Silence. That was all that greeted Avery "Phoenix" Hawking as she slowly helped who few survived pull bodies from the rubble of their compound. She was numb, tired, and overall, confused. Why? Why would he betray the very man everyone looked up to?
She continued to ponder such until another explosion shook the ground, causing everyone around her to look towards the east, the direction of the explosion.
A few of them drew swords, but Avery, a simple recruit of the lowest rank, gestured for them to replace their swords into their scabbards. Hesitantly, they did so, looking lost.
A small girl stumbled from between two smaller piles of rubble, her tiny face scratched and bloody; it looked as if she had been slashed across the eye.
Avery winced, and beckoned the child over. Instantly the girl ran towards her, and Avery scooped the brunette girl into her arms. Turning to the twenty or so men and women, all older, all higher-ranked than she, Avery spoke. "Gather all the children. Leave the bodies. The traitors will burn them, but it may give their poor souls a chance to scatter to the four winds."
They dashed away, combat boots crunching ominously in the baked and cracked ground. Avery's jeans were sooty, bloody, and slashed-up; she didn't exactly care either, but as two more children ran towards her, she had no choice but to find stable shelter. The two girls, one blonde, other brunette, were sobbing, and the boy, who looked eight and three years the superior when it came to the young, looked determined.
The other group members had found solid ground where a stable stone church stood. They scattered, looking for supplies or anything of use.
Avery was cleaning up the first girl's wound when she heard a familiar voice calling her name. "Phoenix!"
She turned to see the Grand Master, Johan Tsarev, stumbling towards her.
"Master!" Avery cried, and set down the master beside the girl, who, as the girl cried out, was the daughter of the Master.
She finished with the girl, stating she would he blind in her left eye for the rest of her life. The Master had simply nodded, face ashen with blood loss.
"Where was he struck?" She asked the hands of the Master.
They argued in their native language, but in the end, they said, "Lower back."
She blew her fiery red hair out of her face, and nodded. With an apologetic look, she promptly lifted the Master's shirt, revealing what she expected; a very grievous wound close to the spinal cord, about three inches deep and twelve inches long, and the depth deepest in the center, as if made by an ax.
Avery cleaned the wound, and then stitched it up with several of her own herbal remedies and bandaged it. "I have done all I can, Master. I will have the remedies delivered to your room with fresh bandages when you must change them."
"Thank you Phoenix." He sighed, gray eyes worried.
"Master, your daughter will adapt. She is young, very young. She will adapt faster than if you or even I were to suffer such a wound." Phoenix exchanged glances with the brunette girl's one hazel eye, the other shut. "She was brave."
"She reminds me of her mother." He sighed heavily.
"Master, Madonna Faye was a brilliant fighter. It was a coward's blow that cut her down, and any good soldier wouldn't have done it unless they had no other choice."
Stained glass windows were shattered as yet another explosion, this time much closer, sent shockwaves across the ground. Avery pulled the Master's daughter close, along with her younger brother. The Master himself jumped up, swearing. "It isn't safe here!"
"Nowhere is safe!" Avery cried over the groaning of the old church. "Grab all the children, leave no man behind! Move it, men!" She shouted at the warriors, who were all higher-ranked than she.
They scrambled to follow her orders, and she scooped up as many as she could, and even the bodyguards of the Master were following her orders.
They fled the church to face the total destruction around them, the night sky orange with flames and the air acrid with smoke. She could see the crowing flames racing on the dry thatch roofing of the stone and mud huts of the village, and barked to the group, "Stay away from the buildings!"
Shouts could be heard, followed by the sound of the boots crunching into the baked ground and swords being drawn. Growling, she handed the three children in her arms to a member that had just caught up with them, and wheeled to face the traitors, swords drawn.
"Phoenix!" Johan called, spinning around to face her back.
Avery's fire-red hair almost matched the sky. Her stormy gray eyes were blacker than the black smoke, and her slim frame was a beacon of anger against the violent backdrop.
"I'll be fine." She called back, each of her odd swords seeming to dance with light. "Just go, protect the children, and don't worry."
The group dashed off as the traitors closed in.
The very people Avery had once stood by, trained with, and lived with, stood in front of her, swords and spears glinting in the smoky orange haze. Maxe, her once-best friend, glared at her from under black bangs and braids. Her leather jacket and the rest of her clothing was black, and her skin was a dark tan, darker still with soot, and ice blue eyes seemed to pierce Avery's eyes. Her hand-and-a-half sword was in her left hand, shield with the Cross on it on her right arm.
"Maxene." Avery stated, not even bothering to use the name she was given at the beginning of her training.
"Phoenix. What a... Pleasant surprise." She sneered, and her comrades snickered. "You cannot dare to match all of us." Maxe started to circle her, as if observing every move. These fools! A unknown voice cried in Avery's mind. They will not mess with me.
"I don't need to." Avery said, keeping note of where she was and how fast she was moving. "You'll kill yourself."
A laugh broke the silence. "Ha! You, a rookie, on a mission to kill us all? You were always the goodie-goodie, Avery; and it will be the very death of you."
Give me control, girl, the centuries-old voice crooned. They will all die.
Who the hell are you? Avery mentally shouted, and felt the voice withdraw.
Avery didn't answer Maxe. She was better than they thought, if just a little prayer worked her way.
She knew the second Maxe decided to take a stab at her, and spun to kick the blade out of her hand. Her booted foot was caught and twisted, casing Avery to fall, blades spinning away from her. She felt some energy leave her, but not enough to hinder her progress.
Maxe pinned her down before she could move. "Sad excuse you had to not join us, Avery. Your life would've been spared." The tip of her hand-and-a-half sword pressed against Avery's throat, right in the hollow. Avery spat at Maxe, snarling as she whistled.
A shrill shriek came from above, and a figure dove to attack Maxe before knocking the sword away from her and returning Avery's to her.
"What? Impossible..." Maxe cried, slicing at the phoenix.
The fiery bird shrieked again before melting into the swords in Avery's hands as she stood. "You are a fool for not seeing it, Maxene. You were a fool to challenge me." Avery heard the tone and sound of her voice, realizing it was not her own, and that she was no longer in control of her actions. All she could do was watch.
Avery closed in on Maxe, and the other people who were with her suddenly were crushed by falling trees. She stumbled and fell as Avery pinned her on the ground, feeling that same voice shouting from her mouth in a language she knew none of, but understood every single word.
Maxe quailed as the sword points plunged into her throat on either side, slashing the aortic artery and spinal cord. A swift death, for a traitor.
All the energy seemed to drain from Phoenix, and she diminished visibly. She turned her eyes northward, where her companions were waiting.