An Ancestors Mark (#Wattys2016)

A Destructive Arrival: Part One

Victor had lost his balance at the first shudder, tumbling to the stone with Victoria still in his arms. "What in the bloody hell?! Another raid?"

"The seventh raid this month. . .would've thought the cold would have slow the bastards a bit." Her Uncle Verik cursed beneath his breath helping the pair of twins to return to their feet before giving orders to each member of the family. "Adelaide and Victor, get to the weapons hall and get us our things as quick as you can manage. Vivian and Valerie, do either of you have your satchel on you?"

The pair of caramel haired Healers nodded to the man, though it was their Aunt Valerie who spoke. It had been made clear that the adults would be leading this battle. "It became mandatory to have it all times after the third violation within the Clan. Weapons have not been made mandatory to obtain at all time yet?" 

"The Professor's told us not to. Professor of the Slayers specially. He thought it would lead to more anguish and distress. Though several weapon halls were made in case of these events. In alphabetical order. . .which reminds me. Adelaide and Victor you have to leave and get those right this instant." He pressed his hands to their backs, pushing them towards one of the chambers exits. Kissing his wife before sending her off to retrieve their weapons.

"Verik. . .do you happen to have a plan of some sort? Or are the Roth-Wood's risking their lives once again? You did just sent our Wise, your wife, to retrieve weapons instead of having them devise a plan."

He threw his hands to his side, letting out a sigh before allowing his right hand to glide through his coal like hair.   "I have-no. I do not have a plan Val. Do you?"

Valerie smiled in the slightest before nodding at her brother a second time. "Victoria, go find that Marcus you were paired with, when your brother returns I will send him to you. Vivian, you go find your comrades. We will meet at your Uncle Verik's when this is all over. Understood?"

Their Uncle scoffed in the slightest, crossing his arms in a form of disapproval as he muttered a few more curses beneath his breath. "Separating us. . .perfect idea."

She hit her brothers arm, her brows furrowed together as she glared at him. "Verik, stop the nonsense this instant. You haven't got a better idea, do you?"

"No. . ." Was all the more he grumbled out. "Girls, do as your Aunt told you."

It was Vivian who followed the plan first. Offering her Uncle a hug, and sibling a kiss on the forehead before sprinting to another of the chambers exits. The names of her comrades caught within the chaos of the rest of the Clan as she continued her dash of desperation. 

It was Victoria who did not follow orders. Her body still sending ripples of numbness through itself as she still stood in a state of distress. The conversation between her family remaining faint, hidden within the ringing and screaming that had seemed to engulf her.

The numbness came to abrupt resolution at the contact of skin on skin. Uncle Verik had slapped her.  "Dammit Victoria, what did I tell you?"

She blinked for a moment, regaining her composure before speaking. "To listen to Aunt Val. But Uncle Verik, I'm a female, and my weapon. . .I've never. . .the-"

He seized her by her shoulders, crouching down so that the pair of them could be at eye level. "Tori, all of that is nonsense. Well besides your weapon, that is nothing but crucial. But the rest of it, nonsense. So leave the nonsense be, it has nothing to do with the sense of the situation at hand."

"Leave the nonsense be. I'll do it. I'll see you later."

"Of course sweetheart. We'll be all see each other later."

*******
Victoria had left her coat in the dining hall, allowing the bitterness of winter to burn her skin as she pushed herself to continue her sprinting. Though perhaps it wasn't just the winter air, but the ashes that fell around her as well. She was unsure.

At the moment Tori wasn't at all too sure of what was happening around her. All the more she could grasp was that her Clan was in the midst of another attack. The second attack on their own lands.

Of course that information has difficult to miss. As screams fused that of hissing embers, and the scent of burned flesh blended with that of the near midnight air. The entire atmosphere obstructed by the senses of fear and destruction.

She had become more than a bit overwhelmed at the situation at hand. For never once had she had to be so close to the beasts, her previous and sole contact with them being through pictures. Though in in her current environment Tori would be able to at last experience all aspects of them.

Close enough witness the moonlit gleam of a feline like gaze, to smell the foulness of their breath and scales. Able to view their body burn crimson before their release of flames, or even able to endure the random breeze caused the movement of their wings.

Be deafened by their roar. . .

"Victoria, get out of there!"

Vincent? But had he not left with Aunt Adelaide to retrieve her ax as well as her Uncle Verik's bow and arrows? He could not possibly be in the courtyard with her. He would never bring himself to an area of such destruction.

"Vince? Is that you?" She turned her head to search for her sibling as she called his name, ready to be welcomed by the sight of her fearful Clan attempting to save themselves within the flame ridden courtyard, though had found herself instead welcomed by the deafness she has just merely thought of. Followed by the call of her name.

Though the voice did not belong to her sibling, nor did the arms that had begun to hold her.