December/January Vignette

[Flamebird]

Snow…

She reached up. A hand covered in a fur glove reached for the sky. It was her mangled arm, with only four fingers instead of five. As the grey, clouded sky showered light snow upon the earth, her eyes fell upon the flat, limp finger to the glove left unfilled.

She sighed.

“Felicity.”

She had to pull the fur hat up a little to look above her. There, she saw a white haired, pale young man looking down at her.

“Ready?” She breathed.

He dusted a little snow off of his coat shoulder, “Yes.”

Felicity sat up. Green eyes watched the silent hillside. As powdery snow lightly dusted the rolling hills, the bare bark trees, she was overcome with emptiness.

“It’s so peaceful now.”

The boy crossed his arm, groaning, “Yeah, the peace is about to end.”

She stood up, holding two bows and quivers of many arrows in her hands. Her sword hung on her belt as she turned to the boy, “Let’s go.”

Through the forest, they strode. The quiet hills were somber, bitter. How could the world of taken this route? The outbreak had spread so far, beyond Raiaera…

Felicity was used to the cold. She grew up in it. The memories were as cold and hostile as the December frost, however. It left her with feelings of sorrow and rage.

Her amber eyed companion stopped in his tracks.

“What? Gweneal?” Felicity’s heartbeat hastened.

Gweneal bent down, looking upon the sloppy tracks left in the snow. They left a trial. He started to follow them, “This way.”

The walked upon the tracks in the path. They knew where they were going, what was ahead. They were immune to the virus, but it still could mean death. Felicity readied her war bow, placing an arrow in it as they stalked their prey.

“Remember,” Gweneal warned, “Stay at range.”

Felicity was too nervous to retort in her usual sarcasm.

They strode up a hill, leaving the forest. As they approached the top, the air grew unnaturally chilled. Even more than it was frigid already. Her magic sense was raging, screaming of a deep darkness at the other side of the hill. Felicity reached the top, however. Side by side with Gweneal, she looked down.

The clearing below was crawling with the undead. Skeletons, empowered by their new master, roamed Corone’s countryside in search of bringing their death upon all the living. Felicity immediately pulled back her bow. A newer victim of the corpses, with flesh still attached, had a coat made of moose fur on. Just the thing she needed. She aimed.

“Happy holidays.” She muttered flatly. She unleashed the arrow, letting the militia in on their presence.

~~~

It was nightfall now.

She was exhausted, hot under the weight of coats she held on her back. Gweneal bore his own load upon his back as he held the torch needed to see in the darkness.

Shaking in fear, Felicity shuddered, “The sooner we get inside, the better.”

They stepped into a stone building, leaving the blinding snowfall behind them.

“They brought coats!”

A little girl raced up to greet them. The villagers of forgotten town, all huddled in the thane's keep, watched in awe as Gweneal and Felicity dropped blankets and coats on the nearby rug. As the fires roared, Felicity beamed as the girl pulled a massive coat from the pile. Gweneal put a hand on her shoulder as he smirked, “Hey, there’s dinner too.”

There were several roared birds, deer, and more on the table. A cook was brushing her hands off, “Thayne's Day Dinner! Served fresh even during the apocalypse!”

Felicity placed her hand on Gwenael's, “The hunters came back…”

Another man started sorting through the clothes, “Thaynes bless you for going out on this day! “

I am a Thayne though. Gweneal thought bitterly to Felicity.

“Hey,” Felicity ignored Gweneal, speaking to the man, “Consider it our Thanye's Day present to you all.”

An elderly woman croaked from next to the fire, “But you’ve already done so much for us… Radansanth forsook us when the corpses came to Corone, but you did not.”

“Meredrith…”

Everyone turned to see the man pull a brooch from a pocket in the piles of clothes. His eyes were shadowed in knowing grief, “I guessed as much…” He hung his head in agony.

“She did turn!” An elderly gentleman wailed from the crowd, “My daughter!”

Felicity felt Gwenael wrap his arms around her from behind, “I know what you’re thinking.”

Tears flooded the girl's eyes, “We couldn’t come early enough…”

Gweneal softly shook her, “It was not your fault…”

Felicity leaned on him, tears falling, “But I still…”

“You know grief.”

“Yes.”

Gweneal sighed, “Can we forget it for one holiday?”

Felicity watched the grieving family from the corner if her eyes, “I guess not…”