From The Ashes [#NaNoWriMo16]

Chapter Four - Hallee Raegnor

She swung her arms out wide, grunting as her axes made contact with the wooden manikin for the fifth time in a row. Her stance was strong and her weapons were sharp, but her attention was elsewhere.

Images flashed through her mind as she lashed her right axe out in a wide arc, pulling it loose from the wood as it got lodged in. More images followed, tailed by a faint scream. She cried out as she whirled around and threw one of her axes and spun back around again, digging the second one right into the head of another manikin. Breathing hard, Hallee Raegnor gathered her strength again and pulled down the blindfold, squinting her eyes at the harsh sun. With what energy she had left, Hallee pushed her silky black hair out of her face, avoiding the large, magnificent white horns on her head before turning around, observing her aim with the axe. She hit the head of the manikin and had it lodged right into the wood, just centimetres from the centre.

"Your aim is off," a voice announced behind her. Hallee rolled her eyes, yanking her weapon out of her fake opponent.

"I try harder," she shot back, scowling as she went to retrieve her second weapon. Since she lived in Kinos all her life, she only ever knew how to speak Yaasmish. It was hard to speak English, especially since she had been learning only for a year, but she was getting there.

"Yes, you will." The man standing behind her was a tall human with dark hair, pale skin and a really tough, well-built body. But he wasn't as strong as strong as Hallee; she was a Yaasma, after all. And the Yaasma were a strong, white-eyed race that tended to keep to themselves. Kinos – the native land of the Yaasma – was a long, wiggly shaped island, with way too many cities and towns to call it a 'peaceful' country. This was probably because the Yaasma didn't usually like interacting with any race but their own. It was rare to see a Yaasma anywhere outside Kinos, but a lot did it. It wasn't abnormal or anything. For Hallee, though, it took twenty six years for her to flee her country and make it to Rathnos. It took the worst possible thing that could ever happen to a twenty six year old. A year later, she was training in Rathnos, still recovering.

But no matter what she did, she would never forget what happened to her when she was twenty six years old.

"What do you want?" Hallee asked, swinging her axe around in her hand as she turned to face the land around her. They were hiding out in the western mountain valleys of Rathnos; the only place that wasn't occupied by humans or the cities they built. There was a cabin in the valley they had crouched in, where they slept and ate. But when she wasn't sleeping or eating, Hallee was training. There was plenty of space around her; the yellow, grassy fields and tall, looming cliff faces kept her secluded from anyone who could disturb her. It wasn't that she didn't want to be found; it was that she didn't want anything to get in the way of her ultimate goal.

Killing the men that took everything away from her.

"I received news from Adrana," the human replied calmly. His name was Morel Briar, and he had spent the last year with Hallee out in this valley, training her to fight. She used to live on a farm in Kinos, with her two brothers and her parents. Right up until she was twenty six, everything was perfect. Hallee was a Yaasma, sure, but her mother would never let her learn how to fight. "There's no need to learn," she would say. "No one is going to try and hurt you. Not while I'm around."

If Hallee hadn't been so naïve to believe her mother, she might still have a family.

"Good?" Hallee questioned next, glancing down at her axe with her lips pursed. She was going to have to sharpen it soon; it was getting blunt. "Bad?"

"Neither," Briar replied. "Well, for us, anyway. There has been talk about war threats between Voleai and Adrana. Apparently, the Adranian Council have been sending messages overseas to the Elven Council, threatening the Peace Treaty."