The pain of her body was bearable but that of her soul was not. Dragging herself up out of the water seemed to be an impossible ordeal. Her muscles strained and quaked but she managed it. She flopped onto the stones of the alley, resting for a moment and not wanting to move ever again.
Alessa pressed her hand to the jagged wound in her side. She hadn't had time to do anything about it and the swim through the lake had just caused it to bleed even faster despite the best efforts of her wind rune. She could feel the power of the rune weakly for it was just as drained as its bearer. She needed to make some kind of bandage to stop the blood but she was too weak to move let alone accomplish that.
Oh True Runes…she had failed and she would fail this last task as well. He was dead… killed while she stood around like a fool. She'd known they were in danger…He'd known, but he went anyway… left her…
Focus, you fool. This was no time to brood. They'd be searching for her and lying bleeding in this alley wasn't exactly the best idea for evading them. She couldn't even handle one of Godwin's regular soldiers, let alone those strange assassins. Grunting she managed to push herself away from the water and further into the shade of the two buildings towering to either side.
Damn…even that much effort left her dizzy and straining for breath. She looked down at her hand glowing green with the rune. Stupid bastard…doesn't know we're finished…not like it's going to die… just turn back into an orb to be picked off her corpse by some street urchin and sold for some quick potch.
She relaxed into the hard stones and stared Sol Falena's clear blue sky. What a retched day to die on. The sun shouldn't be shining so brightly not on her death day. Damn me…if only the tree boughs of Rokkaku were stretching overhead and the skies were dark and filled with slashing rain and the crash of thunder. That is when she should have died not now on this hot sunny day.
Four days earlier…
Lord Falta yelled back over his shoulder as his horse hurdled forward, "Come on! Come on! You gonna let your old man get'em? I hadn't realized I had such slow children… I KNOW my horses aren't the slow ones!"
The twins were right behind, Dumas shouted back, "Hah! No father, we're just letting you feel good about yourself for a bit"
Garis continued, "It's Locke and El who are the slow ones!" Sure enough the last two siblings seemed content to merely follow gamely.
This was madness! Alessa would never understand the way the Faltas went about hunting. Wandering the forests noisily until you just happened to run into a deer and then chasing after it whooping and hollering all the while, was crazy. Not to mention they were liable to run into a tree or get knocked off by one of these rune forsaken branches. If they ever managed to get within range they then tried take it down with a spear throw.
She grimly held on to the horse's reins and pretty much let it take her along as it would. She was a horrible rider and hated every moment on horseback. She tried not to think about what would happen if the creature stepped wrong moving at this speed. The Faltas were perfectly oblivious to this possibility and it would be just her luck to fail her duty because Ghan Falta broke his neck riding.
Her wind rune was positively enjoying itself, however. She felt it tingling up and down her right arm, begging to be used. It felt almost as if it was some grounded bird finally getting a taste of flight once more. Alessa didn't share its enthusiasm. The proper way to hunt was on foot, slowly…silently. Stalking the animal over a period of hours sometimes days. Killing it quickly and cleanly so that it never even realized you were there let alone that it was dead.
The twins split to pass around her. Dumas grinned at her, "Alessa! Whatever is wrong? You kind of remind me of a…."
"A kitten in a hurricane!" shouted his brother from the other side.
"No…that's not it…hmmm…" he replied as he stroked his chin, making a big show of hardly paying any attention to his horse or the trees flashing past at break neck speeds. By the True Fire, he made it look so effortless.
Alessa glared at him as she molded herself tightly to her horse's back.
"A mouse caught in a crazy Armes summoning drum!" answered Garis gleefully.
"Nope…that's not it either…huh…well, I'll have to think about this one. Right now it's time…" Dumas paused.
Garis raised his spear, yelling, "To get us some venison! Before Dad makes a fool of himself!"
The two crazed brothers pulled ahead of her and she managed to shake her head as they began bantering with their father.
It wasn't long before Locke and Elza caught up with Alessa. The oldest of the Falta children, Locke was also the tallest. He looked down upon her sympathetically, "You know you really don't have to come on these hunts."
"It is my duty to protect…"
Elza interrupted in a sing song voice, " …to protect Lord Ghan Falta from all enemies and to serve his house until such time as my debt has been repaid, The Sword strike me down and Shield stay thy protection should I fail. Yes…yes, we know. Father really hates when you say that, you know?"
Alessa did know. Ghan had a rather different opinion towards the True Runes than most people. He'd talked about it to her before as he'd tried to persuade her to get rid of her wind rune. He absolutely hated the True Runes.
Locke spoke, "But you obviously aren't enjoying yourself and it's not as if any enemies are in this forest."
"Enjoying myself is not a concern. And you don't know there aren't any enemies here." Alessa responded tersely.
Locke just rolled his eyes heavenward as Elza said, "Look! Dumas is going for it!"
Sure enough, her younger brother launched his spear. Missed.
Ghan and Garis quickly followed with their own throws and promptly missed as well. The three brought their horses to a stop as the deer bounded off. Alessa and the two older siblings slowed to meet them.
Alessa couldn't help but sigh with relief as her horse finally stopped moving.
Ghan shouted at Locke and Elza, "What are you doing? You still have spears! Get after it before it gets away! Why are my children so lazy?"
Locke smiled lazily, not taking the comment to heart. He was probably the hardest working man in Verone after all. As heir, he was being groomed to take his father's position as lord of the castle and the village that surrounded it as well as administrator for Verone's horse breeding program that made it such an important part of Falena's economy and military strength.
"Maybe next time, father. I think it's a little late. Perhaps we should head home."
"Already?" The bearded lord looked up at the sun and scowled. Alessa found herself smiling at the sight, he seemed like he was about to begin berating the sun for having the sheer gal to spoil his fun.
Dumas, with that silly goatee that set him apart from his identical twin, got his horse to sidle up next to his father and looked up with him. "You know… I think it might be a bad idea to glare at the sun rune like that." He winked at Garis who watched with joyful anticipation.
"The SUN RUNE! First of all that's not the sun rune! That's the sun! Second. The Falta Family does not bow and scrape to a Rune. Not a chance. We owe our allegiance to our great country Falena, The Queen, and our Proven Comrades! In that order! A rune is a crutch and our country has no need for such an implement! It's greatness shines not because of some silly rune…no I say…that rune gets its power from Falena! Put it in Nagarea…see if it shines then! I should think not!" He stopped to catch his breath.
For all the silliness of his mannerisms, Alessa knew that he truly felt that way. She rubbed her hand conscious that she was the only one here with a rune. Lord Falta absolutely forbid his children from having them.
Elza spoke up, "Well, now that every animal in the forest is running away as fast as their little legs can go, we might as well go home."
Ghan nodded slowly, "I suppose…unless…"
All four responded simultaneously, "NO camping!"
"Aw…come on, it doesn't happen every time!" he called out as the others headed away at a trot.
Alessa managed to convince her horse to get closer to Ghan's. The lord watched his children go a satisfied look upon his face. Alessa knew he greatly enjoyed every chance he got to be alone with his children. Verone was a more laid back place than Sol Falena or Stormfist but it was still hard for a lord to truly be himself when surrounded by servants and retainers.
He spoke, "I'm a lucky man to have such fine children."
"Indeed, milord."
"Oh Alessa…just this once, call me Ghan or Gha for short…or even just G if you like!"
"As you wish, milord"
He shook his head and dug his heels into his horse shouting, "You asked for it. Last one home is a rotten Nagarean holy man!"
Alessa groaned as her horse leapt into motion not bothering to wait for its rider to hesitantly give it the go ahead.