Altered Destiny

Ch. 2

Brief depiction of blood and setting a bone near the end of the chapter. Also, do not assume that any medical stuff I depict is accurate.

Ingressus ignored the Sendaris for the rest of the day. The Sendaris did the same, glancing into Ingressus's part of the cave every once in a while but moving on when Ingressus refused to acknowledge his presence. Admittedly, the rest of the day wasn't that long. The light began to dim, the bright white of sunlight giving way to the yellow glow of torches and candlelight. There was a redstone lamp beside Ingressus's bed, and after several minutes of leaning halfway off the bed and fiddling with it, he figured out how to turn it on and off without needing to walk on his wounded ankle. It was an interesting thing, he had to admit. There had been nothing like it in the mountains- though the Voltaris would occasionally trade with the Glacians or human merchants, redstone devices just weren't practical enough to justify the price they sold for.

Sorays would have loved this, Ingressus thought sadly.

The tears had already fallen, the weight of the deaths sinking into his heart and leaching into his bones. He wanted to believe that it had been a bad dream, that any minute he would open his eyes and be back in the Barrier Mountains, where he would hug his father and Dominus would reassure him that they were safe, that the raiders would never find their camp. But each time he opened his eyes he was met with only the Sendaris's cave, again and again.

He had fallen into a doze at some point. When he woke the cave was dark and silent, with only an orange-yellow glow shining from around a corner. Ingressus sat up, listening intently. Only the distant sound of wind reached his ears, faint and painfully similar to the sound of a nice day in the mountains. But otherwise the cave was silent.

Ingressus stood, keeping his weight on his good leg. He limped in the direction of the glow- not as silently as he would have liked, but after lingering by the wall for another long minute, the cave was still as silent as before. So, leaning on the wall for support, Ingressus rounded the corner to see what he could find.

The first thing he noticed was the source of the glow: a basin of lava against the far wall. The molten rock bubbled softly as Ingressus stared at it in confusion, the only motion in the cave.

Okay...

The light from the lava cast the rest of the cave in a wash of orange. Nearer to Ingressus was a small bookshelf and a few chests, and a darkened redstone lamp sitting near a table and chair. Closer to the lava basin was what looked like a workshop area: an anvil sat near the lava, with a set of tongs hanging on the wall behind it. Something- squinting in the dark, Ingressus guessed it was a large hammer- rested against the base of the anvil, and a cauldron sat nearby. More chests were arranged over there, holding whatever it was blacksmiths (Ingressus assumed that's what the Sendaris was) used for their trade. There was not a hint of blue markings anywhere- nor the colors of any other clan. Perfect.

Ingressus limped towards the nearest chest and opened it slowly. The hinges let out a quiet squeaking, but there was no hint that anyone had heard. The Sendaris must be a heavy sleeper.

Luck was on Ingressus's side in another way, too- the chest was stocked with food. He saw several slabs of pork, a handful of apples, bread- ooh, was that cake?

Ingressus broke off a piece of the morsel and took a bite, feeling the sweetness burst to life on his tongue. Songs, it was even better than he remembered. Several years ago a few of the adults had returned from a supply run to Northwind, bearing a cake to share with the camp. There had only been a tiny slice for each person, divided as the pastry had been between the couple dozen Voltaris. Most had eaten their piece right away, but Sinaran had become the most popular adult in the camp a few weeks later when the children learned she had been saving her share.