The sun was slowly falling towards the horizon, filtering through the branches of the trees, covering the forest floor with an orange glow. Walking quickly through the trees was a slim figure. Their figure was adorned in dark clothes, helping them blend into the shadowy trees. They wore a cloak over their armor. They had a wooden staff gripped in their right hand and it's base lightly tapped along the ground as they made there way down the path. Their footfalls were soft, their boots barely making a sound. Their cloak swirled around their feet as the turned a corner on the trail, revealing a sword strapped to their side, along with a few knives. Reaching the end of the trees their feet stopped. Here the sun shone brighter, turning the long grass gold. The sound of the ocean filled the air, crashing against the bottom of the cliff.
The figure reached up and pulled their hood away from their head, a long blonde braid fell over their shoulder. Her face was feminine but fierce, her stormy blue eyes surveyed the sight before her. Looking towards the cliff face she saw a figure silhouetted by the sun. They were a few inches taller than the women, with broad shoulders, standing with an impressive stature. They wore a large coat, with a large collar and a long back reaching slightly past his knees. His feet were covered in black knee-high boots, a man of the sea. Their back was to the women as they stared into the setting sun, they held a sword in front of them with its point resting on the ground. The women walked to approach the man but received no reaction.
She stood to his side, joining him in staring towards the setting sun. Neither moved, instead, they just kept watching the sun sink lower and lower into the sea. Soon streaks of red painted the sky, joined by purples and blues. Neither spoke until the first stars appeared in the sky.
"Tell me, Malik, what have the stars told you?" the women spoke first, her voice low, barely above a whisper. The air was starting to grow cold as the last of the sun sank into the sea.
"The sky has been restless today." The man's voice wasn't exceptionally deep, but it was still powerful. "The dragon has grown restless." Tilting his head back he looked up at the stars, studying the constellation of the great dragon, the wind from the sea blowing his black hair away from his face. "I don't know why, but something has thrown off the balance in the stars. Something is about to happen." Turning his gaze away from the stars he looked at the women next to him. "What brings you here Zemira? Surely you didn't walk all the way here to ask about the stars."
Zemira returned Malik's gaze before speaking. "I wish it was only that." Looking away with a sigh, she paused before speaking again. "News from the western border, the invaders have launched a new attack, the animarum
battalion managed to fend them off, but I do not know how long we have until they return." Zemira reached up and rubbed her face, exhausted.
Malik rested a gloved hand on her shoulder, "When was the last time you slept?"
Zemira shrugged, "Sometime yesterday, I ran here right after the attackers were defeated. There was no time to waste." Her face became drawn, as though admitting she was tired made her feel it even more.
"Zemira, you can't carry the weight of our nation all by yourself. Come rest with my people tonight, regain your strength." Malik then reached out to hug his old friend, drawing her towards him. "You've always been like this for as long as I've known you." Zemira didn't respond, instead, she simply nodded. After letting go he gave a small laugh, ruffling Zemira's hair.
Zemira swatted Malik's hands away from her head, laughing softly. "I would greatly enjoy that."
"Good." Malik grinned, "Because I wasn't planning on letting you say no." Throwing his arm over her shoulder he began guiding her away from the edge of the cliff. As the last of the stars appeared the two began the slow walk down the cliff towards the small sea-side settlement at the edge of the water.
There was no moon, only stars pierced the black sky, yet their steps did not falter, they knew the path well. A soft breeze swept up the path, whispering through the long grass. For a moment it almost seemed as though they could hear a voice, breathy and soft, full of secrets. At the sound of the voice, the two stopped, listening to the air around them.
"Winds in the east, a mist coming in, like something to happen, about to begin…," Malik spoke as the voice faded from the air. Both Zemira and Malik turned, looking around them, trying to find the source, but they saw nothing, only the stars reflecting on the sea, and the blackness of the trees. "Can you feel it?"
Zemira turned towards the sky, "Yes, the stars have shifted." Her voice trailed off. She turned her gaze back towards the lights on the edge of the sea, looking over the buildings and resting on the ship's lanterns, moving up and down with the sea. "What do you think happened?"
Malik face was solemn as he answered, "I don't know, but it feels wrong, unnatural." He moved closer to Zemira's side, "We should keep moving."
Quickly the two continued walking down the forested path, their steps were hurried, and they startled at every sound. The pair made it to the edge of the town, almost touching the warm glow from the lamps when the world fell apart around them. Suddenly the ground beneath their feet vanished, crumbling away into nothing, leaving the two falling into the unknown.
The sound of the wind rushing past her ears was the first sense that returned to Zemira as she slowly returned to the world around her. She could hear a faint sound, blocked by the wind. She was falling, that she knew and as she opened her eyes she was met with the blinding light from the sun. Alarmed her eyes shot open with the realization that the sun had just set not even an hour ago. Why did it feel like midday?
"ZEMIRA!" a shout drew her attention to below her, looking down she saw herself falling towards an island. Focusing she saw Malik below her, his coat flapping around him and his hair blowing in his face. His eyes look slightly relieved upon seeing her eyes open and looking at him.
"MALIK!" Zemira tried to yell back but the wind forced her voice back down her throat. Looking past him, she startled, seeing the ground rushing towards them. Panicking she released her cloak from around her neck, unfurling her wings from her back. Massive brown and bronze feathers stretched out into the air. Reaching almost 40 feet the wings slowed her decent momentarily before a snap echoed through the air. Her right wing fell limp and dragged through the air, causing her to start plummeting to the ground once again.
Looking up at his friend Malik reached above him, his fingers grazing Zemira's hand as she fell towards him. Her eyes were wide as she fell towards the ground. Her face paling as she looked over his shoulder, before closing her eyes. Gritting his teeth Malik did the same, waiting for the inevitable end to their free fall.
Zemira refused to open her eyes, despite the knowledge that she would soon be reaching the ground. In the back of her mind, she let out a humorless laugh, realizing that after fighting her whole life she was too scared to look at her demise head on. However, it never came, before she could hit the ground, her body jolted as she felt arms grab her falling form, gently although awkwardly due to her wings. With her eyes still closed she felt the person who had caught her land on the ground. After a few seconds, once the sensation of falling had faded she opened her eyes, and immediately wished that she had kept them closed.
Zemira froze as soon as she looked at the face of the man holding her. An emotionless face stared down at her. The man had red hair and pink eyes, eyes that seemed to pierce right through her form. An aura of strength radiated off him and Zemira immediately knew that this man was not to be trifled with. Nervous she tried to wiggle her way out of his arms, instead of releasing her, however, his arms tightened around her making her wince as he moved her injured wing. Noticing her change of expression, he loosened his hold but not enough for her to get away.
A groan from behind her caused her attention to shift, 'wait where's Malik?' her mind raced through all the worst possibilities as she twisted her head around, trying to look over her shoulder to identify the source of the sound behind her. She was relieved to see Malik sitting behind her, rubbing the back of his head, and sitting on what looked like another person who had been unfortunate enough to be taken out by her falling friend.
Opening his eyes and looking up he noticed the man holding Zemira, tensing he quickly moved off the person below him, ignoring the pained groan, and carefully walking towards Zemira. "Are you alright?" his question was directed at Zemira but his eyes were focused on the face of the man holding her.
"Take a guess," her voice cut through the air, short, making her nerves known. As Malik slowly walked towards the pair in front of him, the man he had landed on sat up. His movement drew Zemira's attention. Looking at his clothes she realized just how far from home she truly was. His attire reminded her of the clothing of the desert traders she had seen many years ago. The strangest part of his clothing was a red rope tied around his neck, standing out from his cream-colored robe, and blue sash wrapped around his robe. He had sandy blonde hair, which was currently being messed up as he was rubbing his skull, undoubtedly where he had hit his head when Malik landed on him.
Turning her attention back to Malik she felt the man holding her shift as Malik drew near, he had almost reached them when red strings seemed to whip out from nowhere catching his arms and pulling him back.
Letting out a cry Zemira finally managed to free herself from the man's arms, only to have him grab her wrist preventing her from reaching Malik. "Let me go!" Zemira yelled, her struggling growing more frantic as a knife attached to the end of the string pointed itself at Malik's throat, causing his movements to freeze.
"Who are you?" an angry voice came from behind Malik, swiftly a man walked around the frozen man and turned to face him. He also wore strange clothes, he even had white hair, despite not looking that old. He glared at Malik waiting for an answer.
Malik swallowed, "We just travelers, we aren't a threat I promise. We just got lost." His words came out in a rush, as he spoke quickly to appease the angry man before him. The man said nothing, he simply kept glaring at Malik.
"Enough Ja'far." The man holding Zemira's arm finally spoke. His deep voice caused everybody to freeze. Ja'far turned to look at the man holding Zemira, and it was then that she saw the red strings were coming from his sleeves. "Let him go, if they were threats, they couldn't have made it past the barrier."
At the voice of the man behind him, Ja'far spun around and turned his furious gaze on Zemira. Instantly Zemira froze, her uninjured wing fluffing up defensively, accidentally hitting the man behind her in the face. Not bothered enough to apologize Zemira matched the man's stare, a growl rumbling in her throat. After a few tense seconds, the red strings around Malik's arms were released and the dagger was no longer pointed at his throat.
Malik rubbed his throat as he moved closer to Zemira, who had finally managed to shake off the red-haired man's hand off her wrist. Standing next to each other the two friends stared down the three men before them. The blonde boy was still rubbing the back of his skull, looking between both pairs, looking uncomfortable with all the tension.
The staring contest went on for a few minutes before Ja'far finally spoke again, "I'm only going to ask you one more time, who are you?" his voice had calmed considerably but his distrust was evident.
Malik spoke first, "We're just travelers, we were walking along out countries borders when we were suddenly falling from the sky. We have no idea why we are here, much less how we even got here." Malik waited for a response before growing tired of the distrustful looks being thrown their way, "Look we don't even know where here is!" Malik's patience was growing thin, he was tired, and he had just fallen into a strange, possibly hostile country, not an ideal situation.
He could hear Zemira cursing next to him as she tried to straighten her broken wing. He could tell just how irritated she was, her mother tongue slipping through her grumblings. As she straightened her injured wing, she sent the men standing across from her a harsh glare. Her stormy blue eyes focused on Ja'far waiting for his response.
Ja'far, to his credit, managed to ignore the glare being pointed his way, "I'll choose to believe you for now, but you'll need to come with us so we can properly document your traveling to Sindria." Turning away he started to walk into the trees, not bother to wait for the two outsiders to follow. The two friends gave each other a glance, before moving to collect their fallen items. Malik gave his sword a critical look while Zemira inspected her staff for any damages, running her hand over the smooth material. Having collected their fallen items, the two turned to follow the white-haired man in front of them. The blonde boy and the red-haired man brought up the rear.
As they walked down the path Zemira looked at all the trees around them. This forest was very different from the one she was used to. Instead of pines and conifers, this forest was more tropical with palm trees standing tall in the sky. The air here was heavier as well, warmer, more humid. Her observing was cut short when her injured wing got dragged across a rock in the path, rolling her right shoulder forward she winced but kept walking. Malik gave her a questioning look, but she just shook her head and kept walking.
"Masrur," Ja'far spoke from further up the path, stopping as he looked around the bend.
Zemira and Malik stopped a few feet back from the albino, waiting. Their eyes followed the red-haired man as he walked towards Ja'far. The two seemed to be having a serious conversation, although it looked like Ja'far was doing most of the talking. After a few minutes, the two turned to face the three watching them. Zemira raised an eyebrow waiting for an explanation.
"I'm afraid that we're going to have to delay taking you to the city momentarily. We have something to deal with first." Ja'far and Masrur walked back towards them.
"Care to explain?" Zemira head tilted slightly as she regarded the men in front of her.
"We came here to help take care of a group of bandits that have taken up residence in the forest. Despite your disruption, we do need to stop them before we return." Ja'far explained, "Due to your condition I doubt you'll be much help," Zemira gave Ja'far an affronted look, "we don't want you to get in the middle of the fight."
"So, what will I be doing?" Zemira asked, leaning on her staff and staring intently at Ja'far.
Instead of answering her Ja'far turned and walked around the bend. Grumbling Zemira followed and saw what looked like a small cluster of farms. Standing by the path was a group of 20 or so people. Upon noticing the group walking out of the woods they began to wave.
One man stepped forward and bowed to them, saying thank you many times before standing again. Ja'far responded with a smile, telling him that he shouldn't worry, that they would solve their problem quickly. During this interaction, Zemira drew a decent amount of attention with her wings, and Malik's attire stood out like a sore thumb. Not knowing what they were supposed to be doing the two shifted on their feet, uncomfortable with the attention.
"Excuse me," a tiny voice drew both their gazes downwards. There stood a little girl, no older than 6. Her hands were clasped behind her back and she was kicking at the dirt with her little foot as she mumbled something.
Unable to understand the child Zemira knelt to her level, "What was that?" she kept her voice gentle, giving the little girl a small smile.
The little girl looked at her with big eyes and in the tiniest voice imaginable managed to squeak out, "Can I touch your wings please?" quickly hiding her face in her hands after asking the question.
Zemira chuckled, curling her uninjured wing around her side, brushing the feather against the child's cheek. The girl looked up and an awestruck smile spread across her face as her hand came to slowly rest on the soft feathers. An innocent giggle, that can only come from a child, bubbled up from her throat as she stroked Zemira's feathers. Smiling Zemira gathered the child into her arms, standing up to return her attention to the conversation in front of her, yet she kept her wing curled around her and the little girl.
The conversation appeared to be coming to a close, having missed the majority of the conversation Zemira turned to ask Malik what was happening. Instead, however she saw him making funny faces at the little girl in her arms, making her giggle.
"I'm guessing you weren't paying attention either." Zemira raised an eyebrow at Malik.
He shrugged his shoulders, "I figured they'd tell us if they wanted us to do anything." His attention remained on the little girl as she reached a tiny hand up to his face, tugging on a strand of his soot-colored hair that had fallen out of his ponytail. Wincing Malik grabbed the little girl's hand, holding it to keep her from ripping his hair out.
The sound of someone clearing their throat Zemira and Malik looked up. Ja'far was looking at her, frowning, not that she had seen him smile, "You'll be staying with the children." He spoke shortly, clearing not in the mood to argue.
Zemira opened her mouth, but before she could speak Malik placed a hand on her shoulder, shaking his head. Growling Zemira relented.
"Alibaba!" Ja'far turned towards the blond boy, "Lead her to join the children then come back and join us."
Nodding Alibaba gestured for Zemira to follow, with a nod to Malik she walked down the path behind him. Alibaba didn't speak at first, he seemed nervous about something. After a few seconds of what seemed to be an internal battle, he looked over at Zemira, "Um, miss…. I just realized, we never asked yours or your companions names." His face flushed with embarrassment.
Zemira let out a small laugh, "I don't think Ja'far cares to know our names, my name's Zemira, my companion's name is Malik."
Alibaba nodded, "I've never heard a name like yours, you must be live far from here. Do they have any special meanings?"
Zemira thought for a while, "My name means a song. My mother chose it because she thought I carried the song of life in me. She was close but I carry a different song. I believe Malik means wave."
Do all of your people's names have meanings?" Alibaba looked surprisingly interested in what Zemira was saying.
Zemira thought for a moment, "For my people, most parents choose their child's name off of it's meaning, I don't know about the customs of Malik's people."
"Are you and Malik not from the same country?" Alibaba now looked confused.
"No, we are from the same country, but my country has many different cultures and people. We all share the same land, but we all keep our own cultures and customs." Zemira explained, "In some ways our customs are similar, we all share the same gods, but beyond that each group has their own individual beliefs."
Alibaba looked like he had another question, but he was unable to ask as they arrived at the home were the farmers were hiding the children. "Wait here, after this is over one of us will come and get you." He looked at Zemira waiting for her response. She simply nodded, still miffed she was being sent to hide with the children.
She watched Alibaba walk back towards the others before carrying the little girl into the small building. Inside the building there were close to 20 people all clustered together, women and children alike. They looked scared, nervous. Setting the child down Zemira watched as she ran over to a woman who she assumed was her mother. Her eyes scanned the room one more time before she went to shut the door, standing in front of it waiting.
A loud crash caused some children to start crying, their cries muffled by their mothers as they tried to keep them quiet. Zemira glanced briefly behind her before facing the door once again. She gripped her white staff in her hand, listening to ever increasing sounds outside the door. The room behind her had fallen silent behind her, tension filling the air. Then the door open, and chaos broke loose.
Standing back to back with Alibaba in front of the cluster of farms Malik faced the onslaught of bandits, having been told to put his sword to use. The battle took longer than Malik expected, since he had been ordered to only subdue not kill. He was also mildly distracted by Alibaba's flaming sword, which he called Amon. His focus was broken by a loud scream from the house with the women and children.
Alibaba also heard the scream, stopping his fighting as well, "No!" he cried out, "We have to get over there to help!"
However, before Alibaba could take a single step towards the scream Malik stopped him, "Don't worry about it, they'll be fine. Zemira will protect them." He spoke as he slashed another bandit that was charging at the pair.
"But" Alibaba started to protest.
"Trust me on this kid, these bandits will be the ones screaming in a few minutes," he blocked a strike that was aimed at Alibaba, "Stay focused kid, we've got our own problems to deal with."
Recovering from almost being hit Alibaba moved to stand back to back with Malik again, "But she's injured," his voice faltered, his worry evident.
Frustrated Malik punched a man in the face, knocking him out, "Leave it. It takes more than a broken wing to take out Zemira. She'll be fine. The only thing you should be worried about is her killing them."
Ears filled with the sounds of screams, Zemira stood, growling, facing the door as it burst open, causing the women and children to scream and begin crying. Squinting into the light Zemira saw the shapes of five separate men. Lunging forward Zemira released a snarl, her form twisting, morphing into an ashy grey wolf, lashing out with her front paw, pushing the men back.
One of the men let out a yell of surprise, leaping out of the way of her claws. Pushing them out of the small building, Zemira rose to her full height, blocking the entrance with her body. Each of the men were armed with long swords, some with multiple knives. Narrowing her eyes Zemira slowly looked each man in the eyes, lowering her head and squaring her shoulders.
Watching as the men moved to surround her, she refused to shift her position, knowing they wanted to get to the women and children. She had to keep herself in-between them. Moving slowly, she emerged from the building, her back paws in the threshold of the door.
The men began to taunt her, trying to draw her the rest of the way out of the building. They knew she was the only defense for all those cowering in fear. One man tried throwing stones at her side, the only response he received was a snarl. Zemira refused to move, she was carefully analyzing the situation around her, she knew that she would be unable to fight all five men, while remaining in the doorway. Alright then, plan B.
Rearing back onto her back legs, Zemira opened her mouth, bellowing at the men in front of her, paws slamming into the dusty ground. As her feet slammed into the ground, flames swirled around her ankles. It crackled across her fur, swirling around her legs, around her sides. It rose above her, on each side, almost looking like fiery wings. The tip of her tail crackled, embers falling from the flames.
Eyes burning Zemira roared again, her massive form filling the entire doorway. Slowly, deliberately, she walked forward. As she moved away from the doorway, a wall of flames rose up from the ground, blocking the men from reaching the inside of the building. Facing the men, she lowered her head, and lunged.
"RAH!" Malik yelled as he knocked the last man away, looking around as he landed on the ground. All the bandits were down on the ground, most were unconscious. Ja'far and Masrur were working on tying the bandits up, talking with the villagers. He then turned to Alibaba, "I'm going to go check on Zemira, can you help them finish up here?"
Alibaba looked surprised and slightly alarmed, "Wait! I'll come with you; it looks like they have everything under control here." He fell in step beside Malik, keeping pace with his hurried steps.
Malik shrugged, "Suit yourself." The pair took rushed steps towards the building in the middle of the village. The sight they were greeted with was about what Malik expected to see, and the exact opposite of what Alibaba expected to see.
Lying on the ground in front of them was a massive wolf. Its fur was dark, a mixture of greys, with flecks of white. Its fur seemed longer than a regular wolfs would be, as well as its tail. The most surprising part of the scene before them however was all the children crawling over the wolf, playing with her fur, sitting on her back. At the sound of footsteps, the animal lifted its head, blue eyes staring at them steadily.
"Took you long enough. I was starting to think that I'd have to come and help you out." Zemira's voice came from the mouth of the wolf. Alibaba's mouth dropped open in shock, watching with wide eyes and Zemira stood, gently nudging the children off her back. "Close your mouth Alibaba, you'll catch flies." Zemira let out a huffing laugh as she walked towards them.
As Zemira walked towards them Alibaba noticed that she wasn't a wolf. She looked like a wolf but, different. She was much longer, that was obvious, but her body was also long than a wolf's compared to her legs, her fur was longer as was her tail. Clearly not a wolf, but he had no idea what she was, was this a dijin equip?
Malik grinned, reaching down to ruffle the fur on the top of her head. "Looks like you had fun," he said directing a pointed look at the five men lying motionless on the ground behind her.
Zemira gave a toothy grin, "You can't expect me to let you have all the fun." She stood in between Malik and Alibaba, leaning on Malik's leg slightly. Despite her light-hearted banter with her friend, it was clear she was exhausted. Her shoulders were slouched, and her voice wavered despite her best efforts to hide it.
Alibaba noticed a cut running down her front leg, it didn't appear to be too deep, but it looked painful all the same. "Zemira, you're hurt." He kneeled and gently inspected her wound.
Zemira eyes were closed as she responded, "I believe I underestimated just how tired I really am." She opened one eye to look at Alibaba, "I'm afraid I was moving a bit slower today."
While the three had been talking Ja'far and Masrur had finished tying all the bandits up and had come to check on them. Surprised by the sight before them Ja'far was quick to interject. "What is this?" he didn't sound particularly angry, mainly shocked and a little confused.
Zemira turned her head to look at the two men before standing up. As she rose to her back legs her form seemed to melt, and soon she looked like she had before. Her injured wing still hung limply behind her and she still look exhausted. "The main battle was a distraction; it appears their goal was to take the women and children." Her voice was flat, and she was holding her arm where she had gotten injured.
Ja'far looked the two outsiders over, appearing to think through multiple options in his head before speaking again, "Are you still able to walk? We have about an hour walk before we reach the city."
"I'll be fine." Her tone didn't change yet she made and effort to stand straighter.
Malik gave her a side-eye, but he remained silent. He knew which battled to choose and when it included trying to change Zemira's mind he knew it was better to stay quiet. She was proud but she also knew her limits, if she couldn't make it, she would say so.
Ja'far didn't seem as sure, "Are you sure? It's a long walk."
"I'll be fine," Zemira gave him a level stare, waiting for him to protest again, her uninjured wing fluffing out behind her.
Ja'far looked as though he wanted to protest but thought better of it. Instead he simply turned away and started walking down the path. "If you need us to stop let us know, I don't need you passing out."
Zemira narrowed her eyes, "Of course, I'd hate to inconvenience you." Sarcasm was rich in her words, but she spoke them quiet enough that he didn't hear her grumblings. Unknown to her though Masrur had, but he chose to just follow after Ja'far, staying silent.
As the group walked through groups of farms, Zemira and Malik talked in hushed voices, speaking in different tongues to ensure they wouldn't be overheard. Their words were rapidly exchanged, debating just how they had gotten here and why they had been so unceremoniously dropped from the sky, and most importantly, how they were going to get home.
