Mist & Whispers by C.M. Lucas Page B

in an instant Harrion was there, holding his captive against a tree, his sword dangerously close to its neck.
    As she stepped closer, Michael’s petrified face was lit by Harrion’s blade.
    ‘Please don’t hurt me,’ he begged in a voice that could crack glass.
    ‘Michael? I don’t believe this, you followed me again!’
    ‘Should I let him go?’ Harrion asked her without taking his eyes off Michael.
    She crossed her arms and pursed her lips. ‘Only if he promises never to follow me again.’
    ‘I was only looking out for you!’
    Harrion lifted his blade, bringing its razor-sharp edge so close to Michael’s skin that it drew a tiny spot of blood. ‘I don’t believe that was the answer the lady was looking for.’ He seemed quite amused by the situation.
    ‘I promise, I promise!’ Michael cried, beads of sweat racing down his trembling brow.
    Harrion lowered his sword and placed it back in its scabbard.
    ‘Good.’ Anya said, satisfied by Michael’s fear of her new friend.
    Michael fell to the ground, clutching his neck and checking it for blood. ‘You’re mad, the lot of you! You could have killed me! My mother would have been distraught! I’m her only child – you more than anyone should remember that, Anya. You wouldn’t want to upset my poor mother would you? She’s probably worried sick about where I am.’
    ‘Does he always whine like this?’ Harrion asked as they continued walking through the forest.
    She looked back at Michael. ‘Come on, you can’t stay there. You might get eaten by a skeleton-bear or something.’
    Horror took his face. ‘What do you mean skeleton-bear ? Anya?’
     
    AFTER A GOOD hour of walking uphill through the trees and mountain rocks, they came to a clearing at the summit of the forest.
    Above them, the sky was a wreck of fractured clouds and morose mist. Silent sparks of electricity lit the landscape like a stage, exposing scenes of Virtfirth’s tragic past.
    In every direction, destruction reigned.
    ‘I bet this place used to be lovely,’ she said, trying to imagine the villages soaked in sun whilst children laughed and played.
    ‘It was... at least, that’s what my father says,’ Harrion sighed. He was fixed on the city north of the forest. ‘I was just a year when the Darkness came. I don’t remember anything about the towns or the Big City. I barely even remember my mother. Only her smile.’
    That got her thinking about her own mother. She wondered what her smile was like, and if she’d ever smiled at Anya before she gave her away. Harrion had grown up without a mother too but his never wanted to leave him. Her life was taken by someone else.
    She tried to stop herself from thinking it, but it was too late. The thought was there, and it had been her whole life, festering in the back of her mind; Anya’s mother had given her up willingly. She’d never wanted to be her mother. By leaving her at the children’s home, she’d taken her own life back before Anya could steal it away.
    At that moment, she felt a deeper sympathy for Harrion than any of the other Virtfirthians she’d met.
    ‘Excuse me,’ Michael said, rubbing his shivering arms. ‘What are we doing here?’
    ‘Can you see the city walls in the distance? Just past them is Castle Lake. The castle used to be there, on an island right in the middle.’
    Beyond the forest and the villages, Anya could barely see the city, though from this distance, it didn’t look big at all. She watched as the lake flashed in and out of sight beneath the storm clouds, and as Theone had said, the castle was nowhere to be seen. How could something like a castle just disappear without a trace?
    Sitting there on the edge of the hill with that question rushing through her mind, Anya heard a long, drawn-out wafting sound. She turned to look over her shoulder but before her eyes had a chance to scan the sky, Harrion was on her, snatching her up in his arms and dragging her beneath a nearby bush. ‘Get down!’