A/N: I'm so sorry it took so long to get this chapter posted, the Document manager wasn't working. Thanks to all my amazing reviewers, and please enjoy the first chapter of Everything She Ever Wanted! I must warn you, this chapter is very depressing, and there is death.
Disclaimer: None of this is mine.
Everything She Ever Wanted: Chapter 1
A young woman galloped her mare over the open fields. Her red dress swirled over the mare's flanks, seeming to reflect the sunrise that was peeking over the trees. The mare's muscles bunched under her white coat as she began her way up the hill.
The rider moved with the mare, her straight black hair swaying in the wind. Her golden-brown skin—which pointed to Yamani heritage—glowed with life. A smile spread across her face, and her strange blue-black eyes closed with joy as she lifted her face to the breeze.
Her eyes snapped open as the mare balked at the crest of the hill, half-rearing. Frowning, the young woman—no more than nineteen—clung to mare until she calmed.
"Rala, what's the matter?" She crooned, leaning over to rub her mare's neck. Nostrils flaring, Rala reared to her full height, eyes rolling. She was obviously spooked, even though this was a hill that she had traveled up countless times before. Brushing her hair out of her eyes, the young woman quickly dismounted, checking her saddle bags to make sure they were secure before walking to her horse's head.
Lady Nara of Kudarung Falls was petite, and at five feet five, she only rose above her mare's shoulder. She looked her horse in the eye. "You didn't spook like this when were going to Aliza's house," she murmured, stroking the mare's velvet nose.
Rala snorted, calmed, but she still eyed the descending hill with fear in her dark eyes. Nara could hear the waterfall thundering behind her, and when she turned to look, she was amazed by its beauty. Dazzling colors played against the wall of water, and the sunrise added to the brilliance.
Nara noticed something as she gazed at the waterfall. In between the mists rising from the frothy pool, something else seem to hang there. She peered at it. Was that smoke?
The gray tendrils rose up, coating the waterfall and turning it a steel gray. Glancing towards the rising sun, Nara's heart jumped with fear as she noticed the amount of smoke coating the air and clouding the sunrise. Praying to any listening gods that it had just been a brush fire, she looked down at her home.
Nothing could have prepared her for what she saw.
Kudarung Falls was…gone. Nara stared in disbelief at the carnage that lay below her. The fields were blackened, and the lush forests that once crowned the fief were now just blackened, raw stumps. The streams were stripped bare of their cool water, and small flames still danced amongst the wreckage.
The thing that broke her heart was the manor. The stately white house, once the crowning figure of Kudarung Falls, was demolished. "No," Nara whispered in disbelief. Her wracked sobs hung in the air, but step by step, she forced one foot in front of the other, down into the graveyard that was once her home.
Vaguely she wondered where all the kudarung were. The larger ones had left feathers, but no clue as to what had happened to them. The bodies of the miniature ones lay scattered, blackened, but there was no blood. Nara quickened her step as she neared the gutted remains of the manor, hoping to find her family alive.
Visions of her husband Alexander, and her eight-month old son Aidan alive and well haunted her, and she hurried her pace until she was almost running up the front steps. Bursting into the house, she tripped over the remains of her servants.
Bones littered the floors, and piles of ash marked where the rest had fallen. In the entrance hall, propped up against the stairwell, was the burned body of Alex.
Nara's scream of "Alex!" rebounded over and over in the empty entrance hall, magnified by the crumbling stone. She rushed to his side, stepping through piles of ash to get there. Her mind shied away from the fact that she was walking through people's bodies, and she crouched down beside her husband.
She touched him tentatively, and then wrapped her arms around his burned body, sobbing loudly. "Alex!" She cried. She had lost her husband, the only one she loved…and he was gone. Her sobs were magnified, and it was as if there was this well of pain within her that would never run dry.
Nara didn't know how long she sat there, cradling his lifeless and charred body. Stumbling away, she wiped away her tears and went in search of her son. Perhaps he had survived.
Bursting into the nursery, Nara held her breath as she waited for a baby's cry, or even a gurgle. Dead silence met her ears and smoke met her eyes as she surveyed the gutted nursery. The body of the nurse was lying in front of the crib, as if she had tried to save him at the last minute. And there, lying in his cradle, was Aidan.
He wasn't burned like the others; he looked like he was asleep. His blonde hair shone in the sunlight that filtered in through the ruined roof, and his blue eyes were closed in what looked like a peaceful sleep. He remained unmoving, and Nara knew he was dead.
Reaching out to scoop him up, Nara gathered her baby in her arms, rocking him back and forth as the tears streamed down her cheeks. She sobbed over his prone body, smoothing his hair, trying to coax him back to life. Suddenly realizing he would never wake up to look at her again, she placed him gently back in his cradle, wrapped her arms around herself, sank to the floor, and sobbed as her heart broke into a million pieces.
Nara didn't know how long she stayed there as she railed against the gods and sobbed out her pain. She just knew that after she rose, she had cried all her tears. She could cry no more. She set off with renewed purpose to find the last member of her family: Her brother Galen.
Reaching Galen's room, Nara knew that her search would be as fruitless as the other two. Her brother was nowhere to be seen, and ash and dust littered his room. Nara was about to leave as a cry of pain grabbed her attention. Her heart in her mouth, she glanced around the darkening room. Clouds had descended to cover the sun, echoing her pain, and she peered into the gloom.
Finding the source of the cry, she walked over to the remains of a chest of drawers. Kneeling down, she brushed away the ash and dirt, expressionless. Her heart leapt as she uncovered the form of a badly wounded miniature kudarung.
The tiny kudarung stallion stared up at her, his eyes rolling in pain. It took Nara a moment to identify Kele. The stallion had been a bay the last time she saw him. Now, as he was keening in pain, she saw that his palomino bat wings had been seared pitch black, and his lustrous bay coat had become a patchy coat of bay and soot gray.
Kele's keening seemed to echo the pain in her heart, so she scooped him up, tearing off a piece of her skirt to bandage him. She lifted her face to the skies as the first rain began to fall. Her face was expressionless, and her blue-black eyes held nothing was an empty coldness. Her face didn't change, but her eyes glinted as raindrops fell onto her cheeks, making it seem as if she was crying.
Nara headed away from the remains of her home, cradling Kele to her chest. She knew what she had to do. She had no home now, but she was going to find one.
Lady Nara of Kudarung Falls was going to Corus.
A/N: So, what do you think is going to happen next? What will the king do when he hears her story? Review please, and no flames!