Esveldza: 'The Lonely Child of Fire'

Chapter IX- Funeral Songs

Chapter IX

Funeral Songs

Over a month had gone by, only very few travellers entered our village and if they did they were normally regular costumers and they didn’t stay for long. Forban was preparing for war- any able soldiers that could be spared were sent out on groups to gather information or to attack scouts from Geigan. News was brought to us that the battle was fast approaching, within a few weeks our cities were expected to collide.

Forban was full of anxiety and waiting. Those who feared for their lives left the village but most stayed behind, believing in the soldiers of our village.

Every night I prayed to the gods and burnt a flower for the safe return of Samre and Lukarian. I believed in them, of course, but that didn’t mean I shouldn’t pray for their safety. I had no more bad omens from the gods and Kirrahh had given up trying to get me to leave.

With Samre away Johnro and Jemro could pick on me more than usual. They knew where I worked and it was easy for the merchants to become angry with me if I kept ‘tripping’ or ‘dropping’ things.

It was early in the morning and I was polishing orbs for the magic merchant. He had been giving most of his orbs for the soldiers of Forban and an unclean orb could be dangerous. I was about to finish polishing my third orb when the one I was polishing suddenly smashed in my fingers. I jumped up with surprise and the other two rolled off the table, smashing on the ground.

“Akaiya!” The magic merchant yelled, falling to the ground and picking up smashed orb pieces.

“I am sorry, someone threw something, I will not let it happen again.” I pleaded, helping him pick up the pieces.

“Out! I do not want you helping me anymore!” He yelled, shooing me away.

I looked at the other merchants who shook their heads at me. It was true; those last few weeks the merchants learnt that problems followed wherever I worked and no one wanted me to help them.

I frowned and ran off, searching for Johnro and Jemro. I found them huddled behind barrels, in between two houses.

“You made me lose my job at the market!” I shouted, shoving a barrel out the way.

Jemro held a slingshot in his hand, “Not as bad as you and Samre think, am I?” He smirked, launching a rock into the slingshot and shooting it at me.

It exploded once it hit my skin. I jumped on him and strangled his neck. Johnro pushed me off him and flicked a knife out to my neck.

“Not too brave now are you?” He smirked, the cool blade digging into my skin but he wasn’t serious. He never was, he just liked to feel stronger than me and what would be the point in killing me when they enjoyed bullying me so much?

A loud bell dong made him lift the blade. Someone important was entering through the gates, recently the bell has been used for when groups returned and every time I heard it I would run to see if it was Lukarian and Samre.

“It is not them, Akaiya!” Jemro shouted, pushing me as I ran past him, ignoring them.

I sprinted down the main street and to the front gate. A man stood there, I recognized him as he looked over in my direction. His nose had been broken too many times and he hadn’t tried to fix it, it was an easy aspect to remember.

He was one of the swordsmen in Samre’s group. I smiled; the mages were carrying something behind them. Men rushed out to help them.

My smile faded as I realised they were holding stretchers. “Where is Samre?” I asked the man with the broken nose.