Firewind

Chapter 5-Zander

I was picking berries from the rows of bushes outside my house when I heard trumpets sound from Luxar, the town near my home. My family and I had lived in the cottage on the farm for as long as I could remember. It had acres of orchards and gardens. I carried the heavy basket on my shoulder. It was full to the brim with raspberries. I brought it inside the cottage and set it down on the large wooden table in the middle of our kitchen.

"What's going on, Madara?" I asked my mother.

"I don't know, Chapi," she said looking out of the window above the sink. She was washing the dishes from lunch.

A knock sounded at the door. My mother went to get it. When she came back she was leading 4 king guards and the Crown's Hand, dressed in a vibrant purple tunic. The colour of mourning.

"Zander, this is the Crown's Hand, Astorio Lightheart," my mother said. "This is my son, Zander Liadon."

"But he is also a Dracard," Astorio announced in his deep voice. "Which means that he or his sister have the right to rule."

I couldn't help but laugh at that. Me? Royalty? Yeah right. Take your jokes somewhere else. But when I looked at the faces of the guards and my mother, I could tell they weren't joking.

"I-I'll go get my sister so we can," I started slowly, searching for the right words, "discuss the situation."

I backed out of the room and went upstairs. Surprisingly, my mother didn't try to stop me, despite the fact that we both knew she wasn't at home. I grabbed some stuff from my room shoved it in a pack, and went back downstairs. I grabbed some food from the kitchen, filled a flask with water and left through the back door.

I walked past the fields, gardens and orchards that I grew up in. I picked a green apple from one of the trees and took it to the pasture where our horses were grazing. I whistled to the mare closest to me. Her name was Selise. She came over to the wooden fence that I was standing on. I offered her the apple and hopped on her back. I hadn't brought a saddle in my haste. But it didn't matter. I had learned to ride bareback when I was 8 and preferred it to a saddle anyway.

I nudged her away from the farm I had worked on my whole life. I had built these wooden fences. I had patched the roof of the barn that the goats stayed in. I had planted all of the new trees in the orchard. It was hard to leave and it seemed like it was happening to someone else. The Zander my family knew would never run away like this.

I urged Selise into a gallop. We sailed over a section of the fence that had collapsed and disappeared into the foliage of the forest.

***

Something's not right. I knew that as soon as Zander left to "go find his sister". She had left early this morning with a wagon full of goods to sell in the market in Luxar. She hadn't returned yet. To make matters worse, the Crown's Hand was sitting in the sitting room and four guards stood near him.

"He'll just be a moment," I said. "What brings you to our humble cottage today?"

"The Queen has passed," Astorio said sadly.

"Fyevarra?" my voice cracked on my sister's name.

***

The first thing I realized after I left my family, was that I had no idea where to go. Just that I had to get away and I had to get far away. I decided to follow the stream so I'd at least have water and a source of food. But that was where my problems began. I followed the stream for five days when I reached the end of it. The end was gushing up from in between two large stones in rocky terrain.

I frowned at the stones and slid off of Selise's back. I patted her shoulder and fed her my last apple. The suns were just setting in the east and cast purple, red and gold light through the leaves of the forest. I built a fire and curled up beside it, staring at the flames until my eyes drifted closed.

I was immediately overwhelmed with nightmares, one after the other, and couldn't wake from it. In the first, my father was being tortured. I tried to run to him but I was being held back. I tried to yell to him, to tell him that it was going to okay. But he looked in my direction unseeingly, as if he could see right through me. I turned to look over my shoulder and saw my sister laying on a bed sleeping. Her cheeks were very rosy. I sighed with relief. She was safe. My heart sank with dread as I realized she wasn't breathing. Her body convulsed and she coughed up blood.

I turned to run away. My mother was in front of me now on her knees clutching her head on both sides. Her mouth was wide as if she was screaming but no sound was coming from her throat. A shadow loomed over her. It swiped at her and she lifted her head to meet my gaze. There were unspoken words in her eyes, but I could understand every single one. I'm sorry, I love you....Goodbye. She turned away from me and took a step into the shadow. The silence was broken by a blood-curdling scream.

I jerked awake. The scream was my own. My shirt was drenched in sweat. Selise was hovering over me nuzzling my ear. For a horse, she looked genuinely concerned. I swatted her speckled head away from mine and stood up. I knelt next to the stream and scooped water up to wash my face. The cool water cleared my thoughts.

The gray light of dawn was just peeking through the trees. I turned to face north. I would go north. That means crossing the desert. I was about to get on Selise's back again when I heard a twig snap in one of the bushes. Selise jerked her head in that direction, her eyes wide and her ears alert. Whatever it was must have been something intimidating to a horse because she turned and ran back the way we came.

"SELISE!" I yelled. It was no use. She was long gone.

At least I hadn't been on her or I would've probably not had the chance to grab hold of her mane. I sighed and gathered my blanket and water flask. I shoved it into my bag angrily and turned my back on the fleeing horse. I was about to carry on when the bush rustled again. What had spooked Selise so much? I wondered.

My curiosity getting the best of me, I walked up to the bush and parted the branches. I don't know what I was expecting but what I saw was not it.