Realm of Ash {On Hold}

[ 4 ] Taken

Chapter 4

 

An agonized yell later, Jaeda was on her knees sucking in raggedy breaths and the intruder was no more. Despite the horrible process, Jaeda couldn't help but feel a smidgen proud: she'd taken on two full-grown men and won. With no combat experience.

"Ravo!" Mother suddenly cried, startling her eldest daughter into action.

Jaeda lurched to her feet, seeking out her father in the odd glow of torchlight. The third intruder gained the upper hand and threw Ravo on the floor, pummeling him in the face. Jaeda immediately approached her father's assailant, but stopped cold when her mother's voice wailed, "Jaeda, no! No more! Just run!"

"I can help!" she insisted.

The intruder took a heartbeat to breathe and raise both fists above his head, preparing to deal a nasty blow, but Father seized the opportunity. Fast as lightning, the heel of Ravo's hand drove up against the other man's nose, the snout making a sickening crunch. Bellowing with rage and clutching his face, the man tumbled off of Father, allowing him to scramble to his feet. Jaeda watched her father draw back a leg, teeth bared in a snarl, and then swing it full force into his opponent's skull. The man dropped like a rock, unconscious.

Father panted heavily for a moment, glaring down at the body with the snarl still contorting his bloodied face. And then that face turned on Jaeda, the coldness there seeming to shrink her.

Ravo's eyes wavered over to his wife and youngest daughter, then over the two piles of black dust, and then finally rested on his eldest child. 

"How did you get down from that tree?" he growled, jerking his body so that he faced her head-on. Jaeda didn't miss the fact that his hands balled into fists. 

"I-I saw those men coming for you. I had to help--"

"Did you kill those two heathens?" 

"I--"

"In front of my daughter?" Jaeda didn't need clarification; Ravo was obviously referring to the little girl huddling in Mother's arms. "Do you have any idea what you've done!"

Swallowing, Jaeda took a step backwards, away from the enraged man before her.

"Do you think she needed to see you--you--slaughter them like that? How could you be so thoughtless!"

Jaeda could only stare in utter shock. She hadn't expected this kind of reaction at all. Perhaps a little wariness, but not . . .this. 

Heart constricting uncomfortably, Jaeda half-turned so that she could look at her mother. The woman was still crouched in the corner, arms wrapped protectively around a trembling little girl. Huge eyes, exact replicas of Father's, stared up at Jaeda with a hurtful degree of terror in them. Even Mother wouldn't meet Jaeda's gaze; her whole face was blanched, and her mouth was pursed in a tight line. 

An emotion lanced through Jaeda's chest, but she couldn't put a name to it. Hurt? Too soft. Agony? Didn't do the feeling justice. Whatever its title, it crushed her heart flat, hard enough to draw moisture to her eyes. She struggled to blink it away as she slowly faced her father again. She knew she waited on judgement, and that she couldn't hope for anything of a positive nature. 

Nostrils flaring, Father killed the space between them in two rapid, threatening strides. Jaeda couldn't help but to cower under the force of his anger . . . of his hate.

Ravo bit out his next words as if each syllable was barbed with thorns, his breath puffing against her damp forehead. "You are nothing but a curse to this family."