Part II

18 years earlier…

The smoke was still coming off the charred grass, making Yarah’s eyes water.  The sun should not be shining on a day like today.  Flat sand and tall yellow grass stretched out in every direction, with a few hills off in the distance.  It had rained twice in the last three years, making the Malachim tribes even stingier with water than usual.  It was not exceptionally hot in this land, but it was dry as bone.

“Lets go home, I need to get into clear air” Said Yarah.

“Yes, Your Grace” replied Rev, the servant who, as the moment, was fanning Yarah with an overlarge canvas fan.  Rev relayed the message to a guard who in turn gave out the orders to group.

A scout had seen smoke that morning and Yarah had decided to see this one for herself.

It could have been another attack.  Tensions between the Malachim and Anachim had been running high lately.

  The party was turning back and Yarah settled into a steady rhythm on her stallion.  Every Malach in her tribes had been affected by this tension.  Yarah herself had nothing but her sister and young nephew left.  She did not even remember when it began.  Malachim and Anachim had always been so different.   Every Malach was born with a mark that indicated the animal they could change into.  Yarah was born with emerald scales covering her left shoulder down to the middle of her back that looked identical to the scales of the viper she could shift into. 

Rev moved his horse closer to Yarah’s.  He had no marks, making him just human.  This was uncommon, but not unheard of.  It did keep him in a low rank for the rest of his life, though.  A shout went up.  Yarah turned to look,

“Your Grace, over there” Said Rev.   He was pointing off to her right.  It was still hard to see through the smoke.  A small figure was walking towards them.  Yarah’s personal guard was alert, ready for any attack. 

“Stop,” said Yarah. “It is only a child.” 

 Getting down from her horse she started to walk in the direction of the child, her guards instinctively following her, my shadow could not get any closer.  As she got nearer she saw it was a girl of maybe three years.  She was covered in grime and scrapes.  The child had no expression at all as she approached the tall red headed woman.  Yarah crouched down in front on her.

 

“What is your name little one? Who do you belong to?” she said.

  The child just stared, pale gray eyes, wide.  Yarah looked back at Rev who shrugged. 

“What is your mark?” she asked.

 This time the child shook her head slowly back and forth. 

Must be human, Yarah thought.  She stood and turned towards her guard. 

“Rev, grab her.  We are ta"“ Rev’s eyes had gone wide as he took a step forwards.  Yarah spun around to see the child collapse.  She started shaking and convulsing on the ground and lay still.  Only then did Yarah notice the blood leaking from the girl’s ear.

Reviews

[jjwilbourne]

Stoked on the magic system you are creating.

[NoelHC]

You have painted a good visual of the place and the people here, I find it easy to imagine the scene. something appears to have been dropped off near the end "We are ta"“ Rev’s eyes" on the third last line seems to be missing some words or some letters.
Are all these three pieces related together in one story, are you setting the scene for some different characters to meet and interact?

[speckledbyrd]

As of right now I'm intending on keeping all of them in the same storyline...but we'll see how it goes. Thanks again for the review!

[SnakeEaterCorpo]

I really have enjoyed it:) I love your dialog and especially the detailing of your characters, keep up the good work oh and I would appreciate it if you could check out one of my stories and leave a rating with a comment once you get the chance. Thank you so much and great job:)

[speckledbyrd]

Thank you! And yes I will

[Woody]

nice fantasy, interesting characters and the pace is good.
I like the story. this will make a good novel. keep it up.

[speckledbyrd]

Thank you!