The Marenon Chronicles Collection

Chapter Thirty





Julian tenderly held Silas in his injured arms, even rocking him slightly to give him the most possible comfort. But now, Silas was beginning to regain some of his old strength. Not the strength of the Gatekeeper or Watchman, but that of himself before he had gained the power. It felt good.

His breathing became stronger, and he slowly sat up from Julian’s hold.

“Are you alright?” Julian asked. “You’re not dead!”

“Yeah,” Silas said. “It’s over. It’s done.”

Julian smiled. “You have finished The Reckoning.”

“I didn’t do it alone.”

They sat together in the mess and rubble of mountain rock, not knowing what to say to one another. Silas couldn’t believe that he had reached this point. He couldn’t believe his own words when he had said it was finished.

“The others will be happy to know you’re alive,” Julian said.

“No,” Silas said. “They shouldn’t know.”

“What? Why?”

“I am the Watchman now,” Silas said. “I don’t know what that really means, but it’s something I have to figure out on my own.”

“The people of Marenon need someone to look up to,” Julian said. “The Watchman would be the perfect person for that.”

Silas shook his head. “No. That has to be you. One thing I know is that the Watchman is supposed to help the people of Marenon, but only in secret. People shouldn’t be looking to me for help, though I hope I never fail to give it. They need a strong leader. A strong king.”

Silas placed his hands on his head, resting his elbows on his knees as they sat in silence. Next to a blackened spot on the ground where Anithistor had stood was the staff of Uriah lying where Anithistor had blasted it from him.

“I cannot be that man,” Julian said.

“You are that man.”

“I’ve done so much to hurt people.”

“But you’ve also done so much to help them. Julian, I have to learn how to do this. I have to learn how to be the Watchman, but that is going to take time. They can’t be looking to someone like me to guide them. That’s not my role. And I need someone that I can trust to be their leader.”

“What will you do? How will you gain the power to be the Watchman?”

“I don’t know,” Silas said. “I suppose that’s my next journey.”

He stood and helped Julian to his feet and walked to the staff to pick it up.

“So, you want me to tell the people you died?” Julian asked as he limped toward Eden.

Silas thought for a moment as Julian painfully mounted the sarian.

“You can tell them that I disappeared,” Silas said. “Tell them that The Reckoning is finished and that when the Red Gate was destroyed, I was gone.”

“Just, vanished?”

“In a white blaze,” Silas said. “Just like Silandrin.”

Julian nodded. He reached into Eden’s saddlebag and pulled out an emerald wristband and tossed it to Silas.

“Marenon will need its Watchman in the future. Just because you’re pretending to vanish, doesn’t mean you actually have to. From time to time, I’ll need to remember that you’ll be coming back. Though the people of Marenon were victorious in its darkest day, that doesn’t mean there won’t be even darker days ahead. We will need you again, Silas.”

Silas looked down at the wristband, studying it. “And I will always be here to help.”

Julian bowed from his sarian, and then took off in flight. Silas watched as the giant bird flapped away, glad to know that he wasn’t completely alone.