Dalriada: Destiny's Stone

Kenneth glanced down at the cold, still body of his older brother lying motionless in the open box in the ground. Though Coric’s body lay before him, he believed his brother was in a happier place. He regretted the times past when he’d angered his brother. He regretted that Coric had done so much and had given so much to find him and save him, even scouring the western mountains of Dalriada to rescue him from the Vikings, while Kenneth had done so little in return to protect Coric in his time of need. Maybe he had felt Coric was invincible, indestructible, but now all that had proven false. In hindsight, Kenneth recognized he had devoted so much passion and zeal to finding and protecting Arabella, while at the same time had shown so little concern for Coric. He missed his brother. Kenneth stirred from his daze and assisted Aiden in placing the wooden lid upon the sunken box. His eyes fell upon Coric one last time, and he realized he’d never see him again. Then he and Aiden stepped from the pit and lifted their shovels. With heavy hands, the two began the painstaking task of lifting one shovel-full of earth after another and placing the soil upon the humble box that held the lifeless frame of their fallen hero. Coric would now find peace, sleeping beside his own hero, Drostan, whose body had been laid in the ground seven years prior, not ten feet from where Coric rested.