Scar Night

Epilogue

They walked beneath the stars and under a cold thin moon, following the wide trail the Tooth had made in its progress from Blackthrone.

“I’m sorry,” Dill said.

Rachel huffed, “Stop apologizing,” her breath misting as she spoke. “I’m the one who should be sorry, for God’s sake. I was supposed to protect you, but I let you die.”

Darkness still shrouded that period of time for him, but Dill sensed the memories were still there. They would come back to him in time. “Only briefly,” he said.

Starlight threw the shadow of his wings over the dunes. The Deadsands rolled on to the horizon, shining faintly like old, buckled silver.

“Do you think the Poisoner survived the fall?” he asked.

“Probably.”

“And the Craw plague?”

Rachel placed a hand on her bandaged ribs. “That was an old bolt. I don’t even know if the disease it carried was still potent.”

“But if it was?”

“Then he’ll be pissed with me.” She winced, clutched her side.

“Are you feeling all right?”

“Bloody doctor, every stitch he put in is crooked.”

“Carnival.” Dill explained, and looked up to see her soaring high above, just a silhouette against the crush of stars. “She was standing only a chain’s length away from you in the doctor’s tent. No wonder his hands wouldn’t stop shaking.”

“Scar Night will come again,” Rachel said.

Dill made no reply. He wrapped one wing more tightly around her to keep her warm. “Where will we go?” he asked.

She shrugged. “The river towns? Across the sea?”

“What if it’s endless? What if I get tired? I can’t swim.”

“I’ll teach you.”

“What if I can’t learn?”

She sighed. “Hold your head up, Dill. You always stoop too much.”

They walked for a while in silence.

“Dill?”

“Yes.”

“You were away for so long.” She hesitated. “When you were dead, I mean.” Her eyes searched his. “Can you remember anything at all?”

He thought about it, and halted mid-step. Suddenly he remembered everything.

“What is it? What did you see?”

“Iril…,” he began.

* * *


About the Author

Alan Campbell was a designer and programmer on the vastly successful Grand Theft Auto computer games. Scar Night is his first novel.