Tallyho Abell's Story

“Not entirely,” Haru huffed. “But what I need you to do is to get out of here and go find the others.” After that the redhead refused to answer any more questions. The girls wouldn’t leave if he kept encouraging them with his own uncertainty of the situation.
The figure emerged with a calmness that seemed impossible to exist in the presence of the many royal flames. The man was like a stone golem, frozen in time, eroding through the elements but still strong. His walk was intimidating as he seemed to stalk instead of stride—the kind of predator that never ran after his prey, but always got his dinner by the end of the day. Gray whiskers poisoned the black ones on his chin—violet wrinkles made a subtle ring around his black eye patch, as if one of his bleak black eyes has been gauged out by a bird—dove or crow. He was quite obviously an older man, not quite a relic, but seasoned enough to father of one of the warriors, yet his muscles were more impressive than any of the teens’. His biceps glistened with sweat and ash.
He stopped feet away from the guardian who was still trying to keep a grip. Haru’s fingers were well-wrapped around the silver hilt of his sword, and his teeth were deeply pressed into his bottom lip.
“Why you must be Haru,” the unfamiliar man began. His voice was like a jagged black flag rippling in the wind of war. “Now let me introduce myself. My name is Amber Bradley—a son of the theater, a brother of fire, an orphan. Please excuse my rude entrance but—“
“Cut to the chase, what do you want?” Haru asked. His poker face was returning to its former indifference.
“Ahh… see I was just about to address that. = I’m one of the orphanim—“
“Orphanim?”
“Think of us as… the rejected children of your religion.”
“That doesn’t make sense—“
“Ah ah,” Amber interjected as calmly as ever. “The point is, it’s our job to do what’s in the best interest of Aires. And unfortunately for you, that involves stopping you right here.”
“So you’re an agent of Oblivion.”
“Believe what you’d like.”
“I’m not too familiar with you orphanim but I’m afraid that you won’t be putting an end to the warriors as you’ve planned. Tell your King that it would be in his best interest if he steps down— the righteousness of our goddess will always prevail.”
Amber released a low, bitter chuckle, “Oh, what righteousness?”
Haru took a step back and raised the tip of his sword to Ambers bulging Adam’s apple, “please leave and keep your life.”
It was as if all at once a blast of fire went swarming at the red head. He barely escaped, thrusting himself to the side, with only a few singed hairs.
“I’m afraid that I don’t have a lot of time for games now,” Amber hummed.
Another blast of fire tumbled towards Haru who—using his cat light reflexes dodged each. It was a dangerous dance they did, and each dodge left Haru panting.
Tallyho caught a glimpse of the cat guardian’s many close calls. Then, as if by some magical omen she noticed a small wood-cutting axe discarded on the ground. She figured that one of the students gathering fire wood dropped it in the panic. So without much thought of consequence, she discreetly picked it up and slowly meandered off to the sidelines where she could most successfully sneak up behind the hellish fire-master.

Autumn only saw the man for a terrifying instant. After that, she focused on Tallyho. Just what was that girl doing? Did she seriously think she was any match for him? Autumn stopped running, deciding that she might try to talk some sense into Tallyho. Yet, she had a feeling that the other girl wouldn't listen anyways. Not to mention, Autumn couldn't help but think that Tallyho wasn't completely in the wrong. They were supposed to be warriors, right? They were supposed to be protecting people. Yet, they hadn't been training for long. It wouldn't take much for them to fall in battle. Now would be a really good time for Autumn to be able to talk to spirits. Perhaps she could ask them to help out. No such luck, however, as Autumn didn't even know where to start. She bit her lip, unsure of what to do next.