Hope in the Highlands

3

Kaji dashed through golden grasslands as the wind blew the giant stalks around her tiny five-year-old body. Her parents chased her and her older brother, who was at the age of eight.

"I will find you, Kaji!" her father, Belron, called out.

Little Kaji squealed and darted far to the left, making a flying deer leap into the air out of the way. The rest of the gathered herd followed suit, hovering in the air above them to watch the humans' lively game.

"Noooo!" Kaji cried out as her father grabbed her hips and hoisted her up into the air. He threw her and she giggled and squealed elatedly as her mother, Rhena, tackled Kaji's older brother, Blaze.

Belron caught Kaji and blew into her neck, launching her into another fit of laughter. "Papa! Papa!"

"Papa!" Kaji cried as she sat up.

Belron appeared in her cell against the far wall. Kaji cocked her head in her feverish state; something about this wasn't right, but she couldn't quite place what was wrong. "Papa! Where did you go?" Kaji murmured.

"Shut up!" another voice snapped.

"We're trying to sleep!"

Kaji shook her head as she rapidly blinked. Rhena and Blaze appeared on either side of him. She laughed, as elated and lively as she had in the field all those years ago. "You're here! You're all here!"

"Shut up, or I'll see to it that you never talk again!"

Collapsing against the wall, exhausted, Kaji blinked. By the time she opened her eyes, her parents and brother were gone, replaced by Nol the Havvonite and Vee, who laid against the back wall, opposite the cell's iron bars. "Papa... Mama... Blaze..." Tears fell from Kaji's lashes, merging with the sweat pouring off her face as she collapsed back onto her wet mat, breathing heavily. Sleep overcame her, tugging her gently back into yet another dream of her past.

"We're surrounded!" a soldier called out.

"No...!" Rhena gasped. "Belron, the children!"

Blaze clutched Kaji's arm with a determined expression. "We can help you fight!"

Kaji nodded eagerly, clenching her fists around her bow.

Belron grabbed her shoulders and shook his head. "No. That will only get you killed. Blaze, take your sister and run."

"Run?" Kaji demanded.

"We're not cowards! I'm not a coward, Father!" Blaze's eyes narrowed.

Rhena gently held his hands in her own. "Go, my children. Both of you."

Belron jerked his head to the trees behind them. "It's a perilous journey but you can make it."

"We'll carve a way through them for the children," another soldier said.

Belron, Rhena, the soldier, and the other rebels, except for the children and teens, rose their weapons high as the army surged around them. Chaos ensued and Kaji wasn't sure what was happening. She felt Blaze's hands tighten painfully so around her arms and they ran and ran. Kaji might have even closed her eyes; she wasn't sure.

When she and Blaze were through the trees, they turned and gazed back toward their parents just as the soldiers closed in on them. She thought she saw an enemy soldier stab Belron.

"PAPA!" Kaji screamed as Blaze forced her forward.

Ashric swung his blade toward a soldier in front of them just before the soldier could shoot Blaze and Kaji with an arrow. "This way!"