Day of Death

Daine left her rooms in silence. She kept her head down as she walked the halls of the palace. She was dressed all in black, leaving no skin showing. Even a veil to hide her white face. People who past her either looked away or pretended she did not exist. She left the palace grounds and headed toward a small hill near the city. It was midday, but the sky was white with a thick fog. A crowd all in black stood on that hill circling something. She slowly made her way to them. They made a path for her to the middle. She passed friends but did not look at them. The Lioness patted her shoulder. Onia whispered a "sorry." The king simply watched.
There lay the grave of Black Mage Numair Salmalin. Daine took her place at his feet. The others crowded around her and the grave. A Priest stood at Numair's head. He raised his hands to the sky and began the ceremony, but Daine did not pay attention. She stared at the mound of dirt.

A tear made its way down her face and fell on the ground. The priest started a chant to the Black God. Another tear fell as the horrible memory fell on top of her like a pile of rocks.
Daine and Numair walked up a path on a mountain, scouting the land for their friends, back in Corus. Numair in the front and Daine in the rear. The Spidren were getting out of control, they had caught hundreds of people in their webs. It was time to deal with this clan who killed so many. This particular clan lived on the mountain, they were on.
Numair looked back at her and smiled. "I'm getting to old for this kind of thing." He called back to her. Daine smiled and answered, "You just realized you were old? Haven't you looked in a mirror?" The tall man laughed at that and kept climbing higher up. A screech sounded from above them, echoing off the rocks so they could not tell which direction it came from. Daine quickly pulled out her bow and nocked it. She pulled two arrows out, one in the bow and the other between her teeth, and searched for the noise.

Numair built up his magic around him, making a black sparkling ring around his body.
With out any warning five Spidren jumped from a ledge higher up making that horrible sound, dropping at them. Black sparkles surrounded one and it blew up. Daine targeted the one right above her and shot it in the neck, stopping the screech.
Another blew up and its blood flew everywhere. Two remained and one went for Numair and the other went for Daine. She made to shot at the female coming at her but she lost her footing on a lose rock.
The spidren leaped at her and Daine covered her head. A yard away a
black sparkling ring appeared around its neck stopped it short. The
spidren clawed at it as she chocked.
Dain,e not wanting to watch, searched for Numair. He was up the path a
bit, fighting the last male. He threw a fireball at it, but it dodged
then leaped at Numair and knocked him down.
Daine took out another arrow and pointed it at the male. Right as she
loosed Numair yelled, "Daine no!" and pushed her down. Stunned she
looked up to see another female land on top of Numair where she had
been.
She heard his bones break. She saw his face screaming as he looked at
her one last time. Then she heard laughing. She looked up in the face
of the female, it was laughing at her.
As if in slow motion, Daine stood up and nocked one last arrow. She
pointed it strait at her heart, where it had hurt her. Even after she
loosed, the female kept laughing. It laughed as it fell, until its
eyes glazed over it kept laughing. At her.
Daine came back to herself as the priest made the final loud words ending the ceremony. Every one threw roses and other flowers on to the mound. But Daine held her ground.
The crowd slowly melted away, Onia was the last to leave. When Daine could hear no more footsteps, she moved up to the head of the mound. She knelt there for a moment, collecting her self.
Daine pulled a red rose out of the folds of her cloak. She raised it to her lips then gently laid it on the grave. She lost her control and threw herself on the dirt mound crying.
Even after she was able to stop the tears, she did not sit back up, but help the mound. "Why?" She asked. "Why did you leave me? I love you." She whispered. "I need you." As the tears came back, she kept talking. "I need you to ask me to marry you one last time. So I may say yes, and have a wedding, and have children, and.." She took a breath. "I can't live with out you. I need you teach me more, I'm not done learning."
An hour had pasted as she spoke more to the dead man. She stood up and wiped her face with her long leave. "I will never love again. I will take no man." With that, she walked back to the castle.
Before she reached it however a light breeze picked up. It blew her hair in her face. Daine stopped. She would have sworn that she had felt a kiss on her cheek. She turned back to the hill, hoping to see her love standing there. That it was all a joke. But there was no one. But the mound on the hill.
She turned back around and walked away, still sad but a little content.

From that day forward, she was known as Verlidaine Salmalin. People asked her why she had the name when she had no husband. And she would answer that it did not matter, she had loved and had been loved. She had finally realized that was a marriage enough. And on the day she died in her bed of old age, and still husbandless, her last words were, "I'm coming darling, I'm coming."