The Lost Piece

Chapter Six

Despite being two weeks from completing their training, Arabella didn't cut her Dragonflies any slack. They worked hard together as a brigade, but also found themselves pushing individually. Arabella was only thankful that she had the Chroni's to give the task of signing new Dragonflies, because she had all she could to keep her current group going.

Their day had finished, however, and the sun glistened on the horizon as they were left to their own devices. Akil Crag normally would find himself reading or studying something of decent interest in moments like this; feeding the brain is what he called it. Unfortunately though, the reality that he would be made a Death Shard had caught up with him in the past week, and that left him wondering if studying so much was going to have any payout. Jack had told him it would, but he himself wasn't so sure.

So, he figured he better become a more competent fighter, after all, he didn't want to have to be saved by another comrade time and time again until he eventually met an untimely death. That lead him back to the training grounds of Shard Cove late that evening. Just enough light for a couple extra hours of training before he figured he should sleep.

Akil discovered that he might be a better marksman than that of a swordsman. Maybe that was something he could harness? That lead him to his third night in a row at the target range. His arm no longer caught on the bow string, and his fingers didn't hurt nearly as much.

He had just grabbed a bow from the shelf and a quiver full of arrows before he turned and saw Isa in the distance, slashing away at a dummy; a thin layer of sweat shining across her skin as her thick ponytail whipped around her shoulders.

Akil stared at her for only a moment, he noticed her somewhere training every time he had been here, but it was different seeing her practice fighting. Sometimes, he felt some guilt for the girl, as though he hadn't done enough to help her. He had took the safety net for himself and watched her, wrists held tightly by rope around a post as a black and stunning whip cracked down on her far too many times to count. Even though this guilt sat with him, there wasn't much he could do.

An act of treason had gotten her there, even though she had nothing to do with the crime itself. She never once acted the crime, yet she was forced down because of it. Because of someone else.

Hannah Crag -- Akil's mother -- had been a traitor to Aka, she had spent months, or years, gathering information against Aka and Ellen, which she would promptly sell to any kingdom who would take it. Akil didn't know a single thing about the issue until the guards broke down the door to their small house, grabbed the blonde woman who screamed and struggled before doing the same to the hiding blonde boy who couldn't have been older than ten at the time.

There were several people who got caught, and apparently they believed many more had escaped Aka without a trace. One of them was the leak, and under threats that turned to tortures revealed their two leaders: Hannah Crag and Reiner Lampe; Isa's father.

Since Hannah had been captured, she knew that there was a difficult reality facing her on the other side of things. However, Reiner Lampe had been one of those who escaped Aka. That left Isa and her mother Mona to take punishment in his place, despite not knowing a single thing.

Originally, they believed Akil to hold some knowledge himself, and thought to send him to a less intense punishment, but he had managed to talk his way through the situation and was dismissed of the charges. The torment doesn't end there though, not only was he left a bastard child, but he was a Crag boy, and that left him to be shamed for his entire life.