Rebels of Vulvar (Vulvarian Saga Book 2), стр. 36

Emer looked at me with reluctance in her eyes. But she dismounted when I did. We loosened the saddle girths on our mounts and loosed them to water and graze. Then I stood looking at Emer in earnest expectation.

“Idril is no more,” Emer said simply. “She has taken the journey.”

The Vulvarians believed that after death, a soul went on a journey to a place they simply called the Nethersphere. A servant of the Goddess Queens first led them to the River Lethe, which formed the boundary between the living and the dead. There, a ferryman transported the person across the river. After crossing the river, the deceased walked on to a place called the Acheron Fields. There they forget all memories of their former life. Then, at a fork in the road, three immortal judges decided where to send souls. Good people, they sent onward to Phegeus, a comfortable place where the sun always shone, and souls reaped the rewards of living upright lives. But those the judges deemed worthy of punishment, they sent to Herodotus. In Herodotus, people who had upset the Goddess Queens during their lifetimes suffered terrible, eternal punishments. Herodotus was believed a dark place, imagined by Vulvarians to be as far below the surface of Vulvar as Vulvar is from the sky. Sometimes, when the judges could not decide, they sent souls back to the Acheron Fields, where they wandered aimlessly for eternity.

I was dumbstruck by Emer’s announcement. “No,” I said. “That cannot be. Whoever told you that was wrong. We must go back to the camp and speak to others.”

Emer tenderly laid her hands on my shoulders. “I’m sorry, Tobias,” she said sadly. “They posted me on watch near the headquarters of Nalia, the Thivan commander. Three different warriors there told me the same story. During a battle, a rebel cast a spear that impaled Idril. At first, the field surgeon believed she would recover. But apparently, the spear tip had pierced a vital organ. The surgeon could not stop the internal bleeding. Idril succumbed to the wound four days later.”

“I won’t believe them until I see the body,” I said.

“There is no body to view, Tobias,” Emer said. “Idril’s last order to Nalia was that the Thivans were to burn her body and scatter the ashes after the Vulvarian custom of warriors. I’m sorry, Tobias. It was the will of the Goddess Queens.”

“Do not your Goddess Queens hold all the power of life and death over the people of this miserable, barbaric world?” I said. “I must go to them. I will strike a bargain with them—offer them my life in exchange for Idril’s.”

“Tobias, be sensible,” Emer said. “Souls do not return from beyond the River Lethe.”

“Then I shall die to be with Idril,” I said. “I’ve tired of life.”

“If you met Idril in the Nethersphere, you would not know each other,” Emer said calmly. “Those who enter the Acheron Fields forget all memories of their former lives.”

“Do not lecture me about death, Emer!” I cried. “You wretched Vulvarians worship your evil, heartless absentee divinities who offer nothing but death and misery. All your teachers taught you about the Nethersphere are lies meant to give you people a little comfort during your useless lives!”

Emer looked as if I’d struck her. She removed her hands from me and walked away. She sat down on the grass beside the stream and cast small stones into the clear water. I grew exceedingly angry. I had wished to lash out at someone. It wasn’t Emer’s fault. Unfortunately, she had been the only ready target for my rage. I sank to the ground in depression, hugging my knees to my chest. I was powerless to stop the tears that welled unbidden in my eyes and ran down my cheeks.

After about an hour had passed, I stood up and walked to Emer’s side.

“You’re certain what you told me is true?” I said.

Emer merely nodded, her gaze transfixed on the brook.

I sat down beside her.

“Then, I must find the Goddess Queens,” I said. “I will have words with them. They returned me to this inhospitable planet only to inflict more suffering on me. I will have my vengeance on them.”

“That’s foolish talk,” Emer whispered. “None have seen the faces of the Goddess Queens and lived. If you seek them, you will die.”

“Then I will die,” I said. “But not before I have my reckoning with those cruel, thoughtless beings.”