Kingdom Come

VIII. Bad Moon Rising

I see the bad moon a-risin'

I see trouble on the way

I see earthquakes and lightnin'

I see bad times today

It took her mere minutes to reach the burning camp with the others. She jumped off her horse as she ran, trying to get to her aunt who was no longer there it seemed. She turned in a circle, calling out for both of them, but no one came. Sihtric found her in a second. The smell of death greeted them, she could taste it.

"No, no God," Jaehaera heard Father Beocca say as he walked past them, "please God let this not be true."

"I was right," She mumbled as he held her shoulders, "this can't happen, this," she shook her head as she looked away from him and out to the burned tents. Her vision began to blur the scene around her.

"Jaehaera," Sihtric began softly, keeping his hands on her shoulders as Finan and her father found the two. Uhtred's heart broke as he called for his sister and Aethelflaed. The calls for the woman made her flinch.

"This, this wasn't supposed to happen. I should've connected pieces sooner, told you all sooner," She continued to ramble. "I- this is my fault, I knew something could happen." Finan and Sihtric shook their heads, but she wasn't looking at them, she looked around her at the few dead bodies of women she knew and the few she didn't. "I should have stayed with them. They couldn't. They didn't know how to defend themselves, I should have stayed here-"

"Jaehaera," Sihtric interrupted her sharply. He never spoke to her like that, it certainly got not only her attention but Finan's as well. Sihtric held the back of her neck gently with both hands, forcing her to look at him. She fell into his chest, as he held her together. Her eyes were blurry with tears, and fear at the area around them. "This was not your fault," he told her. The emotions of the events that happened here, washing and crashing over her, as she had been there.

Finan and her father looked at the poor girl, this ability often crippled her like this, and they didn't know how to help. Finan placed a hand on Jaehaera's shoulder gently. "It wasn't your fault, Jaehaera," Finan told her. "No one could have predicted this, you being here wouldn't have changed the outcome lady, you could've been taken with them."

Sihtric hummed in agreement as he held the girl together in his arms. Uhtred watched the two, how Sihtric seemed to understand her the most. He tightened his grip on her as he moved them. He knew that if she saw the dead, she wouldn't fare well for much longer, not that she was currently. "Close your eyes," he whispered to her, "I've got you."

"If I close my eyes, I'll see them still," She whimpered into his chest. Sihtric placed a hand on the back of the younger girl's head, keeping her head against him as they moved. She wished the gods would strike her deaf, she didn't think her heart could take much more of Beocca's heartbroken calls for her aunt Thyra. She released herself from Sihtric to find Beocca. She hugged the man fiercely. "I'm," She struggled to begin as they cried together, "I'm sorry Father, I should, should have been here with her."

Father Beocca held her cheeks in his hands, eyes glassy. "No, no, please Jaehaera," he began softly, broken. "Please don't think that this is your fault." Finan and Sihtric found her again, as did her father. "It was God's will, and he did not choose in our favor." She shook her head, not liking that answer. The two connected foreheads, they both knew how much the other loved Thyra. He held the girl tightly, she had also lost a friend.