Then There Was Ash
It was all gone...
In a single instance where life blossomed along with her prospects everything had been stuck down so only rubble remained.
Her throat felt dry as she sucked in the smoltering air around her, it was painful and the taste was of ash.
With every step her leather boots dug into the fresh dirty one by one as she stumbled towards the field. A hand raised to cover her mouth as if that motion could keep the pained cry from escaping as the scene unfolded before her.
Bodies lay stretched across the field cut down one by one, some of their limbs several feet away from their remains. Her home and business burned to the ground, only the stone wall from the kitchen and its harth still stood.
Tears swelled within her eyes and her fingers kept grasping around her jawline clenching her skin as her lips quivered as pained gasps were muffled one by one.
“What are you doing Sare’wen?” The young man asked as she ripped the conscripts from his hands.
“You’re not actually thinking of enlisting are you?” She asked reading over the first few lines. “The Sunguard, under command of house Truefeather.” Her brows creased for a moment, “Miran you can’t, your health...”
“My health doesn’t matter but our people do, these people, our townspeople... We just watched our friends bury their family, I can’t stand by and watch more caskets come home, or the cries of the widows or orphans left in its wake.”
“Then don’t.” Sare’wen said her tone filling with a heated anger, “Think of your own children Miran, they’ve already lost a mother, they could never bare to lose their father as well. Your old injuries...” She shook off the images that came into her head, “You’d die.”
“So what if I do Sare’wen?!” His voice raised as he reached back for the sheets of paper that were in her hand. “If I die I do so protecting our people, our village, my children... You.”
Her feature’s softened as his last word was nearly whispered out between them. “Miran...” She breathed back the word dragged on as silence hung between them both.
“If protecting those I love means to be their shield, to take their blow, to halt their death in wake of my own, then that is a life fulfilled Sare’wen.”
Sare’wen just stared at Va’miran for several minutes before walking away from him. It wasn’t until she was several hundred feet away that she paused near a tree stretching out her arm to hold herself steady. What were all their sacrifices for if they were if he would so easily throw them all away.
Miran looked out to the setting sun, dinner had gone cold on the table and still she did not return. A heavy sigh escaped his lips before turning to his two girls who were laughing and playing down the hall. Their voices, their happiness was motivation enough for him to make his decision... His sacrifice. Sitting at the table where the papers and a quill awaited him, he began to fill out the documentation to enlist into the Sunguard.
It was the middle of the night when Sare’wen returned home, the house was quiet and there was a peaceful stillness within the walls. The candles were now dimly lit ready to snuff out as the end of their wick grew close. The soles of her feet were swollen from the hours upon hours of endless walking. Pulling the leather boots from her feet she pinched at her heels in some hope it would offer relief.
Walking towards the kitchen she saw the papers left on the table next to a candle and a quill. The only part filled out was the name, his name. A pained lurch grasped and pulled at her stomach. Quickly she looked through the pages and the rest was left blank. “There’s still time...” She thought to herself.
Ripping a small blank piece from the parchment she quickly scrawled a message leaving it on the table in place of the application.
There was a warm sting felt on the eyes in the morning, as the sun forced them to pry open. Va’miran slowly rubbed them awake as he pulled the blanket off and got up. Walking to the water basin he splashed cool water on his face drying it with a towel. Reaching for his white shirt he placed it on before heading downstairs in just a pair of pants that cut off halfway down his calf and loose white top.
As he reached the kitchen he saw the papers missing and headed straight for Sare’wen’s room. “Are’wen!” He called out to her finding her room bare and trunks emptied. “Sare?!” He called out as he ran out the door but her horse already gone.
Going back inside his gaze was pulled to the small piece of parchment left behind. “You have sacrificed so much for me already, in the past you were my shield and today I will be yours. By the time you read this, I will already have sworn the oath. Give the girls each a kiss from me, and tell them of my love I hold for each of them. I carry you all within my heart as I make this journey. Pray for me, as I will all of you.”
A hand reached for Sare’wen’s as the burning ash stung at her eyes. “I left in hopes of saving them Miran... I was to be their shield, their sacrifice... Instead.”
He pulled her into his chest, her small frame easily fitting within his arms, “Shhhh Sare’wen, you gave them all you could. For every life lost here elsewhere there are others saved.”
“Is that supposed to make this easier Miran? Our family, our community... Our home, they’re...” She sucked in a sharp breath. “I should have defied my orders, I should have come back here like my heart begged me to do I should have-.”
“Enough!” His voice was as sharp as a blade silencing her words, “You did what you had to do as a soldier. Be proud of that, this is not your fault, this isn’t anyone’s fault. You did what you had too, do not place blame on yourself. It does no one any good.”
“You’re right...” She whispered onto his chest, the beat of his heart steadying her in wake of the death that surrounded them.
“We still have to see to the village, there could be hope.”
She smiled up at him thoughtfully, “Hope...”
