Ever So Lightly- Book 1

21

Kade was pulled from the dark road of memories his mind had begun to travel along by a flicker of movement to his right. A figure had fallen to the ground twenty or so paces from where he still knelt. A field of red death lay between them, but Kade could imagine a cord of grief tying him to the kneeling figure.

    Others were approaching from the direction of Faron, a few mounted on horses, most on foot. Three figures broke away from the group, quickly making their way toward the first mourning form, who was now grasping at the scarlet snow. Kade blinked to clear his vision of the remnants of his own sadness. The illuminating light of Vaden revealed to form to be a girl.

    No.

    Kade couldn't believe what he was seeing. A girl with shining silver hair. He decided that fate had a funny way of tying things together.

    Continuing to observe the small group that now surrounded Zephyr, Kade began to plan. Planning would keep his mind off of the massacre he had just witnessed, off of the Mortaran woman and man, off of his mother. Off of her death. Planning was something he was good at, something he could handle.

    Glancing at the snow immediately surrounding him, Kade took note that most of it was trampled and stained. He slowly, slowly rose to his feet, thanking the stars that he hadn't removed his sword when he'd knelt. With his eyes he quickly plotted a course to the woods not far off the road. Looking back toward Zephyr's group, he saw that the girl was now being hauled to her feet by her friends. Kade took the moment of distraction to begin stepping lightly toward the trees, making sure to keep a steady grasp on his invisibility. Patience, he thought. Rushing would only lead to mistakes, and mistakes would lead to death. This valley had been plagued with enough of that this night.

    Kade had just passed through the first line of trees when he heard a commotion behind him. Turning to look back, he saw Zephyr's friends were now trying to haul her away from the gruesome scene. She was resisting, bucking like a wild horse.

    "I have to find them!" Her voice was broken in a way that Kade could feel resonating within himself. From behind a tree, he watched as the girl broke away from the man holding her. As she went from body to body, Kade watched on. He watched, and he planned.

~

"I have to find them!"

Jasper had broken his promise to Nakomi. Don't let her lose anyone else.He had made a promise that he now saw crumbling alongside Zephyr. She was sobbing, gasping for breath as she wrenched free of his arms, stumbling toward the still forms littering the valley. Jasper heard someone behind him vomit, saw Saria begin to slide toward the ground. Bennet reached to steady the young woman as Jasper stood unmoving.

It will break her.

Jasper knew he should go to her, drag her away from the violence laid out before them. He should protect her. But stars, he couldn't move. He knew what was coming, and he wanted to stop it more than anything in that moment.

Don't let her lose anyone else.

Zephyr screamed. Jasper's knees struck the cold, slick ground. He couldn't pull air into his lungs fast enough. Bile rose in his throat as he watched Zephyr fall next to a body, her arms grasping to hold the figure close to her. He could see the black hair shining in the moonlight, the red slash smiling across the figure's throat.

It will break her.

Jasper's eyes closed, pushing out a buildup of tears. The cold air stung his wet cheeks. He pressed his palms hard against his eyelids as he choked on a gasping breath. He sat that way for what felt like ages, dreading the moment he would have to look into those green eyes and see her pain staring back out at him.

"I can't find Tib! Jasper, I can't find Tib!"

Jasper's eyes flew open at the sound of his name. He found Zephyr fallen in the snow, her entire body streaked with blood, shaking as she scrambled from one figure to the next. Her movements were frantic now, her crying becoming uncontrolled. Jasper moved as quickly as he could. Stumbling through the snow, he reached Zephyr and pulled her up. She tried to wrench free again but he held her tight against him. She fought and fought, but his grasp remained firm as he held her, tears sliding down his face into her hair.

Zephyr's fighting slowly abated. Jasper felt her hand grasping his shirt, her sobs shaking through her whole body and coming so fast she could hardly control her breathing. He kept holding her tight, holding her up. He had broken his promise to Nakomi. He kept failing, Zephyr kept losing the ones she loved. But he had also said he would keep her up. And maybe that was all he could do, but with the stars, wherever they'd gone, as his witness, he'd hold her up with everything he had.

"Jasper, I can't find Tib," she choked out again, chanting the words more than saying them.

Tib. She can't find Tib.

Jasper grasped Zephyr's hand and broke into a jog. He pulled the broken girl behind him, both of them stumbling around bodies, slipping on the slick ground. He pulled her from wagon to wagon, frantically searching for any that looked familiar. Zephyr tripped, her shin banging against a wagon wheel, her hand wrenching from Jasper's. She let out a yelp as she fell the the ground. Jasper turned to help her back to her feet before resuming his search. As he pulled Zephyr up from the snow once more, his eyes caught sight of what he'd been looking for. Zephyr followed his line of sight to a wagon. She looked on for a moment before sucking in a gasp. Her hand had a vice-like grip on his own as they both began to approach the wagon.

Jasper climbed into the wagon's bed, turning to help Zephyr up beside him. They worked together to push everything away from the right side. Jasper's fingers fumbled along the floor. The lines in the wood were harder to see by the light of the moons, especially while smoke still hid Terminas. Zephyr's fingers joined his own, searching, searching. There.

Jasper lifted the trap door, hoping with everything he had that he was right. Zephyr's whole body had stilled, her eyes wide, mouth pressed into a grim line. Jasper found that he couldn't look away, he had to see it on her face.

It was as though his heart kick started to life when he saw Zephyr's face crumple with relief. Jasper tore his gaze away from the girl to look into the opening in the wagon bed. A small, tear-stained face looked back up at him.