Sooo... I still can't follow a schedule. University has kept me busy. Well, not more than before, but before, I used to write this in class (don't do this, kids!). Now I can't, 'cause I gotta keep my grades up, so I can't find the time to write. So don't be surprised if I can't update regularely. Anyways, only three or four chapter left before the end of the second part!
Byyyyyyye!
Onya was standing next to the training ground, casually leaning against a tree.
Natshana had taken the Natblidas further into the forest, claiming to want them to discover a nearby frog pond. Titus had tried to intervene, arguing that it was ridiculus to be interested in frogs, but Onya had replied that he was probably jealous because he had a toad's head. Titus was left speechless, Leksa barely concealing her smile.
Onya was trying to forget what she heard on the anniversary of Kostya's death. When Leksa and Kassi woke up the next day with an excruciating headache, they didn't seem to remember their game. Onya had preferred not to insist, but her confession haunted her at night, as she vainly sought sleep.
Onya peacefully observed the training of Tris who was spinning, her sword in her hands. If Onya hadn't seen her trip over her own feet, she would have believed that child was born with a sword in her hands. That's what people said about Onya herself. That she had came out of her mother's womb with rage in her heart and a knife in her bloody hands.
A cry pulled her from her thoughts, Onya quickly turned her head towards the forest. All the warriors froze in their spots, not knowing what to think. Toni emerged from the woods, running towards them, screaming at the top of his little lungs. Onya was the first to reach him.
"What is it?"
The young boy, out of breath, was forced to take a breath before pointing a finger in the direction of the trees.
"Ripa! Ripa don zog raun osir !"
"Reapers," Onya hissed.
None of the Coallition would be foolish enough to openly challenge Heda's authority by attacking her successors, not even Azgeda.
Onya held out her hand, and Tris was there, thrusting her bow between her fingers.
"Someone warn Heda! All of you, after me!"
She didn't miss Tristan's glare, but ignored it, rushing into the forest, following the path she knew Kassi had planned to take.
She heard them before she saw them. The screams of the children, the metallic clang of the swords, the yells of the reapers. Onya placed an arrow on her bow, pulling it back, without ceasing her course.
The ripa were covered in the blood of their fellows, their tattered clothes soaked in mud and filth. Neither in appearance nor in behavior did they seem human. The mountain had sucked out their humanity and turned them into beasts hungry for human flesh and violence.
And, in their midst, the only barrier between them and the rest of the Natblidas, a white-haired figure who fought with everything she had. Although she wasn't the only one fighting, with some of the older Natblidas accompanying her, Onya wondered how they had held out for so long.
She released her first arrow, nocking one in a mechanical gesture. Behind her, the rest of the warriors rushed forward, shouting battle cries. Onya stuck her dagger into a man's skull, pulling it out with a sickening noise, launched a new arrow, slashing her way through the monsters.
"Took you long enough!"
She had one of Onya's dagger in one hand, a sword she had stolen from a ripa in the other. Her face was smeared with blood and the little ones clung to her skirts screaming in terror.
"Now I know where my damned dagger is, you filthy thief!"
Kassi dodged a blow, thrusting her sword into a man's stomach with a gag in disgust. She slashed a hand reaching for Nova, returned a ripa for Onya to shoot an arrow at her head. She leaned back, so low that her head nearly hit the ground, a sword passing inches from her nose, which Onya countered with her own.
Onya instinctively felt the opening before she actually saw it. For a brief second, there was a flutter, and she immediately tried her luck.
"Go! Take the Natblidas and retreat!"
Kassi turned, dropping the reaper's sword to grab Nova's hand in hers, as Onya's warriors formed a small group around the Natblidas. Aden, covered in blood, pushed the children forward.
"Run!" Tristan ordered. "Those who stop will be left to die."
That was the rule of life.
Onya started running again, shooting arrows to stop the reapers trying to sidestep them. Next to her, Kassi didn't say a word, her hand in Nova's. A few reapers had rushed after them, and Onya could only hope to cross paths with Heda and her warriors. Stopping would put all the Natblidas in danger.
They couldn't afford it.
Nova stumbled over a root with a scream, letting go of Kassi's hand who continued for a second in her tracks. She immediately turned around, and Onya stopped.
"Onya, they made their choice!" cried Tristan.
The time of a very short second, Onya found herself motionless, as Kassi threw Onya's dagger to the ground to lift Nova up with both hands.
The next second, an arrow was shot in the head in the reaper which extended his hands towards the girl, and Onya realized that it was hers.
Kassi stood up, resuming a run as she lifted Nova to carry her against her hip. She caught up with Onya, and the two started running again, Onya placing a hand on Kassi's back, to make sure she didn't fall.
At the edge of the forest, Heda passed them, leading her warriors against the reaper. With just one look from Leksa, Onya knew what she had to do.
She grabbed Kassi by the arm, forcing her to stop. She was out of breath, covered in mud, and hugged Nova.
"Are you okay?"
Kassi nodded.
"I am going back. Don't do anything stupid."
And Onya turned to follow Heda.
By the time they were done with the reapers, the Natblidas had been dragged into the tower of Polis. When Onya joined them, covered in blood that wasn't her own, she was met with screams that weren't meant for her.
Kassi was standing in a corner, a sword brandished in front of her, Nova sobbing on her shoulder. In front of her, Titus seemed on the verge of ordering her execution and snatching Nova from her corpse.
"Back off! Back the fuck off right now! None of you touch her!"
Onya made her way to her, but Kassi just pointed her sword at her. Onya raised her hands.
"It's just me."
"They were going to leave her behind! They wanted her dead!"
"We did not want her dead," Titus replied.
"'Those who stop will be left to die'! She's a child!"
"Kassi, put her down!"
"No! I won't let any of you take her from me!"
"Kassi!"
"Back off! Don't touch my baby-"
"Kassi! Emp pleni!"
Kassi blinked, finally seeming to realize that she was not in the Sky, but on the ground, where her daughter had never lived. Slowly, she lowered her weapon, frowning. Nova wriggled out of her grip and staggered back to Aden.
"You were going to leave her behind."
"That is our way, Skaigada," spat Titus.
"The fuck's that supposed to mean?"
"If death has decided to take her, than she wasn't meant for the conclave," Titus declared, cocking his chin haughtily.
Onya felt her blood run cold.
"What's a conclave?"
"That doesn't matter-" Onya tried, stepping forward in an attempt to push her away.
"It'll be our final fight," Aden replied. "The one where one of us will emerge victorious, and become Heda, and the others will be laid to rest."
There was a long second of silence, Kassi paled even more than was humanly possible. Onya gritted her teeth, waiting for the explosion.
It did not come.
Kassi slowly turned to Onya, as if hoping she would reassure her that Aden was lying. Onya pursed her lips. Her purple-ish eyes searched hers, filled with horror and dread.
Bam!
The slap made Onya's head whip around, and when she turned around, the warriors were staring in amazement, but not Kassi. Kassi hadn't changed her expression.
She hit her again, this time in the shoulder, then in the chest.
"Kassi-"
She pushed her away with both hands, so violently that Onya took a few steps back, and yet Kassi continued to strike, faster and faster.
"I can't do this again! I can't do this again!"
"Kassi, stop!"
"You lied!" She screamed, hitting her again. "You lied to me! You lied about everything!"
"It was either watching you die, or loosing you! I had to make a choice!"
"It wasn't yours to make!"
She suddenly stopped, glaring, rage in her eyes.
"I hate you," she declared, detaching each word.
And she turned away, disappearing outside, stomping on Onya's shattered heart as she passed.
"Ripa! Ripa don zog raun osir !": Reapers! Reapers attacked us!