Fermiah's Village

It didn’t take more than twenty minutes before she was once again day-dreaming and Mataiya kept herself from being knocked off Lycinthia only by flopping over against her mane. Luckily the two had traveled together a lot, so she knew just exactly how to keep from falling off the beautiful beast. Wrapping her arms around her horses’ neck ‘taiya soon fell asleep having complete trust in Lycinthia’s ability to get them to the village. She wasn’t sure what would happen once reaching the place that was supposed to be so terrific, but surely it would be a lot better than where she was currently living. Death and destruction plagued her hometown and having to learn at an early age to protect herself stole her childhood away from her.

“It’s time to go already? My, these past few weeks have moved by so quickly, I’ve lost track. At least this is my last year, and then I’ll be able to do whatever I can do in order to find out who set up my parents.”

“’Taiya, hurry uppppppp!”

“I’m coming, squirt! Learn some patience, you weirdo!”

“I’m not weird! I’m telling mom on you!”

“Hahaha, you know she would agree with me, kiddo. Being weird isn’t a bad thing anyways. I’m just as weird as you, Ridley.”

“I’m gonna miss you, ‘Taiya, a lot!”

“I’ll miss you too, all of you. I promise to write whenever possible. After all, I owe your family a lot for taking me in for all these years.”

“D’awwwwww.”

Mataiya smiled softly and hugged her little foster sister, Ridley. The rest of the family was already outside waiting for her, and she glanced around once more before climbing onto Lycinthia. She was heading off to train with the best of the best in order to have the ability to find the persons responsible for burning down her small village and killing off her real mother and father.

That was exactly a year ago and although she was still trying to find out who killed her parents, she wasn’t as focused on it. She instead spent a lot of time with the family that took her in, but couldn’t help but have the desire to travel every once in a while. Most of the time she just visited the same place that she found as a kid, but today she was exploring further than she had ever gone before. Finally after forever or so it seemed, the two of them reached the valley. Neighing, Lycinthia woke up Mataiya and the redhead raised her head with a slight gasp. It was absolutely beautiful, perhaps moreso than her own patch of paradise. The two rode into the valley and paused with slightly bewildered looks.

“Where do we go…?”

The Bandit's had now fully retreated, except for those dead or otherwise dying. Quite a few got away, but even more had fallen in the raid; a worthy sacrifice, many of them thought, considering what they had got away with. Mataiya might have seen them in fact, galloping into the woods through the moonlight with figures slung under arms and bound with sacks over heads. Back at the village, however, it seemed people were finally beginning to notice the missing locals.

Ricard was gravely injured, obviously, and slipping in and out of consciousness - though ironically the arrow kept him from losing too much blood. Meanwhile, the Alchemist had taken up the ice potion and cast it over the field, putting out the flames with the shattered freeze spell... It didn't matter though, it was far too late. More than half the crop had gone. They'd have no surplus to trade that autumn and some of them might not get through the winter.

How would they ever get over this? The smell was terrible, burning corpses and thick smoke still lingering; blood hissing as it touched the stranded fires. Children, men and women of all ages were crying, or just shocked into silence. Some of them began to tend to wounded and try to clear the streets and drag the dead away, but most just sat there.

Kaden, meanwhile, after making sure that Cinaed was fine, stared into the sky. Thick clouds were forming over the moon and within seconds, thunder clapped the distant horizon and rain began to fall upon them like a spell of cleansing. He wiped his eyes, then pushed off to examine the archer. The body that Adion's potion of lightning had struck seemed to have been completely fried beyond recognition, causing him to turn away in disgust and instead focus on what appeared to be a madman beating on one of the dead. Well... He wasn't surprised. He had always heard that war turned men insane, after all. If this hadn't been war, then what was it?

Down the street, Elder Fermiah began to trudge helplessly through rising puddles of mud. He watched the Alchemist, Cinaed and several outsiders tend to Ricard, but held no hope. He was in too much a state of shock to truly react to what had just happened beyond silence...

"We can't remove the arrow," the Alchemist said, as she crouched over the young man. "There's no instrument in my possession or in any possession in this village that can safely take this missile out without tearing away his chest. We have no choice but to keep it in and try to keep him stable... Help me move him inside. The inn, tell them to clear spaces for the wounded."

(Apologies if I missed anyone!)

Adion could now see Ricard being carried by the group, the arrow still showing from his chest. It didn't take him long to meet up with the group. Quickly turning to the town alchemist, Adion asked, "Do you have any honey flax? I think I could make something so that the arrow can be removed slowly while he is being healed in the areas it has been removed from."

*Written by Smrtazz13 and Canibelle.

A dapple Andalusian rode through the path into the valley, carrying two riders with it. One, a witch who held a lantern to illuminate their path, the other held nothing, but gazed awe-struck up at the night's sky. He wore a humble brown leather satchel which contained nothing more than a few empty books and observational tools. He travelled light it would seem, something he'd come to regret when he had found out first hand just how far the Valley's entrance was from the closest charted town.

The pair had met on the road, not so far from the valley. The witch, dressed in light silks with a cloak resting on her shoulders, had been riding the Andalusian when she came upon a weary traveler.

Where she wore silk, the modest scholar dressed in flannel. Deciding to favor the walk, he'd opted out of bringing a steed to ride on his journey to the Valley. It was a decision he made knowing the challenges it would pose, but he wanted to enjoy his time away from the city.

Still, when the young woman had come upon him walking on the road, he could not find the strength to turn down her offer for a lift.

Now, after a mostly silent journey between them, they had finally arrived at the valley, only to be met with a gristly scene. Bodies littered the ground, and the fields were blackened from the fire that had passed through there. The witch frowned, slipping from the horse, leading the animal past softly moaning bodies and still corpses. She turned to another traveler who had also made her way into the Valley: Mataiya. "Watch your back. Something awful has happened here. It looks like it is over, but I am not certain."

The scholar grimaced at the scene, shaking his head in disbelief. This was supposed to be a place of peace and plenty....he didn't expect suffering. He hopped from his seat on the horse and walked over to the closest body. Quickly he knelt, placing two of his fingers against the neck of the young man who lied on the ground motionless. He felt nothing, and sighed.

"Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your heart be troubled and do not be afraid."

He whispered the words almost silently, not wanting to offend any that may have been watching.

The witch quickly pushed forward, toward a few figures who lingered outside. "What has happened here?" she asked, first to Cináed. Her eyes swept over Rand and Heiwa.

(This is who I gathered, from reading, were still outside. I apologise if I've missed anyone.)

Mataiya was soon distracted from her thoughts by individuals fleeing through the woods on top of horses. She didn’t care about the men themselves, but was more concerned about what they had in their arms. They kidnapped people from this paradise and stole them away from the families and friends. Frowning heavily, she had to remind herself that this wasn’t her fight and that if the locals wanted their missing people back, they would have to go find them. Her eyes drifted away from the Bandits over towards the bloody scene that was displayed in front of her. Why hadn’t she noticed it when she first came in? Oh, right, she was far too busy looking at other things. Chewing on her bottom lip, ‘Taiya slid off of her horse and patted the mare on the neck. It seemed like an inopportune time to ask for assistance and a place to stay, but she definitely couldn’t just stand around like a complete idiot, right?

Sniffing, she noted fires being put up on the harvest fields and Mataiya couldn’t help but twitch. Silently willing her body not to react, the stranger was glad when she was distracted by another stranger whispering to her to watch her back and that the bad might return to finish what it started. Well, that wasn’t exactly what she said, but it was close enough. Nodding towards the woman, Callahan released Lycinthia with full knowledge the horse would return when she was needed. The flames that hadn’t been put out still called to her and the young female couldn’t help but walk towards them. The smell quickly faded into the background as it was something that she was quite used to.

What happens if you’re on fire and you have to pee? It turns into a flame thrower…

Rolling her eyes at the thought that randomly appeared in her mind, Mataiya returned her attention to the fire that still seemed to be burning and quietly called it into her body. The crimson stone that was incased in silver around her neck seemed to glow brightly for a moment before it faded into its normal shade once more. Whatever flames remained throughout the village were suddenly sucked into the stone and into her body, causing it to glow once again; just for a moment. Once she was finished, she dropped to a knee, knowing that anyone that burned a village and kidnapped people needed to be stopped.

“Alright….” Raising back up, she walked over towards where the woman that had warned her was currently asking what happened. She hoped that they didn’t notice what she did with the flames because the last thing she needed was questions asked.

"Yeah, and can we help?"

The witch nodded to Cinead. "We have only just arrived, but we will do what we can to help."

She turned to Amnon, lowering the lantern. "Find some way to make yourself useful. I'm sure I might have what they need to help the boy."

Amnon had barely finished closing the lids of the fallen man's eyes when the woman who had given him a lift spoke to him.

"Useful huh? Doubt there's much of anything I can do now for these people....but I've got an idea. See if you can't get the village elders to start organizing the bodies...."

"There is always more to do. They need to take care of the living, now. You should make sure that everyone fallen is actually dead, perhaps." snapped the witch. Organizing the bodies! The people could hardly organize themselves after the attack! She strode over to the Andalusian, checking the saddle bags for the herbs and medicines she often carried with her on journeys. She untethered one of the bags and rushed inside of the tavern.

"Who is the injured one?" she asked as she moved past several people. "I may be able to help."
Amnon sighed and shook his head.

No need to be so rude...

Well, she had a point, everyone was frantic enough. Expecting any kind of calm was a pipe dream. He rose to his feet and looked around the fields, surveying just how many bodies lie injured and groaning, and even more were silently still.

There's no way I can do this on my own though...

As he scanned his surroundings he noticed a woman mounted on a work horse, she seemed to have just happened upon the half razed town not a moment ago, like him.

"Excuse me," He called. "Would you mind helping me?"

Well, no need to be so rude...

Amnon understood that in light of recent events, that anyone from outside the Valley would be viewed with a healthy amount of caution. But to be outright hostile to someone like himself who was only trying to help was unreasonable.

He held his hands up to either side of his head. "I was only going to request your aid with helping those who may need it. There are a lot of bodies lying around here, but just because they're on the ground does not mean they have passed on, but if we don't render some sort of aid it won't be long until they do. We need to set up some kind of hospit, and start organizing the bodies. That way we can help with both the injured and taking a roll call of sorts. This way family members can find their loved ones. We should also get working on a missing persons list."

He sighed and lowered his hands.

"As you can see that's a lot of work for just one person to handle, so yes, I need your help. someone who isn't an outsider to help organize the locals. We're not sure if whoever attacked here is truly gone, or just regrouping for another strike. We need to have our heads on straight if it's the latter."