Viri Imperium

Chapter 2

We kept walking till nightfall. Racht couldn't seem to shake the feeling that we were being followed; despite the great distance we traveled undetected. I think it's his protective nature taking over. My entire life he has been like my own guardian angel, though I know those don't exist. I cannot count how many scraped palms he's bandaged or how many trees he's caught me falling from. Thousands of my tears had been silenced with his sleeves. I shall cherish him forever and I should hope that I'll still be around when he finds a woman he loves. I should like to treat her like a sister and love her as I love him. But then, perhaps I might not be there to see him in love, and though that thought pains me, I will rest easy knowing that he will finally be happy and worry-less.

"Racht, I don't think I can walk much longer." I exhaled slowly, brushing my palms against my pant legs. "I need water or to rest. Please."

I hadn't truly realized how exhausted I was until we stopped. The night air was terribly cold and my stomach growled in frustration. Racht reached out to me, pulling me against him. "Damn Elle, you're freezing." He pressed his cheek atop my head and I relaxed at the warmth of his breath along my scalp.

"How are you always so warm?" I mumble into his chest, reveling in his heat. His breath catches and I swear I can hear his heartbeat quicken to a staccato. "What's wrong?" I look up at the forest around us, "Did you hear something?" My hand clenches his arm tightly, suddenly anxious that we were indeed followed. Upon seeing no movement around us, I look to Racht for direction. Though his eyes do not scan the trees and darkness ahead us; he is looking straight at me. "What?"

His eyes quickly brush away from mine, "It's fine, there's no one following us anymore. I'm sure we're alone now." I nod slowly, trying to assure myself that nothing seemed off in that moment. "Come here Elle, you need some sleep." He says as he guides me towards a fallen pine. He sits down first, leaning his back against the still upright trunk of the tree and spreading his legs out in front of him. He pats his muscular thighs, motioning for me to lean myself against him.

"You cannot possibly be comfortable like that." A small smirk plays across my face as I relax once more.

"Then you do not know me at all. I find trees very comfortable." He smiles goofily at me. Seeing him look happy, even if only for a slight moment, gives me hope. I have always known that he was strong, but truth be told, if I had lost my mother and father and my home all in the same hour, I doubt I'd be able to smile. I never met my mother and I still cry at the thought of her sometimes. Racht knew his parents, he loved his parents, and they loved him unconditionally.

"Whatcha thinking about?" Racht tilts his chin down at me, trying his best to look me in the eyes.

I squeeze his hand, making sure not to intertwine our fingers. "You've always been so good to me. Why?"

Racht looks down at me, disbelief scattered in his green eyes. "Why wouldn't I be? You're a part of me Elle. Probably the only good part."

I instantly glare up at him, "You can't say things like that. There is not a single ounce of you that is anything but good." Racht looks away from me, towards the horizon of trees surrounding us. No doubt pushing blame onto himself for something that he has no control over. I press against his palm, not releasing my grip this time, "I don't really deserve you."

His eyes flash back to mine, his forehead ironed with creases. "That is a lie and you know it!" He snaps at me, but not in a condescending way. His words are laced with a sense of urgency instead.

"But you're so good and kind and I might as well be a bothersome little sister who you must constantly supervise." I groan.

Racht's hand suddenly releases mine and an instant cold runs through me, beginning at my fingertips.

"You should try to sleep. I want to leave at day break." Something in his voice has just changed and I internally chide myself, knowing I have done something to upset him.

If only I knew what.

_

My heart lurches after hearing each gunshot echo through the woods. My thin legs cannot keep up with Racht as he bursts through the trees, running towards our cottage. The further we run the more obvious the smell of smoke becomes and eventually I begin to see puffs of grey pluming between the trees. The air begins to burn, only pushing me to run much faster. The cottage is not far, only a few hundred feet away. But as I draw closer and closer, my thoughts prepare to escalate. Jav and Lattice would have been in the cottage trying to prepare breakfast at this hour. I have to force those thoughts out of my mind. All that matters is getting to the cottage.

The blaze is far hungrier than I expected. The entire cottage is engulfed in orange, crackling torches. The extreme heat surrounding me makes my skin feel as though it is going to bubble and peel off. Before I can even comprehend the entire situation, my feet begin to dive into the sea of flames that was my home. My fingertips burn against the iron bolts on the door as I push my way inside. The sitting room is almost completely ablaze. Bits and pieces of furniture lay thrown across the room as if the house had been ransacked before the fire began.

"Lattice! Lattice, where are you!" I scream into the air, frantically turning about the burning room. "Jav! Can anyone hear me?"

Not one voice replies, nor can I hear anyone crying. I'm not sure if that gives me relief or if it terrifies me even more so.

I turn quickly to my left, groping through the smoke with my feet, searching for the stairs leading up to Racht and I's room. Our home had become a furnace, black smoke clouded the room with nowhere to go but in circles. My lungs begin to drown in the fumes coiling round me. I rush towards what was my side of the bedroom, shoving my arm beneath my pillow of wadded clothes. Once my fingers loop around the familiar fabric of my satchel I bolt from the room, holding my breath all the while. I make it to the door frame, only now noticing the door had been ripped from its hinges and thrown onto Racht's side of the room. The burlap curtain that separates our room down the middle was also beginning to catch fire. Turning and rushing down the stairs, a wooden step crumbles beneath my boot. My body tumbles down the rest of the stairs and the cottage begins to grow darker. I feel a pain in my side that I know I've never felt before, but now my vision is gone so I cannot look for any signs of blood. Above me I hear wood splitting and cracking, knowing that soon it will come down upon me. I knew I was meant to die young, but I thought I at least had a chance to change my fate.

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Hello! I hope you are enjoying my story! I love to hear feedback! If any of you are wondering how to pronounce Racht I will tell you now!
You know the composer Bach?
Say Bach but change the B to an R. So now we have "Rach" but there is still a "t" at the end. The t sounds like a hard T.
Put it all together and you get "racht"
The only catch is that it's all one syllable!
When I first came up with his name I knew exactly how it sounded in my head based on how I wrote it. But as I went back to edit I noticed that it could have been thought to be pronounced a bit like a not so nice slang word.

So I wanted to clear things up. Now have a lovely day! :)