Honor and Blood

Chapter 1

I slowly lowered myself into the river. My rich blue gown bubbled up like a balloon around my legs as I submerged myself to my waist. I pushed the air out and felt the smooth rocks in the river against my feet. A fish swam by the calf, slapping my leg with its tail. I closed my eyes and smiled. The birds sang happily in the trees above me, and I laid back in the water to listen. The river carried me slowly downstream. My limbs were completely still and limp, a peace filling my body. I closed my eyes.

When I opened them again, I was in an open lake. My feet didn't touch the bottom, but the water held me like a baby. The trees shaded my sensitive eyes from the sunlight. I was warm, protected. On the bank to my left, a deer grazed on vegetation. On my right, I saw a family of ducks wading into the water, and the ducklings swimming around their mother. I sat up in the water, using my feet to keep me afloat, and turned to look back at the river I came from. As I looked at the trees I had come from, a dread filled my body. The way I had come from was dark now, and the birds had stopped singing. When I turned towards the banks, the animals were gone. The sky darkened ominously.

I'm not supposed to be here.

I felt myself sinking. Water flooded into my lungs and I screamed, begging the water to let me go. I apologized over and over again until-

"Ryder!" I heard my mother shout from the house.

I opened my eyes slowly, adjusting to the harsh light of the sun. There weren't any clouds in the sky here, but the leaves were turning red, and crumbly, and falling off of the trees around me. I sat up, looking around. The grass was brown, the only tree left on the lot was the one above my head. I stood, walking on bare feet back to the house. I followed the trail through a grove of dead trees to the old farmhouse on top of the hill. My ugly brown sack-of-a-dress dragged on the ground, collecting the dust my feet were kicking up as I walked. But I didn't particularly care. I walked up the dusty drive, swinging my hands as I walked.

"Off daydreaming again I see?" my mother chastised as I stepped inside.

"Nothing better to do here" I replied with a weak grin, rinsing my hands off in the basin by the door. My imagining was more than daydreaming, but I knew better than to argue. She just smiled, hiding the worry I knew she had. Once my hands were rinsed of their dust, I tied an apron around my waist. My mother laid out today's harvest from our garden. We sat at the table and began to count.

One, two, three, four... five hundred and sixty-eight potatoes.

Of these potatoes, we kept four. The rest we would send to the Emperor. It's an honor to provide for the Empire, there is no worthier career. Other than serving in the Empire's army, of course.

My father and my brother had that honor. When I was nine years old, the Empire came and took my father away. I remembered that day. It was warm, and the trees had just bloomed, and I was playing with my brother in the field. We dodged between stalks of corn, screaming and laughing, pretending to be the Empire chasing the heathens out of their homes and countries.

I remember hearing the horses trot up the rocky drive. My brother and I slipped out of the green stalks onto equally green grass and watched as the soldiers hopped off their horses. Their armor shined in the sunlight, reflecting like sunlight off of a beautiful lake. My mother and father were already standing on the porch. My father smiled and shook the captain's hand, inviting them inside.

"Ryder, Adair, come back and say hello!" my mother shouted.

Adair shoved me and ran up, wanting to be the first to greet the soldiers. I followed, shouting protests as I tripped over my skirts. My father already had a satchel packed, and he was sitting at the table. My mother held individually wrapped parcels, handing them to each soldier. Our meals for the week were being donated to the greatest cause on earth. My father kissed my mother one last time and kissed Adair. He hugged me tightly, whispering to me.