A Flame in The Wind

Chapter 3 - Nadia

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"Get out," a throng of men walked right through the door. The wooden door lay in shatters on the floor from where they'd kicked it down moments before.

"Under the authority of the Nivax, we arrive to gather your contribution." A hefty man with a heavy accent stated as his eyes flitted across the room. Looking for any others hiding about, no doubt.

I gripped the handle of the knife harder behind my back as the men began filing through cabinets and drawers, taking anything, they deemed necessary or of value. I knew the knife would do me no good at the moment, but I would go down easily. My ancestors were warriors and their courage seeped into me today. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw others going around the side of the cottage to where the gardens, shed, and entrance to the cellar lay. The men began yelling to one another in a language foreign to my ears.

This wasn't the plan. There weren't supposed to be this many from what my neighbors had told me. It was early in the morning when they'd come, but the screaming from the village had woken us up first. My friend, Silvana, had come running with her baby sister and a sack on her back telling me to run as well. But where was I to take everyone? I couldn't leave this house and the many good memories we'd had. I shouldn't have listened and made a run for it. The thought of Alistair coming home to nothing scared me more than anything. So, like a fool, I sent my siblings into the woods to wait until these monsters had passed through. And here they were, my hopes that I hadn't made the worst decision of my life in the thin tiny blade behind my back.

"I know of nothing with such a name." I took a step back, making ready in case a fight was what would be needed to survive. To get out of the presence of these brut men.

"Then you and this village have been living under a rock," the man scoffed, glancing over the kitchen and table. Run. My mind kept repeating. This man had an aura that sent shivers down my spine. I could tell these men were not like me, their minds held dark secrets. Looking at their faces I had expected to find tired eyes and scowls upon their lips from their long journey here. Our little cottage stood on the very edge of the village and was no simple feat to reach. Why they'd bothered to search even our little cottage from this poor village could not make sense in my mind. And neither did their attentiveness and keen eyes.

"Tell your men to get off my property." A wolf never cowered in front of an enemy.

"In case you haven't heard, the Nivax have been advancing well across the fighting lines." He was part of the army? His relaxed posture along with his ungloved hands and plain tunic was nothing like the uniforms of Tenaqi soldiers. Yet his voice was clear and confident, "I am Captain Andali, head of the 23rd division. We have come to gather tribute from the new subjects of our land."

"If this is true, what kind of tribute do you require," I could see the men carrying baskets full of the rabbits and birds I'd been stocking up as well as the leftover produce from the garden. "Surely you must leave enough for me to survive through the coming winter?"

"We have no need for you to tend this land, the fields down south are far richer."

"If you are implying that I am to leave my home, then I will not follow."

The shouting in the foreign language increased and those already inside ran out the door, with armfuls of items. My family's items. "I have my orders that every human is to be relocated."

My eyes snapped back to the man in front of me. Human. These men were part of the army from Sueget, the nation of mages, the Sutragi. It all made sense now. His accent and the strange aura I was feeling, they were mages. I'd heard gossip from the village that the Sueget were slave traders and tortured innocent humans, some even said they'd even sentenced babies to death. Nothing but lies no doubt, but I could sense that whatever their plans for us humans were would not be in my best interest.