Anese remembered thinking how blue the sky was between clouds, those fluffy ones that rolled in after a storm or just before the real snow came. Compared to the drab gray houses and walls and sparse green bushes inside of the fortress, the blue stood out like a fire on its own. Bright and brilliant, calling for all of the world to see. Just below it, the red of the robes from Lucan and Vanni. Then the red of her father's hair and her mother's as well.
It's funny the moments that stand out in the instances of your life where seemingly everything changes.
"You!" Lucan yelled from the doorway.
He was pointing a finger at Pela, and all heads snapped in the direction that he was pointing on the street. Anese had been made to come to a sudden stop by Pela. There was real terror in her eyes, the strain of which she was pulling Anese's hand. There was terror in the King's eyes too, and anger. Gods there was so much anger. Her mother's face was a frozen concoction of confusion and fake smile. Her father's wore none, a man ready for any action.
"Bring me her head!" Vanni ordered to the guard.
The guard, clad in black chain mail and yellow helms adorned with red gems in the shape of flames stood at attention, and snapped into formation immediately. In unison the eight men removed their tower shields from their back and unsheathed their short swords, holding them above their head in a ready fashion.
"What are you doing?!" Rikart screamed as he grabbed Vanni by his arm and shoved him out of the way.
"I order you to stand down, men. That is my daughter and her friend."
Lucan's head snapped to look at Rikart, "Friend? Your daughter's...friend?"
From the doorway Yalina began reaching just inside and grabbed the shaft of a spear that was decorating her house walls. She was watching with calm eyes as the action unfolded in front of her.
"Yes, a friend. She's eaten meals with us on at least three separate occasions." Rikart snapped back.
Anese still couldn't piece together what was happening but Pela was tugging her arm hard, tears beginning to well in her eyes and down her cheeks.
"Pela, do you know the King?"
She shook her head up and down and reached down for a rock, she quickly scribbled a single word into the worn and crusted ground. Bad.
"I fucking said, stand down!" Rikart screamed as he stepped in front of the Honor Guard.
Anese read the word to herself, then looked up at Pela, "Bad? Why bad? Did he hurt your family?"
Pela nodded her head up and down, and pulled again. This time the tug sent Anese stumbling but when she caught her feet, she was staring at another eight soldiers coming around the last curve of the road.
"They've got us squeezed in, Pela. We don't have anywhere to go." The terror of whatever was happening was beginning to well up in her throat as her breath came in dry wisps.
"Rikart! On your knees! You are to be arrested for treason and for aiding a known criminal!" Lucan screamed, his face turning bright red.
He shrugged off his robes and stood at the base of their house steps bare chested, steam emanating from his shoulders and back. Two soldiers seized Rikart's arms but he spun out of their grip, he reached for one of the soldiers short swords and had it by the hilt, trying to pull it from the scabbard.
"Aiding a criminal? Have you lost your mind Lucan? She's a little...girl...oh Gods..." Rikart struggled with the soldier but his grip slackened, realizing who the girl was.
The soldiers were pressing in from both sides now as Anese pulled Pela close to her.
"Pela...I don't know what is happening." Tears were streaming down her face, she was so confused. Her father was being arrested and had stopped fighting. He was on his knees in front of the King.
"Daddy, no!!!" She screamed.
Rikart turned his head towards Anese, his face defeated. What had she done?
"Lucan! I will not allow this. We demand a trial!" Yalina screamed from the doorway, she was holding a spear with both hands and had it leveled at Lucan's back. He slowly turned around, only barely regarding the point that was almost in his chest.
"A trial?" He laughed, throwing his head back.
"A trial? For why, Shield Sister? Here we stand, in the proof of all. The prisoner with your daughter, you with a spear leveled at the King. Your husband already on his knees. No, no. I think no trial is needed."
Yalina growled and pressed slightly forward, digging the tip into Lucan's chest. A trickle of blood running down his abdomen.
"We will not be labeled for things we have not done."
Anese continued to watch in horror as the nightmare relentlessly unfolded right in front of her. She understood almost nothing. How was her father being accused of treason? Who was the criminal he aided? She felt another tug on her arm, and it clicked inside of her head like a key unlocking a rusty lock.
"Oh Pela...were you the one who hurt the King?"
Pela's eye's were wide. She nodded her head vigorously again and pointed at the word she scribbled on the ground.
"Things you have not done?" Lucan questioned, as he took two fingers and pushed the spear point aside.
"We know that's not true. Don't we? The former prisoner stands in plain sight with your daughter. Don't we know? You and your husband have been planning on overthrowing me for months...we know. We all know!" He said, throwing back his head in laughter again.
"I tire of this talk though. Guards, chain up Rikart."
Four guards stepped forward, one of them producing shackles. He pulled on Rikart's wrists and pinned them behind him as he slid the cuffs on and locked them. Rikart looked up at Lucan, "I am alone in this. Leave my family be. Take the little girl if you must, but leave my daughter alone."
Lucan stepped away from the spear and towards Lucan. He reached a hand out and leveled Rikart's eyes with his. "Take Rikart to the dungeons. Kill the rest."
Kill the rest? The words seemed to echo from all around, to make the world pause. Anese's head spun, like rolling down a hill. How had everything she had ever known changed so drastically in one moment? Were they going to kill her too?
"Pela...I..I..."
Her mother screamed as two guards bound up the steps, she spun the spear in an arc and cut a deep groove into the cheek of one guard. He dropped his shield enough for her to side step a sword thrust from the other and drive her spear through the side of the soldier, catching him under his breast plate. He grunted and clutched his side. Taking her opportunity, she ripped the shield from his grasp and kicked him down the steps. She held the high ground now, spear and tower shield.
"Yalina!" Rikart screamed, as he struggled to get up. The guards held him back, every sinew in his arms straining as he fought to free himself from their grip. They had him tight and shoved him back down into a kneeling position. He thrashed at his captors, fought against their grip but he could not budge. He screamed wordlessly as spittle flew from his mouth and hung from his beard.
There was movement behind Anese, the soldiers, she had somehow forgotten about them. She spun and they were right on top of her. One reached out for her, a gauntleted fist, but her movement away eluded his grasp while sending her tumbling and sprawling to the ground. Another iron hand grasped Pela by the back of her shirt as she reached out for Anese and jerked her off of her feet.
"Let her go!" Anese cried, grabbing handfuls of the salty dirt around her and flinging them towards the soldiers faces.
The white dust filled the one soldiers eye slits that had Pela and instinctively he let go, flipping up his face shield and rubbing his eyes. Pela hit the ground and rolled, then she turned and made a whipping motion over her head as the ground beneath the soldiers ripped up and formed a white whip made of dirt.
"Pela, no!" Anese yelled as she scrambled to her feet.
Everything was happening so fast for Anese. One moment she was walking down the road with Pela, wondering what was for dinner and then the next...this! What could she possibly do to help? Her father was locked in chains, her mother was fighting with shield and spear and Pela was...using magic?
Pela whipped out with her arm and the dirt whip followed her motion and caught two of the soldiers full on in the chest with a sickening crunch, gurgling noises came from both as they collapsed immediately with their breast plate folded inward. Red foam forming on their mouths and their body twitching in the throes of death. Anese stood transfixed, unable to move. Unable to make sense of the things happening. A scream from her mother grabbed her attention. She was fighting three soldiers now, a bloody gash down her right thigh, she was limping backwards towards the front door of their home. Still holding the shield and spear. A soldier rushed her from each side and she opened up her arms in an all out attack, the shield slamming into one and sending him sprawling down the steps, and a spear thrust catching the other just under his chin with the point coming out behind his head in a spray of red. She pulled the spear back and his head lolled before toppling off and bouncing down the steps.
There were five soldiers at the bottom of the steps in a bloody and broken pile. Two still held her father as one slowly came up the steps. His tower shield forward and short sword at his side, calculating his every move and ready for the next attack. Vanni stood to her mother's left halfway up the steps and Lucan at the bottom. He almost looked bored. The air seemed to shimmer around Vanni as he twirled his fingers. What was he doing? Anese saw her father notice too, as he screamed out her mother's name. Every tendon in his neck strained with the effort. There were dirty tears running down his face, and his red hair hung over one side. Four triangular clear darts hovered above Vanni's shoulder, appearing from thin air and dancing in the air above him. Before Yalina could even react, he flicked his fingers forward and all four launched at her and tore through. Her shield split and splinters rained down among the spray of red blood as her jaw was torn from her face, the arm holding the spear was torn from her body from the elbow down. The bloody stump spraying dark blood all over the steps.
Her mother stood stunned. Her eyes wide, unmoving, except for her tongue which hung to her neck in a bloody ruin. Her eyes rolled to the sky and the shield dropped from her hands. She had two fist sized holes in her abdomen that Anese could see right through, bloody bits of bone protruding from them. Her body went limp and dropped in a heap, a sickening thud as she crashed to her knees and then rolled face first down the steps.
"Now, find his sons and kill them as well." Lucan said as he turned toward Anese and Pela.
He was licking his lips and rolling his shoulders as he began to walk towards them, "I will deal with these two."
"Pela! We have to get out of here. We have to leave now!!"
Anese clawed at Pela's arm to get her attention. There were only three soldiers left now and they had backed off considerably and stood in a wide arc around the two girls. Pela turned and saw Lucan beginning to make his way toward them. Her eyes grew wide and she turned to Anese.
"We have to go, we have to go now, Pela."
The terror was beginning to overwhelm Anese. She knew Lucan was not a good man, but now she had seen it with her own eyes and then Vanni. Gods above, he had just torn apart her mother with some sort of magic dart. Her father was chained and helpless to do anything. She immediately broke into a sob, this was all too much for her, too sudden. Too much of a shock to her system and her sanity felt like it had just been ripped from her. Pela grabbed her by the arm and wiped a streak of wet from her cheek.
"We have to leave this place." Anese said in a whimper.
Pela nodded once, steadied Anese and turned to Lucan. He smiled at her and turned a palm over producing a bright flame. Pela faced him up and set her legs wide, as the dirt whip dropped to dust behind her. She sneered, lip curling and tongue running across her teeth. Her golden hair began to blow around her, as the light caught it making golden highlights around her dirty face. Lucan came on, steady and confident. The growing flame in his hand dancing in the soft breeze.
"I've waited a bit to see you again, child. Only this time I know your true power. You won't esc-"
"Go." Pela said, cutting him off mid-sentence as she extended a hand palm out towards Lucan.
A gust of wind sent him tumbling backwards head over heels, along with his guards. She turned to Anese and nodded again. She eyed the walls behind their house and extended her palm again, chunks of stone exploding into the air. A clear dart flew by Anese's head as Pela spun around and pushed her palm out again. Vanni braced himself against the gust of wind, which was all the time they needed. Pela grabbed Anese's hand as they ran through the opening she had created in the salt stone wall, white dust encompassing the newly formed hole. Ahead of them only open salt deserts followed by the torturous wilds of the Crag forests waited. They ran, without thinking and without a plan. They ran.