A Greater Lesson

Chapter 1: Troubled Souls

Rivka

I awoke in the night to a chill and buried myself in my blankets.  I peeked out and looked around my room; small, simple.  The moonlight shone through my little window.   I turned in my bed and closed my eyes, until I heard something.  I heard voices and scrambling in the body of the house.  It was faint, but I heard it nonetheless.  I sat up in my bed and listened, trying to recognize the voices.  They were men.  Not my father’s voice, his was deeper.  My brother had moved on to bigger things in a city far away.  Who would be in my house in the night?  I stood up quietly and crept to the doorway to listen.

“Why did you bring that?  I thought we had an agreement.”

“Everyone needs a backup plan.”

I couldn’t see what he was referring to but I dared not peak my head out to investigate.  What if they saw me?  I assumed they were robbers, taking anything that struck them as valuable.  That’s okay; our possessions were not worth our lives, I was better off staying hidden.

The sound of footsteps unsettled me, I scooted farther away from the thin curtain that kept me hidden.  The night was dark and I couldn’t see the man’s face, but he was coming down the hall to our rooms.  I silently made my way back to my bed and pretended to sleep just in case they happened to come in.  I stayed perfectly silent and alert.  Minutes passed and I heard a shrill, stomach dropping scream.  My sister!  I leapt out of bed to make sure she was okay.  When I got to the door I could make out her body in the darkness, laying there, lifeless on the floor.  She must have been awake too, but she had been seen and she had been stabbed.

As I covered my mouth I forgot everything and a surge of tears and sobs erupted from me.  My careful secrecy hadn’t mattered, the men knew I was awake.  I took one last look at my sister and told her I loved her through the tears.  I had to leave.  I quickly turned as the men came my direction.  I sought the dagger I had always kept under my pillow but thought better than to try to fight them.  I grabbed it and scrambled out my window.  One of the men grabbed my foot to try and pull me back.  I threw force into my leg and kicked him in what I assumed was his throat, cutting my heel on his weapon in the process.  I yelled and dropped to the ground outside with a thud.  I ignored the multiple pains in my feet from twigs and rocks and my bleeding flesh and I ran.  I outran their shouts and looked back to find that they weren’t chasing me.  I slowed to a walk and hobbled to a sitting place.  I inspected my foot and crudely cleaned it with a piece of cloth from my robe. I then tied that piece around my foot to decrease the bleeding, for now.  I planned to go back when I figured the men had left.  I leaned my back against a large rock and dozed to sleep.

I choked and opened my eyes at the light of dawn to find smoke traveling from the west.  I coughed as I stood, only remembering the damage to my foot when I tried to stand and felt the sharp pain in my heel.  I looked towards the smoke and realized it was coming from my home.  I limped closer to try to save whatever might be left, then saw the extent of the damage.  All that was left was a smoking pile of ash.  Tears stung my eyes.  Everything dear to my heart was gone.  My family, my home, my life as I knew it.  I would have been better off staying there and being destroyed with the rest of my world.  I lost everything.  My cry rose to an ear-shattering sob that wouldn’t end for another two weeks.

                        Zorxik (Zôr-zik)

“Zorxik, come back! We’re not finished here!”

I kept my pace into the darkness, foolish anger clouding my judgment.  I wasn’t supposed to enter the cave, no one was.  I hated rules, they were beneath me.  It was common knowledge that caves were dangerous, especially those deep in the jungle.  I had come here before though, nothing happened then.  Why was now different?  Because my dad was here?