Rain.

“I hate the rain”, Mitchell thought as he deflected yet another silvery blade. “The way it soaks your clothes, gluing them to your skin. The tickle as it’s beads slow roll off your skin.”

He spared a quick glance up toward the sky. Not a cloud in sight.

“Then what was…?”

Blood.

Mitchell had lost track of how long he’d been fighting. “How many hours have past? Or has it been days? When ...

"Mitch..." came a whisper. It was soft, distant, floating through the darkness of his dreams like an owl in the night.

The dark expanse of his world began to shake and tremble, and then he heard it. The sound he had heard thousands of times before. The screams of dozens of people-- men, women and children, surrounding him in that darkness. A hot breath of air licked the back of his neck, anxiety...

Mitchell took in a deep breath of the cool morning air, quickly stuffing his feet in his leather boots. He knew if he was too slow, Tulu would be ready and wanting to leave before he’d have a chance to eat. After having traveled by horseback for two days, eating only dried meats and breads during that time, his appetite was beginning to get the better of him.

They hadn't spoken much since they ha...

“It’s too soon…” Tulu breathed as she left her chambers, closing the thick oak door, locking it with the brush of her fingers. “It’s barely been a week since the Bond was broken”, she thought to herself, concerned, as a warm breeze began to sweep beneath her feet. She started to slide across the cool, damp stone, slowly at first, then more quickly as she gained momentum.

She rounded a corner as s...