Sorceress

Chapter 35:

I wrap my arms around Call's neck, as we kiss with slow, loving movements. We break apart, laughing, and smiling, and I hear a round of applause erupt from the entertained members of the village. Call jumps down from the wall, and bows, I climb down the ladder, embarrassed but also strangely overjoyed. The attention suddenly turns from Call and i as there is a commotion to my right. We turn around as  Elif exits from the chief's hut, calling out to his tribe,

"MY PEOPLE, WE WILL BEGIN OUR RUN TO THE AILLEACHT FIELDS NOW! WE WILL FIGHT FOR OUR LOVED ONES! FOR OUR BROTHERS AND SISTERS UP NORTH! FOR FREEDOM! AND FOR WAR!" A roaring cry starts up as able bodied warriors start pouring out of the village, racing across the barren landscape, seemingly knowing where they are going. Call races back to his house, picking up a cloak, before joining the wave of people, I stand rooted to the ground, confused, 

"Your horse bolted last night, Aine, elvish horses are skittish, you will have to run with us," Call yells, trying to reach me. I begin running.

We have been running without a break for two hours, my ordeal has made me fit, and I am just about able to keep up with this tribe. Call has been called to the front of the tribe by his father, where the strongest warriors and chief's family are leading us. Pounding the hard rocky ground. Pounding. Pounding. My head. Pounding. My legs. Pounding. My body.

As fatigue seeps through me, earth below me, and sky above me are all I feel. The dizzying blue stretched thin far above me, and the hard rock bracing against my feet.

We cross out of the barren landscape into forest and fields. Pounding.

A cry starts up in front. We jolt to a stop, shocked. I connect with my magic, seeing through the eyes of the tree opposite the front of our party, and spy a Viking scouting group. Unease seeps through me as I feel a horrible sense of de ja vu- I am reminded of the night with the Viking scouting group, when I first fought with the runaway slaves. 

"VIKINGS!" I cry, and a ripple of shock pulsates through the group. As the front of the tribe begins desperately fighting, I call out to those around me, "CLIMB THE TREES! USE YOUR MAGIC AND BOW AND ARROWS!" We are packed into such a tight space by the trees that we are trapping ourselves. I lead the way, by asking the tree in front of me to lower a branch to lift me up onto the highest branches of the tree. It complies, and soon I see others around me following suit. Adrenaline pulses through my veins as I remember that the last time I met the Vikings, my new tribe were massacred. Rage consumes me as I fire arrow after arrow, and once I am out of arrows, I use my magic, and summoning all my energy, I call for the roots of the trees to come up and consume the remaining Vikings warriors. This saps my energy from my body so violently that I collapse against the rough trunk of the tree. I remember one thing about magic that I was told about when I was a child- trees and earth are the hardest to get involved in battles, as they are often unwilling to involve themselves, and sometimes weaker sorcerers and sorceress's can be killed when trying to involve the earth and trees in a war. They are willing to help the Celts, but will not kill. My sight is hazy, and my ears ring slightly. All around me, is stunted slow motion, I see those around me in trees jump down, and as their feet thud against the ground, this also reverberates through my ears. 

"TO THE CHIEF," I hear cried out over and over again, I suddenly pull out of my strange trance, and hear a cacophony of lamenting and shouts. I immediately jump down from the tree, and push my way to the front of the group. I see the dead of the battle; Elif, his wife, and five other of the best warriors. Call is knelt on the ground, his head in his hands, silently sobbing. "TO THE CHIEF," is called out in sad shouts. Call is now the chief of his tribe. I see him pick himself up and face his tribe,

"TODAY WE HAVE BEEN WRONGED, TODAY WE HAVE ANOTHER REASON TO MEET THE VIKINGS AT THE AILLEACH FIELDS! WE WILL AVENGE THE DEAD!" As soon as he finishes, he attempts to take the chiefs torc off his fathers neck, his hands shaking as he tries to navigate the necklace off his dead fathers pale body. Call's hands completely fail him, and he drops the torc, I rush forwards, and take his hands in mine, kneeling in front of him. Call's body is shaking with sobs, and his hands in my own, we pick up the torc together, and place it around his neck. "I shouldn't be crying- you have been through so much more than me, when I am older at twenty one winters, and I am falling apart at my father and mothers deaths. Don't get me wrong, this is not the first time that I have been through this- my twin younger brothers died last autumn when they fell into an iced over lake, and I have lost aunts and uncles, and friends fighting against other tribes... But this..." I can see that Call is rambling to mask his grief. I take his head into my hands,

"What would your mother and father want you to do now?" Call smiles at me, takes my hands in his, and raises us both up onto our feet,

"Lead my tribe. MY PEOPLE! WE HAVE LOST OUR LOVED ONES, BUT THERE IS NO TIME TO BURY THEM, THEY DIED A HERO'S DEATH, AND SO THEY WILL NOT NEED BURIAL! WE MUST NOW RUN!" An angry roar echoes through the group, at the death of their friends and family, we are soon running at nearly double the speed; forests, wind, earth, sky, whizzing past us as they blur into one lust- revenge.