Disclaimer: Chang Ge Xing belongs to Xia Da. Special thanks to xNightDreamerx for beta-ing.


Truth in Wine

© 2015

Good beginnings have good ends.


631 C.E. Pugu Tribe, north of the Duluo River.

The snow fell quietly, drifting against the air like graceful dancers from the ashen sky. He stood, watching the snowfall with distant eyes, small feet ankle deep in the mess of dead men and damp cloth, sticky blood and lukewarm snow. The red around him was engulfed by a pure and demure coat.

The young boy could barely register a thing, but his gaze on the weeping sky grew hazier by the second. He could not remember the features of the person that approached him before it all dissolved to black.

Throat barren and his side aching, he woke to a scalding sight of fire. Wrapped under thick wool and fur, he stirred, and the figure by his side handed him water.

"We're a traveling merchant convoy, and we happened to stop by this area." she started, his face not translating his surprise that his savior was a young lady, "We were too late,"

She had green eyes, he noticed.

"You can stay with us, boy," she said.

A warm pat on his head offered a promise of a new family, a new start, like snow smothering his red streaked past.

His eyes were bright with tears.

"You're safe now."