~1~
(two days prior)
Aelia
When Aelia finally awoke, she was no longer by the lake, but back in the Sherone's tent surrounded a few familiar faces from the Carthin camp, but mostly men she didn't recognize. These new people didn't strike her as refugees, they had a much harder look to them.
"The girl's awake." One man said, "go tell the Sherone." A few moments later, the Sherone approached and knelt beside her.
"How are you feeling child?"
Aelia tried to sit-up but was still too weak, "What happened?" Aelia asked.
"Don't you remember?"
Aelia thought back to the cave collapsing in a flood or rock and water. The faces of Harn and his men struck with panic and disbelief as they were swept away into the blackness. She was somehow indifferent to these memories.
"There there child," the Sherone said pressing her to lay back down, "just rest now."
She carried over a bowl of simmering broth, which Aelia quickly devoured so ravenously that she wanted to lick the bowl for every last drop.
There was a commotion outside the tent, before another of the Sherone's men entered abruptly, "Sherone! Sir Heston has come. He brings soldiers!" the man warned.
"Wait here child. I will return shortly." She said as she followed the man outside. Then there was a woman's scream sounding like it came from the far end of camp, and soon more screams followed. Aelia felt an instant sense of deja vu, reminiscent of the slaughter of her home village.
When the Sherone burst back into the tent, she was in a frenzied state of panic. "We have to flee now!"
"Why... what's happening?" Aelia pleaded for any bits of information to wrap her mind around.
"They come for revenge.. for what you do to their men in mines." As usual she'd delivered the truth with a directness that was like being kicked in the gut, and her dark eyes never faltered as she spoke it.
She signaled to her man, gesturing toward Aelia, to which he hoisted her up onto his back to carry her. Then when the Sherone thought that Aelia wasn't looking, she pulled an object from a concealed compartment and stuffed it into her bag, which Aelia noticed in her peripheral view.
"Time to go now." Sherone said, and they moved through the flap of the tent to the outside world.
They were instantly met with thick blinding smoke all around, causing Aelia's throat to choke and her eyes to tear-up. Everything was red and orange with the light of flames from burning tents. People scrambled in all directions, mothers carrying their crying infants in their arms.
They proceeded as a group to make their way through the chaos, away from the side of camp where squadrons of soldiers dressed in armor bearing the sigil of Corinth, hacked their way with sword and ax through the masses of the Carthin refugees.
Aelia wanted desperately to shut her eyes to the horrors of the massacre, but they seemed to refuse her command, forcing her to absorb every atrocity as though bearing witness was more important then preserving innocents; but innocents was already a word long since forgotten to her anyway.
They were just about at the edge of the camp at the start of the tree line, when their escape was blocked by two soldiers.
"Where's the Stone?" One soldier demanded with his sword outstretched toward the Sherone.
"Let us pass." She said, but they ignored her and began to advance. The Sherone's men stepped in with swords of their own and engaged the soldiers in a fight.
The metal appeared as glints of light against the night sky, followed by blasts of sparks upon impact with each-other. It was difficult to discern who was winning. At one point, the man carrying Aelia was struck in the head and fell forward so that his body lay atop hers, pinning her on her back.
The soldier then stood above them with his sword raised to deliver death. Just before he was able to strike though, Sage emerged from the flames, glaring his teeth, he snatched onto the soldiers arm, wrestling him out of view.
The big man atop Aelia was starting to come-to now. He shook his head as if to shake off the dizziness, then rose back to his feet, lifting Aelia with him. The distraction gave them enough opportunity to proceed into the forest. Aelia cried after Sage as they the carried her away, but he was preoccupied with the soldier whose arm he was tearing into.
They fled under the cover of the darkness into the trees until the sounds of the fighting behind them faded in the distance, and kept pace as they hiked through the night, deeper into the wilderness, climbing uphill most the way.
The snowy path shifted from thick brush, to hard rocky ground as they advanced up the mountain.
Aelia was somber, staring quietly out past the cliffs' edge, overlooking the valley where the Carthin camp had been. From this height the burning tents seemed like tiny candles, and they could smell the smoke from below.
Her heart sank as she realized that in all the chaos, they had left behind Sage.
"Why so quiet child?" The bearded man who carried her on his back asked. She didn't reply though, she hadn't the emotional energy for conversation.
"We are alive.. are we not?" He continued. "Every moment that you live is a gift to be cherished. See this?" He pointed out over over the valley, "This not sad. This very beautiful. Very exciting to be alive, don't you agree?"
There was something about his manner that reminded her of Abicus and there was comfort in that.
"My name is Arturo. I am sometimes a warrior but mostly I am a cook."
Aelia couldn't help but chuckle a little at the thought of this massive man working over a pot, wearing an apron.
"Why that amuse you. Don't you think Arturo can cook? I know.. I know.. cooking is said to be women's work, but my wife back home is a terrible cook. And since I love to eat, and I love my wife, I have no choice but to do the cook myself. And do you know what?"
Aelia shook her head, now more open to conversation.
"Turns out I love it! For food is life, and cooking is the celebration of life. One of these days I will cook my specialty for you."
"What is it?" Aelia asked intrigued.
"It a twist on a traditional Carthin dish, my mamma's babbuska! It very delicious. My mamma very fat woman. Loved to cook. Loved to sing."
Arturo went on like this for the remainder of the journey, telling big stories full of lively characters. He was easy to like even in times of despair.
They rested at the top for a moment, looking out over the devastation, and Aelia couldn't help but feel responsible for having brought this fate down on these people. But more-so she felt a deep hatred for the soldiers of Corinth, and a hatred for the wickedness of all violent men. In that moment, she finally understood her purpose; to correct the scales of injustice in the world; to bring down retribution on all these wicked men.
~2~
Buried deep within the mountains, they finally came to another camp. But this camp was well fortified with a gate made of lumber posts too tall to climb and sharpened at the tops to punish anyone who might try.
After being permitted entry by the guards at the gate, The Sherone set-off on her own, leaving Aelia with Arturo. He laid her down carefully next to a campfire, "I must say hello to some of my friends. I will be back soon. Will you be alright?" He asked.
Aelia nodded with uncertainty. She was a stranger in a strange place, surrounded by unfamiliar people, but she was getting used to these kinds of adjustments. She had unwittingly adapted a strong sense of resilience these past few weeks and was only just now starting to recognize that change within herself.
Moments later, the Sherone emerged from a nearby tent and began to approach Aelia.
"Is this the girl?" A man's voice spoke from behind the Sherone. Aelia had never seen him before, but he had heard plenty about her, and was more familiar with her family then either of them could have ever guessed; The man was Jacob.
From the sight of him, it would have been difficult for Aelia to imagine the galant revolutionary Jacob had been in his youth, for there was no hint of that man left in the war hardened General turned gray and cracked with time like clay baked to rock in the sun. His eyes holding both the intensity of determination and the fatigue of having seen too much for too long.
"She is.." The Sherone affirmed him. Jacob studied Aelia with an heir of skepticism without speaking, before simply walking away to return to his tent. The Sherone gave Aelia an assuring pat on her wrist before following after him.
Even hushed as they were, Aelia could still hear their whispered conversation through the tent's thin tarp walls. "You're telling me that little crippled girl killed Harn and his men?" Jacob mocked.
"She is the prophesied one... daughter of the morning star... the bringer of the storm." The Sherone insisted.
"Ha! She is just a broken child. We cannot gamble everything on a little cripple girl."
"You are wrong... just give her a chance to prove her power."
There was a pause in the conversation, as though Jacob were considering the Sherone's proposal.
"Alright.." He conceded at last, "I will give the girl one chance to prove her value. "
"She has yet to realize the full extent of her powers." The Sherone said.
"You will return to Corinth and take up there with my commander, Brock. He has his orders, and you will follow his commands."
—*—
The Sherone remained shut-away in her tent for the remainder of the evening. As darkness fell over the camp, men huddled around the campfires for warmth. They appeared exhausted from fatigue and hunger as they stared off into the flames. There was no joyous singing or making merry, just whispered grumbles between the miserable men.
Arturo brought Aelia a bowl of broth from the community pot. But it tasted more like just hot water then any kind of broth, regardless it was something warm to fill her belly.
"Did I ever tell about the time that I wrestled a tiger?" Arturo began in his bombastic way.
Aelia sat up straight, eager to hear the tale.
"It was many years ago, in the jungles of Juntobi, I was searching for a lost bird."
"Wait a minute," Aelia interrupted, "First off, what are the jungles of Juntobi.., why were you there.., and why were you searching for a bird?"
"Patience child, just listen.. I'm getting to all that in a minute.." But before he could continue his story, one of the guard towers began ringing the alert bell.
The men around camp scrambled to their posts with weapons in hand. Their leader Jacob, rushed out to meet the captain of the guard as to why the alert was given.
"It's the Wolves.." The captain stated, triggering a hushed panic that spread throughout the men.
"The Wolves?" Jacob asked, "Are you certain.. why would they be this far west?"
Then the Sherone interjected, "they must've come of for the girl.. it's the only explanation."
Aelia turned to Arturo, "Wolves?"
"The Wolves are a rogue gang of bandits who live in the forests. They command large packs of wolves to do their bidding. That is why they call them the Wolves."
Men peered through the gaps in the posts, hoping to catch a glimpse of the creatures beyond. They could hear the rustling of the pack just outside, sniffling and growling for entrance.
Jacob climbed the highest lookout point, "They'r not here for the girl" he said, "He's finally come for me."
After reaching the top, he called-out into the dense wilderness surrounding the camp like a wall of pine trees made of blackness, "Is that you brother?" He shouted.
This excited the wolves into a frenzy and the sounds of their howling filled the night like screaming ghosts.
"Show yourself coward!" Jacob continued, "Face me Caden!" A single arrow flew past Jacob's face, grazing a small cut in his cheek, before lodging itself into the post behind him. Then silence.
~3~
Nobody had slept a wink the entirety of the night. Even long after the sounds of the wolves had faded, the men remained vigilant, afraid to drift off into a slumber that would be disrupted by the wolves tearing at their flesh.
Even Jacob had spent whole night standing atop that post, staring into the blackness, his expression a mixture of fury and remorse.
The Sherone on the other-hand, had taken a pile of ash from the fire and spread it out in a circle on the ground around her, as if it were some kind of protective barrier. Then she proceeded to smear the remaining ashes across her hair and face, making her face to look like a corpse, and remained kneeling in the center of the circle, chanting an incantation of some unknown foreign tongue, over and over, rising in tone of hysterical drama. By the time morning came, her chanting had simmered to a diminished whisper, spoken through a dry throat and cracked lips.
As the light of the dawn sky subtly began to overpower the dying camp fires, it replaced the hues of incandescent orange with a gray blue fog. Only with this new clarity could Aelia fully see the wild fear etched across the faces of the exhausted men.
They waited through most of the morning before they began their trek back to Corinth. It was the general consensus that the Wolves would not attack them by day, or at least that's what they'd hoped.
Despite everything, Arturo seemed to be in a jovial mood as he hoisted Aelia onto his back. She didn't think that he really belonged amongst this group of callous fighters. His high spirits stood out in contrast to their seething fervor.
Altogether their band of travelers was only made-up of ten people. The Sherone had insisted on more, but with the threat of the wolves at his gates, Jacob refused to spare any more men.
They traveled down the backside of the mountain, in the opposite direction of where the wreckage of the former Carthin camp had been.
The snow was heavier today, slowing their decent significantly. At times Aelia would look straight upwards through the towering trees, and with the snowflakes falling directly towards her, it gave the illusion that she was flying; Flying would be great, but she'd settle for just a walk sometimes.
They hadn't even made it halfway down the mountain when a rumbling from the cliffs above drew their attention. Without a word spoken, they collectively seemed to understand what it was. They only had enough time to exchange fearful glances between them before the side of the cliff began to shift as one giant mass of snow, gaining size and speed as it raced down the mountainside towards them. It was an avalanche.
The impact came as a rush of whiteness like a tsunami that crashed into the group with such crushing force that it swallowed up the their screams in the same moment it knocked the wind from their bodies.
Aelia was instantly torn from Arturo and carried with the tumbling mass of snow all around her, completely devoid of any sense of direction, only the wailing sound of the snow. And then, as quickly as it had hit, it was over.
~4~
She could feel the pressure of it against her body, and around her face there was only a small pocket of air remaining. Panic set in as she struggled to move, struggled to breath, struggled to see, but mostly she struggled to scream, opening her mouth wide to expel a cry that could not come due to the crushing weight against her ribs, preventing her from drawing a breath capable of screaming. She could not move even an inch against the mass of snow under which she was now buried.
But the snow around her was composed of water, and water she could command. She did not understand how, but simply felt that she could, and that feeling was swelling up inside her now as if fueled by the terror of suffocation. It was so powerful in fact, that she couldn't contain it even if she'd wanted to.
It came as a burst from her center, expanding outward from her in all directions, blasting the snow back away from her, leaving a circular clearing roughly ten yards in every direction. Most of it disintegrated into dense steam vapor in the process.
Aelia was left lying there in a puddle of water on the mountain grass, so weak that she could barely raise her head. The outer barrier of snow had formed a wall around her roughly five feet deep. Within the circle of clearance, she notice another figure, not very far from her, laying unconscious on the ground; It was the Sherone.
Aelia attempted to call out to her, but her voice was too weak. It was in that moment that she heard a low growl from across the way. At first the only thing visible through the dense mist was two glowing orbs, but slowly as it came closer, she saw its glaring fangs. The wolf advanced with its head crouched low as to not spook its prey.
Aelia's heart was pounding so loud that she was certain that the wolf could hear it too; He probably could.
Rolling onto her back, Aelia began to scoot herself away, but soon she hit the wall of snow behind her, and had no hope of escape.
Her powers had been depleted by her recent use, and even though she tried to draw on them now, there simply wasn't anything left.
The wolf had closed the gap between them, so much so that Aelia could see every detail of its face, from his whiskers to the saliva dripping from his fangs. And and so she closed her eyes in anticipation of the horrible pain to come.
But just as the wolf made ready to strike at her throat, something caught his attention. The small piece of leaf which dangled from a string around Aelia's neck. It was the only remnant she ever had left of her mother, One section out of three, that had been divided between her and her sisters.
The wolf paused and sniffed at the necklace, then instantly his entire demeanor shifted from aggressive to attentive. He whined and licked her face, almost apologetically for having frightened her.
Confused, Aelia opened her eyes again, realizing that now the wolf no longer intended to harm her. She cautiously reached up and petted the dense fur around its face, which it seemed to enjoy.
She had never been this close to a wolf before, and had always been afraid of them, but now with it so close, she could see what an astonishing animal it really was. It had a mixture of grey and white fur that was too thick to even hold. And its eyes were so light blue that they appeared as white in the sunlight.
"He likes you." A man's voice spoke in the distance, startling Aelia. The man came into focus through the fog as he casually approached. Although Aelia had never seen him before in her lifetime, she felt a strange sense of familiarity.
"Who are you?" She asked.
"My name is Caden." The man said. "It's funny, I've never seen him allow a stranger to pet him before.."
Caden spoke to Aelia as he walked, but it was not her that he was approaching. He seemed far more interested in the Sherone. He stood over her unconscious body, and studied her for moment as though he was trying to decide what to make of her.
They he raised his sword above her chest, with the blade pointed at her, in position to drive it downward through her heart.
But before he could strike, Aelia spoke out, "Please don't!" she cried.
Caden paused for a moment, "You don't understand what this woman has taken from me." he said, sounding more as if he were trying to convince himself instead of Aelia.
"Please.." Aelia begged, "She's all that I have left."
"If that's true, then I feel deeply sorry for you." Placing his sword back into its sheath, he began to walk away. "I give you this warning though.. never trust her, for she will betray you." And with that, he disappeared into the fog.
Shortly after, the Sherone regained consciousness and they were discovered together in the clearing by Arturo and a few other survivors. Not wanting to risk another landslide, the group pressed-on to Corinth as Jacob had ordered. Aelia never mentioned the encounter with Caden and the wolf to the Sherone. She didn't know why she'd kept that secret from her, but something about Caden's words stuck in her head, and now she wondered if the Sherone was truly the person that she seemed to be.