Aknah

Aknah ran into the room shouting for his parents. They looked up, unalarmed as he was always playing outside and often found snakes or other dangerous animals.
“There are soldiers outside,” He shouted.
Olivamer, his father, jumped up. “Where are they Aknah? Are they close?” He asked quickly.
“Coming up the laneway, they had just turned in when I started running,” he replied.
“Good boy Aknah. I want you to go with your mother,” Olivamer pointed at his wife Ijano, who had already started packing food in a basket, “I need you to listen to her and no matter what, you mustn’t tell anyone about the strangers that come through here.” Aknah nodded at his father and ran over to his mother.
“Be careful Oliv, we still need you.” Ijano hugged him.
“Take care of him,” he nodded at Aknah, “Stay safe, use the forest for a hiding spot and I will come looking for you tomorrow. Now go!”
Ijano nodded and grabbed Aknah’s hand, she pulled him out the back door and they began running towards the forest. Olivamer watched them go and then turned around. He strode out the front door to look for the soldiers Aknah had spoken of. They were halfway up the lane now. They were riding horses, armoured with swords at their waist. They bore the crest of Lord Helar on their left shoulder.
The lead soldier had one gold eagle pinned to his helmet, marking him as an officer. The man next to him, Olivamer noticed, had little armour; he was wearing a chest plate, a facemask with no helmet, and hayshe clothing. His arms were completely bare and as he got closer Olivamer noticed that there was tattooing on his arms. A Watcher, this meant that they knew about the strangers. He closed his eyes and waited for them to kill him, as that would surely be his fate. He heard the footsteps of the horses, coming closer, and then they stopped, he opened his eyes in surprise.
The officer and the Watcher jumped down and walked over to him.
“You have been found guilty of treachery. The punishment for this is Execution.” Said the Watcher.
Olivamer dropped to his knees. He hoped that Ijano had taken Aknah far away from there, so that they would not see his death.
One of the soldiers walked forwards. Olivamer heard a hiss as the man pulled the sword out.
“I am sorry, Oliv.” Whispered a familiar voice. Olivamer looked up. The face he stared into was one that he had never forgotten. The face of his old friend, Krilo. Olivamer was horrified to see the marks of an apprentice Watcher on his hands. He bowed his head and as he waited for the end, a single tear slid down his cheek. Olivamer heard the whistling as the blade swung through the air. He felt a brief moment of pain in his neck, and nothing more.

Ijano was holding Aknah’s hand as they ran through the forest. It had been several minutes now since Aknah had come rushing into their house, shouting about the soldiers. She was nearing the place she wanted to go. It was an old abandoned cave Aknah had found one day when he had gone exploring.
They had filled it with spare food and water, for an emergency like this.
Ijano needed to be watchful; they had concealed the entrance with bushes so that any ordinary person would think nothing of it.
She saw the familiar bushes and pulled Aknah towards the cave. She looked around checking that no one was near, she moved a branch out of the way and walked in, carefully replacing it.
The cave was dark; she waited for her eyes to adjust to it, and then carefully made her way down. It was a deep cave with many twists and turns. Ijano knew the cave well and so they were soon at the end where all their food was stored.
She gave Aknah some food and he sat down, contented just to wait. It was late and as the light completely disappeared, Ijano grabbed some blankets and made a bed for herself and Aknah.

It was completely dark when Ijano woke up. She couldn’t hear anything except for Aknah’s steady breathing as he slept. She got up, slowly finding her way towards the store of food. She heard something, it sounded like a voice. She then realized it was shouting, or echoes of. The soldiers had entered the cave, they would be here soon. She ran back to Aknah and shook him; he looked up at her with tired eyes.
“They are coming, we must go Aknah.” Whispered Ijano.
His eyes shot wide open at that and he jumped up.
Ijano grabbed some packages of food and hurried Aknah over to a fissure in the cave wall. It wasn’t very big, but they were both quite skinny and could crawl through it on all fours.
She hoisted Aknah up and pushed him into the fissure. Light was growing in the tunnel and she could hear footsteps. Aknah had moved into the fissure enough for Ijano to pull herself into it. As she dragged herself into the hole, the soldiers appeared at the end of the tunnel.
They saw her straight away and began running, shouting for the other soldiers at the same time. Ijano climbed in as quickly as she could, but just as she had pulled herself completely into the crack, she felt a hand grab her ankle.
She tried to kick it off, but the grip was to strong. She felt herself being pulled back, and as another hand grabbed her other ankle, she was completely yanked out of the hole.
“Run Aknah!” She screamed.
Ijano looked around the cave and saw that others had entered it, they were now gathered in a circle around her. Another man entered and Ijano immediately recognized the tattooing on his arms. He was a Watcher.
“Your husband is dead,” He said, “You will die as well.”
Ijano began to cry. The tears slid down her cheeks and splattered on the rock beneath her.
“Krilo, kill her.” Said the Watcher as he stared down at her coldly.
Ijano looked up in shock; the face of her old friend was blurred by the tears in her eyes. A look of deep sorrow appeared on his face.
“I am sorry Ijano.” He said, just as he had said to Olivamer earlier that day.
He pulled out his sword and Ijano screamed as he swung the blade towards her neck.

Aknah climbed through the fissure as fast as he could. His mothers screaming still echoing in his head. He reached the end of the crevice and climbed out into a hollow tree trunk. He poked his head around the edge of the crack in the tree, to see if anyone was there.
Once he was sure no one was there, he walked out into the open. He started running towards the town. Someone there was sure to help him.
He ran for what seemed like ages through the forest. He finally reached the outskirts of town; he started walking quietly through the trees in case any soldiers were in the town. He couldn’t see or hear anything so he quickened his pace. He passed the last row of trees and the sight which he beheld, shocked him to the core.
There were bodies lying in the streets, he recognized most of them, though some only by the clothes or jewelry they were wearing. They had been killed so brutally. Some even had missing limbs. Blood was everywhere; it was splattered on the walls and there were pools of it on the ground.
Aknah saw a small, dark figure huddled by one of the bodies. He ran over to find his friend, Liorn, sitting by his dead mother, crying. Aknah grabbed him and Liorn looked up at him in shock.
“I…I…I thought that…that you would be de-…dead as well.” Liorn stuttered.
“We must go, Liorn. Quickly,” Whispered Aknah.
“O-…Ok.”
Aknah grabbed him and pulled him up. They ran into the forest and the soldiers never found them.