Chapter Twenty-Two

  May he Lay with the Red Lady

  With the battle won and the Stalkers defeated. The Winter Hunters joined with the maiden of the spring to bury their fallen brother. The three remaining Winter Hunters took care as they prepared their brother's final resting place. Gwen stayed tending to the horse, only daring to look over occasionally as Hurlorn’s body lay on the ground next to them so peacefully. With enough earth moved Cailean lifted Hurlorn’s shoulders and the other two Hunters took hold of their fallen brother’s legs. Carefully resting his body down before picking the shovels back up and laying a comfortable blanket of earth over him.

  Gwen approached the grave as the three winter hunters stood around it. She picked a flower from the land and got to one knee, gently resting the flower at the head of the grave before standing back up and getting behind Cailean.

  Cailean took a deep breath as Luris and Dewman stood on either side of the gave, hands clasped and heads bowed. A chilling wind washed over them, not a chilling of winter, it was a different kind of chill. Nothing could be colder than the act of burying a brother. The gust of wind pushed the small flower just off its place at the head of Hurlorn’s grave. Winter did not care that a hero died, winter did not give any thought to the sanctity of this moment. And in that uncaring Winter, snow began to fall. It seemed that the frozen skies were dumping more and more of themselves on the land every day and night. The battle was won, but winter still hadn’t abated.

  “Brother Hurlorn saw one change of winter in his time as a Hunter,” Months ago Cailean had heard these words as just another fellow brother at a hunter’s last rites. As Hunt Master, as this brave Hunter’s mentor, it had fallen to him to give those words to the younger hunters now.

  “He died fighting a Dark Stalker, an army of Dark Stalkers, he took more from them than they did from us, a victory even the most seasoned of Hunters would be proud to die for.”

  Brother Gregor, in what felt like so long ago, had a proud death against a Wood Scraper. It dawned on Cailean that the enemies of the Winter Hunters under his command were not only the monsters, but other men, the deadliest predators ever under the Goddesses' watch. Cailean looked at the two boys, faces as hard as if they had served in this order for over a dozen winters. Standing at attention as their brother paid his last respects.

  “It seems the Red Lady saw fit to give another one of our brothers a glorious death in battle. If Hurlorn did see her in his dreams and visions, then he died knowing that his destiny was fulfilled. To die in the glory of battle is the highest honor a Winter Hunter can earn,” Cailean swallowed his shame.

  “Brother Hurlorn did see glory in battle, and now may he be rewarded in the next life, by the grace of the Goddesses and all that is pure on this earth, may he lay with the Red Lady and call her his woman. The Goddess of War and Death will smile on him, and we pray that her taking of brother Hurlorn from us will bring him a final reward and pleasure,” Cailean took a deep breath, “I have seen three hunters under my command in my season as a Hunter, and have served as rank and file with just over a dozen,” Cailean gathered his nerve, he had to stay strong for his Hunters, for who could be the last two Hunters left in the land.

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  “This is not the first time I have had to bury a brother, and this is likely not the last time any of us will have this duty,” Cailean gritted his teeth. “When winter comes we may wish that we never lose a brother, but winter is cruel, winter is reckless in its barbarism. It is the Goddesses who have the last say in who wins and dies in this world. The most we can do is fight, fight with everything the Goddesses allow us to arm ourselves with,” he said.

  “I never told you this, I’ve only told one person this,” he turned to Gwen, then back to the boys, “I too have seen the Red Lady in my dreams and visions, the Red Lady has spoken to me, and warned me about this winter’s deadliness. It is tradition to lay a brother to rest with a quote from the Goddesses, so I will quote one,” Cailean looked up, looking at the boys standing there, begging for a voice in this cold to give them any kind of guidance.

  “The Red Lady has told me of the mightiest battle man has ever seen coming, a battle in the cold, against the cold, maybe the last battle we will ever have a chance to fight,” Cailean knew that if he was to mentor these boys, he had to have absolute honesty with them. “The Goddesses will do what they can for us, but she has told me her influence is limited, it falls to us to win this fight, against the creatures, against those who stalk the dark, against winter itself,” Cailean looked up, his heart thumping as he did whatever he could to inspire these two young men in mourning, “We are the first line against that terrible cold, remember your oaths, remember words spoken in honor of the goddesses, tho words you spoke for the people you love, words you spoke for your brothers. We find ourselves in only the beginning of the longest winter, it is fallen to us to fight. The Red Lady has promised me that we can win, never stop believing. Our enemy gave up believing, our enemy is cruel, and without passion for life. Our enemy seeks death, thinks he can rebuild some kind of new world in this horrible cold.”

  Cailean knelt and put his hand on the grave, “We have seen war this winter, and this winter has taken one of our brothers, when we bring the spring back, know that Brother Hurlorn died for our cause, and he will be remembered amongst the great legend of the Winter Hunters of old, all who had died for the dream of Spring,” Cailean turned his head and looked to Gwen.

  The young Sun Maiden was biting her quivering lip, it was everything she could do not to drop to her knees and weep, “Cailean, can I say something?” she asked.

  Cailean stepped to the side of the gave, giving Gwen an approving nod.

  Gwen took a deep breath, “Hurlorn was brave, and he was kind,” she smiled and stammered, “He had a lust for life. He told me about a young girl he fancied, a fishermen’s daughter. He told me that when the spring came, when I brought the spring, he was going to marry her,” Gwen had to bite her lip to stop it from shaking, “Goddess bless you Winter Hunters, remember everything your brother gave up so that we could one day find the Spring, I promise, as a maiden of the Sun, as a descendant of the holy Giran family, I will bring the Spring back, I will see to a world where a man like Hurlorn marries his fisherman’s daughter. Your Hunt Master speaks truly, we can win this war, we have the anchor, but more than that, we have hope. Fight winter hunters, fight for the spring. If you can fight for it, so can I,” she said.

  There the four of them stood. The Hunt Master, the young Hunters, and the Maiden of the Sun. Another cold wind blew, Winter had no care that a hero was being buried. The snow continued to fall, and the Winter Hunters readied their spirits to prepare for the war.