Original Stories Fan Fiction ❯ Frozen Tears ❯ Frozen Tears ( Chapter 1 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

By: Gardian

Prologue

Two men walked out in a dense forest of tall oak trees with only the moon and light of the stars overhead to give them light. They walked in silence for a while taking in only their surroundings, absorbed in their own thoughts.

“Too many moons have passed since we last attacked, Lord Amerron. They have grown comfortable in our silence and have come to think of us as nothing more than myths and bedtime stories to scare the children into good behavior,” the shorter male said quietly, his voice carrying slightly through the natural forest sounds. “Could it be that you are afraid to attack because you fear that you could kill your only child?”

“What are you talking about?” Amerron asked stiffly. “I've no children to speak of.”

“If that's true, then why send out a guard every year to search for someone who's not real?” the first responded.

“If you called me out here to lecture me on how I command my personal guards or the rest of our army, Oturon, I'm going back inside and going back to sleep,” Amerron said heatedly as he began to turn away.

Oturon gripped his shoulder as he turned away and hurriedly said, “I could really care less how you use your personal guards, but the king has expressed to me that he would like an attack within the next month. You know how he is, what he wants he always gets. Personally, I'll be glad when the prince takes over the throne in the next three years.”

Amerron's eyes glittered strangely as he said, “I could care less who rules. The king wants an attack, he'll have his attack. I'll lead it myself within the next week and make sure everything goes smoothly.”

Oturon backed away slightly under the intensity of his eyes and bowed slightly as Amerron strode angrily away tugging at his gloves in an aggravated manner. Amerron was the loose cannon among the nobles, always keeping to himself and never taking a bride even with all the women that tried to gain his attention, Oturon decided as he strode back to his own quarters.

* * *

One

Attack

A blonde haired girl ran, breathless, into her classroom, he door crashing loudly against the wall. “Late again, Marisha Terald. That's the third time this week, detention after school this afternoon. Now, sit down and remove those feathers from your hair,” her homeroom teacher said snappishly as she returned to handing back the most recent test she had finished correcting.

As she sat, her test was handed back to her with a glare from the teacher. She ignored the glare in favor of picking up her test and examining her grade and the corrections that had been made to it, frowning as she looked it over.

“What is it, Mari?” her orange haired friend asked her, leaning over slightly to get a good look at her grade. “A 99% and you're frowning? Man, if I got a grade like that in this class, I'd be hitting the roof I was so happy.” She handed Mari the daily assignment as the person next to her got handed his test.

“Hush!!!!” the girl adjacent to them snapped. “Or the teacher'll give us twice as much homework as yesterday. I don't care if you two get in trouble or not, but I don't want more work than I can handle.”

Mari's orange haired friend stuck her tongue out at the girl, making her laugh and roll her eyes some. They quickly bent their heads over their own desks and assignments as their teacher looked up at them with an angry glare.

After a while, her orange haired friend leaned over and asked, “Your bird attack you again this morning?” as Mari pulled the silky white feathers out of her hair.

“Nah, something better, Trisha,” Mari said with a secret smile. “Now, back to work before Miss-Ants-In-Her-Pants rats us out for talking too much,” she added, jerking her head in the direction of the girl that had told them off earlier.

Trisha gave her friend an odd look before going back to her own assignment. In anyone's opinion, Mari was an average child with a nasty streak of having pure white birds attacking her. She got top grades in all her classes and got along with most people. Even being caught in the middle of her parent's nasty split, she was happy as far as anyone close to her could tell.

The birds had always attacked her since she was little. Every morning she showed up to school with a silky white feather sticking up in her hair or an article of clothing. The thing was, no one ever saw them attack her, it was what she said. Whenever someone asked her about the feathers, she laughed and waved them off saying, “Birds attacked me again, that's all,” and they believed her.

The first bell couldn't have rung soon enough for Mari as she grabbed her stuff up and darted out the door before anyone else had even gotten to their feet. She ran from the first floor to the third and barely made it into her second class of the day before the bell rang. The second and third period seemingly melted away before she and her friends were sitting at lunch exchanging jokes and other news they might have found interesting.

“Get this,” Trisha said to their friends. “I read in the paper this morning that some wacko has reported seeing a giant, white winged angel flying over his house for the last three-GAA!!”

The people at their table screamed as Mari choked mid-drink on her soda and spat it out on the people across from her. She doubled over coughing and hid her frightened face behind the curtain of her bright hair.

Trisha thumped Mari on the back a couple times before she was able to stop coughing. She looked up at her friends' half-amused faces and grinned sheepishly. “Sorry, the wacko's story was so funny I choked on my laughter,” she said to cover her alarm. She would never admit that her best friends words had scared her.

Halfway through fifth period, their lives were changed drastically. It had been going as usual, their teacher droning on and on about the Roman wars or whatever the topic of the week was. Mari had just drifted off into a sound sleep when a pale-faced Trisha shook her awake.

Mari sat up straight at her desk, wide awake and somber faced, as she asked, “What is it, Trisha?” It didn't escape her notice that the teacher was gone and that all the other students were talking in hushed whispers as though they were afraid to be overheard.

“It's not been confirmed as of yet, but there's a rumor going around that a terrorist attacked downtown and left a mile wide crater,” Trisha said quietly. Fear was evident in her eyes as she continued. “No one knows how they created the crater without shockwaves, but they did and there's still no survivors reported as of yet.”

“Trisha,” Mari began softly.

“I'm scared, Mari,” Trisha said suddenly. “Mother and father were supposed to take the day off and spend it together downtown. I'm terrified they were caught in the blast.”

“Your parents are smart. They pay attention to everything around them and if even one thing seemed off to them, they would have gotten the hell out of there,” Mari said, sounding more confident than she felt.

Trisha sat down next to her in the empty desk at her left. “All we can do now is wait until they say its safe to move around,” she said quietly. Mari nodded her silent agreement.

And wait they did…

And wait…

They were alone in the classroom for close to four hours before a teacher appeared in the doorway. She looked older than when Mari had first seen her that morning, as though years had passed in a few short hours.

Despite her weariness, she smiled sadly as she said, “The rumors are true. No survivors have been reported and it doesn't look like the terrorists will be caught anytime soon, meaning that local law enforcements will want us to stay here for an extended period of time.” At this several of the students became outraged and began yelling at the same time.

“That's bull-”

“What about our families?”

“What are we supposed to do for-”

“Why should we-”

“There's no way in hell I'm-”

All the yelling began to grate on Mari's nerves, all of which had been worn thin in the last three hours listening to everyone whispering in hushed voices. She clenched her hands in her lap as the shouting grew louder and the tired teacher tried to calm everyone.

“You'll see your families soon,” she tried to say over the commotion. “You'll have food and blankets provided to you for however long we have to stay here.”

“No way, I'm not-”

“I agree. Lets get the hell outta here.”

“Yeah,” several students chorused in agreement and got to their feet and began heading for the door that the teacher tried desperately to block. Tears fell onto Mari's clenched fists as she bowed her head.

“SHUT UUUUUUUUUUUUUUP!!!!!” Mari screamed as the noise got even louder. “Don't you realize that if you step foot outside this building, outside the school grounds, you'll be shot dead by the policemen standing guard out there. They're armed and just waiting for a potential suspect to attempt to flee. Go and you'll find yourself dead quicker than you can say, `Freedom.'”

The students that had been intent on bailing out only a few moments ago wavered in their determination and fell quiet. One brave student looked out the class window and into the forest merely ten yards away and stifled a gasp. “She's right. The police are out there, armed and ready for any of us who try and leave,” he said, even paler than before. “How'd you know? How could you tell they're out there, Marisha?”

“While everyone was paying attention to their own conversation, I watched as the forest slowly filled with little pieces of metal that caught and reflected the setting sun. Little movements, movements that no animal would make, sometimes happened as someone shifted ever so slightly,” Mari said softly. “Even if you guys had been watching, I doubt you would have been able to detect those movements from those of the winds.”

“So why you?”

“I'm more observant is all,” Mari shrugged.

“What about our families? When will we get to see them?” another student demanded hotly of the teacher.

“Soon. Real soon,” she said, eager to get the students calmed enough to get them seated again.

“Liar,” Mari said quietly. “We'll be detained here for a long time, until the terrorists are caught anyway. No one but policemen will be able to go in or out for the next couple days or even weeks, and even then it'll just be to see who is supposed to be here and who's out of place and to bring supplies to us. Then again, that's only my guess.”

“Look, I'll bring you guys blankets, food, and stuff to do. Just stay here and don't do anything rash,” the teacher said hesitantly. She left only when she saw that they had begun moving the desks to the side so that they would have room to spread the blankets out and lay on them.

Some of the students chose to sit up on the desks and trade their versions of what was happening in the outside world. Someone got smart and turned the classroom radio on so that they could hear what was happening from another point of view:

“So far, the military has been called in to shut down the entire town and prevent anyone from entering or leaving. We can't even leave the buildings we're currently in, not until the police have an accurate account of who's supposed to be where. Oh, we have a caller, so it seems that calling people outside the building is allowed.

“Hello, who is this?”

“Is this the DJ for 103.8?”

“Yes, who is this?”

“Maria Donald. May I speak freely?”

“Go right on ahead.”

“Trisha, James, Harriet, if you're all listening to this, its mom. We're okay, trapped in a tea shop like you're trapped in school, but we're okay. Don't worry about anything. You'll have to stay in the school for awhile, but we'll see you as soon as its all over.”

Mari looked at Trisha as the other girl stifled a sob. “I told you they were smart,” she said with a half smile. Trisha flung her arms around Mari's shoulders and gave her a tight hug and then drew back saying, “Thank you.” After that, she drifted off to join the other students that were not gathered around the radio, waiting to hear their parents or siblings or other family members voices. Those that tried to call to someone other than the radio station received a recorded message saying that the party they were trying to reach was unavailable or got a busy signal.

Mari was unsure of what to do, she had heard other familiar voices over the radio, but none of them were those of her parents or brother. She glanced out at the forest and screamed when she saw another student trying to dart in. A shot was fired, the student went down, a policeman in camouflage stepped out and approached the down boy.

As she ran to the doorway, other students grabbed her and yanked her back. No matter how hard she bit, scratched, and kicked, the other students had a secure hold on her and weren't letting go any time soon. “Let go, that's my brother out there. Let go, please,” Mari begged, tears leaking from her eyes.

She screamed as the policeman raised his gun again and fired at the downed boy. Several things happened at once in a series of several moments. The bullet changed direction mid-air and instead went through the man's leg; he fell backwards clutching his leg. Mari's brother got up and ran for the school, showing no sign of ever having been shot.

“What…what happened?” Mari asked, stunned by the sudden change of events. No one had an answer. Instead, when the teacher returned with blankets and food, everyone settled down for the night, but continued talking. Mari stayed awake until well after midnight, thinking on what she had seen and what had happened with her brother. She didn't remember falling asleep, but she soon found herself being shaken awake by Trisha.

“Mari,” Trisha whispered. “Your mothers on. She's saying something odd… You should hear what she has to say to you.”

The room fell quiet as everyone listened to the radio. Mari's mother's voice seemed to echo and bounce off everyone and everything around the silent room.

“Mari, if you're listening, run as far as you can. They've come back, they've attacked. Run and don't look back, run,” her mother said desperately over the phone. “Listen to me and run, don't worry about us, we'll-”

“Where is she?” a new voice suddenly snarled somewhere in the background. “Where have you hidden her away?”

“You,” came the startled gasp.

The phone made a loud clattering over the radio. Over the clattering could be heard shouts. There came several loud crashes and a short explosion. “You'll never have her because you'll never find her,” came the whispered voice of Mari's mother in the distance, then static as the phone was disconnected.

“Well, that was different. Wherever you are Mari, I hear it's a good idea to listen to your mother,” the DJ said nervously. Another caller sounded over the radio, but no one was listening to them as they related where they were and who they were related to.

When everyone looked back at Mari, her eyes were wide and her face as pale as death. Nothing anyone said could rouse her from her stupor as she sat huddled against the wall that wasn't blocked by desks.

People continually glanced at her while they talked or played the games that the teacher had brought. Eventually everyone nodded off, including the teacher that had come in not so long ago to relieve the previous teacher of watching them so she could get a few hours of rest.

Once she was sure that most everyone was asleep and it was dark enough to cover her movements, she slipped away outside. Anyone that noticed her disappearance said nothing and kept it to themselves.

Two

Traitor

Two men sat at the edge of town around a fire joking and laughing together without a care for who overheard them. Occasionally they would glance up at the full moon and then returned to joking and making sure the fire didn't go out.

“Look up, Wevfer,” the others companion said. Wevfer looked up at the sky and saw a slight figure silhouetted against the bright moonlight carried by enormous white wings, giving them the appearance of an angel. “That's Lord Amerron's signal, Gainel,” Wevfer said, rising to his feet. “Let's go.”

“Gainel, I think that's a female,” Wevfer said watching as the slight figure spiraled downwards a few moments later. “Besides, Lord Amerron wouldn't take to the ground so soon after signaling to us.”

“No female would be crazy enough to follow us, especially not after Lord Amerron directly told them what would happen if they did. No one is insane enough to disobey a direct command from the head of our army, no one, not even the females,” Gainel muttered as his gray wings appeared on his back. “You can stay if you like, but that was the signal we were expecting from Lord Amerron, so I'm going because I don't want to get in trouble with him. You remember what happened to the last guy, right?” he added as he flapped his wings and rose a few feet in the air.

Wevfer paled a little as he remembered what had happened to the last person that had defied one of their leaders direct orders. He had been a higher noble before, but after Amerron had finished with him, he had been stripped of that title and made a foot soldier. The previous noble was still attempting to earn his title back from Amerron, almost five years later.

Wings appeared on Wevfer's back before he tore after his companion, who had taken off while he had been torn. “It's almost been five years, though,” he commented. “So we don't actually know if Lord Amerron would actually strip us of our titles, I mean he could have changed his method of punishment.”

“That noble was not only stripped of his title, but he also had to see the palace healer for a thousand stitches he didn't receive in battle,” Gainel replied casually. It was a known fact among the men in the army that Amerron didn't have a violent temper, but if someone pushed him hard enough he would snap and that person would have to see the palace healer.

“But he provoked him,” Wevfer pointed out.

“Would you care to test that theory?” Gainel offered mildly.

“No,” Wevfer said hastily.

“Didn't think so. Which area did Lord Amerron land in again?” Gainel asked, scanning the ground below them as they soared slowly over it. Even in the dead of night, he could see every small movement and outline as clearly as though it were day.

Wevfer pointed just beneath them and they both saw the slight outline of a relatively young human. Where the teen stood was exactly where Amerron had supposedly landed a few moments ago. They glanced at each other and then dropped down to investigate.

* * *

Mari placed her hand on the tree and leaned over, wheezing. She had never before covered as much distance as she fast as she had in such a short amount of time. She was exhausted, but she knew that if she didn't keep moving towards downtown that she might never see her family again. Her knees trembled as she attempted to take a step forward away from the tree. “I shouldn't have pushed myself this far,” she murmured quietly.

A twig snapped behind her, making her spin around to face the empty air. She leaned against the tree again, placing a hand against her overheated forehead, and gasp for air. Mari encased herself in her wings and allowed their warmth to sink into her exhausted body.

“Lord Amerron?” a male voice asked uncertainly.

Mari froze, fear clawing at her stomach. She swallowed the lump that was forming in her throat and waited, hoping that she had just imagined the voice. Another twig snapped as the person walked closer. “Who are you?” the same voice asked.

Not pausing to think, Mari spread her wings and took off into the night sky. The single thought that repeated itself over and over again in her mind was, Gotta get away. Gotta get downtown.

“Gainel,” the voice called. “Catch her.”

A form leapt up from the trees beneath her and then strong arms clasped her arms to her sides. “Easy, girl, easy. We mean you no harm,” he said as she tried to jerk violently away.

Wevfer soared into the air and helped Gainel to gently lower her to the ground. “Easy now. We're not going to harm you,” he said gently as her attempts to escape became less violent.

“What are you doing so far out here?” Gainel asked, helping her to sit down on the ground. “Lord Amerron told every female to stay behind, he didn't want you women to get hurt.”

“Are you the ones that attacked downtown?” Mari asked, still breathing hard.

“No, but we're part of the main battalion,” Wevfer said, glancing at Gainel, who shrugged slightly.

“Your wings are the same color as lord Amerron's, are you related to him?” Gainel asked suddenly.

“I have no idea who you're talking about,” Mari said shakily. Even though they clearly had no intention of hurting her, the sight of their wings frightened her more than anything else.

“There you are. Wevfer, Gainel, why did you move from your post?” a third voice asked as a male with large white wings dropped from the sky like a brick. His wings folded behind him as he crossed his arms and stared at his two men. “Who is that?” he asked, taking in the girl's appearance and white wings. “Is she the reason that you left your post?”

“We thought she was you,” Gainel hurriedly explained. “So we followed her, just as you had ordered us to do, and come to find out, it's a female and a rather young one at that.”

Wevfer and Gainel moved away from Mari as Amerron walked closer to them. They fell a few feet away and watched as their leader grasped the frightened girl's chin between his thumb and forefinger. “What's your name?” he asked coldly.

“None of your business,” Mari managed to say.

“Actually, it is. Answer me,” Amerron demanded.

“No,” Mari said in a small, trembling voice. She had never seen a man with colder eyes.

Amerron released her and allowed her to step back, but when she attempted to take another step back, he gripped her forearm and glared at her. She stood rigid, her body unable to move. “Do you have any idea who I am?” he asked.

“No,” Mari said.

Amerron snorted derisively in amusement. “Didn't think so,” he muttered. “You're exactly like your mother. She refused to tell me where she had hidden you, even when I threatened her.” Mari's eyes went wide as she realized where it was that she had heard his voice before: over the phone when her mother had called into the radio to warn her to get away.

“You,” Mari gasped, trying to yank away from him. He was stronger, much stronger, and easily maintained his grip on her arm without hurting her. “What did you do to her?”

“Nothing. She was still alive when I left that crumbling building and is probably still alive,” Amerron said. He sized her up and snorted again as he took note of her sweaty appearance. “You're still fairly new at flying and you pushed yourself too far tonight. If you go any farther, you'll hurt yourself for sure. Stay here if you want to survive the night.”

Then he released her and walked around her towards Wevfer and Gainel. “Come, we have to make up the time that was wasted here and quickly,” he said. The three of them rose easily into the air, but before they took off Amerron looked down at her and said, “Make no mistake, now that I have seen your face, I'll be able to find you anywhere.”

Mari's legs gave out and she fell to the cold ground as they rapidly rose into the night sky and quickly disappeared from sight. Tears ran silently down her face as she continued to look at the spot that they had disappeared from sight.

* * *

Wevfer and Gainel silently followed after their leader and exchanged nervous glances every so often. They had disobeyed a direct order and Amerron was doing nothing about it. Either they were further behind schedule than he let on or that girl was someone that meant something to him.

“Lord Amerron?” Gainel questioned him.

“What?” he said coldly.

“Is everything alright?” Wevfer asked gingerly. Even though he was normally in a good mood, the finding of the girl with white wings was enough to sober even him up. The possibilities she presented were endless.

“We land here,” Amerron said, ignoring his men's questions. He tucked his wings in slightly and angled towards the ground. Amerron descended at break neck speed and only opened his wings at the last second to avoid crashing into the hard concrete beneath him. A moment later Gainel and Wevfer were standing on either side of him, nervously awaiting his orders.

Amerron glanced at each of them and sighed. “Don't be so nervous. You're not going to be punished for following her. You saw the white wings and mistook her for me, a mistake anyone would have made,” he said, his voice losing its icy edge for the first time that night. “Actually, I'm glad you followed her.

“Look around and tell me what you see.”

Wevfer and Gainel obeyed with relief. They weren't going to be punished and what they had done had actually helped rather than hurt, though what, they did not know. Looking around, they saw that they were in the middle of a residential area, and a fairly well off one at that.

“We're in the middle of a residential area. Will we attack the houses individually?” Gainel asked, grimacing. As much as he respected Amerron, he hated having to attack the humans face to face.

“No, the main battalion will be split into two forces and attack elsewhere. We're after only one individual tonight,” Amerron said, scanning the surrounding area for any sign of an ambush. Finding none, he moved confidently toward the end of the road. “You two will search the house at the end of the road. I'll search the woods. He may already know that we're after him.”

“Sir, how will we know which person it is?” Wevfer asked.

“You'll know,” Amerron said, his eyes glittering. “Believe me, you'll know. You've seen him before. Bring him to me alive.” With that, he changed direction and angled towards the forest at the back of the houses, his white wings evaporating into the night sky.

Gainel shrugged as Wevfer glanced inquiringly at him. “Don't look at me. Captain never told me about this guy.”

“Alright, but what do you think of the girl we found back in that forest?” Wevfer asked as they quickly walked to the end of the houses and made their way up to the last house. Their wings disappeared with every step they took.

“The color of our wings dictates our family and our status, so that would mean-” Gainel stopped talking abruptly as they reached the house. It was as handsome as it was large, with its oak front doors and its masterful design of intricate carvings and spells.

They walked around it, looking for an easy entrance. Finding none, Wevfer stepped onto the porch and immediately leapt off, barely repressing a yelp. He landed on one foot ten feet away from Gainel. His left boot was black and charred. Wevfer lost his balance and fell to the ground.

Gainel quickly stepped over to his comrade and knelt next to him. “You need to be careful, you fool. That was one of those spells that would have killed any intruder instantly. It was one of those new destruction spells,” he hissed angrily, all the while carefully removing the ruined boot. “You're lucky the Captain made sure all of our clothing was reinforced with strong protective magic.”

As the boot fell to the ground, Wevfer breathed a sigh of relief at the sight of his uninjured foot. He was one truly lucky bastard to have escaped a spell of such destructive power with the loss of just one boot.

Gainel examined the boot closely and repressed the urge to growl. “It has to be him.” He stood and looked angrily at the house as though it had done him a personal wrong.

Wevfer glanced up at Gainel, a questioning look in his eyes. “Who is it? Who are we after?”

“Gainos, my traitor of a brother. I'd recognize his ugly magic anywhere,” Gainel said heatedly. “Come on, I know exactly where the weakness of this spell is.”

As Gainel strode away, Wevfer hastily got to his feet and followed, ignoring the throbbing pain in his foot. He was led to the front door, where Gainel cupped his hands together and bent his knees slightly.

Wevfer leapt out of the way at the last instant before Gainel fired the explosion spell. The door and a good portion of the wall were blasted away, leaving no trace of their existence aside from the gaping hole where they had once stood. There was no shock wave, no rebounding of the spells force, a sign of true mastery of ones arts.

Sitting up, Wevfer hissed, “Who's the idiot now? Gainos now knows for sure that we're after him.”

“Actually, he knew the instant we attacked earlier this afternoon. He won't be here or in the forest, but someone here might know, if he didn't kill them all already,” Gainel said coldly. He calmly stepped into the threshold and made his way through the entryway and into the kitchen where he stood and took a deep breath.

Wevfer gingerly followed after him, being sure to step where Gainel had. He wasn't at all keen to have a second experience with a destruction spell, once a lifetime was enough for him.

“The scent of blood is fresh. We probably missed him by twenty minutes,” Gainel said, wincing at the amount of blood he smelled. “We won't find anyone alive here, there has been too much blood spilled for anyone to have survived.”

Wevfer took a whiff of the air and asked, “How can you tell? I don't smell anything.”

“That's because you've never smelled your own kinsmen's blood.” Those words alone were enough to make Wevfer's blood run cold. A traitor and a murderer was what they were searching for.

As Gainel turned to leave, a soft whimper reached his ears. He froze and listened hard. It was faint, but it was undeniably there. His brother had been in such a hurry that he had overlooked someone. Trembling, he whipped back around and ran deeper into the house, following the sound.

How had he missed the scent of live blood? How had he overlooked it? Was his sense of smell becoming dull? He knew none of the answers and he didn't care. All that mattered was getting his brother's location and saving the life of his kinsmen. He dashed up the stairs, took a sharp corner, leapt over the mangled bodies of the unlucky servants, slammed open a bedroom door, and almost puked.

Wevfer stood uncertainly in the kitchen, wanting to follow, but not wanting to get killed. He settled on waiting for Gainel to either come back or call him to help.

Gainel was standing in the middle of a nursery. Blood was splattered on the walls and on the windows. A bloody handprint indicated that someone had survived the first attack, but the body showed that they had been killed within seconds of the first failure.

The children that had been in the room at the time of Gainos's attack were lying dead in the arms of the nanny that had tried to protect them. They couldn't have been more than three or four each. There was a cradle in the far corner, the baby dead within. A fourth child lay to the left of the room, curled and motionless in a pool of dark blood. The scent was unmistakable, the children had all been his nieces and nephews.

Disgust and revulsion clawed at his stomach as he stared at the forms that had once been living. He tore his gaze away and looked to the door that stood slightly ajar. Soft whimpers could be heard from within the adjoining room.

He walked carefully through the sea of blood and pushed the door open to find the body of a woman. She wore a tattered red robe and lay at the foot of a handsome king size bed. A wounded teen of sixteen knelt next to her, crying.

“You can't stay here,” Gainel said hoarsely. “Gainos might come back to make sure he finished you off.”

The boy looked up at him, his face red with blood. His resemblance to Gainos was remarkable. He might have passed for a younger version of his brother had it not been for the silver of his eyes. “Come with me,” Gainel said, holding his hand out and walking towards the teen.

The boy staggered to his feet and backed away. “You, you won't fool me, father,” he gasped. “I know your tricks and I, I won't let you use them again. You won't hurt her. You won't hurt the girl.”

He was delirious from blood loss and close to death with all the wounds he sported. The most serious wound he had was a thigh injury, most of the blood had flowed from there and was still flowing.

“Don't mistake me for that bastard brother of mine. Even if we are twins, there's a world of difference between us,” Gainel said evenly, striding forward and overtaking the boy as he attempted to flee to the next room over.

Catching hold of the boy's arm he felt some of his magic jerked from the very core of his being. The boy was instinctively pulling in the magic that would save him, the magic of his kinsmen.

As the magic entered the teen's body, he shuddered and toppled backwards. He fell against Gainel's chest and convulsed as the magic healed his wounds and brought out the last of his own powers. “Easy,” Gainel said as the teens shuddering subsided.

He released the boy and allowed him to stagger a few feet away and turn to face him. Gainel made no move towards him as he took another step back. “You needn't fear me. I mean you no harm.” Still, the teen was wary of him. “You never would have been able to draw out the necessary magic to heal yourself from your father, he's too guarded with his magic.”

The boy took another step back and Gainel decided it best to give his nephew the space between them he desired. He took several steps back until he was standing in the doorway he had first come from. Glancing at the woman, he asked, “Was she your mother?” The boy nodded hesitantly, not sure if the man was his father or not.

“Gainel?” a voice called from down the hall.

Gainel turned his head slightly and called back, “Third door on the left, Wevfer.” Then he looked back to the teen and saw that he was watching him with calculating eyes.

“You said something about not letting Gainos hurt the girl. What girl were you talking about? Does it have something to do with his current location?” Gainel asked softly, but urgently. “Its important that we find him now, before he slips away again.”

The boy opened his mouth and closed it again. He was still unsure whether he could trust the man that looked so much like the father that had attacked him and killed the rest of his family. He glanced at his mother's still form and forced himself to talk.

“He told me about his former life once. He said he had been a high ranking officer for a palace guard and that he had worked under an Amerron character and how he knew his secret,” the teen said stiffly. He glanced at his mother again and added, “Earlier, after the terrorist attack was broadcasted, he went out. When he came back, he attacked us.”

“Are there any more of you that survived?” Gainel asked hopefully.

The teen looked at the door behind him, then back at his uncle. “One. My half-sister.”

“Is she injured?” Gainel asked. The teen shook his head.

His head snapped around as Wevfer yelled in surprise. “That moron,” he growled when Wevfer cursed. Turning back to the teen he added, “Go and get her and I'll take you both somewhere safe where Gainos will never be able to get at you again. Meet me out front.” Then he hastened out through the nursery as he heard Wevfer yell in surprise again.

“What is wrong with you, Wevfer?” he asked, stepping over the bodies and trying to avoid looking at the broken and bloodied faces.

Wevfer looked pale and close to throwing up. By the looks of it, he had stepped in blood and nearly fell and had called up his wings in an effort to keep his balance, but had merely succeeded in taking up more space than he needed.

Wevfer looked up at his superior, startled. “How can there be so much blood?”

Gainel looked at the normally carefree man and realized that he had never seen true carnage before. He sighed and said, “Get outside and get some air. It'll clear your head and get you away from this house.”

When Wevfer made no move to obey, Gainel stepped forward and placed a hand on his shoulder. He steered the younger man around and out of the hall, down the stairs, and out through the kitchen. They stepped outside and came face to face with humans from around the neighborhood. Gainel grimaced as they stared at Wevfer's wings.

“Who are you? What did you do to the house?” one of the braver humans asked after a moment.

“That is none of your concern,” Gainel snapped at them. He moved to stand in front of Wevfer as the humans pressed forward towards them. He came within three inches of the first human that had spoken. “Go home back to your families where you belong and be glad my bastard brother didn't get them.”

Those that had only taken notice of Wevfer gasped as they recognized Gainel, or at least they thought they did. “Gainos, what are you talking about? What did you do to your house?” No one noticed as Wevfer's wings faded into the night.

“I blew a hole in the stupid thing, now leave,” Gainos growled, glancing around for his nephew and wishing he would hurry up. Humans had always made him nervous and a huge crowd never boded well with him.

A twig snapped somewhere in the forest behind them. Gainel turned to see Amerron standing near the side of the house, his nephew not three feet from him holding a young girl. He tensed when Amerron glanced at the young pair and back at him. “Kinsmen of you and your brother?” he asked coldly.

“Yes, Captain,” Gainel answered promptly.

“What's with the humans?” he asked, his eyes sweeping over the crowd.

“They gathered.”

“After you blew the door out?”

“Yes, Captain.”

Amerron looked at the teen again and shook his head. “Where's your brother?”

“Gone, sir.”

“Sir?” the first human asked incredulously. “Captain? What the hell is with you tonight, Gainos? First your house gets-” here he leaned around Gainel to get a look at the house “-vandalized and you act as though nothing is wrong!”

“Go inside and look for the rest of my family,” Gainel said shortly, stepping aside so that they could go in. A few of the humans went inside.

Gainel glanced over at Amerron to see him scowling. He was growing impatient and that was never a good thing. It was now or never. “I think he may have gone after the girl with white wings.” The effect of his words was immediate.

The color drained entirely from Amerron's face. His hands clenched into fists as white wings burst into life behind him. He was gone before Gainel could blink.

Quickly, Gainel called his gray wings up and almost took off after his captain when he remembered his nephew and Wevfer. Glancing wildly around, he saw that Wevfer had gladly taken off after Amerron and that his nephew had taken hurried steps towards him, a worried look on his face.

Holding a hand out to him he said, “Come. Or do you wish to stay here?” The teen quickly took his hand and held onto his sister.

* * *

Mari leaned against the tree and wiped the sweat from her brow. Nervously looking behind her, she saw no one. Not so long ago, she had left the clearing behind and continued on her way downtown. Without the strength to fly she had been forced to go by foot.