Tyrant's Ebb

Tyrant's Ebb, chapter 5 - Ten Thousand Prayers

Vaera

The vessel for the elder of blood.
One moon and two days since the new Mark of the Other One blossomed.

She eyed the passing refugees with hunger in her eyes, barely noticing the unkempt strands of hair and filthy locks in her face.

Vaera shook her head and tried to focus her attention into solving her predicament once again, yet try as she might, her thoughts would constantly return to the most immediate annoyance. She was not in any way hungry, but every once in a while a scent most pleasant would reach her. And a vicious hunger would befall her, blotting out all other thoughts and emotions.

She was certain the scent was new, absolutely foreign to her. Perhaps that was the reason she was so intoxicated with it. And that also might have been why she could not figure out where it came from. All she could tell was that it seemed to emanate from the refugees entering Hinterwall.

"Curse these louts! By the Six, curse them!" Vaera swore out loud.

It took her a moment to realise someone next to her was suddenly babbling apologetically. She was too dumbfounded by the mother of three unruly children apologising without end to say anything meaningful.

It took the father of the three to bring her out of this frozen stupor.
"Would you watch your attitude! They are only children! They don't know how to act in this situation!" He roared, causing some of the countless others surrounding Vaera and the family to turn their attention towards this ruckus.

"What?" She blurted out before realising what she should be trying to say. "No. Not like that. I did not mean them. I didn't even notice them. I just... Lost. Someone. I may have lost something. No. I lost nothing. What I mean. I was not thinking. At all. Not of your children. I was lost in thought. Thinking about others. They may have gotten themselves into a real mess. I don't really pity them, but they might have made it worse, you see... for others... I mean. That does not really matter. Never mind. I am sorry."

She knew what she ought to say, yet it took longer than usual to reach the correct thoughts. It took her quite a few more moments to look around in a stupor and realise she had been rambling loudly. Vaera could feel her face turn red from top to bottom.

"Look mommy, she just fell in love!" One of the three children, a girl, shouted.

There were quite a few chuckles around her. That was all Vaera could register. She knew all kinds of eyes were on her. Concerned looks, some slightly fearful of her perhaps, some worried about her, some who thought they knew. She could not really see them, she only knew of the way they were looking at her.

In a half-panicked state, she stood up. The swirling colours in front of her eyes almost made her sit back down. "I'm just gonna. If you don't mind. Shut my eyes... Sorry. I am truly sorry." She mumbled as she stepped past a few of the refugees and made her way closer to the edge of the dock they were on. She found a few crates in the right position to lean against as she sat down again.

No matter the time of the day, groups of people fleeing the inner regions of the Empire were arriving. And their numbers were steadily increasing. Hinterwall was not a small settlement, but it was not built to deal with this many people. They crowded the village, the main approach, the harbour at the lake-side, and had just filled up the main fort on the hills. The only place still vacant was the mountain pass to Spearhead.

After the tremors and quakes had reached a new peak of intensity yesterday, the soldiers were now tearing down the barriers in the pass. Work had begun in the middle of the night and without warning. In the morning several officers came to seek volunteers.