Dark Soul Silenced - Part One by Simon Goodson Read Free Book Online Page A

love and great loss, the events Daniel saw in the vision had lit a burning anger at the world.  Daniel felt the man deserved peace in death.  He'd had no similar feeling for the leader, but he now realised that there too the situation was unlikely to be completely clear-cut.  He wasn't in a position to judge, and even if he was would he have the right to?
    Instead of walking farther onto the beach Daniel walked away from the sea, until the ground was firm dirt.  Then he started to dig.  Despite using the small spade he soon had two holes several feet deep, his new strength making it easy to dig quickly even in the hard ground.
    Returning to the men he faced a dilemma.  Dragging them across the ground felt disrespectful, yet picking them up would mean getting his own clothes covered in blood.  In the end he settled for taking their arms and lifting, his strength meant only their feet dragged along the floor.
    He laid each body in a grave, arranging both men's hands on their chest – once again placing the locket in its owners hands.  Then he paused, feeling that something needed to be said but with no idea of the words he should use.  He considered just filling in the graves but that felt very wrong, he felt an almost physical revulsion at the idea.  Finally he spoke.
    “ May your souls find the peace and honest joy you never enjoyed in this world.  May the damage and the pain you undoubtedly caused be reduced by time.  May you rest peacefully.”
    The words were simple, but heartfelt.  When he finished speaking he knew they were enough, felt it deep in his bones.  With a final glance at each man's face to fix them in his memory he started to fill in the graves.
    Once he finished he studied the mounds of earth, wondering if he should mark them somehow, with a branch or stones to form a cairn.  After a few moments he dismissed the idea.  Out in the wilderness anything identifying the mounds as graves would quickly lead to them being dug up, desecrated in search of money and valuables.  Before the vision Daniel would not have worried, would have felt the two outlaws deserved no less.  He saw things differently now.  He took some time to make the area as flat as possible, to hide any sign that the earth had been disturbed.
    Returning to the sleeping family he stroked the horse’s nose again then unloaded the bags from its back.  The wind had freshened while he buried the men, blowing in off the sea, and had a chill edge to it.  Driftwood littered the high tide line of the beach, much of it dry-looking.  He set to work collecting large branches and smaller sticks creating a large pile and a small pyramid of twigs and dry grass.  The sandy dirt was bare of plants so he felt no need to dig a fire pit, there was no risk of the fire spreading.
    Once he was happy he crouched down by the pyramid, took out the tinderbox and struck stone against metal.  Small sparks flared but blew away too quickly to start the fire.  After several frustrating minutes he settled back a little, considering the problem.  The sparks were too small and too quickly blown away.  He needed to shield the area from the wind and somehow strengthen the flame.  Remembering how he had drawn energy from his surroundings while helping Maria heal her father he once again reached out, picturing both shielding and strengthening the sparks he struck from the tinderbox as he did so.
    It worked – far too well.  He had to throw himself back as the entire pyramid erupted into intense blue flame.  If he'd been any closer he was sure he'd have lost his eyebrows, if not his whole face.  The small pile of wood was almost exhausted already so Daniel quickly grabbed some sticks from the pile and added them to the fire.  Within a few minutes he had a steady and completely natural fire burning.  He then moved the three sleeping members of the family closer to the fire, ensuring they didn't grow too cold.  Only the mother stirred and she didn’t