Twin Destinies
Disclaimer: See Chapter 1.
Chapter 4
" Raina! Your left flank!" Lauren shouted, knocking a wolf off of Shora's back, one that had set his sights on Lauren's head.
The agile little girl-child swung her half-staff back and Lauren heard a sharp thump as it hit the Changewolf in the face and he tumbled away, still lying in the dust. He felt a surge of relief that Raina was so skilled, when he could only do so little damage and look out for Raina.
: Don't cheer yet. There are four more in sight and the biggest one is hiding in the bushes ahead. Their trying to ambush us into the canyon.: Shora said, kicking in the side of another one as it tried to hamstring Alver. : Three.:
He was glad that Raina had such sharp senses, because no longer than a half-mark after they had gotten wind of the pack of Changewolves did they attack. It could have been the same pack that had gotten their older sister, but everyone had their tails, and there was no sign of the big one that Mira had half-blinded.
" Lauren!" Raina screamed, and he turned his head long enough to see Raina slip off the side of Alver and be pulled down by the smallest of the pack.
Alver and Shora screamed together, Shora rearing and coming down on the head of one of the Wolves that got under her feet and Alver whipping around and barreling at the small Wolf that held Raina down. She went flying and hit a tree with a sickening crack of bones breaking. As Alver nosed at Raina, Lauren looked around and couldn't see the last one. He knew they hadn't killed it yet, but there was nothing in sight but them.
: He's hiding with the leader. A few yards ahead is where they hide, but they are a little afraid of us. Raina's mean.: Shora said appreciatively as she trotted to Alver, trying to make it seem that they were okay and careless to the Wolves, hoping to draw them out.
" I'm alright, Lauren. I shouldn't have been so clumsy though." Raina grinned as she stood up and mounted Alver again, wheeling him around and pointing him in the direction of the Wolves hiding place. " Let's go hunting."
As Lauren followed her at a sedate pace, he noted that she had that glint in her eyes again, the cold and uncaring one that she'd had when she'd first mentioned the pack. No assassin he knew, not even his mother, who he had seen kill a man single handedly, could kill with that look in their eyes. He felt like he was loosing her already.
He was so deeply immersed in her thoughts that he didn't notice the downswing of Raina's arm and the thud that the last wolf made as he fell. She was good, but not good enough to notice the very last wolf, the leader, slink out of the bushes and position itself to leap on Alver's back. She didn't, but Shora did.
When the wolf leapt, Shora waited until she was close enough and bit down on the end of its tail, hard enough to yank it down. She danced back a little and by then its cries and yelps had alerted Alver. He lashed out with his hind legs and caught the wolf in the head. It fell and Raina leapt off of Alver, landing squarely by the wolf, which was quickly reverting back to his human form now that his magic was dying with him. She nudged him with her toe and he stirred, turning his face to her.
" Humans are weak!" He spat, still defiant even in the face of death. He coughed and some blood landed on her boot.
Raina looked down at her feet, wiping the blood off and looking at it on her hand. When she looked up at Lauren, she had tears in her eyes, her lips trembling as she fought to keep in sobs. " Their blood is red, Lauren." She said, her breath high and choked. " Like ours! Why do they have to be like us?" She fell to her knees and placed her hands on the man's forehead, crying and sobbing, taking great gulps of air as she keened highly.
Lauren almost fell off of Shora when he realized that even as an assassin, she had never killed anyone. He knew she had seen people die, more often than not at the hands of her friends and family members, but she had never killed a person before. Animals were one thing; she never really got attached to animals, but people? Lauren wished that they had ridden off without a second look at the destruction they had just caused.
" I'm sorry Raina." He didn't know what else to say, he had killed before, before his leg got hurt and he couldn't go out anymore. He was so lost.
: Let Alver take care of this one.: Shora said, shifting her feet around. : Remember, your not the only one she can turn to anymore.:
In any other situation, he would have taken offense at that, but now it just seemed so natural to let Alver do what he could. Maybe it was because he could do nothing himself.
It was nightfall by the time that Alver got Raina under control long enough to get her mounted. They were close enough to the edge of the woods that they would be protected from anything the Companions couldn't handle, and there was a multitude of little streams here and there, so Raina wandered off with Alver and bathed for awhile, even though he could still hear faint sobs punctuating the silence.
: Haven is about two more days away, if we don't sleep in too long in the mornings. And I think that Raina's idea of riding at night would be bad. There are worse things than Changewolves out during the night, we're better off sleeping.: Shora said, trying to break the uncomfortable feeling in the air.
" You're right." Lauren admitted. " Besides, my night vision is about as good as a blind cats."
He stroked the silky flank of Shora, who lay behind him, letting him use her as a pillow. Lauren was glad that Shora had Chosen him. He had been alone too long.
" Why do they have to be so human?" Raina asked, wanting to cry some more, but she was too exhausted.
She had finished her bath long ago, scrubbing over and over to get the feel of his blood off of her. Now she sat on a rock while Alver stood and she combed his tail. Her own hair was hanging down her back to her waist, damp and a little tangled, but curling in the cool night air since she had neglected to braid it. She didn't care anymore. That was what the old Raina did, the one that leapt through the obstacle course with an unpracticed ease, the one that forced boys into labored breathing because she had put them in a headlock, the one that had assassin training, but didn't want to be an assassin. She growled as she pushed a long handful of hair behind her ear, but it slid back out.
" Alver, do you have any scissors?" She asked, and smiled at the look that Alver gave her over his shoulder, as if to ask her if she really thought that Companions carried scissors. She shrugged and dug around in her clothes pile. " I guess my knife will have to do then."
: You're not seriously going to-: Alver winced as her knife sliced off an hunk of her hair. : I guess you are then.:
Raina found the hair cutting process relaxing, and prolonged it, cutting off short and thin pieces here and there and then longer pieces, then matching the swing of the knife to a song she had learned once, the bawdy tale of Laird Bobbins.
" Laird Bobbins," Swipe. " Never did learn how to get the ladies." Swipe. " So he took residence with the sheep." Swipe.
Alver didn't know which one was more painful, the ruthless cutting of the hair or the butchering of his favorite song.
It was near dawn when Raina returned to the campsite that they had chosen, an abandoned Waystation. Shora said it was abandoned, and they had found signs of forceful leavings, but neither Shora nor Alver knew who or what had broken the windows out and felled the tree by it. All they knew was that it was warm at night and cool during the day, which was all they needed. Lauren glared at Raina when she leapt through the window, landing an inch away from his head with a loud thump as she had intended.
" Heyla!" She chirped brightly, leaning over him. " Alver says that we can make it to the outskirts of Haven tonight if Shora looses weight and runs faster."
In the back of their heads they heard their Companion's jibe at each other, but it was all in good fun. Raina was finally having fun, and she wasn't in the horrible mood that she had been yesterday. For some reason, she was as if the thing had never happened at all.
Lauren got up and since he was already dressed, he had no choice but to go out and see how Shora was doing. Not that he minded, but he had wanted to sleep a little more that morning.
" Raina, what's that- Raina!" Lauren had finally caught sight of her hacked off hair.
It was shorter than her shoulders, at least some pieces were. The rest of it was messy and jagged and, well, short! But in a way, it suited her, made her look less like she used to, and that alone lent a little bit of tender youth to her face. But it still alarmed him. " Do you know what you have done?"
She looked at him like he was crazy. " I cut my hair."
He shook his head and sighed, kneeling so his eyes were on level with hers, and he exerted some of the assassin skills that held their prey captive, though not as much as he would have on any other person. " When an assassin cuts their hair, it means that they rid themselves of the title of assassin. Until it grows out again, they cannot pursue that title again."
Raina broke eye contact, she had always been good at resisting his gaze, and she smiled. " I didn't mean it in quite that way, but that's what I wanted. I don't want to be an assassin anymore, I want to be a Herald." Then she did a seemingly mindless thing.
She kissed him in the forehead, then the cheek, then his chin, his other cheek, and his forehead again. It was what their mother used to do when they were young and had nightmares. It was her ring of protection, she said. Raina hugged him and walked out the door, not saying anything until he heard the ring of hooves and Raina's whoop if joy. " Come and get me!"
Lauren groaned as he forced himself into a run and got to Shora, launching himself onto her and the both of them running off into the dawn
Disclaimer: See Chapter 1.
Chapter 4
" Raina! Your left flank!" Lauren shouted, knocking a wolf off of Shora's back, one that had set his sights on Lauren's head.
The agile little girl-child swung her half-staff back and Lauren heard a sharp thump as it hit the Changewolf in the face and he tumbled away, still lying in the dust. He felt a surge of relief that Raina was so skilled, when he could only do so little damage and look out for Raina.
: Don't cheer yet. There are four more in sight and the biggest one is hiding in the bushes ahead. Their trying to ambush us into the canyon.: Shora said, kicking in the side of another one as it tried to hamstring Alver. : Three.:
He was glad that Raina had such sharp senses, because no longer than a half-mark after they had gotten wind of the pack of Changewolves did they attack. It could have been the same pack that had gotten their older sister, but everyone had their tails, and there was no sign of the big one that Mira had half-blinded.
" Lauren!" Raina screamed, and he turned his head long enough to see Raina slip off the side of Alver and be pulled down by the smallest of the pack.
Alver and Shora screamed together, Shora rearing and coming down on the head of one of the Wolves that got under her feet and Alver whipping around and barreling at the small Wolf that held Raina down. She went flying and hit a tree with a sickening crack of bones breaking. As Alver nosed at Raina, Lauren looked around and couldn't see the last one. He knew they hadn't killed it yet, but there was nothing in sight but them.
: He's hiding with the leader. A few yards ahead is where they hide, but they are a little afraid of us. Raina's mean.: Shora said appreciatively as she trotted to Alver, trying to make it seem that they were okay and careless to the Wolves, hoping to draw them out.
" I'm alright, Lauren. I shouldn't have been so clumsy though." Raina grinned as she stood up and mounted Alver again, wheeling him around and pointing him in the direction of the Wolves hiding place. " Let's go hunting."
As Lauren followed her at a sedate pace, he noted that she had that glint in her eyes again, the cold and uncaring one that she'd had when she'd first mentioned the pack. No assassin he knew, not even his mother, who he had seen kill a man single handedly, could kill with that look in their eyes. He felt like he was loosing her already.
He was so deeply immersed in her thoughts that he didn't notice the downswing of Raina's arm and the thud that the last wolf made as he fell. She was good, but not good enough to notice the very last wolf, the leader, slink out of the bushes and position itself to leap on Alver's back. She didn't, but Shora did.
When the wolf leapt, Shora waited until she was close enough and bit down on the end of its tail, hard enough to yank it down. She danced back a little and by then its cries and yelps had alerted Alver. He lashed out with his hind legs and caught the wolf in the head. It fell and Raina leapt off of Alver, landing squarely by the wolf, which was quickly reverting back to his human form now that his magic was dying with him. She nudged him with her toe and he stirred, turning his face to her.
" Humans are weak!" He spat, still defiant even in the face of death. He coughed and some blood landed on her boot.
Raina looked down at her feet, wiping the blood off and looking at it on her hand. When she looked up at Lauren, she had tears in her eyes, her lips trembling as she fought to keep in sobs. " Their blood is red, Lauren." She said, her breath high and choked. " Like ours! Why do they have to be like us?" She fell to her knees and placed her hands on the man's forehead, crying and sobbing, taking great gulps of air as she keened highly.
Lauren almost fell off of Shora when he realized that even as an assassin, she had never killed anyone. He knew she had seen people die, more often than not at the hands of her friends and family members, but she had never killed a person before. Animals were one thing; she never really got attached to animals, but people? Lauren wished that they had ridden off without a second look at the destruction they had just caused.
" I'm sorry Raina." He didn't know what else to say, he had killed before, before his leg got hurt and he couldn't go out anymore. He was so lost.
: Let Alver take care of this one.: Shora said, shifting her feet around. : Remember, your not the only one she can turn to anymore.:
In any other situation, he would have taken offense at that, but now it just seemed so natural to let Alver do what he could. Maybe it was because he could do nothing himself.
It was nightfall by the time that Alver got Raina under control long enough to get her mounted. They were close enough to the edge of the woods that they would be protected from anything the Companions couldn't handle, and there was a multitude of little streams here and there, so Raina wandered off with Alver and bathed for awhile, even though he could still hear faint sobs punctuating the silence.
: Haven is about two more days away, if we don't sleep in too long in the mornings. And I think that Raina's idea of riding at night would be bad. There are worse things than Changewolves out during the night, we're better off sleeping.: Shora said, trying to break the uncomfortable feeling in the air.
" You're right." Lauren admitted. " Besides, my night vision is about as good as a blind cats."
He stroked the silky flank of Shora, who lay behind him, letting him use her as a pillow. Lauren was glad that Shora had Chosen him. He had been alone too long.
" Why do they have to be so human?" Raina asked, wanting to cry some more, but she was too exhausted.
She had finished her bath long ago, scrubbing over and over to get the feel of his blood off of her. Now she sat on a rock while Alver stood and she combed his tail. Her own hair was hanging down her back to her waist, damp and a little tangled, but curling in the cool night air since she had neglected to braid it. She didn't care anymore. That was what the old Raina did, the one that leapt through the obstacle course with an unpracticed ease, the one that forced boys into labored breathing because she had put them in a headlock, the one that had assassin training, but didn't want to be an assassin. She growled as she pushed a long handful of hair behind her ear, but it slid back out.
" Alver, do you have any scissors?" She asked, and smiled at the look that Alver gave her over his shoulder, as if to ask her if she really thought that Companions carried scissors. She shrugged and dug around in her clothes pile. " I guess my knife will have to do then."
: You're not seriously going to-: Alver winced as her knife sliced off an hunk of her hair. : I guess you are then.:
Raina found the hair cutting process relaxing, and prolonged it, cutting off short and thin pieces here and there and then longer pieces, then matching the swing of the knife to a song she had learned once, the bawdy tale of Laird Bobbins.
" Laird Bobbins," Swipe. " Never did learn how to get the ladies." Swipe. " So he took residence with the sheep." Swipe.
Alver didn't know which one was more painful, the ruthless cutting of the hair or the butchering of his favorite song.
It was near dawn when Raina returned to the campsite that they had chosen, an abandoned Waystation. Shora said it was abandoned, and they had found signs of forceful leavings, but neither Shora nor Alver knew who or what had broken the windows out and felled the tree by it. All they knew was that it was warm at night and cool during the day, which was all they needed. Lauren glared at Raina when she leapt through the window, landing an inch away from his head with a loud thump as she had intended.
" Heyla!" She chirped brightly, leaning over him. " Alver says that we can make it to the outskirts of Haven tonight if Shora looses weight and runs faster."
In the back of their heads they heard their Companion's jibe at each other, but it was all in good fun. Raina was finally having fun, and she wasn't in the horrible mood that she had been yesterday. For some reason, she was as if the thing had never happened at all.
Lauren got up and since he was already dressed, he had no choice but to go out and see how Shora was doing. Not that he minded, but he had wanted to sleep a little more that morning.
" Raina, what's that- Raina!" Lauren had finally caught sight of her hacked off hair.
It was shorter than her shoulders, at least some pieces were. The rest of it was messy and jagged and, well, short! But in a way, it suited her, made her look less like she used to, and that alone lent a little bit of tender youth to her face. But it still alarmed him. " Do you know what you have done?"
She looked at him like he was crazy. " I cut my hair."
He shook his head and sighed, kneeling so his eyes were on level with hers, and he exerted some of the assassin skills that held their prey captive, though not as much as he would have on any other person. " When an assassin cuts their hair, it means that they rid themselves of the title of assassin. Until it grows out again, they cannot pursue that title again."
Raina broke eye contact, she had always been good at resisting his gaze, and she smiled. " I didn't mean it in quite that way, but that's what I wanted. I don't want to be an assassin anymore, I want to be a Herald." Then she did a seemingly mindless thing.
She kissed him in the forehead, then the cheek, then his chin, his other cheek, and his forehead again. It was what their mother used to do when they were young and had nightmares. It was her ring of protection, she said. Raina hugged him and walked out the door, not saying anything until he heard the ring of hooves and Raina's whoop if joy. " Come and get me!"
Lauren groaned as he forced himself into a run and got to Shora, launching himself onto her and the both of them running off into the dawn
