"Jack," I muttered and threw the last of my hand down onto the floor.

Aldyth sighed and gathered up the cards sluggishly. "You know, other guys would have let me win by now."

"Do you want me to let you win?"

"No."

"Then do you see my dilemma?"

"I suppose."

Taurus hadn't yet returned when we made it back to the inn, nor when we brought our dinner up to the room. We pulled a blanket down onto the floor so we could sit in front of the fire while we waited, but as the sky grew darker, so did our fears. "Do you think he left us?" Aldyth murmured as she dealt out a new hand.

"I don't know," I admitted as I stared down at my cards.

"And if he doesn't come back?"

"I'm going after the East," I flipped a card over and set it down on a pile between us.

Aldyth looked up. "That's a rather rash, conclusion, don't you think?"

"What's rash about it?" I set another card down on the floor and hovered my hand over the deck. "I'm sitting here, playing jack with you while my Ismay...and Barric, and my mother." I closed my eyes slowly and rolled my lips over my teeth. The encounter with Simon haunted me like knucklebones with a prophecy. The events rolled behind my eyes as I drew a new hand from the deck. We honestly hadn't given him the time to speak.

I peered up at Aldyth over my cards. Her face was smooth...and much calmer than one would expect after the all that's happened in the last couple days. For a moment the fire seemed to find an earnest yearning to leap and dance, basking its amber warmth upon her fluid features. Her eyes flashed up at me and suddenly the cards slipped through my fingers.

It was like no pain I had ever experienced before -- as if my soul was getting crushed into the deepest cores of the Earth. My vision twisted out from under me as I fell to the short distance to the floor, clutching my ears. Without any plausible mean or reason, my heart raced forward, rallying to the deafening cracks that sounded like my head was combusting from the inside.

As quickly as I fell, my sight disappeared into an abyss of black and soft spoke whispers, for the first real time, all was silent -- or very nearly so. I could hear Aldyth professing alarm somewhere above me, but it sounded so muted, so distant, that it didn't seem to matter very much.

Whispered voices surrounded me and murmured listless babel that reminded me of water in a creak. It took a moment to realize that my eyes were squeezed shut and that the dark was a product of my own doing. After a long our breath, I parted my lashes and was startled to find myself gazing back through a broken shard of glass that was so large that I wondered how it could still be described as broken. It hung before my face as if awaiting command.

Look into the glass, young one.

My head whipped around at the sound of the ominous voice. It came from everywhere, yet nowhere all at once. "What? Why?"

Look upon the surface to find what you seek. Look beyond the surface to seek what you need.

"Who are you!?" I demanded and forced myself up to my feet.

A name matters little an eternity of time.

"I doubt I'll be alive that long. Who are you? Where am I? And what is this?"

Hellfire! I don't have the time for you moronic questions. Look into the glass. Be content with what you see there --

Suddenly the voice seemed a lot less omniscient and much more like that of a young man.

-- stop having ridiculous ideas about running off and being a hero. Then go back to that girl you're traveling with before she starts believing that you're dead.

"How do I get back -- "

The glass will tell you!!!

And just like that, the voice disappeared with a whip of air, leaving behind only silence. True and total silence. Seeing as there was no other choice, I stepped up to the glass...

[[]]

...and stepped out into the woods near the end of a long line of shackled men. I realized with a jolt that it was the same wagon train that had taken my family away what felt like an eternity ago. This time though, they were traveling in unfamiliar territories. The wheels of the wagons creaked as they bumped over the rocky terrain.

I quickly fled behind a tree as a hooded man in a green uniform tromped up and down the lines, occasionally kicking out the legs of ones who weren't walking fast enough or ripping a child away from their mother's arms to make them march in the line. The fabric of his dark cloak slid away from his hips as the soldier pounced toward another innocent victim, revealing a short black flute fastened to his sword belt.

They were making women march in the lines as well now. The wagons were filled to bursting with the cries of young kids screaming for their parents. For a moment I couldn't move, for the malice of the Easterners held me in place. Instead, I simply stayed where I was and searched the marchers with my eyes. There were no less than a half dozen single file lines, each headed by two ox pulled wagons filled to bursting with wailing childs.

A hint of good fortune smiled upon me. Barric was tethered to the front of the line nearest to me. His hair hung in strands over his eyes and blood smeared the ground with each drag of his foot. I waited in agony for the guard to pass before making toward him as quickly as I could.

"Barric!"

He didn't respond. He didn't even appear to see me.

Suddenly, the pace of the wind took a drastic turn, causing everyone -- the men in the line, the guards on horseback, even the oxen that pulled the wagons, everyone -- to pause and gaze up at the sky. Suddenly, a soldier in a green uniform spurred his horse into a gallop and bellowed at the top of his lungs, "Our location has been breached! Send the Atrixes out ahead of us!"

I barely had time to duck out of the way as a dozen figures in padded armor burst out of the trees waving swords and leaping onto the wagons. A high pitched flute wailed and the line broke into an uproar. The prisoners started rallying when the strangers slashed their bindings with single strokes of their blades. Barric disappeared into the crowd.

Suddenly a dark shadow blocked out the sun.

Followed then, by another inhumane screech that sent my blood running cold.

"Quickly! With me, with me!" A boy no older than I started waving women and children toward the trees. The air boomed as Atrixes started pouring in from the heavens. Their wings crashed through the branches, their roars sent people scattering. One broke from the flock and plucked a little boy out from the wagon, before shooting straight into the sky.

His mother screamed.

A soldier brought his sword down onto her neck and send her head rolling.

A phantom cry rolled in from the east, except this time it was a mellower sound. More peaceful, something that no man could ever create. The atrix turned its head toward the call, only to find its face buried deep into a mammoth set of jaws. The dragons dove in from the clouds, quickly engaging in battle with the few Atrixes present.

I just barely had time to catch sight of Barric and Ismay running into the cover of the trees, before the world spiralled out from under me.

[[]]

I awakened on the floor with Aldyth's head pressed up to my chest. "What are you doing?" I whispered and tried to sit up.

"Oh," her mouth formed a perfect circle as the blood started rushing to her face. "Oh....Hell's fire! Eli, what was that!? I thought you were dead!"

"My family escaped," I spoke slowly as I retold everything that had happened, from the glass to the dragons. "I think it's supposed to happen, us going to the North, I mean...Someone wanted to show me that they were alright. I don't know, I still need to find them."

"It's a sign, Eli," Aldyth shook her head. "I don't know what it means, but -- "

Suddenly the door burst open and in hurried Taurus, who was shaking water droplets from his hair. "Wow, this is such a great place! Do you see how high their trees are!?"

A/N
And we're back! Stunning header by sugarcrystals. Love it