Chapter 39
As the murdering of his wife and child was beginning, Aiden was hard at work roughly half a mile beyond the hut, felling dead trees to be dragged back to cutting and stacking. But, something stopped him. The smell of burning wood suddenly grabbed his attention and it was too strong to be simply a waft of smoke drifting from the hut's chimney. Driven by deep concern for Aelianna's safety, Aiden abandoned the remaining day's work and followed the troubling scent. The smell grew stronger with each step as smoke hung visibly in the air. Concern was replaced by terror as Aiden found the hut swallowed up by flames. Never stopping to wonder how it could've happened, Aiden threw the door open and stepping into the doorway, searched through the fire and smoke, only to discover that Aelianna was nowhere to be found.
Backing away from the flames, Aiden stepped outside and searched the woods in all directions. However, with the growing blanket of smoke filling the woods, he could see nothing but the ground beneath his feet. Calling for her would be pointless, but distancing himself from the roaring fire, he put an ear to the air. Listening. Only a few moments had passed when he heard it. It was distant but clearly definable. Screaming. Aiden drew his sword and started toward the edge of the woods. He ran like a deer, jumping over roots, rocks and tree limbs that would, at any other time, obstruct his steps
Reaching the tree line, Aiden discovered the band of armed mercenaries and looking to the left saw Aelianna's disemboweled body, still hanging by the wrists. The ragged incision had been cut deeply enough to scrape one of the bones of her spine, leaving her nearly in half. Part of him denied the sight of the dead mutilated woman he'd come to think of as his wife. Some things are so terrible that the mind pushes them away as being unreal. But, only a fraction of a heartbeat had passed tortuous death. The priest, having been first to see him dodge out from the woods, pointed from high upon his horse and ordered his men to attack. In the past, he had faced three men at a time. But, these were skilled men of war and certainly more than three. His skills as a master swordsman would shortly be put to their ultimate test.
The gang of mercenaries attacked en masse, each with their swords held high. Aiden wasted neither the time nor the energy of running toward them, but held his ground and focused his thoughts on the immediacy of the fight. Glancing at Aelianna's open body set the reality of her demise even deeper into his mind. Now, the need to defend himself quickly transformed into the rage of a cornered lion as he met the horde with livid tears pouring down his face.
The priest sat on his horse, away from the fight with an expression of arrogant self-righteousness. In his mind, one ordinary man fighting off a small army of trained mercenaries was a man possessed by insanity. But, Aiden was no ordinary man and was always, at least, one step ahead of anyone who dared to challenge him. However, the fight was brief and as Aiden cut down the last of the mercenaries, the priest, suddenly fearing for his life, turned his horse and began his escape. Still, in a state of rage, Aiden drew his sword back behind his head and threw it at what had become a rapidly moving target. Spinning hilt over point, the sharpened steel found its mark in the middle of the priests back. His body fell to the ground as the horse galloped off.
Running over to where Aelianna's lifeless body hung, Aiden cut her down and catching her in his arms, lowered her to the ground. The flaccid muscles of her face had fallen into a peaceful repose, her eyes staring up at the heavens. But in Aiden's mind, her life was not yet lost and after lying her on the ground, he reached toward the sky. Within moments, the glowing blue orb formed between his hands and with tears still flowing, Aiden flung the translucent sphere down at Aelianna's body. There was no reaction. The large gaping wound that once cradled an unborn life had not changed. Aiden knew that his gift was not meant to heal, but the storm of emotions led him to desperation. He raised his hands again. The rough-edged light brightened with the fury of his pain. He screamed as he, once again, threw the brilliant orb down at Aelianna's body. It landed with a dull thud, sending a shockwave over the ground, powerful enough to push away the grass and nearby brush. But still, there was no change.
Kneeling on the ground, he cradled her in his arms. Throwing his head back, he screamed at the sky.
"I have never asked anything of you!" he began. "Please! Please bring her back to me!"
His words were met only by the sound of the wind, blowing through the hills, taping the leaves from side to side as they hung from the earthy scaffolds. Aiden's desperation had reached its apex. He laid Aelianna's body back down on the blood-soaked earth and getting to his feet, gathered his strength and focus. His body tensed as he brought his arms up from his sides and letting out another scream his body quickly became consumed by the reappearance of the glowing sphere. Growing with his increasing rage and desperation, it lit up like a newborn star, it's light filling the sky. Reaching its peak, the now opaque ball of blue light exploded with the sound of a thunderclap, sending out a wave that burst into the sky, racing across the ground, searing the grass and blowing down trees, snapping their trunks.
When the chaos subsided, the bodies of the mercenaries lay in heaps of ash, incinerated by the brilliant flash of divine light. But although Aelianna's body had been untouched, she was still dead. Nothing had changed. And falling to his knees, Aiden quickly became inconsolable. He turned to the fire. Its flames had been extinguished by the burst of God's light. He knew the child could have never survived the heat and flames but was driven by desperation as well as the need to see his child face, even through the black char and ash left behind by the inferno.
There wasn't much the fire had not destroyed. But, as Aiden cleared away the still smoldering ash, he found there was enough remaining to determine the child to be a boy. The priest, who believed himself a Christian, had ordered the execution, not only of the woman he would easily kill for but of his son as well. He had been judged as the offspring of evil and sentenced to die, thrown as a living creation of God to an unholy pyre. No pain could ever be more exquisite than what accompanies the blistering heat of fire.
The thought of picking up the charred mass of flesh and bone never entered Aiden's mind. His brain had become flooded with a torrent of rage, grief, and pain. He beat his fists against the bare earth, screaming at God for an explanation. The reason why his wife and child should perish at the hands of those so quick to judge in the name of God. But perhaps, God was absent that day, or maybe He simply chose to turn a blind eye to the course of Aiden's life, refusing to provide this last series of events with only a gentle nudge in a different direction.
Eventually, reason slowly began to reclaim itself within Aiden's distraught mind. He had become a lost soul. A ghost forced to drift amongst the woods and hills, always being pulled back to the place where everything he cared about had been taken from him. He had finally found the right path but had been pushed away from it, into a place of dark despair, never to find his way back.