Heed My Warnings And Survive
Chapter Twenty Seven, Cruel Fate

Chapter Twenty Seven

Cruel Fate

We had been living in our village for about a month. We were happy again, we were content. We were ready to move on with life. To begin living, instead of running. But somehow it all felt wrong. It felt wrong to be happy about not being hunted, because the downfall of our hunter was linked to the downfall of our closest friend, but as I said, we were moving on.

I was sitting up on a hill not far away from the village. It was secluded, and quiet, which made it the perfect place to start a small fire, and watch the stars. I was leaned up against an oak that stood at the top of the hill, looking through the branches, at the night sky. I breathed in the cold damp air of night, closing my eyes. I heard the snapping of twigs nearby. My eyes shot open, and I put a hand on my sword, suddenly alert. I heard a chuckle.

“Don’t worry. It’s just me Dravin,” A voice said. I furrowed my brow, I knew that voice. But there’s no way that no way that could be him. He. He was dead. I looked around, and approaching me up the hill was Zander. My eyes widened, and I backed up against the tree.

“What? Your. Your supposed to be-”

“Dead?” He asked. “I know, but I survived. Oh. Wait. I didn’t.” Then suddenly an arrow pierced his chest.

“NO!” I cried out. Rushing to him. I knelt beside him. He looked up at me.

“Why. Didn’t. You. Save. Me?” He gasped out, looking into my eyes. Suddenly blood began to engulf him, as though it were water from a stream, washing him clean. Then I felt a pain in my gut. Looking down I noticed that Zander had stabbed his sword through my stomach. I grunted, and fell to the ground.

I woke with a start. Gasping, and scrubbing my hands over my face, whipping away the tears that had begun to fall. I took some deep breaths in an attempt to calm my rapidly beating heart. I rubbed my forehead. Looking at the small dying fire in front of me. All at once, for the first time in months the witches warning flashed through my head. ‘Beware a dying fire’ I furrowed my brow. This couldn’t be it. This meaningless little fire, on this meaningless hill, in this meaningless night. On that “meaningless” night, I made the fatal mistake of ignoring the witch, and staying where I was, and not caring for my dying fire.

The fire had long since gone out when I heard screaming from the village below. I stood quickly, rushing down the hill as fast as I could. It didn’t take me long to reach the village. The scene in front of me was awful. The village had gone up in flames. Raiders running in every direction, throwing torches into houses, cutting down men that tried to fight, or just the ones they passed, and taking the women. I crouched behind a few boxes, watching the display, knowing that I alone couldn’t do much, and also knowing I had to replace Finley, and Kiara, before they got killed, or captured. And as luck would have it, arrows began to fly from my tailor shop window. I smiled knowing it was Kiara. I began making my way to the tailor shop, when the arrows stopped abruptly.

“Let go of me you disgusting creatures.” I heard Kiara say. I absurved the scene from around the corner.

“Devin, what do we do with her?” one of the men asked the man on the horse in front of them. My blood boiled as I heard that name. The man chuckled.

“I think we’ll keep her. It’s nice to see you again Kiara. Tell me, where are your friends? I wouldn’t mind the opportunity to kill them.” I clenched my fists. I was ready to go after Devin right then, and there, but Kiara caught my eyes, and shook her head. I furrowed my brow. She looked back at the tailor shop with a worried look, then subtly back at me. I nodded. Making my way to the alley next to the shop, so I could enter through the window.

I climbed through the shop window, and caught a glance of something I had never wanted to see again. Another friend cut down by a sword. I rushed to his side, landing hard on my knees next to him.

“Fin!” I nearly yelled. He grunted.

“I may be injured, but I still have ears,” He said. I sighed in relief.

“How bad is it?” I asked, moving my hands to assess the damage.

“Well I’d say it’s one of my worse injuries, but not the worst I’ve had,” he said weakly. I lifted his shirt. He was right, the cut was long, and it would add another scar to his collection, but it wasn’t deep enough to kill him, that is if I could patch him up quickly. I searched the drawers of my shop. It may be a tailor shop, but I was also a heeler, so I always had supplies. I grabbed what I needed, and rushed back to Finley. I applied the disinfectant, and wrapped the wound.

“Can you stand?” I asked. He looked a little surprised by my question.

“I- Maybe,” He said. I gave him my hand to help him up, but he grunted, putting a hand to his side. “I’m sorry Draven. I can’t move.” My eyes widened, and I rubbed my forehead.

“You’re sure?” I said urgently. He nodded.

“What’s wrong?” he asked. I gave him a pained expression.

“They got Kiara. They took her. He wants to kill us. He’s probably gonna kill her, we have to save her Fin, He’s gonna kill her. He-

“Woah woah, slow down Draven, who’s gonna kill her?”

“Devin, he led the attack today. I overheard him. He said to keep Kiara as bait, and that he wouldn’t mind getting a chance to kill us.” Finely wore a look of concern.

“Yeah that’s pretty bad. But if they’re using her as bait, then they’ll keep her alive,” He said. I nodded.

“Right. Of course,”

“So we’ll just give me a few days to rest, and get better, then we’ll go after them. Ok?” I nodded once more.

The next few days were tortur. I couldn’t do anything. I was left to pace the floor of our small house when I wasn’t tending to Finley, and that was tedious, especially since he was trying to keep my mind off of what was going on, which meant a lot of blathering about nothing, but it was fine. Soon he would be well enough for us to pursue Devin, and his band of raiders. One particular night, when he was talking about swordplay I snapped.

“Fin please. I can’t stand this anymore. I don’t care about swordplay, I don’t care at the moment about your thoughts on Imelda, and I don’t care what you had for breakfast the first time you met her. All I care about is getting Kiara back safe. I-” I sat on a nearby stool. “I was gonna ask her to take my hand Fin,” I said. Finley gave me a pitiful smile.

“I’m sorry Draven. We’ll replace her. I promise.” I nodded half heartedly.

“Yeah. get some rest.” I exited the room, going on my own and lying down, curling under the warm covers.

The next dayI spent packing everything we would need for our journey, and the next, helping Finley to walk, and the next, we spent saying goodbye to our small farm.

Once more we were on a journey. Traveling through the cold night. Though I didn’t like the circumstances we were forced into the woods by, but I had so much missed the cold air, no matter how biting,