Intro

 

Introduction

 

Horses nickered in the midst of a rising sun as an infant cried out in a home nearby. The smell of blood and death hung over the clearing in which a young woman walked slowly towards her brother’s scream, not believing her senses. After many days of hunting, she was weary but the terror gave her new energy letting her hasten her feet. She went to the door and hesitated before opening it. Surely her mother would have calmed him if everything was in order. The cried from within urged her to open the door.

Her mother and aunt lay in puddles of crimson on the floor. Above her brother’s constant hollers hushed voices could be heard. Instead of running to her brother as instinct told her she silently closed the door and padded around the loved ones she could no longer help. As she grew closer the voices became clearer.

"…keep him?"

"No, we don’t keep him. We bring him to the King."

"Yes, Beron, as you say." There was a shuffle of feet and a louder cry from her brother. The young woman clenched her teeth and her knuckles whitened. A weasel-like man stepped into the hall with her brother struggling in his grasp, "Well, what do we have here?" She made herself stand taller but before she could say anything Beron came into view.

"Well, if it isn’t the young woman of the house. They say you took the spot of your father when he met such an early and unforeseen death."

"So kind of you to keep track of our doings, Beron," voicing his name as if it were a curse, "and bring more unforeseen deaths to my family." Remembering the nightmare of her past made her speak boldly. "Tell me, what would His Majesty want with an infant boy?"

"Silly girl, do you not know of his abilities?" Beron shot a powerful glare to his comrade but it disappeared behind a smile so quickly she wasn’t sure if she had seen it.

"That is of no consequence, we have our orders and wish to satisfy His Majesty’s wish. Your mother and aunt made a mistake by trying to stop us. Are you going to follow their lead or let us by?" Without realizing it, the brave woman had blocked their path, despite her small stature.

"I will let you by after I have my brother." Her mother had always said her stubbornness would cause nothing but trouble and this morning the prediction proved true. The man holding her brother flattened against the wall to make an opening for Beron. He stepped forth directly in front of the young woman; she could smell the blood on his chest that surely wasn’t his. She recoiled and before she could regain her composure, he shoved her powerfully, causing her to stumble and fall away.

The two men stepped past her. Before they could get too far the young woman stood quickly, unsheathing her hunting knife and ran toward Beron. In one deft movement he swung around to face her and if it wasn’t for his lowering arm and the glint in the air and in his eye she wouldn’t have known of her downfall before the steel implanted itself in her skull leaving her writhing on the floor yelling in agony. With one last look Beron was out the door and the young woman heard one heart-throbbing shriek from her brother.

"Whoever is out there listening to my final wishes. Please, let me live…let me save my brother." With the words barely past her lips she exhaled for the last time.