The Halo Of Vakh (BOOK 1)

WE WALKED AWAY OUR WAGES

They heard it before it came. The storm that had been brewing for years, had finally hit the shore. She had been in her room, sewing a tunic when Cygnus had rushed in, his gaze panicked and wide.

"Something's coming," he had said and she had put aside the tunic to pat the bed beside her. The boy had put his head in his hand and pressed his palms over his ears, face screwing up harshly, twisting with pain. "There's too much noise. It's burning my ears!"

Joseryn had put two hands on his shoulders, comforting him. She remembered how her eyes had lingered on the scar on his neck and the light burn it was producing. It was then that the horns had sounded and the gun fire had blasted. Cygnus had curled in on himself and Joseryn could do nothing but watch with mounting dread. Her sister had burst into the room then, her dark curls flying, as she picked up clothes and threw them into a carpet bag.

"Get Lyra and Ma," she had said. "We need to go."

She had done what needed to be done despite her confusion. Lyra had looked at her with wide black eyes, so like her father that she felt a thorn push into Joseryn's heart. She wanted to know his fate. Needed to know if he lived. Her Ma had sat unseeing in her chair, letting herself be dragged wherever Joseryn wanted.

They had hurried onto the streets and had tied all their belongings onto Jay, stuffing the food into the cart. Ara had taken the reins and Joseryn had fitted herself between Lyra and Cygnus, one hand around each of their shoulders and her Ma leaning against her knees. It was then that the mob of citizens had rounded the corner, yelling and waving pikes. She could see them through the small window in the cart. Rocks had flown off the cart roof and then the siren had blared, loud and clear. Parr's men met the citizens midway.

There had been chaos after that. Joseryn did not know how they had made their way out of the city. All she knew was that there had been a flare of deep green around her that had thrown the people off their horse and cart. It had come from her and she did not know what to make of it.

They sat in front of a fire, mountains rising around them. Lyra and her Ma slept on a shared bedroll, Joseryn's blue cloak spread over them like a mirror of the sky above. Ara slept on the rocky ground, her cloak giving minimal protection from the roughness of the ground. Cygnus sat with his back against a parched tree, staring up with a blank expression on his face. Joseryn moved to sit closer to the boy.

"Are you scared?"

The question came low and merged into the whisper of the wind before it had completely reached her. She understood, nevertheless.

"Everyone's scared," she replied after a while and it was the truth, wasn't it? Harfen Parr had driven everyone to wrap fear around themselves like a second skin. He had shoved everyone into a cage and had become the bounty hunter looking for treasures and taking pleasure from the misery of others. "Doesn't necessarily mean it's a bad thing."

The incredulous rise of Cygnus' brows made her continue.

"A man can live with all the courage in his veins. Can do things that others won't. Climb a tree? Stand in front of a raging sea and still dive into its depths? But how would he improve himself? What reason would he have to improve himself?"

"He won't have to improve himself. He'll already be the best."

The stubborn disdain in Cygnus' voice made Joseryn want to let out a chuckle. She was reminded of Orion's valour and Sapphire's resilience with a pang.

"He won't. Because he won't know where he lacks. He won't know his weakness. A man who fears, knows them. He knows what he has to lose. He knows how to make the best use of his weaknesses, his fears and turn them around for his own advantage."

There was silence for a few moments before Cygnus spoke up, "Did you swallow one of Uncle James' books by any chance?"

Joseryn snorted, "I'd be telling you all about your insides if I had."

This made Cygnus' lips twitch. The light wind rushed around them, brushing its fingers across their cheeks and arms as they sat side by side, eyes bathed in stars. It was well past the final hours of the night, when the sky had started to shed its dark curtain to make way for something lighter that Cygnus spoke up.

"Who'd help us?"

Joseryn shuffled against the ground and gazed at the mountains that rose gradually higher around them. "There are people there. Orion told me about them."

She hoped he was alright, wherever he was, safe from the darkness and shadows that would try hard to snuff out his light. It was a hope she had built around the fragile base of no news from the authorities. Every VannØrn execution had been advertised in each and every newspaper. She knew Ta Leif had been murdered in cold blood in an inn at the month's beginning. It had been three months since they had left Kapok, since the walls of safety had turned to ash under Parr's fiery madness. It was mid Aptrad. Four months into the year and their lives had already slipped out of their hands.

They knew Ta Therin's youngest son had been shot at Heif's gates. They had mourned the two, but the news had brought back the small twisted comfort that the people they held close were safe as long as they were not mentioned in the daily news.

It was that which led her forward to hope that Orion was still somewhere out there, alive. They'd find him one day, that she knew in the deepest parts of her heart. They could not stay away, not from Sapphire, not from Orion. Their family was held together by a bond stronger than the hatred and anger of the Butcher King and she hoped fate would not tear them apart.

They continued the next morning, picking up their belongings and once again boarding themselves onto the cart. Cygnus took the reins this time around. Their stomachs hurt. Ara and her had taken a small portion of the rabbit roast they had managed to make, leaving most of it to their mother, Lyra and Cygnus. The farther they went, the colder it became.

They didn't talk about the energy that had erupted from Joseryn amidst their escape. For a few, she managed to trick herself into thinking that it was nothing but a figment of her imagination. She managed to believe that nothing had happened. But now that she had felt the thrum of energy beneath her skin, the escape of power had left a lingering warmth in her flesh that she wanted to taste again. She didn't know what it was or why it had happened, for that, she would have to ask. But she did know that whatever it was, she would embrace it as a part of herself and not be afraid of it.

.·:*¨༻  ༺¨*:·.

And that's the end of Act II. We'll head into Act III this Friday. I hope you're enjoying.