Child of thorns

Fin- Chapter two

Lost and alone in a forest no one can help you; your shouts go unheard as the wind snatches them away.  I could hardly breathe wandering through the darkness. I was back at the cabin. Running water was pouring through the open door. The air was crushing my chest. The sky swirled and I fell to the ground gasping, groping and striving for the last of the oxygen I had left.  The vast emptiness, the eternal suffocation surrounded me.  It felt like weights being pressed on my chest, worse, like someone was intentionally lying on my chest crushing the wind out of me. The darkness began to close around me. No matter how hard I tried to shake them off, I was unable to. No one was there. No one at all...

I awoke from my nightmare sweating profusely. My heart beat faster than the tribal drums of the Otakari. I never dream, to have a nightmare was especially rare. Wise women say that dreams were an insight into the future. I read this in a book I once stole from a merchant. When Aegon found out what I did he was furious. He did not believe in thievery or any form of crime.

The sun shone into the small house and illuminated the room. Through the use of carefully placed mirrors we had created a system which allowed the light from the morning to shine throughout the entire house. The house only had two rooms. I stayed in a small room with an even smaller bed. Aegon slept in the same room but in a different bed. We had become accustomed to this lifestyle.

I stepped outside and into the clear crisp air. We lived near the city of Lorralin and the roads near us was always abundant with travellers.

I preferred the countryside as the air was much cleaner I loved to watch the knights and squires riding through the cities though. Aegon said the cities were corrupted and that I should stay away from them or be corrupted like the people in them. I chose to ignore him.

I walked through the path I usually take. I always walked down to the lake hunting with Aegon. I could only barely manage to catch fish. I was very proud of my achievement when i did catch one. Aegon would then come out of the bushes carrying a deer on his back and acting as indifferent as possible.

I found the tree where I usually spent my time. Garridan gave me a short bow for my name day last year. I picked up the bow and fired a few shots. No matter how hard I tried I could not hit the target which hung from a branch low on the tree.  I had only managed to hit it twice and only along the rim of the target.  I had not used the bow in a long time and my hand hurt from the tension of the string.

I walked towards the tree and decided to do something I had not done for quite some time.  I stood next to the tree, lay down my bow and used the knife to mark my height into the tree. After using a stone to sharpen my blade I was finally able to make my mark. The previous knife marks on the tree were still evident. I stood back and admired my handiwork. Judging from the tree I had grown roughly two inches. I needed to grow faster.  I was still very small in comparison to Aegon and Garridan.

I picked up my bow and headed back to the cabin. Aegon had been gone two days now. He was always going places on business but he never took me with him. I begged him to let me accompany him but he refused. He would never view me as more than a child.

I was always worried for Aegon. The high road is constantly besieged by bandits. Worse, the King of the Dead had scattered his troops and was using them to ambush travellers on the Utopian pass and through the Kilbuff Mountains.  Aegon is strong and smart but I still found it hard to sleep when he leaves. He had told me that he would be arriving home sometime today.

I decided to head into the city as I had heard rumours that the Kings men would be returning from battle.  I had been left two pescans to pay for food if need be. As we lived very close to Lorralin, I was there within the hour.