Shadows of the Future

Blood at the Festival

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the art involved in this story, they belong to their respective owners and franchises. The only art I own is what I have had commissioned for the story.

Road to the Festival:

The ride out of the town was uneventful to be sure, no one really got in the way of the carriage or the guards surrounding it. Once more Aleksander was near the carriage and openly being stared at by Tassandra and Daniela, Daniela switched with Verela to get a better look at him. Lacina knew what they were doing and truly had no issue with it, but she knew that after the festival was over and they returned home, Aleksander would likely have to hide himself or leave the den. Unfortunately it would be impossible to do so, as the winter weather in their territory was very harsh to those not accustomed to it. Shaking her head from such thoughts she stared at her two daughters who openly ogled the man, frowning slightly at the fact they seemed to have no shame in doing so. Lacina almost chuckles to herself as she remembers when she was young and like that as well, her mother and father both admonishing her for being that way towards her potential betrothed at that time. Unlike her parents she would not force her daughters into any marriage and would allow them to find their own husbands, thinking that their attraction to Aleksander as merely a passing fancy even if it was anything but a passing fancy. The matriarch of the family was lost in her own thoughts at that moment, thinking of the various vassals that will try and offer requests that their sons be arranged into marriages with her daughters. One of the worst will likely be from the Ovalarns, who's matriarch is obsessed with both of their families joining in blood. The pack of the Ovalarns have been religious fanatics going back decades, professing that the gods will see them all become their own kingdoms once again. Such talk has gotten them in trouble before with the royal pack and this current generation is no different, as one member of  their pack has already been hanged for such statements.

While he was being watched by the girls and Lacina was contemplating her thoughts, Aleksander hummed to himself softly as they moved along at a relatively slow pace. Thinking of the times before the war when he was a child, smiling softly to himself at the stories that his grandfather's would tell him of their time in the army, before the unification of the German states. Remembering how his grandfather Johann would speak of his time as an infantryman fighting against the French, then his other grandfather, Otto Sr., would argue how being in the cavalry was much better than being an infantryman. Sparking a debate that would lest until supper time with both old men making quick snappy comments at one another throughout the rest of the day. Such thoughts made Aleksander feel home sick, knowing that he will likely never see his grandfathers again, his mother or his father. A small sigh escapes him as he looks ahead, watching as the cobble road weaves and moves around trees or through fields. Once again reminding him of the forests and fields he would run through as a child, despite the rough times growing up in Germany because of what the Treaty of Versailles did along with the economic collapse across all of Europe. He chuckles to himself thinking of it all and knows that this really is his new home now, there was no going back and that was certain. Then he began to think of what he really would be going back to, would he go back to Germany being triumphant in the war or would he go back to absolute destruction. The possibility of staying in this world made him think that he would likely die alone and of old age, as there would be no one to really call his own.

   "What do you think his life was like, back in his homeland?" Daniela asks aloud to her family, looking back at them after staring at Aleksander.

"Obviously he was a warrior of some kind, but other than what Ursana told us and what we saw, there isn't much else to support it." Frieda says coldly as she is still not too fond of Aleksander, her words cause Daniela to narrow her eyes and even Lacina isn't entirely pleased with the coldness that Frieda has been displaying.