The Thirteenth's Legacy

Chapter Five

Aria glanced back at the young man trailing behind her. She could see that underneath his ragged clothing and poor hygiene that he was an attractive man with chiseled features and stormy gray eyes, features that would usually be sought after by most women. However, she could see the pain in his eyes from the death of his mother taking its toll on his spirit.

Aria trudged on through the forest brush keeping her bow and arrow ready for any attacks from wild animals or bandits. Bandits were running rampant around the area and although her father had been sending out soldiers to keep them at bay, there was a high probability of an attack. Aria looked back to make sure Rune was still following her. He was following her at a small distance, eyes looking forward but with a glaze over his vision. Aria sighed.

She knew where he was because she had just gotten herself out of the same stupor that she had gotten when her brother had died. Tears came unbidden when she thought of her her younger brother and the brightness he had brought to their family before he had gotten the plague. He had been a nuisance and a pest, always playing pranks on her, but in the weeks that had passed since he contracted the plague Aria had realized that was one of the things she missed most. Aria had stayed by her brother's side the entire time he was sick and he had passed away in her arms, despite the doctor's warning that she might contract the plague by doing so. The day they laid him to rest was the saddest day of Aria's life and the day she had entered the same stupor Rune was in now. The only reason she had exited the stupor was because of the information her father had passed on to her about her family heritage.

A crash behind her drew her attention back to Rune who hadn't been paying attention and ran into a tree. He stood there rubbing his forehead and glaring at the tree he had run into before looking back at her with a sheepish smile. "Sorry," he said, a sad smile etched on his face. "Watch where you're going and be quiet," Aria huffed back at him as she turned to push further through the underbrush.

She felt for her ring underneath her glove and rubbed the stone set on top. The ring was a family heirloom and it had the same function as Rune's cross. Her father had revealed to her the true nature of the ring after her brother had died but Aria disbelieved the stories her father had spun. That is, until she met Rune. The heir with the legendary silver cross; the one with the power to save the kingdom from the corruption of the Cimmerian. Aria took off her glove to stare at the ring on her finger. If the silver cross and its bearer are real, she thought, does that mean the fate I'm supposed to unlock with the possession of this ring is real too?