Phoenix dragged me away from the main camp and into a random side room within the ruins. The room wasn’t lit because nobody had been using it. The only light was that which seeped in through the open door. She stood there… looming over me… half veiled in shadows.

  Phoenix: “Does he know that I know?”

  Dwynfel: “Huh?”

  Phoenix: “It is a simple question, Dwynfel. Does Kiyui know that I know?”

  Shit… shit… I was so distracted that it hadn’t occurred to me that she wasn’t unconscious the whole time… shit… shit… she knows about the demon…. She knows… shit… shit.

  Phoenix: “I shall take that panicked look on your face as a no.”

  Dwynfel: “I haven’t really fully explained to him what happened.”

  Phoenix: “When you do, leave out the fact that I witnessed it. As far as he is concerned, I was unconscious until the horde showed up.”

  Dwynfel: “Umm… why?”

  Phoenix: “This is something that brings him shame and discomfort. If he becomes aware that I know, then he will become self-conscious and the shame will magnify. He does not need that. So do not tell him.”

  Dwynfel: “Okay… umm… Phoenix… can I…”

  She left the room and walked back towards the main camp. She obviously doesn’t want Kiyui to see us together right now in case he puts two and two together. Which is fair enough… but I wanted to ask her about Carter and Clive.

  They say they’ve met her before… I want to know if she knows about all this future vision nonsense. She clearly hasn’t been made aware of the silent spell casting thing… and she still prays to the gods… so maybe his previous interactions with her weren’t particularly significant.

  Unless he told her all of that and she disagrees with it… or maybe it was so long ago that he hadn’t formed those opinions yet… urgh… I just want to have a frank conversation with her about it. Which is obviously something that I won’t be able to have for a while if she is trying to avoid talking to me when Kiyui is about.

  Before we left, we set the ruins aflame. We had to ensure that whatever caused the dead to rise last night was not going to spread. Outbreaks of the undead used to be quite common. It would spread like a disease… well, it is a disease most of the time… and whole towns would become overrun. And the problem is that every person they killed, they added to their ranks. In the end it became law to burn down any place where such a disease was found. This seems to have dramatically reduced these outbreaks. And thank the gods it worked. Because seeing people that I know come back like that… it… it’s difficult to deal with. If we didn’t have anybody who could cast holy magic then it could have got really bad.

  On the way back to Kataravonia we dropped Keith’s body at Fort Bracken. Cremation is their tradition anyway, so they were perfectly fine with burning the body. They normally cremate the bodies then place the bones in the river.

  There wasn’t much pomp and ceremony to it like there is with human funerals. It was a very matter of fact way of dealing with it… the entire thing was basically burn him… dump the bones… get drunk. Very different to the funeral with honours that Smutisha was planning.

  The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

  To be fair… I can imagine Agaroth wanting things to be that way. He always hated long winded ceremonies… and any excuse to get drunk was great in his eyes. I doubt that is going to happen for him though. Smutisha said that he would be buried with honours… that is going to mean a full formal ceremony… lots of speeches. He’d hate that. Then again… they do say that funerals are for the living, not the dead. If a big ceremony helps some people grieve then I suppose it could be a good thing.

  Damecus joined us with the baby once we got to the Fort. None of the Bracken were willing to act as wet nurse for a Grim so he had had to rope one of the human farmers into it. She seemed like a pleasant enough woman and Smutisha said that she would make sure the woman was compensated once they got back to the city and found a replacement for her. Fortunately, due to the accelerated growth rate of the Grim, he will be able to move onto solids much sooner than a human child, so the wet nurse will not be needed for too long.

  When we got back to Kataravonia, Kiyui and I headed straight back to the farm. Kiyui still isn’t right. He is smiling and talking to people… but the light-heartedness that is normally present in his voice just isn’t there… he often drifts off in the middle of conversations and he just isn’t himself at all. Agaroth’s funeral is tomorrow so we will be back in town then. I just… I think we need our own bed for now.

  It was late afternoon when we arrived. The days are still long at this time of year, so the sun hadn’t set yet. The second we entered the door we were set upon by Tadwick.

  Tadwick: “Kitty! Guess what! Guess what! Guess what!”

  Tadwick was bouncing up and down in front of us. My Mother, Lucas, and Svampe were sat at the table eating what smelled like a steak pie. Alexi was cleaning some dishes. Tadwick’s face was covered in gravy. We normally feed the kids first because the table isn’t big enough for all of us.

  Indira: “Welcome back, dear.”

  Lucas: “Plenty of pie left, if you fancy a nibble.”

  Tadwick: “Guess what! Guess what!”

  Dwynfel: “Sorry Tadwick… Kiyui and I are really tired… could this wait until the morning?”

  We went to walk past him towards the bedroom.

  Dwynfel: “Thanks for the offer, Lucas. But I think we’ll just get some rest… this… this one didn’t go well.”

  Indira: “Sorry, Dwyn. We’re here if you wish to talk.”

  Tadwick: “But I wanna talk now!”

  Indira: “Tadwick, they are tired. Let them be until morning.”

  Tadwick: “But…”

  Svampe: “Tadwick.”

  Tadwick: “Urgh… fine.”

  Indira: “Now go and clean that gravy off your face.”

  Tadwick: “It’s just a bit of gravy…”

  Lucas: “It covers half your face, young man. You need to eat with a bit more decorum.”

  Tadwick: “Stop using stupid words. Nobody knows what that means!”

  Alexi: “Actually, it means…”

  Tadwick: “You don’t count, you’re not normal…”

  We got into the bedroom and closed the door as Tadwick continued to argue. I wonder what was so important that he was so desperate to tell us about. Probably something deeply inconsequential, knowing him.

  Kiyui and I started undressing for bed. We didn’t talk. We haven’t really talked much since the incident at the water butt. I don’t know what to say to him. I just want to fix him… but I don’t know how. I want him back to normal… I just want him to be okay.

  He keeps putting on this fake smile. I can tell he's just pretending to be fine… but I just don’t know what to say to him. He’s normally so chatty… he is always talking about one thing or another… normally the kids… or about our friends… or some weird sexual stuff. Him being silent feels… wrong. I want to hear his voice… I just… I want him back.