Eventide Scriptures I - The Shattering of an Era

Chapter 22 - Condemned by Trust

Ryse had been waiting for the approaching footsteps to the barn where he and Marfas spent the night. Through the gaps in the wooden planks, he spied a dozen Isofean soldiers led by a man with cropped hair. The man halted before the door. He was in late thirties, iron armor covered his left shoulder, extended down his arm and fingers.

"Advisor Marfas! Are you present?" he shouted. Marfas responded to the call, and the man with the cropped hair nodded, signaling the village chief to unlock the door.

The man entered alone. He bore the gaze of someone accustomed to the battlefield. He knelt before Marfas. "Advisor, pardon my tardiness."

"I am in good health, Captain Wolford. Please, rise," Marfas spoke.

"Advisor, if I may inquire, who is this youth?" Wolford's eyes shifted to Ryse.

"HE IS THE ASSASSIN! SEIZE HIM!"

Marfas's accusation gave Ryse no time to prepare. Before he could draw his whip, Wolford had already pressed his neck against the wall with his armored forearm. As an active Prana Decima, Wolford's strength left him struggling for breath.

"Mar–Marfas! What are you–"

"Captain, please silence him."

Finding nothing to gag him with, Wolford improvised. He struck Ryse's face with his other hand until he lost consciousness.

***

Someone shook his shoulder.

"Ryse. Ryse! Wake up!" A familiar voice whispered near his ear.

He sat up on a mattress with no bed frame, rubbing his eyes. "Sis... Ryse sleepy..."

Rain poured. Wind battered the window shutters. Flashes of lightning penetrated the gap between them, casting a blue hue in their room. Elsja's red eyes briefly turned purple as she stared right in front of him.

"Let's go, Ryse. While it's raining." Elsja's words were half-drowned by the rain's drumming on the wooden roof.

Their room was locked from the outside. The orphanage caretaker had not provided any light inside the room or in the hallway, leaving the surroundings almost pitch dark.

Crack! Lightning flashed again, illuminating Elsja trying to pry open one of the wooden floorboards with her fingers.

Crack! She retrieved a candle, a lighter, and flint from a secret niche beneath the floor.

Sparks flew several times in the darkness before she managed to light the candle. "Hold this, Ryse."

Elsja tore open the mattress and pulled out its straw. She tied a bundle of straw to the window bars with torn clothing, being as careful as possible to keep it dry.

"If we don't get out of here, they'll end up selling us just like your friends." Elsja took the candle from him and stroked his hair. "I won't let anything happen to you."

She ignited the straw bundle. Once alight, the fire took on a life of its own. Its red tongues licked the ceiling, casting large shadows behind them.

Elsja hugged him in the corner of the room. It was all too frightening, and he began to sob. His sister then sang his favorite song. Her gentle breath caressed his ears.

Before the song ended, the window bars had burned down to thin twigs. However, the fire also spread and crept over the entire window frame.

"Ryse, I'll go first." Elsja ran without second thought and burst through the frame of fire. The burnt bars cracked, spewing sparks as they broke. She tumbled onto the backyard of the orphanage.