Baeron stood out into the cold nights air gathering more firewood for the three days they'd been there. He used his magick to assure her mother wouldn't wake for the duration of the time they were there. After the second day he'd seen strange men scouting the area. Not too long after he'd found shops hidden near a half underwater cave where water flooded into its cavern. So when the crimson moon began its lower in the evening, he'd go down and further out where the ocean lapped against the shores to gather any fish he could. Most of them remained towards the bottom, slowing down during Frostdrifts season. The only possible way to retrieve them was with the use of casting spells where he'd blindly wrap an air bubble around the bottom and repeatedly yank it up until he'd seen he had some.
Strelitzia's mother's food was ground down to mush and then fed to her. Of course slowly so she didn't choke while unconscious. He could tell the lass was saddened. He'd seen much loss. The pain never left easily especially when you were so young seeing it. Guilt wrapped around her like iron ropes, though none of it was her fault.
At times like these he'd missed his wife. She always soothingly whistled and gave the brightest smile like stars twinkling in the sky. Sadly some stars were dead and yet their light still traveled through space. He hoped she wouldn't be like that. Dead only with the memory of her smile beaming in the darkest moments of his life.
Baeron pulled from his thoughts as he sat near a ledge, watching fire roll across the ocean's waves. Men were shouting, tons of explosions going off. It wasn't safe to go outside. "Keep watch on your mother. I'm Goin' to scoopin."
Right when he'd said that, he'd seen something flash by. Perhaps a person. Without thinking, acting reflexively on instant, he conjured a bubble and yanked upwards.
"Hurry up, come here!" Flying into his arms was a blonde haired man, locks pulled into a low ponytail that dangled from the name of his neck to between his shoulder blades. He pulled with all his might to make sure he wouldn't fall, again, since he'd caught him in the first place. His face was all cut up and bloody, deep gashes on his arms and legs where he'd probably slammed into multiple ledges.
"Go fetch water from the bowl." He hollered, dragging the young man toward the center of the cave.
For days they'd hear the faint rumbling coming from below though whatever was happening raged on none the wiser of their presence. When Baeron began shouting, Strelitzia startled from where she sat beside her mother running for their water bowl and hauling it over carefully. Out of all the things that fell she never expected a man with his face beaten in. They'd made makeshift rags using the tattered hem of her nightgown before. She dipped them in the cold mountain water and handed one to Baeron. "Is he okay?" She asked with a frown.
"May be some internal bleedin' and some broken or fractured bones. Don't know if he'll be alright. I'll try my best. Surprisin I stopped the fall." Baeron hovered his hands over his body after he dipped them in some of the water. They glowed a vibrant blue. "Ya know em?"
"That's James. He was one of the crew members who were hired to take me to see my aunt." She wondered how he ended up falling from the mountain and banged up that badly. It couldn't have been good. What a strange circumstance to meet him again. Even if he wasn't conscious for it. "Is there anything I can do to help?"
"There some herbs at the bottom of the mountain. I'll be needin' some burbdon flowers that grow there. Pick me about five and bring them back." Baeron kept the magick flowing through his hands onto James. "I can't use all my strength on him so we'll have to rely on actual meds. Be careful. People scoutin' down below."
Strelitzia nodded. "I'll do my best. I really hope he pulls through." With that said she headed for the tunnel that would lead her outside and down the mountainside. Though the area they were in seemed to hold up well against whatever onslaught was happening, she still worried for Nadlak who had hidden away deeper within the caves. If he hadn't wanted even the three of them there, she could only imagine how he felt about a battle with men and women staining the grounds red.
The stone was cold beneath her feet as she hurried despite the now familiar chill when she stepped outside. Not too far from where they'd cleared trees for firewood was a patch of greenery somehow thriving in the snow. She used her hands to dig through the dirt, uprooting the flowers at their roots to keep them intact as long as possible. Every now and then she'd glance up to look this way and that or to listen for the sound of approaching footsteps. Whatever was going on would be sure to attract attention and it was moments like those that reminded her why they were there in the first place. Someone out there still wanted their heads.
"Look what we have here." Someone said from behind her, grabbing her hair by the roots and yanking her up off the ground. "Wasn't this the other bitch we were looking for?"
Two other men circled around with daggers in their hands. One made puckered lip motions at her while the other groped her breast through her shirt. "Mm. Mm. Mmm. We have some sugar tits."
Strelitzia winced when he pulled her hair harshly causing her to drop the burbdons on the ground. "No! Let go!" She twisted in his grasp, slapping the hands away. "I was just out picking flowers. I haven't done anything wrong." Her frantic breaths came out in white puffs trying to wrench herself away from their groping hands.
"At this time of night. You being born was wrong. Let's fuck her and then take her to the king defiled. He don't have to know." The ring leader said, his obsidian armor matching that of those charcoal colored eyes.
The other man that kept groping her breast leaned forward and licked her neck. "Let me go firrrrst."
One man got on his knees to take her pants off, biting at her thigh like a hungry dog.
Never in her life had she been a fighter or someone who believed in violence but all of that didn't matter when her life was being threatened. Strelitzia kicked at the one in front of her, aiming for his manhood. She began flailing and yelling. Anything to get them away from her. "I said no!" She wanted to call for Baeron but then they would find him too and no one would be left to heal James or protect her mother. "Get off of me!" Her head reared back trying to headbutt the one behind her. All three men released her upon her assault.
"Oh bitch, now you're in for it. Was going to take it easy, now we're going to tear you apart and blame it on the heathens up in the mountains." Said the ring leader angrily.
She wiped off her neck, shuddering in disgust. Weren't the king's men supposed to protect them and uphold the laws? But here they were trying to violate her and take her prisoner without even a reason. What was wrong about her birth? There were too many questions with no answers and no time to really think on anything.
Strelitzia turned and ran. The flowers they needed were forgotten in her haste. She'd go back later if she could. Snow crunched beneath her, moving as fast as she could.
They were chasing after her with their weapons drawn. In their own fit of rage they were ready to kill her. One got close, slicing Strelitzia across the back; a graze with only the tip that sent her stumbling to the ground.
"I told you this could've gone easy." The leader said while the other two were still stumbling to catch up. He raised his sword and a strong gust of wind swept through the area, bending trees as though a tornado was about to tear everything down. A pair of amethysts eyes flashed through the darkness, then clawed feet slammed into the ground. Madclaw's jaw opened wide, though no sound came out, only a flash of thousands of teeth.
His tail swiped left and his neck jerked downward, his mouth plucking the leader off the ground and flinging him into the air. He failed, screaming at the top of his lungs as his sword dropped from his hand. One upward snapping motion and he was gone, swallowed in one gulp.
The other two who'd been following him stood there terrified. They looked at Strelitzia, then back up at the terrifying beast before running off toward the slope.
"Not so fast." His majestic deep voice was low so it wouldn't raise an alarm to those who'd been searching the mountain. He leaped, one flick of his wings to soar him down more silently. A clawed foot crushed one and a sweep of his unusual tail smacked the other hard enough he went heavenward. A small dot in the air the further he was, over the trees and splashing into the ocean in the distance.