Not a man.
A Hova.
Several things happened at the same time. Pakuri hurled a fireball at the Hova before he started coming down the slopes, and Voty and Scarlett tried to usher the kids into the forest. But it was impossible to move them as a single group, and the little girls ran in all directions.
Voty called out to them, grabbing some while at mid-run, yelling at them to follow the group.
Scarlett left Voty to deal with the children and went back to see what was going on with Pakuri and the Hova.
Pakuri wasn’t the only one fighting him. A group of human soldiers was after him, and instead of fighting back, the Hova ran down the shallow stream and its winding path. The soldiers, clad in gold and silver heavy armor, had trouble following him down the slope, but they continued after the Hova down until Scarlett could no longer see them.
Pakuri was seething, looking just as hos
"Then we have to leave now,” Scarlett said. "It won’t take them more than two or three days to get there, and once they cross, we will never be able to find them again.”As she turned to leave, Luca grabbed her by the arm.“Wait. You can’t go alone. Wait until the women have mourned their dead and regroup. Talk to your friends. Maybe we can help you, too,” he said.“I think you’ve done enough for us. Under normal circumstances, we can take care of our own,” Scarlett said, analyzing Luca’s face.She could tell he was being sincere about wanting to help. And there was truth to his words. Tomorrow they’d figure out how to get the girls back. If she went alone, she'd probably get captured along with the rest of the girls.Voty returned with the kids who had run out into the forest about an hour later. Their mothers and family members were so grateful to see the young ones return, that th
THE MEETING OF THE SURVIVING KARAINAS WAS NOT GOING WELL. At all. At first, Scarlett thought everyone was in an even worse mood because they still hadn’t eaten anything. That, besides the fact that everyone had lost someone they loved the day before, would be reason enough for the women to be at each other’s throats.However, a few minutes into the meeting, Scarlett was beginning to understand that not everything had been running smoothly even before the attack.A group of about fifteen Karainas was saying that they had been unhappy with Grina’s decision to keep them away from the fighting going on in the nearby kingdoms. That their influence had waned over the years because the High Chieftess refused to let them intervene until it was inevitable. And that that had given the Hova the confidence to strike the way they did the night before.The other women defended the High Chieftess’ decision, saying that she made that decision in our best
“He’s probably saying that just to save his life. I say we burn his head off and be done with it,” a Karaina said, taking a step towards the prince. Her hands were glowing as if she were getting ready to strike.Scarlett stood immobile near the door. There was no credible way that the prince of the Hova himself was here, captured by the Karainas, was it?“What was your great grandfather’s second name?” Wenna said all of sudden.The two men from the golden company looked at each other in disbelief. They were clearly perplexed as to what Matron Wenna was doing.“Ah, you’re a smart one,” said the Hova. “No one but a member of my family would know that. My father tried to erase it from most history books, but alas, I see some of them slipped through his sneaky fingers.”“Speak, Hova. Or you burn,” Wenna said, raising her hand.“Ok, ok! His second name was Assbot,
MimbiOn the other side of the Paran River, the remnants of the Hova army who had attacked the Karainas moved steadily towards the wall. Towards the rear of the marching soldiers, twelve iron cages filled with women and girls of all ages rolled steadily forward. One of them had carried a few men and boys, but they were the first ones the Hova drank from.The girls and women learned early on that crying, wailing, or yelling was not a good idea. It was up to the older ones to try to keep the younger ones silent, but it was an impossibly hard task with so many of the girls being so young. They were hungry, tired, and dirty, and all none of them understood exactly what was going on.The older ones had no idea where they were going, but they understood what was going to happen to them unless they were somehow rescued by their fellow Karainas. Some had lost all hope and merely clung to the iron bars that held them as prisoners.In the last cage following the re
In the end, the Karainas chose a relatively young woman named Seika as their leader. She had to be around thirty-nine years old. With her head cut short and her broad back, anyone would confuse her with a man if they saw her from behind. There was not an ounce of fat or curves on her body; she was all muscle.Seika had been Grina’s third in command, and her mother had been High Chieftess before Grina. She was clearly shaken by Grina’s death, and she was among those who had supported the former High Chieftess’ ideas that the Karainas should only fight when called to.Scarlett, Pakuri, and Voty all voted for her, if only because she had also been one of their trainers. They knew her better than the other two candidates.“I promise I will lead you wisely, with Grina’s spirit as my North,” Seika said, bowing to the other Karainas. “Normally we would celebrate that our former High Chieftess’ spirit has joined Karai in t
Scarlett’s plan led her to the barracks, where the wounded were being taken care of by the surviving healers and herbalists. As soon as she entered the brick building, she was overwhelmed by the smell of alcohol.There weren’t enough cots or beds to hold all the women, so some were resting on makeshift mattresses made of hay. Most of the patients were sleeping. Others talked softly to their friends and relatives who sat near them, still comforting each other for their mutual losses.With a clearer vision of what she was going to do, the weight of the previous two days was finally starting to catch up with Scarlett. It was as if she had been dreaming up until now, to be awakened by the crude reality of everyone’s suffering.Some women had open gashes that seemed to have been quickly and sloppily sewed. Others had linen cloths wrapped practically all around their limbs. Some had suffered concussions and burns when the roofs of ceilings had collap
Mimbi woke up with a sudden jerk of the iron cage. A young girl of about seven who had fallen asleep with her head on Mimbi’s legs also woke up, scared by her sudden movement. “Where are we?” Mimbi said to no one in particular. There were twelve other girls in the cage with her, but no one answered. No one knew. The road where they had stopped was narrower than the one they had been traveling on, and the trees’ lumbered over it, making it hard for Mimbi to tell the approximate time. She was hungry, thirsty, and she longed for a bath. As the Hova escorted the prisoners towards the wall, a routine had settled in among the captors and captives. Every two hours or so, a Hova would come around to give the girls water, some fruits they picked up along the way, and they’d select one of them to feed off. Mimbi had been lucky that she hadn’t been selected yet. Four girls from her cage had already been fed off, and they bore the stained wraps that marked
Scarlett’s felt like her skull had been torn open. She felt the pain before she opened her eyes, and she didn’t know where she was or what had happened. Her back was on something scratchy, and she no longer felt the weight of her swords tied to her belt.That miserable, dishonorable rat, she thought. Luca had betrayed her. If she had just listened to the annoying Hova, and she wouldn’t have let her guard down.When she opened her eyes, she realized she was in the corner of a room in the barracks, along with the wounded. What the hell happened after Luca attacked her from behind?She got up, and the abrupt movement made her dizzy.“You fell and hit your head,” said a plump woman who was changing bandages on someone’s burned leg. “Lie down and wait until your concussion has passed, else you’ll pass out again and I will not carry you back to your haystack.”Scarlett ignored her and rushed outside.
Mimbi woke up from the best sleep she had had in a while. She had lain down on the bed after eating the food Lord Galax had gotten her and pretty much passed out, waking up freezing in the middle of the night and crawling under the covers in a daze.It had been such a long time since she had slept on a real bed, with sheets and a soft and fluffy pillow. Somehow, feeling so good made her miss Scarlett and her mother even more. It reminded her of the times when she'd wake up to the smell of food downstairs, and Scarlett and Grina would be arguing about something silly.The sun was barely peeking out from behind the mountains, and she really wished she could go back to sleep. She couldn't remember what she had been dreaming about, but it had been a good dream. And anything was better than her reality now.On the other hand, she was really curious as to why Lord Galax wanted her here. Something was off, not only about the fact that he whisked her a
"We have to stop them," Scarlett said, more to herself than to anyone. She turned, looking at the ground she had stepped on. Every step she took had left a solid piece of glass on the dirt."See, now maybe you'll be good for something," Pakuri said to her in a mocking voice, walking up to her.Voty soon joined them, still holding out her wounded hand. The two kept their distance from Scarlett, but at least they weren't looking at her with fear or hatred. Marcellus stopped next to her, looking out towards the hills."Voty, I'm so sorry. I didn't know... I have no idea what is going on to my body," Scarlett pleaded. "I...""We'll worry about this later. Right now we have to help Luca." Voty smiled at her in her customary sweetly manner."Where are my swords?" Scarlett said."Here's one," Marcellus said picking the Hova sword up from the ground and handing it to Scarlett. It was stained with blood."Whose...""Yo
Scarlett didn't know where she was, but she felt the freezing air swirling around her. She tried to remember what had happened to her, but her mind was blank. Had she fallen asleep? Would she be late for training? No, this couldn't be Karai. It was never this cold here. She tried to move but her limbs didn't respond. Was she dead? She felt her mind begin to recede as if lulling her to sleep, and sleep sounded like a good idea right now. It would be easy, letting go. But just as her mind began to shut down, her field of vision was flooded by a white, blinding light. And she felt... something. As if someone had placed a warm fire next to her or taken her body out to the sun. She smelled something delicious, like sweet nectar. Then she tasted it, and the warm liquid passed through her throat, filling her stomach. One by one the feeling came back to her body. There was solid ground beneath her, and she moved her tongue. The nectar flowed from whatever her lips were holdi
"The inn! It was the inn!" someone cried out as Marcellus grabbed his head. The explosion had sent him flying towards a lamp post. He stood and turned to see where Scarlett had landed, only to see that she wasn't close by. She wasn't anywhere in the street. "Scarlett!" he cried out, lifting a wooden sign to search under the pile on which it stood. This girl was going to drive him insane. They hadn't even left Arandana, and she was already missing. His eyes widened when he saw the house she had thrown up in. There used to be a two-story building next to it, and now there was only one enormous pile of steaming debris in that same place. No, no, no. She couldn't go dying on him yet. He ran to the pile and began to climb, searching for the general spot where he had left her. "Scarlett!" he yelled. "Can you hear me?" "Hova!" someone cried out, and Marcellus ducked just in time to dodge an arrow coming his way. A middle-a
Luca couldn't help but think of Scarlett as the procession slowly advanced towards Hovern's field. The place wasn't a field, really, but rather a garden, where Queen Edda had opened up a conservatory and a museum. That was one of the first things she had done when she took the crown, turning the place into a beautiful place where people could gather to learn about plants and Arandana's history. She was fond of saying that she'd live there if she could, but one of the agreements the council put in place ages ago was that the monarch of Arandana had to reside in the castle. At least, now in dead, that was where she was going to be laid to rest. Most of the Arandanians stood silently at the side of the road, but some were shedding tears and not holding back their sadness. Most of them had arun lillies in their hands. Yes, Queen Edda had been good to them. Luca knew of so many kings and queens who used their citizens as cash cows, taking more
"What... what is that?" Voty said, stammering and sneezing almost at the same time.No one felt the need to answer her question because just as she asked it, hundreds of horses ran out of the smoking ruins in line, heading east. The black and silver flags they carried told them who they were.The Hova."We have to go back and evacuate the city," Xander said, already turning back his horse."What about the people there?" Scarlett made Sunu step in front of him. "Send Frank or the other soldiers. We have to go see if there are any survivors."Prince Marcellus only watched the scene below them with a frown."Why don't you make your prince go stop them? Get out of the way," Xander said to Scarlett.Without saying a word, Marcellus made his horse gallop straight towards the village on fire. Pakuri followed him in her rhea, and so did Voty.The soldiers all began to turn their horses back, and Scarlett wished she could hu
Scarlett met with Voty, Pakuri, and Marcellus in the stables, where Sunu and the other rheas had been staying. The birds looked ecstatic to see the girls again, pecking at their human companions affectionately. Luca hadn't been in the room when she woke up, and she didn't think there was more they could say to each other, so she hadn't gone looking for him either. It was a dismal day; grey and foggy as if the sky itself was mourning Queen Edda. When she met up with the girls, they informed her that the funeral procession was already underway, so it would have been impossible to find Luca, anyway. "I missed you," Scarlett said to Sunu, brushing her white feathers with her palm, and the bird dug her beak into Scarlett's stomach. "They're not a very talkative bunch," Marcellus said all of a sudden, joining the girls on a black horse. He cocked his head to the right, where four of Luca's soldiers sat on their mounts. One of them mo
The previous interruption from the other day seemed to have incited Luca to not take any chances this time. A split second after kissing Scarlett, he was already taking off her clothes as she backed up towards the bed, fumbling with his buckles.He sat her down on the bed and kept kissing her as his fingers moved towards her thighs and then inside of her, caressing her softly and then with more intensity.Scarlett couldn't think of anything but the pleasure he was giving her. Then he abruptly stood and finished the job she had started, taking off his clothes and tossing them behind him.A long while later, they fell asleep in each other's arms, exhausted and sweaty.Scarlett woke up when the sun was beginning to come out, only to feel his hardness close to her back. She turned and climbed on top of him, waking him up."You're insatiable, Karaina," he said to her teasingly, slowly opening his eyes."Well, something told
The second Lord Galax had left, Mimbi's legs buckled under her, sending waves of pain through her body. She accidentally knocked the table she was holding onto, sending a white vase rolling across the room. It was sheer luck that it happened to roll over the think patterned carpet, or else it would have shattered.She heard quick footsteps running over."Oh, dear! Are you all right, miss?" Lorna stopped when she saw Mimbi on the floor and then ran to her, immediately grabbing her under her arms and helping her stand."Yes, thank you," Mimbi said, but she wouldn't be able to stand for much longer, let alone climb the stairs without feeling excruciating pain."You're freezing," Lorna said once she pulled away from Mimbi.A second later, Mimbi's legs began to shake again, threatening to drop her again."Oh dear, something is really wrong. Can you stand at all?" Lorna said, putting one of Mimbi's arms over her shoulder. "Let me help