Scarves

Changing Easily

Beckett's pov

Athra, Central, Commander, Sister, Isinens, Heir. All of this new information is causing my head to swim. We've been walking all night and haven't stopped. At least seven Athra's layed dead along our path. Octavia hasn't said anything since our conversation with Dray back at camp. I decided to make sure she was alright.

"Hey Octavia? Are you alright?" I say leaning forward as I try to catch up and get her attention at the same time.

"I'm really happy that my sister is alive, but we are really screwed." She says looking at me, her eyes full of fear.

"Why? She's your sister right?"

"Yeah, but she's a lot like Lyrenna. Except, she believes she lost everyone in her family. As I told Kelsey yesterday morning, people like her deal with death differently than others. They grieve for a short amount of time, and then do everything in their power to keep others from dying. And she has a lot more power than Lyren if what Dray says is true."

I nod, knowing what she means. I've seen people like Lyrenna and (apparently) Anstid, deal with death. It's not always pretty, and they turn into monsters. I'm not letting Lyren end up like that. She's so kind, and is always one step ahead of our "opponents". I started thinking about a few hours ago.

-- flashback--

Athra were surrounding our small group. About five of them. They all dropped from their cloaks and slithered towards Octavia and Lyren. Octavia cut down the first two but another wound its way around her body while two were attacking Lyrenna.

Dray ran over and helped Lyrenna but Octavia was knocked down and was starting to choke. Dray tried to help but another one came along and caught him too.

"Jess! Toss me your sword!" Lyrenna yelled. She caught it with one hand and in one swift motion killed both Athra's. Blood splattered up onto her face but it was black. A last Athra krept up behind me and sank it's fangs into my shoulder.

"Ah! Gosh damn it!" Lyrenna kills that one too.

"Dray! Are they poisonous?" Lyrenna tears the sleeve off my shirt. Kelsey frowns because she had just made this shirt.

Dray looks down at the dead snake, "This one thankfully wasn't. It's blood is red, see? The others that attacked were poisonous. Black blood indicates poison."

Lyrenna quickly wipes the blood off her face and hands Jessica her sword back. "I think you would handle it a lot better than I do." Jess says handing the sword right back to her.

"Okay, we need to keep moving until one of us gets bitten by an actually poisonous one." She states, dressing the bite on my shoulder.

--end flashback--

"We're here" Dray says gesturing to a very large looking city state.

"Wow, and she's only been here for two years?!" I say.

"She found this place hidden under the sand, and dug it out. As more of us came down, she was able to uncover it comepletely. We started the technology back up and Central was born."

"When did you get down here Dray?" Lyren asks.

"6 months ago. I was 19 then so I wasn't old enough for execution. I am now, but I think it's a little late for that."

Lyrenna giggled, "I guess so." Dray got a death glare from Fritz.

"So, should we go? I'm sure we all are tired and need some sleep." Fritz says, irritation clear in his voice.