Page 124 of War

“Besides,” he says, “I rather enjoy camp. It reminds me of who I am and who I have always been.”

Battle brought to life, he means.

“That’s a bit odd, don’t you think?” I say. “You want to remember who you are by gathering humans around you and enjoying their company.”

“No, I don’t think it’s odd at all,” War says, getting up to grab a bottle of wine he’s packed. He comes back with it and two glasses. Sitting back down, he says, “I am borne of men, and I am here to judge them. Naturally I want to be amongst them.”

“So there’s a part of you that likes humans,” I say.

“Of course I like humans.” War uncorks the wine and begins to pour us each a glass. “Just not enough to spare them.”

That is so twisted.

He hands me one of the glasses, and I take a deep drink from it.

“I am a commander of men,” he continues. “Not even death can stop my reach.”

Not even death can stop my reach.

War is right. Even in death he can weaponize us. I remember the revenant who led me back to camp. His eyes were mostly gone, his skin was mottled and sloughing off, and yet he moved as though he were alive.

“How do you control the dead?” I say.

The horseman levels his gaze at me. “We are talking about the powers of God, Miriam. There is no human explanation I can give you.”

“Could you do it, right now, if you wanted to?”

War raises his eyebrows. “You want me to raise the dead?”

That’s not exactly what I asked, and yet now that he’s broached the subject, I’m perversely curious. I don’t know why. It’s ghoulish and frightening.

I nod anyway.

The horseman reaches out, and I feel the ground around me shiver, like it’s ticklish. Several meters away the arid earth shifts, and the partial skeleton of a horse pulls itself from the sandy soil. The creature is missing many of its bones, but it stands as best it can.

It’s hard to say that this is anything other than magic.

The skeletal horse begins to move as though it were alive, even though it looks long dead.

“It’s … not human,” I say.

“I can re-animate both people and creatures.”

The horse ambles up to me, and instinct is telling me to get up and flee. But damnit, I’ve faced worse. So I sit there and let it get close.

The horse bumps its muzzle against my shoulder, and part of me is disarmed by this poor thing that moves like a horse and acts like a horse even though it’s long since breathed its last.

“Are you satisfied?” War asks.

I nod, maybe a little too quickly.

The horse takes several steps away from me, then all at once, it falls to the earth, nothing more than a scattered pile of bones.

Chapter 35

The night sweepsin and the fire burns itself down. Just when the evening air is starting to get a chill to it, the horseman gets up from the fire. I can hear him at my back, removing his weaponry. I still hold my empty glass, and all that wine in my stomach is churning.

This is the first time I’ve traveled with the horseman since our agreement, and out here, without an army around us, my universe feels very small. It’s only big enough to hold me, War, and this uncomfortable feeling that rises in me every time we’re together.