Send me “You are my sunshine” for my muse’s reaction to yours dying in their arms
Lyarra had come back from her monthly hunting trip, alongside Ostyn and Aryll, to find Rillwater up in smoke. From the depths of the Wolfswood they had not heard the screams or the yells, the clashing of swords or the crashing of towers ruptured by the apparent siege.
Lyarra’s eyes widened in disbelief. Pressing her palms to her temples she hunched over, whimpering and blubbering. She could already see tattered Bolton and Whitehill banners left hanging from the gates, gently billowing in the warm breeze as the scent of smoke scratched her nose.
Padding forwards, Lyarra left her two companions behind, barely glancing over her shoulder as she ran into what would most likely be her death. Someone had to have lived. They had to.
She dashed through the courtyard, affording a few moments to scan the corpses of dead Glenmore men for any sign of her father or Namond. Neither of them were to be found, so she pressed onwards into the foyer and then into the great hall.
As she barreled through the double doors, Lyarra was forced to shield her eyes from the evening sun as it poured onto her face. She quickly saw that part of the roof had caved in, support beams and masonry having rained down onto the hard, oak floor below. Chairs and tables were thrown aside and decimated. Blood stained her father’s chair. Her foot accidentally kicked a Glenmore helm and sent it rolling under a table as she paced through the room.
She saw something buried under the rubble of the collapsed roof - a scrap of reddish material, a beacon of hope. Dashing over to the pile, she began tearing into it, dust staining her fingers grey and splinters tearing up her nails.
Only when the top half of Elaena’s body was clear did Lyarra halt herself. Gentle breaths barely graced the woman’s half-conscious lips as she eyed her younger sister. Her face was lacerated and torn, covered in blood and dark grey powdered stone.
Tears falling from her eyes, Lyarra wrapped her hand under Elaena’s neck and tried to lift her free from the rubble, but lacked the strength to do so.
Elaena yelped in pain and her eyelids fluttered for a moment, drawing Lyarra’s attention to the scarlet patch that stained her stomach. Acting quickly, Lyarra wrapped her arms around her sister’s shoulders and cried into her forehead, knowing that such a large wound could not be healed.
“I should have been here,” she wept, voice muffled my her sister’s hair. “I should have been here… I’m sorry… I’m so sorry.”