For the Sky (DISCONTINUED)

1 - An Old Friend

The thunder rolled ominously overhead - the very sound of it shook my bones. I stared blankly at the castle - it was nothing more than a cobblestone wasteland. I was sure that Chief would be disappointed with me today - nothing more than a few bolts and a crusty leather belt. 

Something is always better than nothing, though. 

Even though I'd sit there almost every single day, every single day I considered running back in there. A childish type of frustration tempted me to charge into the ruins in the hopes of seeing a familiar face. I knew it was empty, but the gut-wrenching need always almost drove me to madness. It was all gone - it had been gone for years, and yet... 

An ache in my spine reminded me that it was time to go. My wings had never appreciated being cramped under my cloak for this long, and now with all this rain - they'd sooner atrophy completely than deal with the weather. 

The thunder rolled over the hills again and with it the first taste of rain. It had been raining considerably more often than it had when I was a kid. Or maybe it was that childish thought that the land itself was mourning the fallen kingdom... 

I nearly slipped on the cobbled road as I trekked back. It wasn't back 'home'. No place is 'home' anymore - not out here. The rain was beginning to intensify to the point that it was hard to catch any smells other than the musty earth and rotten wood. 

"Watch it, gaiter," a gruff voice sounded from behind me. I carefully stepped to the side without looking up. You didn't have to look to know what kind of strangers you'd meet on these roads. Emaciated retirees and failed merchants, pleading with the last of their possessions to get them somewhere - anywhere. The uneven rhythm of sloppily fixed horseshoes likely suggested the former. 

I was about to settle into this rhythm all the way up to my destination when a different set interrupted my hyper-focused thoughts. They were more uneven than the ones that I was listening to, but they were considerably more frantic. 

Just up ahead, one of the half-collapsed rotting houses still had a light on inside. From it, was rushing a colt - a three-legged thing - it's left front either entirely nonexistent in the first place or amputated at birth. It was a shame to see a child like that in such a condition - despite the frightening visibility of hips and ribs, the convex profile and gentle curl of the mane showed destrier bloodlines. In some alternate reality the kid may have even made a good soldier - three legs or not. 

He was certainly not that now. 

"Do you happen to have a copper piece to spare?" he begged the just-as-skinny-looking old stallion in front of him. "Just one would be enough - it's for my family—" 

SPLASH!

"Out of my way, kid," the stallion growled, the colt splattered in mud by the side of the road. "If you think anybody in any vicinity of this place has even a shoe to spare, you're dead wrong." He paused for a moment, looking the kid up and down. I had to hand it to him - the colt didn't cry, nor was there a fire of defiance in those starving eyes. He just looked, as if it was every day that something like this happened. "Maybe better dead," the old stallion added before continuing on again. 

"Hey, kid," I approached the colt as the stranger disappeared into the rainstorm. "You're mighty strong to run like that on three legs." 

"Never has I had four ma'am, so I make do," he grinned at me. Such young, short teeth. To think that I had been that young and full of spirit before... 

"Here," I threw him a quartz coin. "If you ever get the chance, spend it at the Chieftain Pyre Inn - tell the draft that Lena sent you."  

"Thank you so much," the colt's eyes grew wide. I likely wouldn't be wrong to assume that the poor guy hadn't seen a quartz coin in his life. He carefully picked it off the ground with his teeth and clumsily stood back up. "May Crocus bless the roads you seek," he called over his shoulder as he broke into the same frantic gallop.