Eternally Luminous

Chapter 8

Ana brought Lumen to a halt when she saw the small village, or what was left of it. Royan gasped, shocked at the sight. Ana dismounted Lumen and tied him to a tree just before the village. Royan did the same and headed towards the village with her stumbling over figuring out what to say.

“What happened?” Royan finally managed as they reached the village.

“I have no idea, but I’m about to find out”, Ana told her spotting Leeroy among the charred wreck.

She stormed over to him, pulling him away from the wreck.

“What happened here Leeroy?, did you do this?” she said, anxious to know.

“Ana, I don’t know. No I didn’t do anything. I just was marking a safe path to the Eastern Forest and saw this village alight. I managed to calm the flames but by that time, there was nothing left”, he said, a grief-stricken look overcoming his face. 

He looked exhausted, the ash blackened his face and his hands were covered in dirt and dust. Ana looked around and helped him when he began to cry. She felt awkward as she had never seen a man cry. He kneeled down and followed.

“There was a little girl screaming and crying in one of the houses. I tried to help her but when I reached her she had passed. She was completely burnt Ana. I was too slow getting to her, I’m the reason why she died” he said, tears streaming down his face.

Ana looked at him sympathetically. She tilted his head towards her and wiped away a tear that cleared a path through the ash on his face.

“It’s not your fault Leeroy. It’s the people who set this fire and burned this village” she said trying to comfort him.

They left the village the following morning, all feeling heavy-hearted. Leeroy stayed ahead of them, often looking down at his horse and wiping away tears. Ana felt sorry for him, it wasn’t his fault about the little girl. Royan, oblivious to the ordeal Leeroy experienced, felt her own sense of despair, as did Ana. The loss and state of the village had shaken them all. Ana speculated that the Kings Army was responsible for the attack on the village.

They reached the edge of the Eastern Forest by late afternoon. They were all exhausted and tired. When they had travelled further into the forest, where it now became too dense to ride the horses, they dismounted and continued on foot, trailing the horses behind them. They came across a small clearing that wasn’t covered in snow, where they stationed the horses and made camp for the night. Leeroy made a small fire before embarking further into the forestation. Ana, curious as to what he was doing told Royan to stay at the camp and to watch the horses. Royan did so without hesitation.

Ana followed quietly, keeping Leeroy just in her sights. He soon disappeared and Ana headed quietly to where she last saw him. Anxious as to where he had gone Ana stood there looking around in circles, squinting through the trees trying to see any sign of him. Night was falling quickly and the forest would soon be in complete darkness, she needed to find Leeroy now. She heard rustling coming from bushes behind her and she turned around in that direction. Ana crept quietly towards the noises and peered over the bushes. On the other side stood Leeroy, waist deep in a stream. He was shivering but stayed in the stream. He washed his hands and face, cleaning the remaining dirt and ash off of his body. Ana couldn’t help but watch him, mesmerized by his body and the way the water flowed down his skin. She then saw his clothes hung on the low branches of the tree near by. When his clothes had distracted her, she hadn’t realized that he had emerged from the waters. He now stood in front of her, staring at her with curiosity. He startled Ana and she stumbled backwards, tripping over the root of a tree. He rushed to her and helped her up. He had a cloth wrapped around his waist covering himself. Leeroy stood there, their hands lingered on each others for a while. Their eyes made contact and they stared at each other gazing into each others eyes. His eyes were a deep brown colours but for a moment Ana thought she saw flames burning within them. The warmth of his body radiated strongly. He withdrew his hand from hers and headed over to his clothes. Within a burst of flames, his body became completely dry and he pulled his navy shirt over the top of him. Ana couldn’t fight her feeling of lust anymore, she admired him deeply and wanted to let him know that. She went over to him while he was adjusting his shirt and looked deeply into his eyes. Suddenly he threw his arms around her waist and neck and pulled her closer, kissing her. She didn’t resist him lips and tongue entering her mouth. She permitted him to enter her. She was scared about the cold but his warmth enveloped hers and she soon felt like she was in front of a fire. His body searched hers, feeling her waist and breasts. They kept eye contact and she kissed him harder and searched his body. Her hands moved and she felt his warm contours of his muscles underneath her fingertips. Soon they laid on the warmth ground by a fire Leeroy had made and it was there that their bodies moved rhythmically.

Leeroy told Ana his life story on the way back to the camp and how his family were taken away when he was Ana’s age, which was two years ago, and he had been planning to avenge his family’s death, much like Royan. When they came closer to the camp, they heard two voices, Royan’s and another males. Leeroy tensed and immediately became protective, as did Ana. They sprinted towards the camp and when they came into the small clearing they saw Royan talking to a younger man by the fire. The boy appeared to be of about fourteen. Royan saw them and her face lit up, the boy spun around and his face turned into an aggressive face. He stood and his body too, tensed. Royan sat confused at what what was happening. Suddenly, Leeroys hand lit up into a bright, blazing flame and Ana was stunned at him doing this. She put her hand on Leeroy’s arm but his clothes and skin was blazing. It burned Ana’s fingers slightly but it healed straight away.

“Leeroy, what are you doing?”, Ana questioned him asking him to put his hands out.

Leeroy breathed and unlit his hands, he didn’t break eye contact with the young man, “who are you? And what do you want?” he questioned. When Ana looked over to the boy, she hadn’t even realized that he had withdrawn two daggers.

“I’m by myself. I have a similar plan to the one Royan was telling me about”, he said slowly putting the daggers back up his long sleeves.

He seemed harmless, but something about this boy told Ana that he could kill anyone in an instant, except her. She sensed he had an ability but couldn’t determine what it was.

“He’s a fighter, his ability allows him to fight with great speed and accuracy and he can sense peoples moves before they even perform it themselves”, Royan said, she must have sensed and heard what Ana was thinking.

The boy held his arm out to Leeroy and when Leeroy shook it, he said “I’m Thomas”.

The four of them gathered around the fire all that night, discussing the plans and details of what was happening among the lands of Eltaron. Thomas was from Southern Tustille and when he learned about the executions he fled to the Eastern Forest out of fear of being discovered. He had lived among the forest for what seemed like a countless amount of time, hiding among the trees and making shelter where he could. He also had learned about the routes and paths that the Kings Army took across Ashen and Northern Tustille and about Fort Greene. He contributed immensely to the plan that they had developed and the timing of their attack. They planned a week from now – the following Saturday before dawn. They would spend the next week training themselves and preparing for the battle that was to come while travelling further south in the Eastern Forest. On the Friday, they would set up camp directly east of Fort Greene in the bordr of Mortali and Norther Tustille and at midnight they would monitor the patrol around the Fort. When they saw their opportunity before dawn they planned to attack, all four of them at once.

They all slept incredibly well that night, Leeroy holding Ana’s hand subtly while they slept. His warmth comforted her body and made her sleep easier. Royan curled up at the base of a tree near her stallion. Thomas had climbed one of trees and was scouting the area, making sure there was no one near. That night, Ana felt like she finally had a family, they all did. They were grateful for one another and they all felt a connection to each other as they were bound to each other by these abilities and the need for one another as well as their roles in the plan to save people like them, their larger family.