The Raven

Chapter 10 - 306

With  a heavy heart and leaden feet, I slowly limped out of what had used to be my shelter.  As I wandered down the long gone halls, memories from long ago surfaced and I fought hard to push them back down.  In my mind's eye, I saw myself, no older then 3, racing down this very hallway.  My uniform, the white of new recruits, hanging off my small figure.  Commander was at my heels, trying desperately to reel me in.  However, even at that age, I avoided him expertly, giggling with delight as I ran.  

I tried to snap myself out of it, but another memory raced to my mind.  This time, I was older, maybe 10.  I was seated at a table in the Mess Hall.  Beside me sat a young girl the same age as me.  Her blond hair spilled to her waist and intelligent brown eyes shone under dark lashes.  I remembered this girl.  She was 313.  She had been my best friend for years.  I watched as she and I giggled about something, shoulders shaking.  

I shook my head, breaking the memory.  This was too painful.  Shortly after this memory, I had lost 313 on a Night Raid while trying to navigate the rapids. Even to this day, I blamed myself for not going back after she had fallen in, but even at that time, I couldn't and wouldn't swim.  I had never cried, because I had been taught never to show weakness.  However, I had become secluded and had never bonded with anyone again.  This was what Commander had taught me, and I had carried this with me ever since.

I jerked to when I reached the front gates of what was left of the Barracks.  Dark smoke curled off of some of the rubble, clinging to the inside of my throat and making my cough.  I glanced around at the town around me.  What had once been a place full of life and sweet smells was now a collection of smoking rocks.  Venders were nowhere to be seen and townspeople were scurrying around, attempting to put fires out at save their homes and livelihood.  I was appalled to see that no one of Korindal's guards were out, helping the destroyed town.  If anything, that was their job.  Come to think of it, I had actually never seen any of the Spider's men outside of the gates.  

I brought my hand to my face, wiping away tears that had made streams down my ashy cheeks.  Though I am not proud to admit it, the urge to utterly bawl was overpowering.  In the space of only a few hours, I had managed to loose everything that I had ever known or cared about.  The only roof over my head had burned down and the man whom I had cared for most was gone.  I'd never known my father, and my mother had always been out of the picture, dead I'd at least been told by Commander.  This was the one shred of my life I'd at least been told.

I watched as a father and a young child hobbled past me.  The girl was leaning against her father, her leg having been lightly singed.  I blinked, then focused on another couple making their way past me.  It was the country girl and boy I had seen earlier, the ones that had asked me for directions right after my shift as guard had started.  The girl's green eyes were bloodshot and tears were streaming down her face.  Dark hair ran in dirty tangles around her face.  The boy beside her, whom I had assumed was her older brother, was stooped with exhaustion, golden locks spilling in front of his eyes.  He had his arm around his younger sister, as if trying to comfort her, but a slight limp in his left leg keapt him from going very fast. His pant leg was torn at the calve.  I longed to call out to them, to ask them what on earth had happened to this town.  Did they know where the dragon had come from?  Were they involved in any way?  However, I held back.  I was probably the last thing they wanted to manage with.  They didn't need a gangly girl with a sooty face and burned hair to tag along with them.  I stepped back as they rushed back.

It was then, as the country kids ran past me, that the castle gates actually opened and guards spilled onto the streets, bottle-necking at the gate.  Even as they swarmed onto the cobblestones, I could tell that something was wrong.  All faces were covered with strips of cloth and no skin was visible between the plates of armor.  I stood, salty years drying on my cheeks, as hundreds of soldiers marched from the open gates and formed ranks on the small smoldering streets.  As a few stragglers made their way into the backs of their lines, the formation began to stream through the streets, heading in my direction.  I was dumbfounded.  This was the first time I had actually witnessed this many soldiers coming from the gates!  They surged foreword, still in delicate lines.  They hastily marched towards me.  I then realized that the guards weren't coming for me, the sole survivor from the barracks, but for the 2 teenagers who had just passed me.  The young girl and boy glanced over their shoulders, and the boy's striking green eyes widened as he saw the soldiers coming for him and his sister and pushed her before him.  He was trying to herd her to go faster.  What had they done?  I stepped back into the ashes of the barracks in order to avoid being trampled by the King's army.  They were gaining on the children.  What happened next I will never forget.