The sun had set less than an hour ago, adding an extra chill to the air. Korr shivered slightly, wishing again he had been able to escape with a coat or something.

He glanced at his master, Jador, sitting beside him. Jador had managed to escape with a coat from his mansion, and he was wearing it now. He had also escaped with pocketfuls of gold, and would probably have gotten his hands on more if Korr hadn't been literally pushing him away from the property.

Korr had escaped with his sword and the clothes on his body. That was it. He had been much too concerned with his master's safety to grab anything for himself.

He shivered again, this time not from the cold. He scooted a little closer to the fire, glancing around at the other refugees. He didn't know any of their names - they had joined up with them less than a week ago. No one talked much or got to know each other.

Korr sighed, remembering the friends he had made among the guard - the friends he had watched fall to the armies of Astrava and Leonar. He cursed them again in his mind, and drew deeper into himself, gazing into the flames. Most of the survivors of the purge had similar experiences. It was no wonder they didn't really talk.



Edited 1 times. Last edit at 10/11/09 05:23PM by Aljeron12.

"Daddy, I'm tired," the little girl complained from her father's lap, after stifling yet another yawn. She was curled up in her father's lap, with her chin resting on her knees - which were drawn up to her chest - and her arms around them. Leaning back into his chest, she tipped her head back to look up at him with wide blue eyes.

"Shh... I know Ro, sweetie," the man murmured, brushing a stray strande of blonde hair out of the young girl's face. "We'll get to bed soon, I promise," Patoro told her, kissing the top of her head gently.

"All right, daddy," the little girl agreed, snuggling farther into his chest. With just the ghost of a smile on his lips, Patoro looked up from his daughter to the fire the little group was sitting around.

Crow sat on top of the wall, trying not to fall asleep. Pinching himself wasn't working like it usually did, but falling asleep on duty was not an option. He was trying to hold his head up when his ears caught the faint sound of footsteps. He cautiously turned and saw a few dark figures walking from the woods that surrounded what remained of the manor.

" Looters, eh?" he thought to himself. " Well, how about this?" He lit a torch and threw it at the figures. There were a few yelps of pain, then Crow let out a battle cry, beating his chest and screaming until his throat could take it no more. The figures screamed and retreated, leaving Crow to laugh. " Heh. It works every time." He flexed his arms then resumed his position, now fully awake and ready to defend the manor at whatever cost.





I'd like to make myself believe
That planet Earth turns slowly
It's hard to say that I'd rather stay
Awake when I'm asleep
'Cause everything is never as it seems.


Southern_Gal20 on Nanowrimo '09!


Founder of facebook group "Beyond Summerland." Join today!

My writing blog: [aspiringpen.blogspot.com]

"I'm going to sleep," Jador grumbled, getting up and retreating a ways to get away from the group.

Korr mumbled an answer but continued staring at the fire. Out of the corner of his eye he saw the little girl in her father's lap. She was the only child in the group. Korr had dreamed sometimes of having a family. That dream had been destroyed along with so much else when Atrava and Leonar had attacked.

A shiver of fear ran down Cosette's spine as she heard a beastial roar from a distance away. A thrown torch had merely startled the looters, but the ensuing sound terrified them like a pack of rabbits and sent them stumbling off into the darkness.

She felt no pity for the looters, but neither did she feel any comfort knowing that there was a man nearby that could raise such an awful, vicious din. Her hand shook with fear as she reached out to stroke Sablewing. His presence brought her a small amount of comfort as he gazed up at her with beady, perceptive eyes.

"Sable...what sort of a man would make such a sound?" she questioned, sniffling rather loudly. Somewhere along her journey, she had caught a cold and its effects were showing; sore throat, watery eyes, tickly nose and frequent sneezing. Not exactly the best traits when one was trying to be stealthy.

Sablewing bent down and picked at one of his feathers with his beak.

Cosette sighed as she scooped up her pack of belongings and wrapped her cloak more securely about her shoulders. Normally, she would have been frightened beyond thinking, but she was too ill, tired and malnourished to really weigh any grave possiblities.

Slowly, she trudged out from the shrubbery where she had taken up hiding and travelled on, Sablewing purched on her shoulder. Where she was and where she was going, she did not know.

When Patoro next looked down at his daughter, the little girl had somehow managed to curl herself into a ball in his lap and had fallen fast asleep. Sighing, though with a small smile on his lips, he picked the sleeping child up easily, and walked just outside the group sitting about the fire, pulling his sleeping roll out of his pack and unrolling it, before slipped between the blankets and closing his eyes, arms still protectively around his daughter.

Night had fallen, and though she had eyes that could not see, the temperature and sounds of hooting owls made Gaela fear the worst. She'd been wandering aimlessly for days but the nights had not been this cold nor the hairs on the back of her neck so prickled. Living off roots and what over ripe fruit she came across, she knew that, even as skilled as she was in the woods at home, a blind girl would be no match for the unknown world.

She continued to walk, afraid to stop for fear of creatures coming after her though she did not know that it was in fact doing the opposite. Ears picking up the faintest of swooshes and an odd pur she stopped, fear gripping her as she listened intently for what she feared to be the end of her. A cat like growl emitted over head and she was quick to begin a blind high stepping run through the forest.

Korr thought that perhaps he should get some sleep. They would likely begin traveling again tomorrow. But he couldn't tear his eyes away from the flames. They were so mesmerizing, so bright, a small light in the darkness that had covered his heart.

He made a move to stand, but his body didn't seem to react to his brain's command. His legs barely twitched. So he continued sitting, staring for seconds or maybe an eternity into the bright and dancing flames.

With her dash, Gaela heard the massive beast leap down behind her and begin after her. She was lithe on her feet, but unknown logs or stones could be the death of her now. Funny, she thought in running craze, that a blind girl could run fast. Walking through the woods at home, she learned it was best to pick ones feet up higher when walking so as not to trip as often and she felt odd now kicking her legs up as she dashed away and tried not to run into trees and bushes and the such.

She heard the lion gaining on her but she didn't hear the dim crackle of a dieing fire or the sleeping breath of others until she fell face first after running head long into a log that had been placed around the fire. The thing was, she didn't just run into a log, she ran into a man who was now as splayed on the ground as she was.

(hope you dont mind Alj....I couldnt resist)

(this starts before Chaos's post)

Reed paced morosely around the fire, scrutinizing the faces of the refugees sitting around in. They all looked so dull. So horrendously dull. It was like they were all half dead. Just looking at them made him feel corpse like. He was bored, bored out of his mind, and being bored made him on edge and angry.

What did they have to be looking so dead about anyway? Sure, sure, their families were dead, their homes were gone; it had happened to him too. But he wasn't dying because of it. His father might have been dead, and all his money gone--

Ugh! Just for one gold piece, to get smashed in some tavern just for one night--

But he was still alive. Very alive. And he was going to act like it.

With this in mind, he picked up a fallen branch, prepared to toss it into the fire, then stopped midway as a girl came running into the camp, fell on top of one of the men, and was followed closely by a mountain lion.