Defying Equilibrium: Book II

Chapter 1: Scars, ravens and the fortune teller's child

Two soldiers huddled in the dank, dark pit that they had been calling they're home. They hid behind their shields, dreading the orders that would send them outside. Into the fray. Into the battle. Into the bloodshed.

Just a boy and a girl, that's all they were. Not a man and a woman, no, for neither were out of their teenage years yet. It didn't matter here, whether you were young or old. All that mattered was how much you had seen, seen and survived. It mattered how many scars you had. The boy and the girl, they had not been outside yet. They had no scars yet, they didn't matter. But today that would change.

Their legion commander grinned at them. “Don't look so scared. Be proud. You are Shielders, and you should consider this an honour.”

He was an intimidating man, but not because of the way he looked, or the way he spoke. He was an imposing man, in both stature and nature, but that wasn't what made people shrink at his gaze. It was his smile that unnerved them, when he spoke of scars or battle. It was the fact that he did smile. And he laughed too. He enjoyed it, the battle, the fray. Something wasn't right with him, they said. The boy shrunk back from his superior's gaze, but the girl stared back defiantly. She refused to be intimidated.

All their heads turned at the sound of a whistle. Five whistles, short whistles, one after the other. They knew what that meant, five minutes. Five minutes before they opened that door to the outside, five minutes until the scars began to form.

The boy closed his eyes behind his glasses, and whispered. “What if we don't come back from this?”

The girl frowned. “Don't talk like that, Alfie. Of course we will.”

He offered a small smile. “Raven, sorry to be the one to have to tell you, but the world does not just grant you favours because you ask. You're special, but not that special.”

The girl, Louise, returned his smile, but it felt false on her face. She was terrified too, but she would never show it. Alfred Schey, however, made no effort to hide his feelings. He was practically trembling with fear. He was adjusting and readjusting his glasses, always a nervous habit of his.

Four whistles. Four minutes.

Louise reached into her coat pocket and felt the item that was contained there, a book. It was a forbidden item to have in the encampment, so she dared not bring it out of her pocket, but the very fact that it was there was comforting. Alfie had given it to her, it was a book of folktales. A children's book, really, but she loved it anyway. She had grown up on folktales, reading them to her younger brother when their parents weren't around.

Her brother's favourite was the Tale of Raphael and Desdemona, the story of a brave young warrior and a magic princess, a tragic story of hearts and heroism. That story was one of the ones in the little red book that Alfie had given her, and she had read it many times. But her favourite was a completely different narrative, hers was the story of the Fortune Teller's Child, a tragic tale also. She had never heard the story before, not until Alfie had given her the book. It was not one of the old lore tales, that was for sure. Whoever had printed the book must have added it into the pages of their own volition, wanting to make their own addition to the folktales. It was not one of the stories that Louise had grown up with, but she loved it regardless. She had already read it so many times that she practically knew the story off by heart. Thoughts of the folktales were always comforting, so she thought back on it now, to try and calm her nerves.

There was once a woman who could see the future. She was a magic user, a rarity within the city where magic was almost extinct. Telling fortunes was something that she had inherited from her mother, and her grandmother before her. Her mother ran a little shop telling fortunes for a small fee, and while they were not rich, they were happy.