From Ashes and Snow

The Other side

Unedited

Chapter 18:  The Other side.

"In all my studies, the Zentin have been mystical creatures shrouded in bias and fear. Their past has been hidden by the victors of their war and their genocide painted as a necessity to cleanse the empire of Cadelith of creatures who can read a man's emotions and delve into their minds. From sources and from real life observations of the only surviving Zentin, they seem to hold none of the malice that encases the hearts of humans. Their culture is gone, their home in Adotlan abandoned to the elements, an empty shell of it's former glory. I would love to go there someday."

An excerpt from the journals of Fyr Lockley.

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The days passed, and I settled into an uncomfortable routine. Already we had come to the aid of several villages that had been attacked by the Nirani and the people's gratitude towards me and the soldiers that the Captain sent with me was disconcerting. 

There was a strange dynamic shifting where people looked to me when a question was asked, and I asked Asha'da to make that my voice did not shake when I tried to explain to people what was happening to them and what those creatures were.

Slowly I was beginning to like the sight of Haaling. I did not want to rely on a place again, but I liked the thought of returning to the echoing halls of Atoll and listening to the baker arguing with the blacksmith; it was good natured, and they always laughed afterwards. It was the familiar comfort of a place. When I was away at the villages around the Evermere forest, I thought about the long mess hall when I was eating hard crusts at the side of the road and listening to Paladin soldiers talk about their families or partners.

Then the people were beginning to infect me. I was beginning to rely on the Captain's solid advice and blunt attitude. He didn't suffer fools and kept me on my toes but I enjoyed arguing with him, just because I could. Fyr was nothing but nice to me, her smile always present and her mind choked with new ideas and solutions to problems I had never even heard of. I attended their meetings and did what was required, but it was becoming harder and harder not to laugh at something they did or add in my own piece of advice instead of stewing in my own silence.

That morning I woke to the soft whisper of wind against the window. Snow piled on the sill, but the chill seeped into the room. Stretching out my aching limbs, I yawned in the silent room. My breath misted in the air, and I twisted under the blankets as sleep pulled at my lids again. There were bruises across my body from the last two weeks of riding to villages and rooting out the Nirani; Nirani were the main problem for the Legion to deal with and yet we couldn't ignore a band of bandits disrupting the trade between Haaling and the nearest largest town of Abesforth. We knew where their hide-out was, and it was the Captain's idea to send the silver Half-blood to go and deal with them.

I blearily tugged on my leathers and padded barefoot into the hall. The hounds were lumbering slowly behind me as I made my way through Atoll and down into the mess-hall for breakfast. This routine and constant movement helped to distract me from what I had lost. Some mornings I woke up and turned on my side, waiting to hear the other women laughing and goading each other, or groaning because of how loud everyone was. Sometimes it took me a moment of laying there in silence, confused and wondering if they had gotten up before me before I realised that they were bodies in the snow now.

Sometimes even when I was speaking to others, grief would strike me so hard that I couldn't stem the tears at the back of my eyes. No one seemed to notice but every time Kohen was there when sadness choked my wind-pipe, he would begin speaking about some inane thing that would draw attention away from me.