Leonaira: Tales of fallen kings

"The Hut in the Ancient Woods" - Chapter 6

James

Hours later...

Mia sits up in her bed, she's breathing heavily.

"great spirit" She whispers.

"Mia?" I whisper. There's no response, then she suddenly starts to cry quietly. I have never heard her cry before. She's always been so positive, sarcastic at times. I sit on the chair across from the bed, whereas Orc is outside getting more wood.

I get up walking over to her, the fire still faints enough the cracking of the blazes mixing with the remainders of the firewood still fill the air with Mia's cries for comfort, I sit down by her feet at the base of the bed. She looks up wiping away her tears although there always seem to come new ones. She seems to notice me but doesn't seem to want to stop crying nor say anything to me.

"bad dream?" I ask, my voice still a whisper. She takes a deep breath trying to calm down. "Yeah" She nods, her voice is shaky. For once she really seems vulnerable.

" ...past problems?" I asked placing my hand on what I think is the bottom of her shin.

She nods. "the hunters once made it to our camp... only half of our clan survived" She struggles to keep back tears. "that's why you were exiled, and you were, what, Ten?" I ask.

Mia nods. "They killed my dad, my friends, had no mercy." She starts to cry again; her whole body is shaking. At this point I'm rather annoyed at the thought of it, a kid being exiled like that. For a mistake that couldn't have been helped. They would have only tracked her.

"I was thirteen. I got scared and lead the hunters to our camp" She still can't seem to stop crying. "They are all dead and it's my fault."

I nod getting up. I know how hard it is. To have blood on your hands. Everyone else's, but not ever your own. I hug her. Nothing else. Only holding her. "they're dead because of the hunters. Not you" I look at her before hugging her again. She hugs me back, holding on to me tightly like I would keep her from falling. She has buried her face on my shoulder slowly, slowly calming down.

After a few minutes, I finally let her go. Looking at her "I know how it feels, believe it or not. I've never had anyone to worry about. Except for my father and mother of course. But, they're long gone. Sometimes accepting that and knowing that nothing, and I mean nothing you could have done could have avoided that."

She sniffs "maybe they wouldn't have found us If I hadn't -" I cut her off

"but they did, and you did. Take control of what they couldn't. Don't waste the life that you were made to live. Even as hard as the life may be. It's still a life, and it's your own life." I smile, I sound like I'm giving good advice for once. Who would have thought it?

"Okay..." she smiles a little, the tears still running down her cheeks.

"now enough with the crying, it really doesn't suit you" I smile chuckling slightly. She nods wiping the tears from her cheeks

"Plus, my father died from my mistakes too, not telling him about Victor's constant bullying of me. You know that son of a bitch used to put metal bars through my chest and used to watch me struggle to get out. Then when I did, he found out how much damage I ca do." I smirk remembering how I took his eye, as horrible as it was. I ripped his right eye out of his socket. He wears an eye patch to this day because. of me.

"Then my mother ended up." I hiccup from thinking about it, the harsh reality that is my family. Knowing that I couldn't help but accept but never able to love them. "Turning on my father only to be betrayed by Victor. The irony is figuratively killing me." I chuckle even more so, its a good thing Mia can't sense my emotions, as I feel just a great weight on my shoulders.