The Raider

Chapter 2

// the photo above corresponds to the forest tribe houses

// a bit of a filler chapter, but we will get there

As always, Ascella and Halo were the first at the ruins. She gave him a cursory nod as she joined him on the lip of a ruin. For a few moments, they basked in companionable silence.

"Any updates?" Halo's gruff voice broke the peace of the morning.

"Nothing yet." He huffed with annoyance and Ascella bit her lip.

"You can't handle many more sessions with the Tribal Leaders, so we need to move soon." Ascella bristled. Who was he to say what she could handle?

"I can handle them." Halo was silent for a moment.

"They want you dead."

"Oh really? I hadn't noticed."

"Ascella." Her name was a sharp reprimand in his mouth and she blew out a breath to calm herself.

"I have been complacent for years, Halo. My death would be a nice end to a story for them, but it is unfounded. We both know they won't want kill me until I have outlived my usefulness. And it is frustrating but we just need to have- "

"Patience, I know." Halo interrupted her and Ascella winced, but he turned towards her with a rueful grin. "I never would have guessed that you would be the one lecturing me on patience."

"What is that supposed to mean?" Ascella's tone turned teasing.

"Well, you were always a hellion of a child." Ascella squawked in outrage and Halo laughed.

"I was not!"

"Oh but you were! You should have heard your father. He would come running into courtyard with stories of your rampages. 'Do you know what Ella did?' He would say and he wouldn't even wait for an answer." Halo was beaming, but Ascella couldn't reconcile her stalwart father with the image he painted.

"'Ella stole her brother's sword and threatened the neighbor boy with it.' 'Ella set fire to her teacher for taking her book. I can't prove it but I know it was her.' 'Ella snuck into the inner circle to avoid her chores.' You were legendary among us raiders even before you were one of us." Halo was laughing to himself now and Ascella tried her best to swallow her shock. How many of the older raiders knew her when she first stumbled into the ruins?

"You never told me." It was a question. Halo shrugged but refused to meet her eyes.

"I think it was mostly for my benefit." It was Ascella's turn to avoid eye contact. She had heard the stories, everyone had, but Halo never actually spoke of them and she was not about to inquire after his dead wife and daughter.

"For the record, I wasn't the only one who set the teacher on fire. There was a group of us." The tension broke as Halo whipped his head towards her with a disbelieving look. He recovered quickly.

"And who was the leader of said group?" Ascella was saved from having to reply as other raiders emerged from the tree line and she hopped from the ruin.

Light was filtering through the foliage when the recruits finally stumbled into the courtyard. Ascella and Halo shared an amused glance at their exhausted state.

"Tired?" None of them were brave enough to respond to her taunt, but Ascella could read the resentment in their eyes. It warmed her heart.

Ascella did not bother with a speech today as she directed them towards their assigned raiders. Instead of tackling the ruins with the others, she took her recruits for a run in the surrounding forest. She doubted any of them had ever been this far from the tribe, so she kept her pace deliberately slow as she let them bask in the newness of their lives. One day of peace was all she could afford to give them.

By noon, they had reached a familiar rocky outcropping and Ascella was content to call for a break. She pulled a flask from her pack and took a swig as the others caught up. After she finished, she handed it to Wren, who was already beside her. The girl's eyes gleamed as she brought the flask to her lips. She was quick to hand it to River beside her.

"Any questions?" Ascella did not waste words on small talk. Every raider had a tragic story. It was not her job to be their mother or their sister or their friend. It was her job to keep them alive, so she settled with what she knew.

"Is it true that you fell from a tower?" She had barely finished her sentence before the words spilled from River's mouth. Ascella's mouth quirked and she wondered how long he had been wanting to ask her that.

"A small one and on purpose, mind you."

"How do you fall off a tower on purpose?" Wren's tone was skeptical and Ascella laughed. The girl would do well among raiders.

"It was either that or be hit by a barrage of arrows. I can't say there was much of a choice." Their eyes were wide as they surveyed her and she realized she might have scared them. Ash was not so subtlety laughing beside her.

"There is no reason for alarm though, that doesn't really happen. I was just stupid enough to get caught." Ascella cringed internally as she stumbled through her explanation. One would think she would be better at this teaching thing by now.

"Is it true that everyone in your family was a raider?" River's voice carried and Ash stilled beside her. It was an unspoken rule to not ask about a raider's family. Especially hers.

"Not those questions." Her words were sharp with rebuke and Ascella fought to keep her face impassive. A small part of her was tempted to ask about River's own family, but she held herself back. No use in being vindictive.

"Do you want to be called Spirit or Ascella?" Wren blurted. Ascella recognized the question for what it was, a diversion, but allowed it. The two were obviously close. Too close, she noted absently. It was bound to end in tragedy.

"Unless you are secretly Kinid, please call me Ascella."

"Why do they call you that?" It was Ash who posed the question. One he had asked several times before, but she feigned nonchalance.

"I wouldn't know." A small shrug. "You'd have to ask them." It was a lie, of course, but they didn't need to know that. The origin story of her moniker was not one she wanted to relive.

"Were you at the warfront?" River was treading on very thin ice.

"A long time ago." Vague, but an answer.

"As a warrior?" The ice was starting to melt.

"As a raider and a warrior."

"Did you kill anyone?" And the ice cracked.

Ascella straightened as she stowed her flask again. She had humanized herself, they had asked questions, that part of the day was done. Her eyes strayed to the boulders before them. Now for the next part of the day.