The violinist

Run for cover

The lake, turns into a river.. a river roaring with power and i feel the currents take hold of me again as i frantically use more and more magic to keep my head up over the water. Im so busy with that, so i dont notice Ferric floating over to me. I almost kick him in his groin as he lays a hand on my shoulder. He turns me towards him.

'' You did great!'' he says through chattering teeth. He's pale, and by no doubt cold.. like the rest of us.. Behind him i see Braydor keeping Armins body afloat. ''What happend?'' I shout back at him, my uncle is trying not to crack up as he tries to answer me. '' The poor lad had to make an emergency jump as the knights launched another attack at him.. hit his head!'' he says, eventually breaking and starts chukling. I sigh and swim over and hold a hand over Armins unconcious body and close my eyes.

I can feel him drifting in there, and he doesnt seem to want to wake up.. i groan, open my eyes and slap him. '' Wake up Armin! Enough sleep!'' I shout at him, Armin curse and sits up and as he does that Braydor releases the hold he had on him and Armin drops into the water. He surfaces soon and curse like some old sailor.

As the cursing subsides, i just look at him. '' You done?'' i ask. He nods and almost looks a little bit ashamed. '' Thank you.. for.. for waking me'' he says. I only nod, trying not to laugh at the bump forming on the top of his head.

'' From fun to buisness.. those guys back there will not stop hunting us, so we have to get to the meeting point in the Falaichte forest'' Braydor starts explaining.. he closes his eyes for a second, then looks forward. '' Behind the next bend in the river is a small cluster of trees.. we can exit the river there and get warmed up before we continue to the forest'' We all nod and quicken our pace, all looking forward to get out of the freezing river.

...

After some cursing and struggling, we manage to pull ourselves from the river and collapse on the riverbank, barely hidden by a couple of small trees. But only me, Ferric and Armin stay down.. my uncle is already up gathering fire wood. Beside me, Ferric groans. '' How can he still be standing up? That man must be a beast!'' he shouts towards Braydor who only smirks. I chukle and sit up straight. Ferric groans again and curls into a ball and shivers. '' I see the family resemblance.. you two are just.. to positive!'' He mumbles. We all start laughing and then we drag ourselves over to the small fire Braydor got going. I croach down beside Braydor and ruffles my hair with a smile. I look at him annoyed.

'' You did good, Eirim.. im proud of you!'' he says with a mild voice, but then turn his gaze towards the distance as the distant sound of horses come closer. '' But i do believe our work has just begun.. we need to move''

With some complaining we stand and try our best at erasing our footsteps, and the remains of the fire and follow Braydor as he leads us through the small forest. On the other side we meet a small road which leads to a small cluster of halfway burnt down houses.. Its actually like a small village.. or more like a ghost town.. Theres not a single sign of life, and for some reason it makes me sad.

'' What happened here?'' I whisper as we jog through the small village. The others remain silent.. In the middle of the small village theres a huge tree, and the view that meets us makes me want to throw up.

'' The hangmans tree'' Braydor whisper, and closes his eyes for a second out of respect. The large, old tree's branches are full of old hangmans loops.. some of them broken and some of them still have something hanging from them... The smell is almost to much. I stop beside my uncle and try to find my voice again. '' Uncle, what happend? Who did this?'' I ask silently. Braydor sighs and turns away. '' The old king had more than enough with handling his own problems... but sometimes.. he let his rage go out over the villages surrounding the big citys.. these fellows.. were accused of hiding rouge magicians and supporting the rebels..''

I feel tears rolling down my cheeks.. but through the sadness i feel my motivation rise... this is what i fight for. This is who i fight for... They were people, and they were slaughtered for no reason. I clench my fists, and i feel my uncles warm hand on my shoulder. I look up at him.. '' Theres not much we can do here, but we will remember them.. and we will fight for them... But to do that.. we have to survive'' I just nod and we keep moving.

The halfway burnt down houses are soon replaced by rolling hills and several farms, and in the distance... the Falaichte forest.

'' Um.. guys?'' Armin says behind us and we turn. I curse. '' How did they catch up to us? They could not possibly have known which way we were going to take!'' Ferric shouts as we start running from the fastly approaching black knights. Braydor curses as he blocks an energy ball from the black knights. '' There must be a mole in our system!'' he shouts and screams as another energy ball hits his arm. I let out a scream of fury as i see him hunch down in pain, turn and release a wave of energy which pushes the black knights back several feet. While i kept running, Armin and Ferric got Braydor up and managed to get him running again.

I dont know if it was the adrenaline or what, but we were getting closer to the forest. But we were not moving as fast anymore, Braydors wound clearly affected him and trying to protect both him and ourselves from the black knights attack made us all lose power.

'' They're gaining at us!'' Ferric shouts towards me. I let out a frustrated scream, stop and let the others run past me. We're just a few hundred meters away from the forest, but i knew that if we didnt do anything soon, our pursuers would catch us.

'' What are you doing? We have to run!'' Ferric shouts at me. But i dont move, instead i kneel and close my eyes. '' Just have to let the magic flow..'' i whisper and start building up whats left of my magic power.

Before i know it, im surrounded. Some of them rode horses.. i could hear the animals feet moving. I open my eyes, feeling my magic spark in the air around me. They fear me.. i know they do, but in number there is power.

One of them, obviously their leader points a sword at me. I can barely make out his face under his dark hood. '' Eirim Castra! You are under arrest for treason against the crone!'' He barks out. I laugh, and he looks on me confused. '' Do you find this amusing, child?'' He spits at me and jumps down from his horse. I stop. Did he just call me a child?

'' That was a mistake..'' i say, as calmly as i can. Reach out a hand and hit him in the chest with a lightning strike from my palm which sends him flying out of the circle of black knights. Then a counter attack hits my shield, and chaos erupts.

Energy wave after energy wave, the soldiers are to many for me to handle and i feel myself getting more and more exhausted. '' I just.. have to buy them enough time.. '' i think, a little bit desperate. I just have to hang on...

...

Im kneeling... im barely able to hold up my shield when someone strikes the black knights from somewhere outside my viewpoint and the attacks from the black knights subside.

Someones at my side, i feel a hand on my shoulder and then a warm feeling spreads through my body and i feel my energy return to me. I look to the side into the face of a tanned girl with dark, brown hair. Her green eyes makes contact with me, and she smiles. '' Its okey, come with me'' She says calmly and drags me up on my feet and towards the forest. As we start jogging i start noticing the others. Or i can feel their presence but all i see is shadows.. dark silhouettes of people, with shadows dancing around them, keeping them hidden from sight.

Somewhere in the forest, a horn is blown. Obviously the retreat signal as the shadows starts returning with us.

We are running now, and as i look to the sides i can see faces in the shadows. Smiling faces...

These are the rebels.

We have reached our first destination.