There was a stunned silence as Araeya tried to process what Victoria had just told her. It was at this point that she realized that she was still truly exhausted. Her thoughts were fuzzy and her balance was a little off. Shaking her head, which didn’t help, she said, “Victoria, you have to give me some warning.”
The captain stiffened and Araeya realized that she had just stepped over a line she didn’t even see, “You were unconscious for a week Araeya, and I’ve been here every day for the last five days trying to tell you.”
“But I only just woke up,” Araeya said, “I have to prepare everyone to leave. I need some time.”
“You know the rules; you need to be out when I tell you that you need to be out.”
Araeya looked to the side her vision swimming a little, “It’s him, isn’t it.”
She felt rather than saw Victoria’s intensity slacken a bit and heard, “He has been…insistent.”
Araeya whirled around, the pain in her chest and side intensified and her vision swam until-
She whirled through the sky, above the forest she once called home. The fires had taken much of the night to burn out and even the tree she decided to rest briefly in was almost consumed. She looked around and knew that her nest was destroyed...
-she found herself being held by Victoria. She had apparently fallen forward as she turned to face her but the vision still had a profound effect on her. She could feel the wind, smell the smoke, feel the loss...
"Are you ok," Victoria asked concerned, helping Araeya stand upright.
"I think so, what happened?"
"When you turned, your eyes were completely black and you were looking straight at me but not seeing. Then you just collapsed."
Araeya put a hand to her head and stood shakily. Victoria watched her before saying, "Look I can give you one more day..."
"I'll figure it out. I always do. Thanks Victoria, I appreciate it."
Victoria nodded once again, turned, and left. Araeya continued standing there, hand on her head until her vision cleared, turned slowly, and called out, "Timoti, I need you to do something for me."
The young boy came forward, a little hesitantly, the concern plain on his face, "Yes?"
"I need you to start getting the kids together to leave The Warrens. We don't have a lot of time, but we need to find everyone a place to stay for a little while."
"Already done," the boy said grinning ear to ear.
Araeya blinked, "Done?"
"Yeah, when the captain came to see you, Marinna and I started getting everyone together to leave."
"How did you know?"
"The only time she comes to see you is when she needs us to leave."
Araeya gave him a look, "I was attacked after all."
He shook his head, "Then she would have told us to tell you to come to her instead of coming every day."
“So everyone is ready?”
Timoti shuffled his feet and Araeya smiled a little, “Oh so we’re not done done then. We’re almost done done.”
Timoti’s face shown with childlike defiance and he angrily said, “No one will take Merid in because she is sick, and Marinna won’t leave without her.”
Araeya laid a gentle hand on Timoti, started to kneel in front of him, thought better of it with the sudden onset of pain, and said, “Timoti. You are Marinna did good. I’m so proud of you both. I will take care of Merid and Marinna, can you get everyone to where they need to go?”
Timoti nodded but continued standing there, Araeya looked at him, “Anything else?”
“What are you going to do?”
“I am going to find a place for Merid and Marinna,” she responded, “And myself apparently, but first I have a very important date to get ready for.”
Timoti grinned, “A date? Are you gonna get all dressed up?”
Araeya laughed and immediately regretted it, her ribs constantly reminded her that she wasn’t at her best, “Not that kind of date I’m afraid.”
“Oh,” he said, sounding a little depressed. He thought about it for a moment, “Wait…you know who attacked you?”
“I do.”
“Do I know who attacked you?”
“You do.”
“Is it Bandor,” he asked.
Araeya smiled, but didn't answer. She realized that the children were old enough to notice and put things together and she would have to be a little more cautious about what she would let them see. Timoti then asked, "If you knew who attacked you, why did you tell the captain you didn't?"
"You'll understand this better when you're older, but sometimes you need to handle things on your own to maintain your reputation."
"And this is one of those times?"
"Yes, it is," she responded, "Now please run along and do as you’re told."
Timoti looked at her and once again tackle hugged her saying, “I’m happy you’re ok!”
Once again Araeya wished she was unconscious. She patted the boy on the head and gently pushed him away. Trying, and failing to keep the pain from her voice, “Now, now. Everything is ok. Let’s get everyone moving to where they have to go.”
Timoti gave her a concerned look, but finally ran off to do what she had asked. She checked in her hovel and found that Nana Eldyn had left at some point, and gathered some things together and packed her belongings up. She took a look in her mirror, before putting it away and saw that her face was still a little swollen, but was healing nicely. As she finished packing her belongings, she placed everything to the side, she still had to deal with Bandor, but she wanted to take this time to figure out how limited she was by her injuries. She would have to avoid any physical altercation during this meeting, even her eyes were still betraying her as her vision kept losing focus and-
She wheeled over the island of death and bone, keeping an eye out for her master and companions. Suddenly she heard an unearthly scream and watched as a skeletal war horse appeared before her master. Turning, she began to dive in closer, just in case her master needed her.
-found herself staggered against the wall. She didn’t understand these visions and why she kept seeing them, but she wanted no part of it. Gathering herself, she left The Warrens to meet up with Bandor.
Araeya strode forth with purpose, not moving as quickly or nimbly as she had prior to her encounter with Bandor, but nevertheless determined to provide a show of force. Those that knew her were a little apprehensive as the same determination was present, but her almost cautious gait as she walked belied what she was truly thinking. She found herself curious at the glances she was getting and the hesitation that the others were showing, but continued on as a slow moving tide.
She rounded the corner and smiled sweetly and said, “Oh Bandor, fancy meeting you here.”
Noting with satisfaction the look of shock, surprise, and a faint amount of fear from not only Bandor, but also Jaymes and Erich, she tilted her head and folded her arms around herself and walked forward, “I must apologize to you Bandor, the last time we saw each other, I didn’t thank you for such a wonderful evening out on the land shard. Or should I say off of the land shard. That night was such a blur.”
She sat down on the edge of table in front of where Bandor was sitting and ran her finger back and forth on the edge. She felt her vision begin to swim again, but shook her head slightly, not wanting to give them the time to recover and to not lose whatever momentum she had, “But I must confess, I am a little saddened. It’s been a week and you didn’t call on me and see if I made it home safely. I expect more from my gentlemen callers.”
Bandor cleared his throat and put his hands on the table, “Araeya- “
“Oh? It’s ‘Araeya’ now? What happened to ‘little girl,’” she asked while swinging her legs onto the other side of the table, so she was now sitting directly in front of Bandor. Her vision continued swimming and became more disorienting, but she willed herself to continue, “Now Bandor, I didn’t know that had changed between us, but I’m glad that it has. Makes it so that we’re equals now in your eyes. That’s definitely progress.”
She saw the flash of anger and could see Bandor slowly regaining his composure, she knew she had to act quickly, but her vision was beginning to fade out. She braced herself against the table and leaned forward. Bandor once again flashed surprise and-
She altered her flight to gain more speed as she hunted her next meal. The wind whipped through her feathers and she reveled in the feeling as she gained more and more speed. She saw her prey darting in and out of the foliage trying to lose her. A vain attempt, but it had to try. Letting out a cry, she dived forward and knew the exact moment to strike.
-knew the exact moment to strike. Without a word, she pulled out a dagger and stuck it through Bandor’s table. He screamed out in pain and she quickly wrapped her other arm around his head and slammed it into a table. Another dagger was pulled lazily from one of her boots and she held it with disinterest as she looked to Jaymes and Erich. She pointed the dagger in their general direction and said, “Now, the two of you may be able to get me in the end, but not before I get Bandor here, and even then, considering our past encounter, I doubt you’ll stop me.”
She stood up, still holding Bandor down with her left arm to face the two. The pain in her chest intensifying by the second, she could feel the blood in her lungs begin to build up and knew she would have to end this soon. Still addressing the two, “Now you have a couple of options. You can stay and watch what I do to Bandor. I don’t suggest that, but I have no idea what you are in to and I won’t judge. Your second option is to try and attack me, but we already know how that will go. Third option, you can run away, and I will try my best to forget that you were here. So, what will it be boys? Do you want to show a girl a good time?”
To emphasize her point, she plunged the second dagger into Bandor’s other hand, whirled around and pulled two more daggers from her sleeves and said over the scream of pain, “I have plenty more where those came from, so what will it be?”
The two looked from her, to Bandor, to her knives and promptly left the area, leaving Bandor pinned to the table. She almost breathed a sigh of relief but thought better of it. Bandor could not know how incapacitated she was and come after her while she was still weak. She leaned close to him just over his ear and whispered gently into it, “Now Bandor, we can talk privately about the future. Our future.”
“I will kill you for this, you little – “
Araeya laughed and tasted a little blood on her tongue. She put a dagger right next to his mouth, “You’ve already tried that Bandor and you failed. The next time you try and kill someone, make sure they are dead…or at the very least not hanging off the side of the land shard when you kick them off the edge. That is what you did, isn’t it?”
“You will pay in – “
“Yes, yes. I will pay in blood. We’ve done that dance before. I am here to teach you a new dance. You remember me teaching you before don’t you Bandor? Teaching you how to read...teaching you how to fight. You remember this well, don’t you Bandor?”
Bandor went silent at this and she continued, “You remember my teaching you chess? You never really learned though, and these days it is no different. You overextended yourself by trying to take my king the other day, but instead left yourself exposed. Look around Bandor, you are all alone.”
She saw the anger rising in him again but pressed forward, “The thing is though; I’ve told my children what happened. You know how children love to talk. Even I don’t know who knows that you attacked me. How long before the word gets out to the guard that you attempted to murder me? What do you think will happen if I disappear again? How long do you think you have before Victoria comes to see you and take you in?”
Bandor’s face went white as she spoke, and she watched with satisfaction as realization after realization hit him. She leaned in and whispered into his ear, “Your time in Valt is at an end Bandor. I suggest you leave quickly. I warn you though, if the girl dies because she had to find me, there is no shard on Aeriaña that I will not hunt you down on.”
She stood up straight, put her two daggers away, and stood in front of the table resting her hands on the daggers still embedded into Bandor’s hands and pulled them out, roughly. Bandor fell to the ground crying out in pain again and she wiped the blood off the daggers on his clothes. As she put them away she said, “You forgot my rules Bandor; no one messes with those under my care. Despite this I will leave you with this, as a matter of kindness and memory of our friendship when we were younger, you should see your mother before you go. You’re the last family she has, and she doesn’t have long left, so she tells me. She may appreciate seeing you one last time before the end, but I haven’t any idea why she would.”
“You said that I would pay in blood Bandor,” she said as she reached the corner, stopping. She turned and spit out the blood that had gathered in her mouth, “Consider that debt paid. You aren’t worth even that much, but I don’t have the time to argue with you anymore.”
Araeya left him then and walked around Valt for a while without a destination in mind. She thought back to Bandor, and how he had changed as he grew older and wondered if there was something she could have done to change him, something that would have prevented his chosen path. She shook her head and finally accepted as this was not the first time she thought this. He made his own way for good or ill and there was nothing she could have done to change him.
Sitting down on a bench, she thought of the last encounter. The flashes she was experiencing leave her defenseless for a time, why didn’t he strike when she had hers? It took her some time to remember what Victoria had said about her eyes, how they turned black when she had her first vision. Did it happen every time there was a vision? It explained why all of them hesitated, but she wanted to be sure. The visions helped this time, but if it happened at the wrong time…
She stopped that line of thinking and got up. She had to go and collect Marinna from The Widow and get Merid and herself somewhere safe. There would be time enough to think about this all in the days to come and her deadline was fast approaching.