as all the Guardians did when one of their number died. It was a miracle that he had managed to hold onto the rope at all. They had almost lost two Guardians instead of one. His arm was bloody and bruised where the rock had struck him, and he felt lucky that the bone wasn’t broken.

Janarion came down afterward and immediately went to the boats to sit with Galhonen’s body, burying his face in his hands. It was almost an hour before Ellendra was able to come down the rope, and when she reached the bottom, she had a devastated, haunted look on her face. She sat down in one of the other boats and didn’t say a word to anyone. Thesandrine and the last of the Sarafan soldiers came last. One of the soldiers had to support Mortanius down the second rope because he lacked the strength to do it on his own.

They had intended to return to the Pillars with stories of their amazing discovery, but instead they returned home to perform a funeral. As soon as they reached the shore, they sent the soldiers to run ahead and spread the news of Galhonen’s passing. The trip back to the Pillars was a solemn and miserable one. Mortanius had his arm in a sling and his hands wrapped in bandages from the rope burn.

Like the others, he could not stop wondering if any of them could have prevented Galhonen’s death. Was it his own weight on the rope that dislodged the stone? Had Janarion knocked the stone loose by standing above them? Was it the result of the wind, something they could not have foreseen or controlled?

The other members of the Circle of Nine were waiting for them when they returned. Due to the magical bonds that tied the Guardians together, each of them knew about Galhonen’s death moments after it happened. There was Moebius, leaning on his staff with a dour look on his face. Beside him were Altavian, Guardian of Energy, Palton, Guardian of Mind, and Tiva, Guardian of States.

Also gathered was a crowd of hundreds of commoners who came to pay their respects. The funeral ceremony was performed right away. Galhonen’s body, wrapped in a green shroud that matched the color of his Pillar, was gently carried to a pyre. Janarion and Ellendra said some soothing words in remembrance and then the fire was lit.

Burning the bodies of deceased Guardians was a tradition that began the day of the rebellion. Instead of burial, Guardians were burned on a pyre. It was necessary to burn the bodies of the vampire Guardians because their souls remained intact even when they were killed by other means, but the souls of human Guardians departed regardless of the manner of death. Burning them upon a pyre, while not strictly necessary, became a symbolic gesture, a solemn reminder of how humanity had first gained control of the Pillars.

Moebius came over to stand beside Mortanius. His hood was up to cover his bald head. “I wish I had some words of comfort,” he said in a low voice. “Unfortunately, that has never been a skill of mine.”

“I’m surprised you got here so fast,” Mortanius said. “I thought you were still up north.”

“The assault on Zelidna’s lair failed. I was already on my way back here when I felt that Galhonen had died.” He glanced at the sling cradling Mortanius’s arm. “You were injured?”

Mortanius gave a quick explanation of what had happened. “The stone struck me first. In fact, if I hadn’t looked up when I did, I might have been the one to fall. You could have been mourning my death right now.”

Moebius let out a breath and shook his head, returning his gaze to the pyre. “My goodness. What a senseless death. Just like Uldofus and Luyonda.”

“We can’t die from old age,” Mortanius mused. “So that means we’ll die from accidents instead. Or by our own hand, as my predecessor did.”

“I certainly hope not,” Moebius said.

Mortanius decided to change the subject. “How many men did you lose in your attack?”

“Twenty-nine men are dead, including Captain Lusanius. We both suffered losses, it seems.”

“You’ll make another attempt on Zelidna’s fortress?”

“Not very soon, but yes.”

The flames from the pyre crackled and hissed. Ellendra sobbed into her hands, and she was not the only one. In the vast crowd of mourners, there were dozens crying as well. Galhonen was a popular Guardian, friendly and talkative among the commoners. As Guardian of Nature, he had traveled widely and met with thousands of people. All of Nosgoth would mourn his passing.

If Mortanius had been the one to die, he doubted that his funeral would draw as many people. He was not beloved like Galhonen, although that had much to do with the nature of his Pillar. The people respected him as a Guardian, but they shied away from him at the same time, as if the stench of death followed him around. Most of the common people of Nosgoth had no idea that Mortanius was the oldest of the Guardians, or that he had personally led the rebellion against the vampires, and sometimes he preferred it that way.

Some time later, as the flames died out and all that was left was a pile of ash, night fell upon the Pillars and the crowd began to disperse. Palton, a genial man with a short gray beard, spoke briefly to Mortanius to say how sorry he was. Tiva, an alluring woman with reddish hair and green eyes, spent most of the funeral with Ellendra and Thesandrine but came over as well to embrace Mortanius and tell him that she hoped he would recover from his injury soon.

As they began walking back to the Home of the Guardians, Moebius patted him on his uninjured arm and said, “I’ll see you tomorrow. I’m heading back to the fort for the evening.”

“Do you have pressing business to attend to?”

“Not exactly, no.”

“I’ll come with you, then. There’s a few things I wanted to discuss with you.”

“Oh, really?” Moebius asked.

Mortanius gave him a tired smile. “I haven’t told you what we found on the island. Trust me, you’ll want to hear about this.”

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