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Chapter 22 - After the Fall
The Spartan knelt down to the Elite who was sitting against the wall at the bottom of the cave. Purple blood ran from his mouth and eyes. The Elite reached his right hand up to the Spartan’s left shoulder. The Spartan did the same. With his left hand, the Elite put down the Covenant communicator and reached into his chest armor. Extending his left hand to the Spartan, he grasped the Spartan’s left hand in an embrace. The Spartan looked down at to his own left hand as he felt the Elite’s left hand move.
“You fought with honor, Spartan”, the Elite said. The Elite’s right hand moved slightly against the Spartan’s upper armor. The Spartan looked up, gripped the Elite’s shoulder tighter and said, “We will get you back to the ship. You will be healed to fight again.”
“No, I cannot feel my legs. The cold water of Death is slowly reaching up my body. My chest will soon be still and my last breath will escape this shell.” Then his eyes slowly drifted down to the Spartan’s chest and back up. “Your eyes, let me see your eyes”, the Elite said struggling.
Without hesitation, the Spartan reached up and quickly unlocked his helmet. Pulling it off and dropping it to the ground, the Elite saw blood running down the Spartan’s head from his ears and nose. His eyes were swollen and one had a blood spot formed on the sclera just the outside the green iris. His hair was matted to his head with sweat and blood had mixed with the grey of his temples to make it look deep black red.
The Elite softly laughed. “The Shy-Gherr-Maag bleeds”, he said weakly. “You allowed your blood to be shed for me. Our war… is done.”
The Elite was halted by a gasp as his eyes got bigger and his two remaining mandibles stretched open wide. Then the Elite let out another gasp. His pupils contracted making his eyes look bright green as his head tilted up slightly. The Elite’s eyes began to drift as he looked away from the Spartan.
“The moons on high beg the seas to dance,
The waves reach to the sky in glee;
The warrior comes home to see his son’s passage rite,
The battle was fierce and sharp, the heart of the warrior brave and true…”
The Elite’s voice began to fade as the Spartan joined in to recite the old epic Elite poem.
“The warrior claims his victory, as Death does too,
Rise up my sons and cheer this day, your father waits for you;
Fight with honor, fight with might,
So your children will sing your praise, when the moons and the seas begin to dance;”
A figure came running to the cave entrance and skidded to a halt. Then several more came nearly blocking all the light into the cave. The yelling outside quieted and became silent.
Humans, Grunts, Jackals, and Brutes looked in as the two continued to recite the poem. A Grunt recognized the left side of the Elite’s face and fell to his knees. Others began to do the same as several other Jackals and Grunts bowed their heads. The Brutes looked at the two and rubbed their necks where their collars had once been.
The humans just stood there, watching. They listened in surprise as the words that the Spartan was speaking were being translated. The General and a few others disabled their translation devices since the Covenant words were more melodic in their original form. Absentmindedly, the General looked at the Spartan without his helmet and then back to the Elite. Then the General looked back to the Spartan and stared.
All were surprised that the Spartan knew the language so well. And even more surprised that the Spartan could continue the poem long after the Elite had stopped.
