Coffin

"Nal!"

The sky was clear, the air was bright, and the breeze was gentle. There could not have been a day more suited to an outing than this one.

Blue ripples rose across the sea, and startled schools of fish left fleeting shadows over the surface. Fine foam lapped against the fishing boats and warships run aground on the shore. On the beach, exhausted people were taking off their armor. Under Andros's command, coffins prepared long ago were carried from the cabins to the sand, and the dead were placed inside along with their final letters.

The warriors lying on the beach let the seawater wash again and again over their blood-soaked bodies. If a few big parasols had been put up, this place would have looked no different from those famous resort beaches.

The distant fishing port town had already been razed to the ground. Only the giant's body still stood there, while the slowly sinking earth did its best to remain steady, as though afraid of disturbing the warriors resting upon it. Amid the fair wind and bright sun, a hoarse cry that cracked broke the rare peace.

"I..."

Andros lowered his head. His shining bald skull looked just like another sun beneath the sunlight. He stood behind Pythia, his enormous body shading the unsteady High Priestess from the sun, and said softly, "I was still planning to show him my Patronus."

"You finally learned the Patronus Charm?"

Pythia's voice was unnaturally calm. Her moist eyes stared, unblinking, at the foot of the giant—at the figure kneeling in the mud, screaming himself hoarse. "I'm guessing your Patronus is a giant."

"That's right." Andros scratched his head. "When I saw Him tear apart Herpo the Foul's defenses and lead us in the charge, I finally realized what the happiest