The Sword Maiden

Realization

Redwar and Daxton had been gone four days when the news came to Terreth. 

Mrs.  Finnley pushed the doors open with more fury than I'd ever seen her have.  "Sherria, Zo!  Quick, ready all the empty rooms we have available.  Valeria! Fix some soup, not with too many vegetables.  Ravine!  Quick now, go get the sheets and pillowcases Sherria and Zo will need!  Where's Mr. Finnley?"  

"In the stable," answered Sherria.  "Mother, what's happened?  Who're we getting ready for?" 

"Villagers from the town of Ladris."  Mrs. Finnley strode towards the back door to fetch Mr. Finnley.  "The town was raided by Ravagers, there's many injured people that need a place to stay and we're going to provide a place for some of them."  

The silence in the room that Mrs. Finnley left was deafening.  

Ladris?  Attacked?  I struggled to wrap my head around this.  How could this happen?  Ladris was well fortified, and we'd rooted out the Ravagerian spies just a couple months ago. 

But another thought quickly drowned out these other ones.  What about Redwar and Daxton?  Were they alright?  

Sherria clapped her hands, breaking us out of our stunned stupor.  "Quick now, if I know mother, they'll be arriving any minute."  

I shook my head.  I would have to worry about Redwar and Daxton later.  Sherria was right, we had to get ready.  

The rest of the day was one devastating whirlwind.

Wounded people, mostly woman with young children, and teenaged girls or boys, poured into the tavern.  Up to now, I hadn't known that so many blankets, sheets, and pillows existed in the tavern.  But Mrs. Finnley produced them seemingly out of nowhere.  

For the least severe cases who just needed a place to stay, the barn loft was readied.  The most wounded cases were given the beds, and the ones in the middle were to sleep on hay covered in sheets or blankets on the floor.  

One minute I was folding a blanket around hay on the second floor, the next I was fetching hot water for the doctor, the next helping more victims through the door and up to their designated places.  Mrs. Finnley worked no one harder than herself.  She refused to eat or drink until everyone had what they needed and been tended to.

At the end of the day, when all the refugees had been fed and bandaged, the Finnleys', Zo, Valeria, and I plopped down for quick dinner before going to bed. 

The others conversated about the raid, but I didn't have the stomach for it.  Having lived through one myself, I understood the horrors these victims had faced.  So I stayed silent and wearily chewed my food.  

"You know, I thought Ravagers always took the survivors as slaves?"  Sherria questioned.  

"Yes, I thought that's what they did too."  Mrs. Finnley sliced more bread.

Valeria and I glanced at each other.   We knew the reason more hadn't been taken.  For one, all of these refugees were injured in one way or another.  To transport them back to Ravagerian land without them dying would take too many resources and time.  And for another, when raiding bigger towns, Redwar had told me Ravagers only took the best.  It was the smaller villages, like mine, that were taken entirely.  

Hence, why three mothers under this tavern roof had one son or daughter taken, but still had some of their children.  

We let the Finnleys' speculate, too tired to speak up and then have to explain how we knew this.  It was not safe, in any way, for word to leak out that Redwar or Daxton was Ravagerian.  Chances were they'd be killed by a mob of angry Ladris civilians, and who could blame them entirely?  I had felt the same way after my village was raided.  

In the end, the Finnleys' arrived at the right conclusion on their own, and with that dinner concluded for the night.  

Being utterly exhausted from the day was the only way in which I was able to fall asleep that night.  Otherwise, I would have spent it tossing and turning with thoughts of Redwar and Daxton.  

I woke before the sun, as was becoming my habit.  Valeria and I had given up our bed, and slept in the corners on our pallets.  Two other people occupied the floor as well.  I wished we had beds for all of them, but hay and blankets had to do.  

This presented extra challenges when sneaking out to the rooftop, but I welcomed it.  It gave me something for my churning head to focus on.  

Once I was out of the room, the rest was easy.  It'd become a habit to go up and watch the sunrise each morning.  With each trip, I'd gotten more and more proficient at not making any sound, till I avoided all the creaks in the floor and was virtually soundless.  I also knew just how far to open the old door so I could slip through, but it wouldn't utter one betraying squeak.  

This time I'd brought a blanket with me to fight off the morning chill.  I found my favorite sitting spot and wrapped myself up in it.  Winter was coming on, and it'd been nearly a year since my village had been raided.  

Seeing these innocent, wounded, people had brought back the memories all over again.  It made me angry.  Angry that a nation, far strong enough to support itself, would use it's strength to get what it didn't need from another and hurt so many people.  

I was determined to free my parents, but after that, what then?  They were a small part caught in the grinding millstone that was making dust out of my people, the SwordCleavers.  

The rest of Thathia didn't live on the border, and with us defending it, they gave no more thought to the Ravagers.  There didn't seem to be any point to them in going to war.  The Ravagers didn't affect them.  

Sure, all of Thathia despised the Ravagers.  All of Thathia used to be vulnerable to them, but after the SwordCleavers were established and alliances made with other nations, they were safe.  And so they no longer worried.

My people were the ones the bore the brunt of the Ravagerian raids, attacks, and enslavement. 

I wasn't sure I wanted all of Thathia to go to war just yet.  That didn't seem fair.  But during the years of peace, the Ravagers had gotten stronger.  They'd sent spies to look over the land.  And they were getting bolder, as the previous raid on Ladris had testified.  

I was upset that, in our naivety, we'd let the enemy get such an advantage over us.  

What I could do about it, I wasn't sure just yet.  But I was going to see King Barkon.  Maybe I could represent my people's case to him, and something could be done.  

On that rooftop, I realized this'd become more than just being about my family and village.

It'd become about my people and my land.  

AN:  The plot is thickening :)  Eee, I'm so excited to see where this all leads!  

The above scene may have been slightly cheesy, at least it felt that way to me, but Ravine's working things out as a character and I'm working things out as an author, so you'll have to roll with it for now.