Love Beneath The Moon

Chapter 14 - Aurora

As Aurora and Maynard traveled through the dense forest of the Mother Mountains, they could hear wolves howling in the distance. It has been hours since she found him, and the storm is still rustling heavy against the coarse boulders of the Mountain ranges. They carried on with each careful steps, trying not to alert the wolves and to find their way out.

Aurora still wore that heavy green armor she had taken from one of the soldier she knocked out. She saved that man from death by taking his place. And I saved Maynard. She gave thanks to Hagir for answering her prayers, giving her strength and valiance during the fight. The Soldiers were skilled, but they don't know how to fight within close quarters. Thundersticks does not work against guerilla tactics, and she knew that very well.

Her hands closed at the hilt of her bloody sword at the thought. They brought weapons but they do not know how to fight, so they fell easily. You fools! They brought upon their doom to themselves by going unprepared. She was not for she knew how to fight. Aurora was fighting since she was a child. Iceborn customs prepare you for that.

"We should rest and let the storm pass away." She said to Maynard when she saw a cave nearby.

"Storms come and go, but the Lord does not!" Maynard said in a voice so chaotic as the clouds. "The Lord Sun shines bright over the Storm!"

He's been talking nonsense since she found him, and it's all understandable. Maynard, as Leigh described, has not killed anything before, and for him to witness that brutality must be traumatic. Aurora prayed to Vahn, the god of sight, for Maynard to see clearly with his mind.

"The Lord Sun may be, but the Lord of Old Icestones needs some rest." She said, pulling him "And I do too."

Maynard was also wearing that fur cape over his shoulders. She has told him to leave it behind, but he insisted that he was cold. "But that's wet!" She told him but still he kept wearing it.

Inside the cave, the air was damp and musty, and the ground is slick with moisture. Water droplets fell down from the dripstones, creating a symphony of drops that echoed throughout the cavern. They found a corner, elevated from the pools of water and slept there. Maynard used the thick bush of fur cape as cushions, and Aurora slept seated, her back against the wall of the cave.

In her dreams, his Father is amidst a great council, an assembly consisting of all venerate Iceborn Chieftain. Some of them she knew, but the rest are a mist of snowflakes swirling inside the hall. Aurora watched them as they argue and raise their frozen steel against each other inside the icy walls.

"Be careful, Father!" She warned but his Father did not hear her.

There was chaotic agreement and disagreement throughout the icy halls, and she could see her father, so infuriated, raising a flag of white along with others against those who were raising flags of red. The chieftains were very loud, forming fumes of frigid air as they speak, but she could not understand what they were saying. Then, with a strong gust of winter winds, they howled so loudly that Aurora was jolted out of her sleep.

She woke up seating and could hear the howling of wolves nearby. She went to inspect, sword in hand, and saw them prowling around beneath the moonlight. It was no longer raining and she could see the sun about to rise. She returned to Maynard and woke him up. "Wake up!"

"It's too cold, Jane." Maynard said incoherently.

"There are wolves, Maynard, get up!" She smacked his face with her gauntleted hands. Maynard fell from the boulder and got his clothes wet again.

"What??" Maynard stood up, completely dumbfounded.

"Shut your mouth!" She whispered, "There are wolves nearby!"