Smoke and Mirrors

Chapter 1
            Alertness filled a body long forgotten to the feeling.  A pale, young body wrapped in silence and darkness.  To her, the world didn't exist; the bed beneath her was only slightly tangible.  Sound was beyond her, seeming as if something was covering her ears.  Sight was a gift long forgotten; no light ever penetrated her heavy lids that she was incapable of lifting or even having the realization that she had lids to lift.  But still, her body was coming alive again, she could feel a course of something in her veins, was this blood?  Was this her heart beating loudly in her ears?  With an effort she tensed a body she had thought lost to her, and the world was becoming alive once more.  Voices began to penetrate the long silence she had endured.  The darkness to her seemed to be everlasting, she couldn’t remember a time when light came to her.  But here it was, a soft glowing light that flickered against her walls of brown, candlelight. 
            But this didn't capture her attention; screams were tearing into her, cries of women and children and the brutish commands of haggard men.  Flames licked at the dark sky out her window and rain was pelting down at a diagonal direction.  Thunder cracked loudly making her jump and lift herself to a sitting position, but her head flooded and the room spun until she closed her eyes and waited for the rush to pass.  The sound of steel on steel made her blue eyes widen in fear, a battle was ensuing and she was garbed in nothing but a cotton gown.  Could she use a sword?  Had she used one before?  She stood and felt sickening unsteady on her feet, she had to leave the building; if the fire reached her there she would surely be trapped.  Awkwardly, she grabbed the walking stick next to the door into her hands.  It seemed oddly out of place but she decided to question its presence later, holding it like a sword she traveled warily down the stairs.  The wood felt strange between her hands; maybe she didn't know how to use a sword.  Despite this nagging accusation she continued to the bottom of the stairs.  The place was deserted; she had been left to her own devices by whomever had been caring for her.  A bit of anger pitted her stomach but again, she pushed this aside for later examination. 
            She realized she had been at an inn, a very small one with a bar and only a few tables next to a rather small stone fireplace.  She sniffed at the simple set up, the sawdust muffling the sound of her bare feet on the wood.  Caution was left at the inn, there was no one in the building, and she would have to quickly escape.  She realized her throat was severely parched as she dashed from the door of the inn towards the forests edge.  She hadn't noticed before, but now she would have to worry about it later.  Her body didn't seem to want to cooperate with her properly; perhaps she had been dead for a long while.  Her feet stumbled clumsily over the rocks and grass as she passed buildings without care.  People called out to no one in particular, several men lay dead or dying in the street.  Arrows flew through the air dangerously near her head and the thundering beat of horse hooves was deafening.  The problem was she couldn’t see the attackers anywhere.  She saw several armored men taking stands against other armored men, but to whom she was allied to she couldn’t be sure. 
            Thankfully no one noticed her meager existence, despite her constant stumbling and ragged breathing her chest forced out, she broke the boundary of the small town…or was it a village?  Only a brief field separated her from safety, the rain pelted down on her, drowning out the sounds of death behind her but carrying the scent far and wide.  Something in her told her wolves and crows and other creatures of scavenging would be near soon to feast upon the carnage.  She shuttered, and not because the rain was cold.  An arrow blazed past her, hitting the ground only a foot from her, she turned to see a very barbaric looking man screaming something incoherent at her upon horseback.  He was galloping quickly towards her; something seized her body, sending her into a stance that was both unknown to her and highly familiar.  Panic forced her chest to stop heaving but adrenaline kept her pulse high.  Her hands tightened on her blunt weapon as the steed neared her.  Quickly and without warning she thrusted her weapon behind her and heaved it spinning into the air towards her attacker.  A surprised sound escaped his throat as it hit him across the face, knocking him from his horse, the animal trotting away, nostrils flaring from the smell of blood.  He found his feet quicker than she thought he would have, as she realized what a terrible idea it had been to throw her weapon from herself.  The rain had drenched through her cotton gown and she was now chilled to the bone, trying to swipe her hair from her eyes without taking them from the man before her.  A small smile was on his dirtied mouth, one filled with missing teeth and black gums.  His face was made of leather skin covered in thick curled hair, only his black eyes glared wickedly at her as he approached her through the grass. 
            He was considerably larger than she was, but for some reason his size didn't concern her.  She waited to see if he would position himself away from the horse nearby.  He uttered something guttural at her as he slowly did as she wanted; she circled back from him, enticing him to follow her until her back was to his animal.  The precise moment she decided to run a deep frown fell to his mouth, he realized his mistake.  In a quick sprint she reached the beast and threw herself over the excited animal as he ran to stop her, yelling something at her in a language she didn't understand.  Thrusting her feet into the stirrups she turned the beast on its master, kicking its sides hard and into a run.  The man ran from her, yelling for help no doubt as he fell to the ground before her and the beast ran easily over the man.  A sickening crack and sudden silence told her the beasts hooves did what she had intended.  She turned and stared down at the man who tried to kill her.  His face was smashed and bloodied and his mouth worked uselessly as his life escaped his body, the part of her brain that had kept her alive thus far screamed for her to find safety in the forest.  And so she kicked her new stallion into a gallop that took her into the wet and unknown darkness. 
            Under the forest canopy the black claimed her frightened form, if it was possible for the night to get any darker than before.  She kicked the stallion past hundreds of trees, his hooves thundering on the undergrowth until she couldn’t see the flames that licked at the sky or hear the screams of the frightened and dying.  Her breath raced out raggedly in the rain.  It was different here, the trees made the drops uneven and heavy, unlike the steady pelting rain of the field.  Her mind wandered back to the soldier in the field as her stomach clenched against nausea.  He had been alive when she left him lying on the ground; she had killed him so effortlessly and smiled at the crunch of his bones.  Her head began to spin as her hands lost the reins, the ground coming up swiftly to meet her.  She listened, unable to fight the darkness in her eyes as the stallion ran from her, her body striking the ground hard.  The air went out of her lungs violently as she retched dryly into the dirt.  Nothing was on her stomach to release as she fell to her side, the rain stinging her face as the darkness claimed her once more. 

                                                      *  *  *

            Delan stared strangely at the beast running towards him from his left.  His black hood was pulled over his head but was altogether soaked and useless against the rain.  He threw it back curiously to be sure he was seeing clearly.  A beast running scared with an empty saddle.  He ran his fingers frustrated through his dark hair as he dismounted and chased the animal down, calming it and returning to his horse to search for the missing rider.  He trudged through the mud only a short distance before seeing a small limp form on the ground.  The air rose on the back of his neck, the situation seemed dangerous, an ambush possibly.  He looked to his horse who seemed calm and decided his suspicions false.  He went to the once white but now dirtied body and gasped at what he found.  The girl before him was stunning, with pale skin and an expanse of long dark brown hair around her.  He only stood for a moment before scooping her up effortlessly.  He hung limply from his strong arms but she didn't appear hurt.  He pulled them both up into the saddle, her legs to one side to sit before him, her head resting lightly against his chest as he rode back the way he had come, her stallion in tow.  He would find shelter for them, make sure she was well then send her on her way in the morning.  He had no time to spare for her.  A storm was brewing in his future that was far worse than the one trying to drown him now.