Nothing But Ashes #LWC2015

Chapter Three

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I traveled throughout Asia for two hundred years. I moved as often as possible and each time became someone new. I began searching for any rumors of people who could wield magic. It wasn't until a hundred years later I found someone, another mage, who could do some magic, but was considerably weaker than Tarik. That is when I found out details of what he was doing and that it was impossible to beat him without knowing magic. I had trained with a katana in Japan years before, but as I traveled around, I studied in multiple fighting styles from each of the countries I visited. In 674 A.D, I traveled to India where I stayed there for thirty years before leaving there for the country of Turkey. 

In all my years of traveling, I watched as the world around me grew and changed and humans craved more land and power. It was a never-ending cycle. 

Turkey had developed a newer system of fighting that used peasantry, which was effective against both the Musilm's and their rebellions against China. I joined the fighting and eventually met her once again. Her family had been killed in rebellions and had been on her own for two and a half years. We were in Hopeh, which had been invaded by the Turkish Kahn. A lot of the people were migrating due to rebellions and taxation. 

The moment my eyes found her, my stomach twisted as it usually did when I saw her. Her once pale skin was now olive brown. The shape of her face was slightly different, and her black, straight hair was now wavy and brown. Her once narrow eyes were a little more rounded, and dark brown. I briefly wondered how Tarik was able to change her features simply because it was only the second time she had appeared so different. The first was when I saw her for the second time in China. After being used to her natural Egyptian features it took a while to grow used to her Chinese appearance. Ever since then, though, she had always looked similar. Until now. 

I shook the thought off; he was a powerful mage and it was no surprise that he could not only change her time, but her appearance now as well. 

None of that, however, was why my stomach twisted. She was covered in dirt, and her cheeks were sunken in with hunger and malnutrition. It was hard to see her like that.  I knew speaking to her would only start the downward slope once again, but she wouldn't last on her own.

"Is there any way I can help you, Miss?" I asked her, my mind trying to remember the words in Turkish.

She glanced up at me, her eyes wide and she shook her head. She backed away, as if in fear. "Don't... please, don't hurt me..."

I held my hands up to try and show her that I meant her no harm. "I am not here to harm you. What is your name?"

"Aliye," she murmured.

"Aliye." I repeated the name, trying to familiarize myself with it. "You should leave with the other civilians."

"When the city was raided I got separated from my sister. I'm not leaving until I find her." She glanced around the city, which was full of the aftermath of a raid. 

"I will help you find her to ensure both of your safety." We looked throughout the city for the next several hours, and finally found her sister hiding behind some rubble. Her sister was young—probably only eight or nine. She grabbed her and we began jogging out of the city. We followed the roads as we traveled. I gave them both what food I had in my pack. Aliye was protective over her sister, and they had endured much hardship since their parents had been killed.

I longed to wrap her in my arms and comfort her, but I wouldn't allow myself to touch her. It felt like ages since the last time I had been able to grasp her hand or hold her in my arms. 

I gritted my teeth and forced such thoughts from my mind. 

Turkey was not the only country that she and I had been in while it was ravaged with war and raids. I often found myself in war, and despite the horrors of it, fighting was the only way I found I could be completely content during the times I was waiting for her grow up all over again. 

In 1204 A.D, she was known as Valeria. We were both in the Byzantine capital of Constantinople. As a woman in Byzantine society, she was mostly confined inside the house, and rarely ever seen around men. The times I watched her, even at meals she was forced to eat in her room alone, rather than at the table with her father and brothers. Her education was that of simply reading and writing. At age thirteen her father and mother married her off to a senior military officer. I joined the military sometime after, but kept my distance and put her from my mind. It was years later, after she had turned twenty-two and had two children of her own that I saw her again. She was accompanied by two of her husband's soldiers in the market. Almost at random, I was stationed underneath her husband, which often found me near her at points. I was nothing but her husband's soldier; just another man in the army. Tensions were high, and everyone expected the Fourth Crusaders to attack at any time. 

The soldiers of the Fourth Crusade, along with the Venetians, marched on Constantinople that spring. The assault took several days. I was one of the best soldiers at the time, and so her husband charged me with protecting her. I argued with him at first—I did not wish to be around her, and would much rather have been in the heat of battle. He gave me my orders, however, and so I complied. I helped her any way that I could. Despite that she did not love me, barely even knew me, I was there for her. I just wished for her to be happy. And she was with her two children by her side. Though I could not have her, it was enough to see her happy.

It was then that I realized just how deeply I loved her; that it was real.

It was a long three days. We received word that her husband was killed and were ordered to flee the city as soon as possible. By that time, seventy Crusaders had managed to sneak inside the city. Within hours, a few holes had been broken through the walls, and the Venetians had scaled the walls from the sea. The northwestern section of the city was taken and used as a base as they attacked the rest of the city. We were unable to leave until that night, shortly after rumors had spread that Emperor Alexios V had already fled the city. She grabbed her kids and I ran with them and fought men as we came to them. We escaped through the Polyandriou (Rhegium) Gate and escaped into the countryside west of the city.

We encountered soldiers on our way out of the gate. I drew my sword and fought them, urging her to go on ahead with her children. 

"What about you?"

"Get your children and go, Valeria!" I shouted as I side-stepped one man and dodged another attack. I fought them off as much as I could, and despite that one of their swords managed to slice my side, I killed the remaining men and headed out of the gates. I tore part of my sleeves off and tied them around my waist, hoping to stop the bleeding. I caught up with Valeria quickly and fortunately, we encountered others who were fleeing who had an extra horse. We rode together, with her children in front of her and rode all night.

My eyes blinked and I was starting to tire, but I forced my eyes open. I could not pass out. Eventually, we were separated from the others and continued riding alone. It was not long before I realized we were being followed. I tried losing them, but it was no use. An entire squadron of Crusaders had surrounded us. 

I glanced at her, urging the horse on, hoping and praying we could ride through them, when suddenly, her veins turned black and she grew pale. "Nas...ann..." she whispered, right as her body collapsed on herself and she turned to ash. Her children began screaming. I grabbed them and pulled their faces into my chest, just as several arrows rained down on us. Pain flared in my arm and leg as the horse collapsed on my right side. I twisted so that both of her children were underneath me to protect them from the arrows and the fall off the horse.