Blood of Ivy

Prologue

Crushed skulls littered the dead grounds and the mixed smells of burnt flesh and chaos surrounded her. A war was fought here and had moved it's way to the northeast which showed that the current powers were losing. Whoever was winning had a lot more muscle and drive on their side it seemed.

In the state of old Oklahoma there was nothing left to even distinguish it as so. Only a dead father's wisdom helped aid the young woman in her observation. She was determined to get to the city of Ivy in the northeastern sector of what was now known as Triad but the war was in her way. Either she was to tack on a few extra weeks and go around or chance her way through the throng of warriors.

The woman wrung her hands on her walking staff and cringed at her demise. If only her father had lived through the last war to help her through this one not even five years after. He had given his life for hers when he yelled at her to run far from what they called home. The soldiers next door interrogating the neighbors had run out and shot him with an arrow on site and there was a trail shot behind her as she disappeared into the trees.

Trembling to get rid of the vision, the woman shook her head and started for the war. She knew it was pure idiocy but the later would result in death to the city members.

The sun kept rising and setting until finally she spotted tents. She would've missed them if not for the guards camped out in hiding. Lucky she had a trained eye.

She found an area surrounded by tree cover and set up camp. She would have to rest before she tried to get past the fighting.

A strange sound woke the girl up from her slumber at night. A bird.

It was rare to see birds in the midlands since the nuclear attacks that destroyed the old world. In fact the animals grew strangely more intelligent and could hide in plain sight of humans without their knowledge.

Another strange call and the woman was packed in an instant and ready to move. Animals out in the open was a sign of trouble.

After crawling out of her hiding camp the woman observed the rebels camp that was illuminated by the slowly rising sun.

Men were packing up and moving off into the distance. The powers were retreating. They didn't seem to have the best strategist anyways since they sent the whole brigade of fighters out so far away for the war.

The woman spotted the bird in the sky and inwardly was impressed. Her father had gone over the different species but never had she seen such a large bird. It flew in circles as if ready to snatch up its prey from the ground but swooped rather elegantly down to a man who stood waiting on a horse. How had she not noticed the magnificence of this picture. Never had she seen a horse before as they were said to be extinct. It had a white base color with some black spots on it but it's mane and tail were black. It looked large and strong as if it lived a life trampling men like the one sitting on it.

When the bird landed on the man's arm there was a strange feeling in her gut that told her to leave. She stayed put thinking this horse could be the only one left in existance. She knew it was a stupid reason to stay but she couldn't help her curiosity.

The bird took a second on the man's arm and flew off again towards the rising sun. It was the most beautiful site the woman had seen and she was set on relaxing to the show ahead of her. The man wasn't as gruesome as the guards he surrounded himself with. She had observed him to be one of the higher ups of the group since no man would let a lower rank have the upper hand with such exotic animals aiding him. Then again she thought of her foolishness as that would be too childish to think of.

As she watched the scene before her she wasn't aware of the guards who had spotted her laying on her stomach with her head in the clouds. They nodded to each other and one threw a rock at her head rather hard to knock her out. Her head fell and body went limp signaling the guards to take her away.