Almárëa

1

With a soft tired sigh she bend down to try and roll her stepfather onto a sheet and it was easier said than done.

He was far too heavy and he was stiff. In the end she decided to only cover the bodies as best she could and then left to go see to the chest, which was a little less heavy than her family ,but no less manageable.

She stepped out of the house for the first time since the attack, with the intent of searching behind the house for a spot to bury the chest. Morning had broken and what met her eyes was pure and utter chaos. Burnt down houses smoldered and smoked, dead bodies of those she once called neighbour were already being fed upon by scavengers. Everything was destroyed and there was nothing left of the small well-kept gardens and the livestock. There wasn't even a dog or a cat in sight either.

The houses that had not been burnt held nothing of value as she checked, though she did find a few vegetables and a hidden stash of ham and cheese that Milraen , the chieftain's daughter used to hide from the chieftain himself.

Taking those, she went back to looking through the village for salvageable things.
She found only a few and decided to drop the search when the last unburned house was thoroughly searched.

She went back to her house and looked at the old tree behind it with the hollow space she used to play.

It will have to do. It is easy to remember....

Her train of thought were interrupted by the sound of hooves and the voices of people.

She ran back into the house and picked up her rucksack, running to hide in the wall again.

It wasn't long before people walked through the front door. They were different than the Raiders, but she wasn't taking any chances.

"Farion!," one called out as they bend down to lift the sheets from the faces of her deceased family.

Another man joined the people and a sorrow filled cry escaped him when he saw the child's mother.
It was coupled with her mother's name. Nellrien. He fell to his knees beside the child's mother, his whole body shaking with his sobs.

She stared at the man from her hiding place in shock. She didn't know him, but he clearly knew her mother.

She had the urge to go to him and comfort him, but she pushed those feelings down, afraid that he and the other people might hurt her.

" We should bury them, Farion, and then hunt for those who did this," the one who called Farion to the house spoke once again.

The man nodded silently, his body still shaking as he mourned the loss of Nellrien.

"Seron, Lavan, search the house and outside for shovels," the man gave orders to two of the people.

"Right away, Elion," one spoke and immediately left the room to go into the back,only to come back with her mother's chest. " Look at this!"

Everyone did and the child felt a rage inside of her as the man, Elion, went through the things in the chest.

" There should be more ," Farion spoke, getting up from the floor, moving to go through the things also.

" What do you mean?"

"Well, when Nellrien left she had more gold and she had two journals and a map. Some of the jewelry are gone also."

" The armour, whose is it?"

"Her once lover's," Farion sneered, glaring at the offending object in the chest.

"Do you think those who destroyed the village took the other things?"

" No, Elion. They would've taken the whole chest. No, something else is amiss here. Nellrien was with child when she left me. The child wasn't mine."