Sword from the Sky

Sword from the Sky - Chapter One

LUCA

 “IT WAS SOMETHING LIKE A BEAST, YET IT HAD THE face of a woman,” Druuk said, who carried a baby in his arms. “The creature tried to take the child, but I managed to rescue him from its grasp.” He studied the shadowed forms in front of him. “He needs help. Will you aid us?”

The three women said nothing and kept their stares on the prince’s eyes without a bother as to what he held in his hands. Though aware of him, their reaction to the prince was lifeless, as if they were secretly observing him, and though visible these women were, they seemed in the end to act as if partly invisible, as though Druuk had just come upon ghosts that had made themselves known to him under the breath of an angry moon.

“My name is Druuk,” he said, taking a few steps back, second-guessing his decision. As his eyes took to the shadows behind the women, he was able to study the night, and behind them he found a number of traveling carts, forming a semicircle with a larger cart positioned at the center. “Are you Rohpadors—healers?”

They said nothing. So he held his arms tight and walked past them, and as he did, an older woman came out of the larger cart in the center. Running down the steps, she rushed towards Druuk. She was an elder, and judging by the reaction of the other three women, commanded much respect.

“I need your aid,” Druuk said as the elder approached him. “I carry a prince of Bune.”

“A prince?” the old woman said.

“I need medicine,” Druuk said. “May I trouble you for some? I’m a prince of the royal palace.” Druuk undid the blanket he carried and revealed a newborn baby boy. He was losing color, and from the moment Druuk exposed the child to the night, he began to cry in immense pain. “He’s wounded.”

The woman reached for the baby and pressed her hand on the child’s head. “Poor wee one,” she said. “He can’t handle the pain much longer.”

“Can you heal him?” Druuk said. “Are you not a Rohpador?”

Rohpadors, or Rohpas, were healers who traveled the land, moving from one place to another with the indifference of a passing storm. They lived their lives for the care of others and paid for it by sacrificing their own desires. Rohpas always had a habit of mysteriously appearing without notice, as if they were birthed from the land itself.

“That I am, prince,” she said.

“I would be careful with that baby,” another elder Rohpa said who had poofed out of thin air, appearing at Druuk’s side. “We have no business with princes here. We’re not well liked by the palace.”

“What foul thing has come into you, sister?” the first elder said. “This isn’t about that. This baby needs our help, and we aren’t the type to turn away the innocent.”

“You’ll have no problems with the palace, this I swear to you,” Druuk said.

“Ha!” the sister Rohpa said. “Your oath means nothing to me.”

Druuk, a master of discernment, studied the shrewd Rohpa and saw beneath her eyes a gray spirit. “Who are you?” he said. “How long have you been in these lands?”

“Sister, you don’t look familiar,” the first elder said. “How long have you been traveling with us?”

And with that question, the rude elder Rohpa retreated from them, diving quickly into the shadows.

“I sense this boy you bring is being wanted by the things of the night,” the elder Rohpa said, who then studied the prince and inquired about his torn robe. “What have you been up to in these moonlit hours?” But Druuk said nothing and kept his secrets to himself. “Regardless, this child is hurt, and we must tend to it,” the elder continued. She reached out her hands to Druuk. “Quickly, give the baby here.”