Angel Wings

Chapter One

Chapter One

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She woke up with the sensation of falling still lingering in my mind and body.  Eve sat up and sighed, whipping sweat from her chilled forehead.

    “Another night, another nightmare.” She murmured the common saying of the refugees. Even though they survived the horrible war they all knew their minds were stained forever with the images and fears that still vibrate through them from time to time.

    She got up and went down stairs, wrapping her shall around her and stepped lightly down the creaky stairs of her temporary home. Or what she hoped was temporary. In truth most refugees in the village had simply decided in staying in Runder, not wanting to go back to their homelands and face the memories, but Eve thought staying here was the worst decision imaginable. She thought stay there in the dirty and forgotten town was a final act of defeat, a sign of giving up. Eve was determined to return to Mossa with her father and start their lives again.

     She jumped as she heard a clang for the kitchen, then shortly after her father’s voice rang out, “Drat it all! Useless hands. Still have to take the darn horse out...”

     Eve stepped quickly into the kitchen and bent to help pick up the cooking pot he had dropped. “There Father, I’ll get it. Did you say you need to take the horse out?”

     Her father, Benderick Balfour, did not look at her. He never looked at her anymore. “Yes, yes,” he grumbled, “the darn horse needs out.”

     “I’ll take him out,” she said quickly, and stood to leave. As she was walking out of the kitchen she half turned back towards him and said, “I love you, Father.”

      “Yes, yes,” he muttered.

     The air was still stale between them. They hadn’t talked much since they got to the refugee village eight months ago. Both still grieving over the loss of the other members of their family. Eve’s mother was lost in the attacks, as was her younger brother. Kale was only fourteen when they took him.

     Eve’s held her breath as the pain in her heart returned and she bit her tongue.

     “No crying,” he had said, “not one tear...”

     The horse let out a happy cry when he saw Eve enter the barn. He was a large Clydesdale, a beautiful black and white beast with eyes so black you could see eternity in them. Eve opened the door and called him by his name, “Valiant....the horse that outran the Selifane.” It was that very horse that saved her and her father’s lives.

     She walked along beside him, admiring his beauty, but when her feet grew too cold in her thin shoes she gathered up her nightgown and mounted him. They walked for a long while and a good distance, and Eve watch the sky pink with the promise of another day. She sighed and petted Valiant, and said, “Another day in the camp of the hopeless...lovely.”

     She was about to turn back when something caught her eye. She turned fully and saw something she wasn’t expecting. Something none of the refugees ever expected.

     Smoke from a campfire.

     She gasped and urged Valiant to go closer, but the horse protested. The camp was a ways off, so far away she could barely make out the figures walking about it.

     “Oh my lords....who are you?” she wondered aloud.

     Suddenly one of the figures stopped and turned in her direction. Before Eve had a chance to wave a strange light came at her at full speed, knocking her in the chest and sending her flying off Valiant.  Her horse cried out and lifted his front legs. Eve tried to call out and calm him, but she could hardly suck the air back into her lungs

     And then, in the blink of an eye, a woman was standing over her.

     She had an annoyed look on her face, her sharp features forming into a frown. The woman’s lips were tin and painted red. Her nose sharp, her cheekbones high. She had a feline look about her, Eve thought. Her hair was short, black and strangely cut in uneven lengths, giving her a wild look. But none the less, she was beautiful.

     It was her eyes, which were a blood red, that caused Eve to scream.

     She slapped Eve harshly across the face, “Quiet, bitch! Are you seeking to wake the whole village?”

     Eve simply stared at her in awe. She was a witch, a real, honestly witch! Eve had never seen one before, and they always seemed like things from story books that she was never quite sure they existed at all. But sure enough this woman had magic running through her veins.

     “Zativa, get away from her.” The voice sounded as annoyed as this woman looked.

     The witch growled angrily, but stood. “We should silence her, or she’ll open her fat mouth and ruin everything!”

     A man wearing simple leather amor walked around Valiant, whom he had calmed, and came to stand next to the witch. He looked down at Eve, a question in his brown eyes.

     “She doesn’t look like she wants any trouble. Just calm down, Tivie.”

     He moved his head to the left just as a clawed hand lashed out at his cheek. “I told her not to call me that, you pompous ass!”

     As they bickered Eve stood slowly. Valiant trotted up to her and she twined her fingers through his main, ready to run.

     Another witch light knocked her to the ground. “Look! She goes to warn others! Let me kill her, Archer.”

     Eve gasped and forced the air back into her lungs. She got up shakily and reached for  Valiant again. Zativa raised her hand and it started to glow, but Archer simply slapped it away. The witch glared at him, but the man looked towards Eve instead and asked,

     “What do they call you, lady?”

     Eve hesitated. She had heard stories of what a witch could do to you if they knew your name. “I am...Elira of the West Forest.”

      “We are looking for a man by the name of Benderick Balfour of Mossa. Do you know this man, Elira?”

     She stiffened at the mention of her father. Zativa noticed and sent another witch light at her chest, knocking her over again.

     Archer turned on her, “Enough! Bo back to the camp and finish packing up, I’ll handle this myself.”

     The witch glared at him, but did as she was bid. One moment she was there, the next she was gone, nothing but purple smoke floating where she once was.

     Archer helped Eve up, “Lady, we need to  know where this man is, only he can help up. I apologize for the way Zativa acted, but you must understand that we have gone many months without a single soul knowing of us and it is only understandable for her to be overly cautious.”

     Eve simply nodded, nursing the bitterness that was forming for the two strangers.

     “Now, do you know where this Benderick is?”

     Again she stiffened. She was afraid, and didn’t want her father in any harm. “Sir...I am not sure I trust you with that information.”

     “Madam, please.” He walked stepped closer to her, his brown eyes pleading. “We’ve come all this way. Do not reject us...please.”

     That was when Eve actually looked at this man called Archer. His hair was a light brown, much lighter then hers. He kept it short, but it was just long enough to let the wind run through it, brushing it against his forehead. His face was pleasant to look at, his skin a soft tanned shade with only one scar on his left cheek to smudge his beauty. But his eyes were what caught Eve’s attention. They were such a beautiful brown; they looked so much like Kale’s. And she could not help but trust them.

     She agreed to take them her father.