Sacrifice

Tears ran down my cheeks and anguish writhed inside of me as we fled through the forest, travelling at almost inhuman speeds.

Trees flew past us, the air shifting around us as we made our escape. spaces between leaves, letting sunlight shimmer through them like bejewelled gems, that lighted a path to freedom.

I used to admire this part of the forest, admire its warmth, of the sun as it shone down upon me through the thicket of trees, the crunch of soil and fallen branches beneath my feet, the sighs of grass and willowy plants when the wind would sweep through them.

I could feel my heart breaking in the midst of it all, standing on the precipice of a dark eternal hole, taking all but one push or misstep to fall.

I thought of my father as we ran. I would never see him again, never talk to him or listen to his wild outlandish stories.

You know the feeling of being in a certain time or place, but not really there at all. The body is present but not the mind? flashbacks ran through my mind as my feet ran through the thicket.

Suddenly my mother jerked me forward pulling me out of my insanity. The fringe of my billowy nightgown got caught on a jagged stump, sending me sprawling onto the ground. I struggled to release my night robe. I paused my struggle, something wasn't right.

Nothing, I could hear no sounds, the screams of my people had long since died down. The trees were still and the songs of the birds were hushed. I could feel my heart thumping inside its cage, threatening to escape my chest if I eased up.

The silence was inescapable, if my mother spoke to me I did not hear. All I could hear was my heart as it dove behind my spine. A cowards heart.

Something was out there, to have caused such unnatural silence.

One beat.

Two beats.

Then it came.

I was flung to the side, my robe ripped free. A slash through the air and the screech as metal met metal. I whipped my head around just in time to see my gentle mother behead a Rau.

I looked onto the scene with horror clear in my eyes and my body trembled as I stared directly into the decapitated Rau's dull eyes, his mouth forever set in a hideous snarl.

The closer I looked, I saw that every single one of his teeth had been sharpened into fangs. I blanched and looked away from the head and found my mother battling it out half a dozen Ràu's.

That night I saw my mother for who she was, fierce and strong. A warrior in her own right.

She ducked low, as a sword soared over her head. She swiped her leg outwards and he fell onto his back. She quickly took her sword and plunged it straight through his body, embedding it into the very soil itself. The Ràu trashed wildly but mother held firm and he went still.

She looked up and I saw bright crimson red was splattered on her face looking like savage war markings, making her brown eyes glow like dying embers.

Her dexterity with the sword was spellbinding, the sureness and smoothness with each swing and lunge.

She cut down those beasts one by one, as one would fillet meat, sharp and clean.

Her movements so precise, there was hardly any blood on her blade.

She looked so confident and where was I? Hiding behind a thick tree, trembling like a fool. Sweat dripped down my chin, at least I was safe here and out of mother's way.

I was too busy staring at my mother and worrying for her safety to notice my surroundings until I felt something hot and humid breathing down my neck. I dug my nails hard into the bark, I felt one of them break.

I heard the man chuckle, hot puffs of air stirred at the wisps of hair that had come undone.

"There you are, you pretty little thing,"

I squeezed my eyes shut, I couldn't stop shaking. His voice though it sounded pleasant enough, dripped with a promise of something worse than death.

He clamped my wrists together with one hand and a held a small dagger against my throat with the other.

"Now don't make a sound, don't want mommy getting distracted, do we?" he leered at me, "or maybe we do,"

He jostled me hard enough that the knife dug deeper into my skin, warm liquid oozed down my neck, colouring my white nightgown. A small cry escaped from me.

Mother turned around to look at me and went completely still, not a single muscle in her body moved. The two Rau's stopped their fighting as well and watched the scene like a spectacle had been unfolded before their eyes. They watched with bated breath, men starved before a magnificent gruesome feast.

What can I do?

I gasped in shock and went limp. I could hear her, but how? I stared directly into her eyes. Thoughts and emotions flowed through me like an endless barrage. I felt rage, fear, despair, agony, grief and anger searing right into my heart. I realised that these weren't my emotions, they were mothers.

"Let her go," my voice harsh and brutal, even as I said it I could feel the blood leeching from my face as I bargained for her life.

She looked so pale, but kept still, her large blue eyes burned with helpless fear as she looked at me, begging me to free her.

I ran through each and every scenario. Each and every move I thought of still left me to far away from her, but why didn't he just slit her throat? It was a relief, yes, but the fastest way to shatter an enemy's resolve to fight is to remove what they had been protecting or their purpose.

Unless... No These people are savages. They do not have access to this type of knowledge.

I shook my head slightly, trying to remove such useless thoughts and looked at the man holding my daughter.

"What's the matter wrong? you scared?" he taunted.

I took a cautious step forward but stopped when he dug his blade deeper into her flesh. Her clotted wound opened up again and blood started to flow once more, following the line of dried up blood. She flinched but continued to stare at me. Her fists clenched tight enough that her knuckles began to turn white. The Rau grinned down at her, his jagged teeth poking out, making him look truly lupin "Stop, or it ends for her,"

I shook with disgust, he wouldn't kill her, but he would harm her. I couldn't move forward. In short, I was stuck. My only hope he would continue talking until I could find an opening. I just needed to be patient.

"Did you know..." he continued " How long we have been looking for you? 7 years, but you already knew that," he spoke.

We? Did he mean the Raus'? No, we were attacked only two years ago.

"Let her go," I repeated, more forcefully.

I'll have to worry about that latter. I needed to focus.

"Or what? you'ld kill me?" he began retreating, making one step at a time. It wasn't out of fear, not with that ever-growing smirk. I had a sinking feeling that all of this had been part of the plan.

Suddenly my daughter started struggling so viciously, her eyes wide with panic as they kept looking at me, no behind me. I whirled around and was met with a blade.

I held back a sob as my mother turned around and was stabbed with an anlace. The world stopped and slowed down to a trembling heartbeat. Mine.

I raised my leg and stomped down as hard as I could on the man's foot. He barked out a curse in suprise as he released me. I ran towards my mother, breathing heavily on to the earth, her breaths laboured. Her blood soaking the already red soil as if mother nature was greedily guzzling down my mother's life essence like wine.

I threw myself on to my knees spraying mud on my mother. "No..." a broken gasp came out of me, the dagger was wedged in deep.

My captor from before had vanished. Mother raised a crimsoned hand and drew me closer and kissed my cheek. She coughed out "You need to run, you need to live, please," blood dribbled from corner her mouth, I held her tighter, my tears falling onto her face washing away the brutal blood markings, turning back into my mother I always loved. "Never forget... that we will always love you... Cahira," her hand fell to the ground with a wet thud as she exhaled her last breath, the light in her brown eyes faded as she died in my arms.

Then I heard a cruel laugh from behind me "serves her right" it was the same man from earlier that had left, not to flee but get more help, I realized, the edged closer towards us forming a circle. I looked down at my mother, limp and cold, blood matted her hair, her chest mangled from the dagger sticking out of it, her blood slowly crusting around the edges.

These men did this, they destroyed my family, killed everyone I loved. Each thought shot something through me, building up, the pressure was compressing on itself until it became too much for me to contain. My heart clenched tightly, squeezing it until it could take no more, I tipped my head back and bellowed out a screamed filled with grief, anger and rage as wave after wave of pure, unadulterated hate and fire exploded, rippling out in scorching red, orange and gold.

I burned, as did everything around me. The trees, the ground, the sky, my mother's body. I burned them all to ash. Then I turned towards the people who were the cause of all this anguish.

Those things didn't even have time to scream.