Whisper to the Wind

(3) Run

Whisper casually made her way back to her house. Behind the trees, the sun was going down and the sky was now turned to a brilliant orange with highlights of pink and purple. Norrine, not surprisingly, would still be out running and playing with her friends. That girl was never worn out.

Many of the villagers were beginning to head back to their homes now. The wives were rounding up their children and the husbands were either headed to the village guard or the tavern. More of them were headed for the tavern.

As Whisper was walking down the road to her home, she passed two men who were also in the village guard, Woraine and Kosfin. They were two twin brothers, not much older than Whisper. She remembered them always pulling pranks on her as a little girl. They usually had wide smiles on their face that always made all of the villagers wonder what they were up to or a small twinkle in their eye that held the promise of mischief. This time though, they were not smiling and their eyes were wide with panic.

"Whisper," Woraine yelled, running up to her and grabbing her by her shoulders, "Where is your mother?" Whisper searched his eyes, her heart thumping widly beneath her skin.

"Woraine, what's wrong," She asked, stepping back slowly to escape his grip, but he grabbed her tighter and pulled her back again.

"We have to see your mother. Where is she, Whisper?" Whisper flinched at the level of Woraine's voice, but Kosfin, the calmer one of the two, placed his hand on Woraine's arm and eased his brother off of the frightened girl.

"We found tracks that we need your mother to see." Kosfin said patiently. His dark brown iris' were still panicked and his voice quivered a bit, but not enough for Whisper to think he was as scared as Woraine. 

"You two have a basic understanding of tracks. Don't you know what animal tracks they are without my mother," Whisper stepped back, wary of Woraine's arm length, and raised a quizical eyebrow at the two twins. Their attitude was unusual. If the villagers were all scared, Woraine and Kosfin would always be very laid back and calm about everything, but if these two were scared, something was wrong.

"They're not animal tracks." He said quietly. Woraine glanced around for any nearby villagers that might possibly overhear their conversation. "Now, Whisper, where is your mother?" Whisper's eyebrow stayed raised.

"What if they were lost traders that got off the path?" Kosfin shook his head and stepped closer. Whisper went to step away from him again, but he grabbed her shoulder, gently, and stared her deeply into the eyes.

"It's more complicated than that. Please. We need to find your mother." Whisper narrowed her eyes at him. Even though he was very close and still very frightening, Whisper was not as cautious of Kosfin as she was of Woraine. 

"Why? What happened? What did you find?" Kosfin sighed and looked away. He was obviously getting impatient with this stubborn girl. He stared at the woods for a long time before glancing at Woraine and then back at Whisper. 

"There was a message there with your mother's name on it. Now, please, Whisper. I do not want to ask you again." The hard tone in his voice sent a chill down Whisper's back and she searched Kosfin's eyes. They were frightened. 

"She's at the village guard, last time I saw her," She said slowly. Kosfin leaned forward and planted a soft kiss on Whisper's forehead before pulling away. 

"Thank you, Whisper." Before Whisper even had a chance to reply, him and his brother were running off to the village guard, leaving dust in the wake of their speed. Whisper took a deep breath before continuing on towards her house. 

The sun was almost completely set now and the dark clouds she had seen earlier were now covering the sky. You couldn't see any stars and a small amount of moonbeam fell on the ground from the sliver of moon in the sky. Norrine would probably be ready to come home soon.

Whisper entered the house and quickly rushed around to light the lantern's on the walls and then began to work on the fire in the hearth. 

She had never seen Kosfin and Woraine so scared as she had just now. Kosfin usually kept his cool about things and Woraine, the big muscular brother, always jumped to conclusions and got ahead of himself, but Whisper had never seen him scared. Something in Kosfin's tone of voice made Whisper think that there was more to the story than he was telling her, but at the moment, she was too curious to think straight.

As Whisper was standing to her feet from the kneeling position she had been in before the hearth, the door into the house flew open. Whisper, at first, was half expecting to see her sister, but instead, her mother ran into the house with a panicked look on her face. This was the third unusual person she had seen scared. 

"Mother," Whisper asked, turning her head quizically. Her mother grabbed the small stand beside the door and placed it infront of the door. She reached up and grabbed the lock and slid it shit. 

"That should keep them for a little while," she muttered to herself before turning around and grabbing her daughter's hand and spun her around, trotting towards the pantry beneath the stairs. 

Whisper stopped and spun her mother around. "Mother," she demanded, "What is going on?" Whisper mother shook her head and placed her smooth hand on her daughter's cheek. 

"I cannot explain right now, darling. one day I hope I'll be able to, but right now, I cannot." The heartbroken look in Chrisyanna's eyes made Whisper stop and realize how serious the entire situation was. 

Still not releasing her daughter's hand, Chrisyanna opened the door and began riffling through the shelves of blankets before pulling out a long sword contained within a scabbard. The sheath was made of leather and the delicate engraving wrapped all around the scabbard. In the middle, Whisper noticed a large carving. It was cirlce made of loops going under or over each other. Crossing over themselves and through the cirlce were what looked to be a sword and an arrow. She only got a glance of it though before he mother pulled the long steel sword out from it's scabbard. The sword seemed to have the same engraving on it as the scabbard had and appeared to have a blue glow to it. She had never seen this sword before. 

"Now, Whisper, I need you to listen to me. Listen to every word that I say." Whisper's eyes widened as her mother dropped the scabbard and gripped Whisper's hand tightly. "I want you to run. Run into the woods and do not stop. Do not stop, do you hear me?" Her mother shook Whisper tightly. "You run until you find someplace safe and you stay there." Tears began to burn Whisper's eyes. 

"Mother, I don't understand." Whisper gripped her mother's hand back tightly. The door began to rattle and the shouts of men outside startled both of the women. Whisper gasped, scared to death, and looked back at her mother worriedly. 

Her mother opened the back door and dragged her daughter out quietly. They couldn't risk being heard by the men, but Whisper stopped abruptly and stared at her mother in horror. 

"Mother," Whisper nearly shouted, her voice quivering, "Norrine!" Chrisyanna closed her eyes. Whisper knew that behind those eyes, her heart was breaking. She stood there a couple seconds, catching her breath and keeping herself calm. 

"Don't worry about your sister, Whisper. I'll find her." A tear dropped from Whisper's eye and suddenly, she heard the roaring sound of men from around the corner of the house. Whisper's mother dropped her daughter's hand and rushed to the two men charging around the corner. She had them cut down within seconds.

"Whisper," she said gently. With her free hand, she reached around her neck and pulled a leather cord. On the necklace was a large pendant, the same pendant as the engraving on the sword and scabbard. She placed the necklace around her daughter's neck and pulled her close. She laid a gentle kiss on her daughter's forehead and held it there for a long time. "Now go." She said forcefully. When Whisper hesitated, her mouther shouted, "Go!" Whisper jumped and sprinted down the hill. 

The storm clouds up above clashed and then she began to feel the slightest amount of rain on her face. When she reached the bottom of the hill, she spun around and stared at her mother. Four more men had come around the back of the house and her mother was whirling her sword around too fast for Whisper to see the blade clearly. 

Once she had dealt with those men, she turned and saw her daughter at the bottom of the hill and on the edge of the forest, staring in wide-eyed horror. The sound of her yelling 'run' to her daughter was carried over the wind. With a final glance at her home and old life, Whisper spun and charged off into the woods where the rain hit her face like tiny needles.