Dawning Skye

Zas could smell the blood before he’d realized what had happened. The world around him slowed and blurred as the final shred of hope he had to save the people of the town vanished. As the man fell to the ground, the crowds fell silent..

Heavy clouds that had been sprinkling snow for the majority of the morning began to rain down massive, fluffy flakes onto the stunned townsfolk. Not even the light, frigid winds drew their attention away from the steadily-growing pool of blood spanning out in front of Benzo’s feet.

He stood watching the crowds while casually wiping the dagger clean, then stuck it into the side of his boot. As he waited for the chaos to unleash and his fun to begin, Benzo glanced at Zas with a wide smile on his face..

Rage, sadness, guilt, and contempt swirled around inside Zas as he gritted his teeth, and glanced at the Tamers assigned to watch him. If they suspected for even an instant that Zas was going to betray Marco, then their dozen or so crows would fly off. Carrying orders of execution for his family.

‘No matter what I do: people I care for will die today.. Do these people mean more to me than my family?’

The bleak question crossed his mind, but Zas already had his answer as he stared at the dead man on the ground. Just as he thought himself damned, a piercing scream snapped him out of his self-loathing state. Until his eyes landed on a hysterical woman and her child, who were now on their knees next to the dead man.

They wailed and cried over the loss of their husband and father, which sent the townsfolk into a frenzy. They begged, pleaded, and demanded that the General deliver swift justice for the public murder, but Zas did nothing. He just stared at the ground with his ears bent back in shame.

Benzo laughed loudly as he stood over the woman and her child, then removed his sword from it’s sheath. The pleas turned into angry shouts mixed with shock at Zas’ lack of response. A few were even yelling that he was an imposter, which made Benzo laugh even harder.

.....

“The General is under the direct orders from his Majesty, just like the rest of us! It’s You People that should feel shame! You have your orders! Now pack your shit and get the Fuck gone, or face the consequences!”

As Benzo finished speaking, he pointed the tip of his sword towards the sobbing woman. She gasped with fear at seeing the blade mere inches from her face. The boy, who couldn’t have been any older than ten saw his mother being threatened, he snapped.

After standing up and stepping around his deceased father, the boy began to kick the side of Benzo’s leg. The mother’s eyes widened with utter terror as Benzo glared at the child, flipped his sword around, then jabbed it backwards. The kicking stopped..

“The gods have mercy,” Jonathan muttered as they watched on helplessly.

Tears filled Maevis’ eyes; “That poor child..”

The mother screamed so loud that a banshee would’ve winced before Benzo silenced her with a swift removal of her head. The townsfolk went into complete panic mode, and began to either fight, or run away. The ones that fought were being killed the moment that they raised their fists.

A few just froze, while others tried to go back to their homes. They were either dragged out and shot, or simply shot inside their homes. The last hope to live was to flee with nothing but the shirts on their backs.

Evacuation had been the point of the military showing up, so they thought everything would be fine by just leaving. When they reached the gates, however, they were killed on sight. The fact that they were innocent people meant nothing to the soldiers: only their orders mattered.

Bodies started to quickly pile up as hundreds of people were killed. Only the ones frozen with fear in the middle of town were still alive. As the chaos quickly revealed the true purpose of the military’s appearance, the three Fae and Jonathan were stuck in a moral dilemma.

Maevis wanted to go and try to save the townspeople, but she was almost completely out of magic. Nic wanted to help as well, but the majority of his companions were farther north, and it would all be over before they could arrive. The only one that could give any real help was Cu Sith, but even she wouldn’t last long against so many.

Although she had used it up to protect the people who had left upon hearing their warning, Maevis still felt guilty for not having the hindsight to know to reserve some magic. Nicolas understood that Dragonhorn was lost, and was now more concerned about getting to Warrick Forest. He had just started to console and convince Mae to leave when John and Cu started to quietly argue..

“No! I dinna care! Yer comin’ with us! You’re Not going in there! You’ll die fer sure!” John said in a low, but angry tone.

There were soldiers everywhere, so the four were trying to be as quiet as possible. However, it became pointless when Cu started to unveil them. As John pleaded with her to leave with them, Cu nudged at his hand until he extended it. With his palm up, she placed her paw over his, then gently set it down.

Cu let out a low, strangled growl as a dozen or so seeds fell into his hand; “Run.. Keep safe, John.. Love John..”

Both Nicolas and Maevis were now fluttering in place, staring at Cu Sith in shock as she brought down the rest of their camouflage. No one had noticed them yet, but the two older Fae knew that wouldn’t last the second that John started to yell..

With tears in his eyes, Jonathan stared at Cu Sith; “Cu! Did you just Talk?! Wait! Stop! Ya canna go! You’ll die!”

Cu turned back to Jonathan with determination in her eyes, and growled out a single word; “Guardian..”

Without another snarl, she turned away from the three, and ran towards the gate. Nicolas and Maevis managed to get Jonathan away before they could be seen, but he insisted on staying to watch what happened. The two agreed to stay for a bit longer, but only to see what Zas would do once Cu Sith got involved.

Magnus’ standing order was that Cu Sith was a sanctioned, and protected guardian of Dragonhorn. Zas was the only one capable of handling Cu; not even Benzo could handle her strength, speed, and magic all at once. If he did nothing, then at least some of the people could be saved.

Nic sighed heavily as they watched Cu bound into town, and spoke low as they hid; “We’ll see if Zas acts or not. If he doesn’t intervene, then I’ll call the few companions I have nearby, and we’ll save whomever we can. But if he does fight Cu..”

Jonathan’s head snapped up from looking at the seeds in his hand; “Then what? We leave her?! Over me dead bloody body!”

Nic locked eyes with him; “There’s more at stake here-”

“Cu has protected this town for longer than anyone knows! The King his self said she wasna ta be harmed! Yet here we are! But she STILL wants ta protect everyone! We can’t just Abandon her!”

“It’s not abandoning her if she ordered you away,” Maevis interjected; “I know that you don’t want to hear this, but Cu understood what it meant by going in there, and what will happen if we stay.. That’s why she told us to run.”

Jonathan stifled a sniffle as Maevis added; “We’ll stay until we can’t, but if worst comes to it, we have to go. We have others to warn and protect.”

After taking a deep breath and wiping his eyes, Jonathan nodded his head as he said; “Aye.. We’ll watch and wait.”

Right as he finished, a loud roar followed by screams echoed out from the town...

************

Cu Sith hand ran straight into town like a steamroller. Soldiers shot at her, but the bullets had little to no affect on her. The ones using swords tried to stop her as well, but none were strong enough or fast enough to make a tiny dent in her.

Even the mages couldn’t do anything as she knocked them down on her way towards the center of town. Once she’d reached the crowds, her roars had the people parting instantly, giving her a clear path. Right as Benzo was putting his sword away, Cu Sith came running at him.

Pure terror covered his face as Cu slammed into Benzo, and rolled with him on the ground for several feet. When they’d finally stopped, Cu Sith was laying on top of him. She snarled with bared teeth and lunged forward, trying to bite his head off.

After snapping at him three times, Cu had gotten Benzo to maneuver his head to one side. She was just about to bite it off when she was suddenly jerked backwards with intense force. Cu was slammed into a building, making the wall crumble instantly upon impact.

When she refocused and saw who had stopped her, Cu Sith growled, and bared her teeth at Zas..

Benzo coughed loudly as he got back onto his feet; “Angry puppy, aren’t ya?! Why don’t you handle that thing, General? Unless you don’t think that you can do it alone?”

Zas glared at Benzo. He knew that Zas was the one who had initially met and fought Cu Sith in the first place. They had done quite a bit of damage to the forest before Skye had stepped in, and informed Zas that Cu wasn’t a Barghest. After that day, he had gotten to know Cu a bit over the couple of years she’d been Dragonhorn’s guardian.

He had made it a point to visit both her and Jonathan whenever he was home. Zas had even been the one to hang the Order of Protection issued by King Magnus on the town council’s bulletin board. They knew each other and considered each other friends, and now one of them would have to die at the hands of the other.

Benzo watched the emotional roller coaster play across his face, and had to force down a smile. He had watched both him and Shasta enjoying their impeccable statuses for years, and now he was getting to watch them fall. Although Shasta refused to cooperate, Zas had to..

“If you don’t want to, though, I can always send out the crows. I’m sure your family will understand,” a dark smile stretched across Benzo’s face; “What’s more important? This monster, or the humans gracious enough to play house with you?”

Zas growled low as he stared daggers at the bastard; “I’ll take care of it.. But know this, Benzo: I will kill you some day for all of this.”

After laughing hard enough to bend over, Benzo shot up and replied; “I can’t wait until the day you Try..”

With a snarl, Zas turned to face Cu Sith right as she readied herself to pounce. The two stared at each other for a moment before Cu growled, barked, and hissed at Zas. He bent his ears back several times, like he understood that she was cursing him out.

After her ranting, Cu Sith managed to grumble out a single recognizable word: traitor. This stung worse than any other insult he’d heard...because he felt that it was true. Added in that it was coming from a friend made the hurt all the worse.

After closing his eyes, Zas took a deep breath, and recalled the faces of his family. His grandchildren, his great-grandchildren, and most-importantly, Mary.. ‘For them, I’ll do whatever I have to..’

Opening his eyes, Zas set his ears back with hostility as he said; “Sorry Cu, but I gotta do what I gotta do..”