Disclaimer: I don't own anything. Well, except the plot and the original characters but the rest, rien!
A/N: So, here's November and here I am, dedicating this story to my dear Citrus Sunscreen. Hope you like it, my dear! Happy birthday, too...
To whoever comes on this ride with me, I'm writing this story for NaNoWriMo and posting it here daily so as to keep me motivated. I have things planned and I think that this is going to be a fun story. Hope you find it enjoyable too.
The story's unbetaed and it's posted kind of as soon as I finish the chapter. So, all the off things are, of course, my fault. Many apologies for that. *bows*
Feedback would be awesome. ^^
Searching
Prologue
Night had fallen like a heavy blanket over the forest.
The usual noises seemed to have also been muffled by the darkness, whose long fingers had stretched long and deep into the core. Even the wind didn't seem to be able to bring forth loud noises from the vegetation, such was the hush.
There were a few mists that were starting to raise, their translucent whiteness coming upwards, towards the waning moon.
Silence was encompassing everything, until the moment when noise started. It was like a cacophony that tore at the hush like a knife going through fabric.
Three figures emerged from the bushes, the spidery fingers of the vegetation ripped at clothes and skin. But they didn't care about now for they were running. Running away from the terrible events that had torn the right way of the world apart.
So the figures ran, ran, ran, towards the deeper part of the forest, long past treks made by men and where the odd path had been made by whichever animal roamed it. For this part of the forest was mostly wild, commonly addressed as forbidden.
But the few people that cut through the silence were only the beginning. They were like the tip of the spear, a much deeper noise, both from metal and men, followed after them. The natural forest noises didn't stand a chance.
Then, it seemed like the wind had started picking up, blowing in odd directions, scattering the sound even further.
After a while, the trio slowed. The boundary of the forbidden part of the forest had been crossed a while ago and, despite their desperate run, the vegetation had been quick to cover up their tracks, almost as if it didn't want to have any trace or mark of the human species.
From the brief, whispered words uttered, the trio thought to be in relative safety. For the time being, at least.
"We must stop now." Said a female voice, the only one from the trio. "This might be our only chance. Samarium!" The last word was said in a commanding tone, which made the two men stand to attention.
After one brief moment of hesitation, the taller of the two men pushed back the hood and looked at the woman seriously.
"You're right, Cerian. But we must hurry." He glanced at the other man, who was shorter and of a stouter constitution, who had also uncovered his face and was looking at them grimly, blood slowly oozing from gashes on his temple and cheek. He had one hand poised on the hilt of his long sword and gave a quick nod before turning around and scanning the area.
"For the moment I think that we're safe," he said in a gruff voice before heading towards some trees and left the couple in apparent privacy.
"Can we really do it, Samarium?" The woman said in a sad, defeated voice. The man approached her and placed a hand on her shoulder.
"We don't have a choice now. It's for the best, for his best chance to survive." He said in an equally sad voice.
"I don't want to…" Cerian said as she hugged the bundle she had in her arms tighter. "This shouldn't have gone like this." She looked around the small clearing, noticing a tree that would be fit for her intended purpose. She walked on the wet ground, feeling the grass and the mud give slightly underfoot, a squelching noise emerging with every footstep. She approached the tree, knelt down and inspected the tree root, hand running lightly over the rough bark. And then she felt a jagged edge, the wood gave way to a hole. In the weak light – though it was more like complete darkness – she plunged her hand inside. Behind her she could hear the sudden interjection given by her husband and soon enough a weak orange light cut through the darkness. In the flickering light she could take a good look at what was within the bundle. First she could see the fluffy hair that in the current light seemed orange but that was actually pink, followed by the chubby face of her dearest son. He was sleeping soundly, she smiled as she saw that. With a slightly trembling finger she poked at the chubby cheek before she sighed and looked back, towards her husband. The tiny flame in his hand trembled, dimming and plunging his features into darkness, sharpening his expression, deepening the sadness.
He seemed as defeated as she felt, and undoubtedly also showed.
"Come on, we should hurry now. He'll be back in no time." Samarium got closer to her.
"Yes, yes. I know. But, can we really do it?" she asked, at the same time that she placed the bundle inside the niche in the tree root.
"We don't have another choice…" was the unhappy answer.
Then, suddenly, there was a rustle in the vegetation, one that wasn't brought by the wind – as the unnatural wind had seemingly died down while the pained conversation was going on – that startled the pair. The man instantly extinguished the plume of fire that had been sitting in his palm while the woman covered the niche with her body.
"I think that our time's up." The gruff voice of the other man appeared, disembodied, before the stout man appeared. "We should be going."
"Come, Cerian." Samarium said.
"Yes…" She said as she quickly slipped a metallic disc and a bracelet inside the cloth, managing to put it under the outer protection.
She stood up and turned to hug her husband, sorrow cursing through her at the same time that her heart broke – the same undoubtedly happening to him. Neither had hopes of seeing their child again.
"We don't have time." The burly man stressed as he approached the couple and started shooing them in the opposite direction.
The rustle of the vegetation was growing in intensity.
Soon enough the tiny clearing got void of people.
Suddenly, the baby inside the bundle started to make noises, as if feeling that something wasn't right. The noises soon enough became outright crying that echoed through the forest, clashing horribly with the silence that, in the meanwhile, had settled.
As if brought by that crying, the rustle of the vegetation grew even further. A rumble resonated in the night, overlapping over the crying and in the weak light of the moon, the head of a dragon rose above the treetops, curious. The dragon looked around before noticing the tiny clearing and the broken tree root and, inside, the baby.
The dragon stood like that, looking at the baby for long moments before lowering its head.