Chapter 4 Ashin’ Kid #2
Through the haze of their discussion, Lark’s heightened senses suddenly caught something else.
Her ears perked up. She could hear a faint thundering rolling toward them across the landscape.
She turned to look northward, scanning the horizon where the forest met the sky.
No firestorm built there, yet the thundering grew louder, more insistent.
Something approached on iron-shod hooves.
“Do you hear that?” she asked.
“Hear what?” Paq replied, his young face scrunched in concentration.
Lark’s gaze swept westward, following the rolling hills that carved a valley between the Astral Mountains and the Everburning Forest. The landscape seemed to hold its breath as figures materialized in the distance.
Riders on horseback flashed sunlight off their armor.
Copper-colored cloaks billowed behind them like war banners.
The warning of Nordraven troops came to mind.
“Armored men are riding this way,” she announced.
“What!?” Paq’s voice cracked with fear, rising to a squeak. He stretched upward, straining to see what her keener eyes had already identified. “That little puff of dust?”
“Yes,” Lark answered with certainty. “There’s a half dozen or so. They must be a scouting party riding ahead of Northern troops.”
“What are they?”
Lark’s scowl deepened. Her necklace warmed, as if trying to tell her something.
“Are they human, orc, elf, what?”
“They’re armored. I can’t tell, but they are riding hard and look as though they’re prepared to fight.”
“Those are Nordraven soldiers. They have to be. We need to warn the others.”
“You won’t make it in time,” she said, already calculating distance, their speed against the riders’. The space between the village and the approaching riders seemed to contract with each thundering hoofbeat. “You should hide somewhere safe while they pass.”
“I can’t let them go into the village looking for that orb. What if they feel the energy from it, too, and know it’s nearby? You heard what that messenger said. They’ll burn everything to the ground. No survivors.”
The words hung heavy in the air between them. “If you go now, they’ll see you on the road,” Lark said.
“Unless...” Paq trailed off, his tone carrying a desperate hope that made Lark’s heart ache.
“What?”
“You could try to stop them.” The suggestion landed like a stone in still water, ripples of possibility spreading outward.
“How? I’m not a soldier; I don’t have a sword.” Even as she spoke, she remembered the feel of the massive blade she held in her vision.
“You got that Hyalite somehow. You won a dagger on your harvest, and you already had that fancy one in your bag,” Paq said.
“Lark, you are stronger and faster than anyone in the village. There’s some in our village who could fight, but most won’t.
We owe it to them to give them time to flee.
You are the best chance we have at giving them time enough. ”
Her instincts urged her to flee to seek self-preservation.
She groaned at the recklessness of standing against mounted warriors.
She had no ties here save for one, the boy before her.
He stared with his wide brown eyes glistening with desperation and trust. “I’ll be risking my life for the lives of the village. Most of whom don’t accept me.”
“You’ll be saving mine, too. That has to be something.” The simple truth cut through her defenses.
Lark ground her teeth and flexed her hands.
The riders drew closer. Paq’s soft eyes drove her to ignore her instinct to run.
With a voice that carried the weight of her choice, she said, “Alright, fine. Run and warn the villagers to leave immediately. But you’d better stick to the forest or they’ll see you.
If they do see you running for town, I can’t promise that I’ll attract all their attention. ”
“I’ll never forget this, Lark. You’re a good person.
” The words struck her as something she wasn’t sure she deserved.
“Don’t let them get what you’ve got in that bag.
They’ll kill you if they find out. The Hyalite is what led them here.
The Northerners won’t stop looking for it until they find it.
You’re not safe as long as it’s in your possession. ”
“Then I’ll get rid of it as soon as they’re gone,” she said in a rush.
“No, they could find it. With Tel Roan gone, there isn’t a Paragon in the Vermillion Keep who can take on the toughest Nordraven riders.
You have to take the Hyalite to Astral City and deliver it to the General in charge at the Vermillion Keep.
They’ll make sure the Hyalite stays out of the hands of the Northern Kingdoms.”
“I can’t do that. I need to stay here with you,” she said almost whining, the words of a child trying to hold back the tide.
“Lark, you don’t understand,” Paq insisted.
“I thought if we hid the Hyalite, they wouldn’t be able to find it all the way out here in our little village.
But they have. Those soldiers know something is here.
I’m sure of it. Why else would they be riding so hard?
Nordraven and Lamar won’t stop coming for the Hyalite until one of them has it.
” His words tumbled out, each one closer to goodbye.
“You can’t come with me. I need to stay with my family and move somewhere safe.
That means away from you and that Hyalite for now. ”
“But I don’t want to lose you, Paq.” The raw vulnerability in her voice surprised her. “You’re the only friend I have.”
“I’ll always be your friend, Lark.” His eyes shone with tears he refused to let fall. “And when you’re done bringing the Hyalite to the Vermillion Keep, come find me. But right now, we don’t have a choice. Goodbye, Lark, and good luck. I did what I could to help you for as long as I could.”
“I won’t abandon...” she started, but Paq was already melting into the trees. Lark wiped away a single tear. The bag containing the Hyalite vibrated, answering the rhythm of the approaching hooves.
Anger boiled up inside her. She wanted to hurl the cursed orb into the depths of the forest and run after Paq; she longed to cling to the simple life she’d found here. But that wouldn’t save him or his family from the Nordravens’ wrath.
Lark inhaled deeply, drawing herself up to her full height. She rolled her shoulders back, and stood ready to face down the approaching storm of riders. I won’t let them take Paq away. It might lead me away from him for a time, but I won’t let them hurt my friend.
The daggers felt right in her hands as she belted them on, their weight an extension of her will. She slung the bag over her shoulder, securing the precious cargo. Her fingers flexed around the hilts with the certainty of muscle memory.
Lark’s heart thundered, but her hands held steady.
As she searched for a spot to launch her ambush, she questioned if she was really about to do this for Paq.
The answer came not in words but in the absolute conviction that flooded her being, anchoring her to the place where everything would change.
“Ashin’ kid,” she swore.