Chapter 1
My eyes have seen many things in the twenty years of life that have passed through me; my mind, time after time has been able to digest more than acceptable for one as young as I. Yet, throughout it all, what I saw before me utterly and completely disturbed every sense and nerve within this youthful body and age old mind.
My younger brother lay screaming in agony for help on the charred, battle worn dirt as Danica Shardae, soon heir to the thrown of my people's ancient enemy comforts him. She is smoothing his hair and speaking softly in such a gentle tone that it would seem to make no difference if the words coming from her mouth were curses or prayers.
I started to move in on the scene playing before me, I was ready to fight off all four of the avian soldiers surrounding their princess if it meant getting to my brother. Except that something equally disturbing if not more than the first incident, happened before I could ambush from behind a near by tree. My brother had whispered some thing to the princess and a look of pain crossed her face, as if it actually pained this heartless woman to see her enemy dieing in the dirt as much as it pained her to see her own soldiers perish through this horrifying war.
Her hand reached for his and her head tiled towards his face to look him in the eyes. Her lips parted and I expected some more soothing words but what met my ears were the most amazing strings of sounds I had ever heard. The voice was like golden honey, it coated your body in its thick depth and pure meanings: peace, rest. All thoughts of attacking were frozen within me as I leaned against the peeling bark of a decaying tree and listened to Danica Shardae sing of peace and freedom to my hemorrhaging baby brother. How could I attack now? I couldn't. It would be better to allow my only surviving brother to die in the arms of a beautiful woman singing verses to him as graceful lullabies to chase away nightmares of eternal sleep, than to snatch him and try to make it home before he died, which would give him nothing but pointless pain through the journey.
So my decision was made. I lowered my self to the cold ground and rest my head against the tree's ugly form. The girl whose body I had once believed to possess no soul was proving me wrong with every reverberating note from her lips. Her soul, that must have been so deeply hidden, was poring out into the blood reeked air, over my brother's dieing body, and through my hazed mind of questions and heartbreakingly sharp pain.
My eyes have seen many things in the twenty years of life that have passed through me; my mind, time after time has been able to digest more than acceptable for one as young as I. Yet, throughout it all, what I saw before me utterly and completely disturbed every sense and nerve within this youthful body and age old mind.
My younger brother lay screaming in agony for help on the charred, battle worn dirt as Danica Shardae, soon heir to the thrown of my people's ancient enemy comforts him. She is smoothing his hair and speaking softly in such a gentle tone that it would seem to make no difference if the words coming from her mouth were curses or prayers.
I started to move in on the scene playing before me, I was ready to fight off all four of the avian soldiers surrounding their princess if it meant getting to my brother. Except that something equally disturbing if not more than the first incident, happened before I could ambush from behind a near by tree. My brother had whispered some thing to the princess and a look of pain crossed her face, as if it actually pained this heartless woman to see her enemy dieing in the dirt as much as it pained her to see her own soldiers perish through this horrifying war.
Her hand reached for his and her head tiled towards his face to look him in the eyes. Her lips parted and I expected some more soothing words but what met my ears were the most amazing strings of sounds I had ever heard. The voice was like golden honey, it coated your body in its thick depth and pure meanings: peace, rest. All thoughts of attacking were frozen within me as I leaned against the peeling bark of a decaying tree and listened to Danica Shardae sing of peace and freedom to my hemorrhaging baby brother. How could I attack now? I couldn't. It would be better to allow my only surviving brother to die in the arms of a beautiful woman singing verses to him as graceful lullabies to chase away nightmares of eternal sleep, than to snatch him and try to make it home before he died, which would give him nothing but pointless pain through the journey.
So my decision was made. I lowered my self to the cold ground and rest my head against the tree's ugly form. The girl whose body I had once believed to possess no soul was proving me wrong with every reverberating note from her lips. Her soul, that must have been so deeply hidden, was poring out into the blood reeked air, over my brother's dieing body, and through my hazed mind of questions and heartbreakingly sharp pain.