Post by Northen Light36 on Jan 27, 2013 2:49:01 GMT -5
“Elder.” Ann's voice was as tired and old as Artica's bones felt. Even youth and power had proven no shield against the knowledge that more of her people were dying with every passing day. The loss seemed to age the young Leader a year for every day that passed. “How many?” she asked.
“Cham's scout party lost two, Mapie was the sole survivor in hers, Char lost eight of their scouts... and we haven't heard back from Ognian or Paytah's parties at all,” Artica replied, wondering when losing thirty-nine people had become the marker of a good day. Perhaps when I lost my Ice sign... Or when we heard Sensatia had fallen... Or maybe it's just because at least it was a day of quick deaths rather then succumbing to starvation or sleep deprivation... Even the animals are smarter then we are. They're gone... Of course, that left only us for the demons to prey on.
“Ann...” Artica wanted to comfort the young woman her sister had loved like a daughter, but she couldn't quite manage the lie. They had waited too long, with no one wanting to say what they all knew.
“We can't hold against this,” Ann whispered. “Not any longer.” She swallowed hard before saying the words she'd been praying for months wouldn't need to be said. “Rest while you can, Artica. We march at dawn.”
Where to would be the question she'd need to find an answer to over the night. To head for Maelstrom would be suicide, the volcano lay between them and their ally. Sensatia had fallen. Reave would almost
certainly not welcome a small army of Fires. Their relationship with the Beastlands was strained, but perhaps they'd be willing to join forces. With Naurorod... abandoned... Oh Forces does that hurt to think of... there would be nothing between the Beasts and the volcano. And a fraction of Ilyamen shared a tiny bit of the boarder of Naurorod. Perhaps they could go there, at least to beg safety for the wounded and to collect whatever number of Fira's dependants had survived the fall of Sensatia.
Yes, Ilyamen to collect their people, then the Beastlands to offer what strength they had left to the fight.
“Some of the wounded will be able to be transported,” Artica murmured, as if she'd read her Leader's thoughts. “Others though...”
“We'll leave no one for the demons,” Ann said firmly. “Those we can't take...” She paused, needing a moment to keep her voice from shaking. “Better the mercy of their own people then what the demons
will do to them.” She hoped she didn't look as sick as she felt when she rose, going from group to group and informing them of the plans to leave in the morning.
Charanth and Charminei were the last she approached, not wanting to face either Charminei's grief for
the loss of Alexi, or Charanth's look of 'I told you so'. While the announcement was met with nothing more visible then his agreement, Ann knew that she'd once again failed to live up to her uncle in Charanth's eyes.
As she watched more bodies being piled on hastily constructed funeral pyres – those of her people who'd never have survived a journey – she wept silently and found she couldn't disagree with the unspoken judgement of her abilities as Honoured Leader.
She had failed and it was her people who had paid the price – with their blood, with their lives and, come dawn, with their very homeland.
