Chapter 204

Many of the dead and wounded were taken away by their fellows to their own homes for burial or treatment once it was safe enough to travel, leaving only a few stragglers and those that had their own place at the Gatehouse.

Those who had fallen without someone to take them away each had their own pyre, spreading out almost all around the Gatehouse, but despite the great mass of it, Nathan had insisted they each have their own. He stood before one now beside Solrin, who’d asked to stay until this last deed was done. Several others were out with them, Jim and Sasha closest beside Nathan.

“Take care of them, Dave,” Nathan whispered into the fire, a new kind of peace washing over him as he said that, knowing more surely than he had ever thought possible that there was indeed a Heaven, a God, and something wonderful waiting for those who lived good lives. Not necessarilyrighteouslives, or pious, or any of that other crap, justgood