The dust swirled around and a shimmer rippled over the landscape rolling out in front of the young woman with pale golden hair and violet eyes.
"I had to desert when it was so freaking hot, didn't I?" she muttered to herself as she took a moment to drink from her canteen. The Waste stretched on before her, bleak and barren; strewn with rubble and debris. A faint smile touched her lips still moist with her rapidly draining water, "I picked a great vacation spot, right Shade? We always talked about going to the Waste." Tears pricked her eyes and she bit back a strangled sound, "Stupid girl," she berated herself silently, "Get a grip. It won't do anyone any good if I don't check in with Farley. I'm sure she'll send me on a fool's errand soon enough."
The cry of hawk above her made her start. The smile vanished and a hard look took its place. If there was a hawk that meant someone from the military was tracking her. She wondered if the hawk's owner would join the Guard or if he'd be another she'd send to death's cold embrace. She smirked cynically, assuming her pursuer followed her into the Waste that was. She let herself entertain thoughts of letting her tracker catch up to her for a moment as she put her canteen back into her travel pack before shaking the thoughts away and starting forward again. "And so the chase begins, let's make it a merry one," she grinned impishly at the hawk as if she were looking at its owner and gave a mocking salute before she vanished into the rubble and dust.
It was the evening of the second day when her follower was finally close enough for her to see him. He looked pale, and a little tired, but otherwise fine. Her heart sank, she had known who would be following her, but still she had held on to a tiny hope that it would be another scout, maybe one of the newer recruits. But of course it would be Lek, the one who had mentored her after her conscription. He'd practically raised her, taught her how to use the deadly knives at her side. He had shown her scouting techniques, taught her all about the animal life that lived in Norta: birds, reptiles, the forest predators, their strengths and weaknesses. She didn't want to kill him, but she wasn't sure that she could persuade him otherwise though. He was too entrenched in all the Silver propaganda. She'd tried to talk to him, get him to come around, even Shade had taken her side in a few of their arguments and he was as persuasive as you could get. If Shade couldn't even sway this man… she closed her eyes, "Please leave," she whispered. He was still several hours away from her position, he might still turn back, but she knew he wouldn't. She squeezed her eyes tighter in a futile attempt to block out what would come. She would wait and rest here, Farley would arrive around dusk. She smiled bitterly; they would make it to her position at nearly the same time. Sighing she hunkered down to wait out the last of the day.
My name is Kirsi. I suppose that would be good to know, I really don't like talking about myself much, especially not anymore after the… incident with Shade. He was the only person I ever really opened up to, when he joined my unit after his conscription I wasn't sure what to expect. I figured he would be like everyone else, just another mindless Red waiting to serve his time and get out, another soldier who would mock the little Red girl with the Silver coloring. What Red would want to look like a Silver, anyway? If I hadn't proved I bled red I'm sure things would have turned out much worse. That was before Lek had taken me on and taught me the finer points of being a warrior. Since I can remember I've been with the army for a long time. And Lek made sure I was one of the best reconnaissance agents (a really fancy word for undercover spy) the army ever had. I'm the only Red I've ever heard of who has ever been conscripted at such a young age. I can't remember my parents at all, my earliest memories are of this place, this fight; these people. Regardless of my hair and eyes though, I hate Silver's. I hate all this mindless death. When Shade first began to talk to me I was wary of him; but apart from Lek, Shade was the only one who had looked at me and not seen a freak in the violet eyes or golden flecked hair. From then on we were inseparable. Later on I was the one who introduced him to the Scarlet Guard. After trying to talk to Lek about how we could end all this petty fighting and the conscription I realized he was so deeply taken in by all the nonsense the Silver's spew about honor and duty; I was already used to being alone but I found a like mind in Shade. We thought the same, this fighting was all pointless, it was never going to end. When I told him about the Guard it was like fire engulfed him from the inside, shining out through those honey brown eyes and radiating with purpose. Farley had liked him at once. It was because of me that Shade was executed. I still don't know how anyone found out, but I'll live with the guilt of his death until my own. I owe Shade that much. I will rise, red as the dawn. Not just for myself and my ideals, but for Shade Barrow, the man I love.
Dusk had fallen when I opened my eyes again. The perks of being raised battle-ready, I could fall asleep almost anywhere. The sound that had pricked my awareness came again; loose rocks sliding underfoot. The tread was cautious, "Lek," I murmured. I knew Farley wouldn't be so careless, but Lek was making noise intentionally. He was alerting me that he was coming. I wondered why, surely he'd be under orders to kill a deserter; the fact that it was me wouldn't change his mind. The noise stopped suddenly, I hunched in my hiding place, tense, aware, waiting. I didn't expect what happened next.
"Kirsi! I taught you better than this! You had plenty of chances to lose me, or fight me." Lek called out. I watched his hawk circle overhead as if it really could scout the perimeter before it descended to his shoulder letting out a shriek as it settled. As he scratched behind the bird's head another voice called out from behind my position, "She wasn't under orders to lose you. Rather she intended to bring you here."
I jumped, pausing in my stealthy descent down from the overhang of concrete and scraggly plant life that somehow thrived out here in the Waste. I hadn't expected Farley to announce her presence, let alone see her step out from a large outcropping of what must have been a tremendously large building, now nothing but debris and boulders. She looked in my direction with a short nod. I wasn't surprised she could spot me; Farley's blue eyes could rival any predators I'd ever heard about, and I wasn't trying to hide from her, so there was that. Besides, it was Farley, she wouldn't have revealed herself if she hadn't scouted the area before hand and knew I was here as well. The only person I was concealed from had been Lek, now as I wound my way down I could see him clearer than before and if the piercing stare I felt was any indication, he could see me as well. Once firmly down on solid ground, I watched as behind Farley, others began to appear. Kilorn and then two men who must be Shade's brothers from the descriptions he'd told me over and over on countless nights. They flanked a brown haired girl with a grim expression, Mare. Shade's little sister had made it to the Guard, a sharp stabbing pain shot through my heart as I met her eyes for an instant before looking at the next person. He stood farther back and somewhat separate from the others, the tension that had started to leave my body at the sight of a few familiar faces returned at once. Tiberias Calore VII, the Silver prince. What the hell was he doing with the Guard? I turned slowly eyes narrowing as I calculated the distance towards the exiled Prince. Cautiously beginning to stalk him as I moved slowly and silently towards them from my current position, if I rounded them and came up behind him, maybe we could use the Silver Burner as leverage. Assuming I didn't get crisped first. I saw Farley's blue eyes glint before she spoke again, "The former Prince is an ally, Kirsi." I froze and gave her the look that comment deserved, "He's Silver!" I hissed. I saw Mare tense as the words carried across the dead air between us. The clouds overhead began to swirl and darken. Farley smirked behind the red trademark scarf, "He is." She said simply, "Certain events have changed things. I haven't had a chance to inform you." A movement out of the corner of my eye had my attention focused back on Lek. His hawk had flown from his shoulder, hurtling for Cal with inhuman speed. The controlled burst of flame incinerated the bird in mid-flight before it had crossed more than half the distance separating us from Lek. Cal spoke into the silence, his words dropping like stones in the darkening twilight, "What does House Viper want in the Waste, Animos?"