Mountain Of Wind And Flame

Chapter One

Over the years bodies have been carried out of here, from the young children that have grown old and died due to old age, to the ones that died during torture. But even that time has passed. I hadn't seen a single person here, for a long while. Day in and day out, I kneel here waiting on my knees, looking through my long muddy brown hair for the day that someone will come and finally kill me, and to end this suffering. I've even thought of doing it myself, but for those still loyal to me, sharing the cells adjacent to mine, I could not bring myself to it, at least not until they decide to leave me. Although, even then I don't think I could go through with it.

Even when I told them to leave, all those years ago, they didn't. It's the one order they refused from me. If I told them to kill themselves, they would, yet they will not leave this place because I won't. The cell directly in front of mine, on the other side of the dark stone corridor, she just stares at me. Her bony pale hands gripping onto the steel bars, fire within her red eyes. Her hair roughed up and dirty, and just in case someone came in, they would see she doesn't get much sleep these days, with the black bags under her eyes. And just like the rest of us here she has the honour of wearing the dirty old-brown tunics covered in rips from wear and tear over time.

Behind her bars, the little colour in her hands, went even paler as she tightened her grip. She tilts her head to the side, listening," Sounds like the village is under attack."

It doesn't just sound like it's under attack, it is. My hearing is nowhere as good as Celina's, and even I can hear the screams and the raging fires, crackling in the wind. If we couldn't hear it, the smell of burning wood flowing up the mountain, and into the depts of this place I now call home, is completely unmistakable. I didn't respond to her and neither did any of the others that share this prison with me. If Celina wants to go down to the village, then she is free to do so. It's not like these bars can actually hold us here if we wanted out.

The people of the mountain were cowards when my people and I were overthrown. They didn't even raise themselves up at all, to fight back against the tyranny that fell upon them. When I surrendered and handed myself over to them, they chained us up, and after a couple of centuries, they forgot about us. They forgot about the harpies, that sheltered them within the mountain that was once a peaceful home. Instead, they just let the other humans take over. All it took, was a single leader to rise from the inside to convince the rest, that our protection was no longer needed.

I don't think it really matters at this point, with the amount of time that's past, the humans on the mountain are not the ones that put us in this position. It's even possible that none of them even remain, and that this prison is completely unknown, without a single memory roaming around on the outside.

Celina groaned out of frustration, banging on the bars," Eve that is our home, and our people. Will you not save them?"

No, I will not, they are not our people. If they were they would've come for us long ago, they wouldn't have allowed us to be taken away the moment a new human ruler came. And they sure as hell wouldn't have just forgotten about us.

No sound came from my mouth. Celina's loyalty is what will keep her in here forever, with me. She could've gotten out anytime she wanted, including now. All of them can leave, without me. I'm no longer a harpy, so being loyal to me is worthless.

In the corner of my eye, an orange glare filtered through the prison. Heavy boots echoing through the darkness, as whoever's out there march's deeper into the prison," What is this place?"

"When I was a boy, I heard rumours about a prison in the mountain," a man said, as he came into sight, stopping in front of mine, and Celina's cell. He looked directly at Celina, who scoffed at him," Holding the people that once protected this mountain."

Six of them, all wearing full body brown leather armour, holding bronze plates that covered all their vital spots. Three of them held round wooden shields, wrapped in iron bands, in one hand, and short swords in the other. Two of them with long wooden bows, drawn with arrows ready to be set free at a moments notice. And the last man had a two-handed greatsword on his back.

The one with the greatsword stands at the apex of his little gang, and he's the one that heard the rumours of us being in this place. He's most likely the one with the most loyalty in the group. The leader.

I was right, the humans have forgotten about us, and it took a rumour during an attack to bring them here. One last attempt to save themselves from dying by whoever attacks, and I have no intention of helping them. To my surprise, it appears Celina didn't really want to see them either. She wanted to save them, but now that familiar look in her eyes rose to the surface. She is angry, and even stares the humans down, with her great wings spread out behind her back. Once a brilliant white, they are nothing more than a dull grey, as they touch the wall on either side of her cell. Her brows lowering more and more, with each moment passing.

The humans went quiet, while they took all the time in the world to just stare at her, most likely shocked that the rumours were true. Two or three of them looked towards the man in front, and then back to Celina and her wings, but they didn't do or say anything else.

The human leader, the tall broad man with short black hair, lifted his boots, bringing them down in an echo as he made way closer to the bars holding Celina in. I didn't miss the gaze he took, looking down the corridor towards the other cells, shrouded in darkness,"How long have you been here?"

Celina's normally blabbering mouth went tight-lipped, and her mouth didn't even flinch the slightest at his question. No, instead, her eyes glared over his shoulder towards me for the slightest of moments, and then she turned her back to him. It was enough for him to realise she was looking at me, and that she wasn't going to talk to him. I, on the other hand, think it's because she doesn't know what to say.

The group of humans all turned around in uniform with the man, as he walked over to my cell, and wrapped his hands around the bars," My name is Samuel, I'm a guard from the village. I'm sorry for what my ancestors have done to you-"

"Sorry? She hasn't spoken a word in over five hundred years since you humans decided to lock us up, and cut off her fucking wings," Celina paused, anger still ever present on her face," And now you come running right back to us when you're on the verge of death. I should rip your fucking heart out, and splatter it within my hands."

Just a moment ago she wanted to go and save them, and now she wants to kill them. Celina has always been a loose cannon, on a short leash. But even after this, I find it hard to believe she would actually do it. Ever since we allowed the humans on our mountain, and into our protection, she has protected them. Now I'm not so sure it's just her loyalty to me that keeps her here with me, but the fact she can't bring herself to kill the ones she once protected. She cannot face the fact they betrayed us. I know all of them would be as broken as I am if the mountain were to fall tonight.

The guards at Samuel's side are shaken when they look at Celina. However Samuel himself wasn't, he turned to his soldiers," Go watch the entrance," he nodded to them, as they hesitated a moment, before leaving him here, with us.

" What was done is unforgivable, I know that. I don't expect any of you to forgive the ones that put you here. But the people who live on the mountain, In that burning village, are not the ones who put you here. Those people are long gone. Most do not even know the rumours of our ancestor's wrongdoings. They are ordinary people that are being slaughtered," he paused, and looked into my eyes," They need the protection of the harpies. The ones who once fended off entire armies to protect them once before."

Samuel's head lowered, his hand rising to his heart as the metal plate covering his knee slammed into the stone floor beneath," Please, I beg you."

I admit this human, Samuel, is different to the ones that put us here. But it doesn't change anything. I cannot do what he and the others want. I cannot lead them anymore. My eyes fell over Samuel's shoulders, toward Celina. A tear slowly drips from the side of her face as the stream leaves her eye. It felt like the first time it's ever happened, but she averted her gaze from me, in a shameful way, towards Samuel.

She gripped the bars to her cell, before giving me another saddened tear," I'm sorry Eve, I will not let the mountain fall."