Three
Bloody Harvest
Von-wratha stood on the Black Walls overlooking the rugged beauty of the landscape. Hot air blew in her face as her eyes wandered over to the heat waves on the horizon, hoping after eighteen years this would be the final hardship of her life. Yet another part of her wanted the desert to take her away from Giria forever. Her stomach knotted as her eyes scanned the crowd of fledglings, searching for Nalax, but he was nowhere in immediate sight. Von-wratha opened her mind to search for his location. In many psychic training sessions, she learnt how to navigate using her advanced psionic senses. Therefore, Matron Aeos took her as an apprentice and tolerated her, until now.
She felt the erratic emotions from several of the fledglings around her, but before she could home in on them, her attention was snapped to an empty stage before the crowd. The Matrons of Death materialised in front of the crowd of onlooking fledglings. Matron Aeos stepped forward from the row of other matrons, her old, but deceptively strong, arms rose to the skies as if embracing the blessings of her putrid Twin Snakes.
The sunlight showered on her form, revealing her leathery face and the bulging muscles beneath her heavy robes. Von-wratha considered her matron’s eyes. They twinkled a sinister red. It was clear that Matron Aeos had lived the past two centuries. Ordinary Girians would expire by two-hundred years, but they would never show severe signs of aging, unlike Matron Aeos. Indeed, she commanded great power, but her features reflected the price for that power.
“Hear me, now. This is the last hour of your training. After this final test, no longer will you be fledglings, but the hands of our gods that hold the blades of punishment!” she called with her arms still raised, “Before you leave these walls, our masters will judge your worth to see a vision of truth.”
Matron Aeos began an ancient Girian chant along with the other Matrons of Death to bring forth their Twins’ blessings. Von-wratha held her breath. She had doubted their existence, but there was undoubtedly magic that coursed through Giria and its isolated populace that she never understood.
Von-wratha carefully continued scanning the group. She wouldn’t dare turn her head if she spotted Nalax. She knew well that Matron Aeos would receive pleasure from telepathically torturing fledglings if they strayed from order. She let her mind wander, until she came across a void of consciousness from the farthest row of her peers. A telepathic cloak to cover the mind was an ability she was taught in her early years but struggled to master until coming into adulthood. Nalax was the only one of their peers that successfully developed it before his tenth year.
Her inner-self smiled as she called to his thoughts, yet they were unusually chaotic. As if he tried to suppress thoughts at the back of his mind beyond Von-wratha’s reach. This partially worried her as he had never shied away from her before. She envisioned herself knocking on the door to his mind, which he reluctantly opened.
Her chants are haunting. I remember when she would sing them to me as a youngling before sleeping, Nalax beamed into her.
Aeos enjoys the nightmares she causes to younglings. I remember her horrible smile when I awoke from a night terror, she replied.
There was a momentary pause from Nalax. He thought carefully at what he was about to say. Once we’re beyond the walls, we would officially be free from Giria’s laws.
Are you just as excited as me? Von said.
Remember, the Sun Hills are only a couple of hours walk west from the gates. There’s water, likely food and an abundance of caves. Other fledglings won’t likely tread there because of- he said before trailing off.
Bosh’kag, I’ve heard the stories. They maybe oversized, hideous monsters, but after eighteen years with Aeos, they would be like fighting a fat beetle. Besides, I’ve always wanted to see one up close, Von said.
You’re mad, Von-wratha, he replied.
She suppressed a smile before looking onto the matrons, who had finished their chant.
“Those of you who are worthy will return to the Black Gates by the appearance of the second moon. After this, you will no longer be fledglings and will begin your true challenges for our Lords. Hail the Twins!” She chimed.
The fledglings and Matrons of Death repeated the last blessing to summon the Twins’ handmaiden. In Matron Aeos’s arms, a gargantuan snake flashed into existence. Its scales reflected the sun’s rays in the likeness of a mirror. Its long torso tightened its grip around Matron Aeos’s forearms and its floor-length tail slowly coiling itself around Aeos’s waist before rearing its horrifying head to the crowd. The serpent’s eyes were like cut rubies, its gaze looking into the souls of all caught in its trance. Von-wratha felt something within her crawling down her head, spine, into her pelvis and slithered down her legs.
Panic rose from her immobility. With all her might she fought the snake’s hypnotic gaze, only managing to scrape her wrists against her curved daggers at her hips. She couldn’t take her eyes from the snake but could hear Matron Aeos’ evil cackles on the stage. Nalax’s pain ran rampant through the hollows of Von-wratha’s mind. She couldn’t shield herself from the anguish of those other fledglings. Instinctively, she pulled all her psychic energy in and felt herself falling deep down into her buried subconsciousness.
Von-wratha found herself within a grey dome of her mind. She has been here many times before during her torture resilience training. A snake’s head appeared inches from her face, and its long and slippery tongue ran down Von-wratha’s head to her neck. The snake pulled back and opened its wide and scaly mouth. The mouth opened to a room. It was a gateway to a past Von-wratha hadn’t seen before.
She stepped through the portal and ended up in a familiar setting. This was the insides of a commoner’s quarters, perhaps even a slave’s quarters. Half a dozen Girians sat within a circle in the centre of a large room, all of them in deep meditation.
Von-wratha was just a spectre, and there was nothing she could do to affect this vision. She took care to walk around them anyway. She saw blue, glowing symbols scrawled in front of each sitting figure. They all wore the same navy-blue robes and had bare feet. Most of them were bald except one female on the opposite side of the circle. She had long wavy hair, overlapping her breasts and reaching down to the creamy brown floor. Von-wratha stared at this figure’s calm face. Her eyes may have been sealed shut, but she noted familiar features of this female.
Von-wratha slowly walked towards her, inspecting every feature this female had, but her attention was broken when a couple of younglings rushed into the room from an adjacent doorway. They had matching clothes like the adults, but they were significantly smaller – and they were panicked. The other adults broke from their meditations and started about the room, rushing to stamp out the now pulsating, symbols.
The navy-haired female jumped up and grabbed the younglings. Amongst the chaos, Von-wratha still couldn’t see her eyes. She started to follow where the three were going, until four, heavily armoured zealots burst into the room. Their black armour glittered like scales and their helmets were heads of snakes. They simultaneously willed their psi-blades into existence from their wrists. The blades shone a brilliant red and angled to a sharp point at the tip, ready for combat. Unfortunately, they would receive no fair fights there.
The smoky red blades whirled wildly slashing and slicing around the screaming room, cutting down the robed figures scrambling like animals in a slaughterhouse, desperate to get out of any doors or windows. Von-wratha’s natural telekinetic power fired up and attempted to push people back from stampeding over her, but this was useless since she was little more than a phantom to them. She watched as the blades impaled torsos or severed the heads from bodies. Instinctively, she glued herself to the wall but ducked when azure blood flew into her direction.
The leader of the zealots kicked over the dismembered bodies that began creating a deep blue pool on the floor. Its sinister snake helmet whipped towards Von-wratha and closed in. She quickly moved to the side, trying to remind herself that she was nothing to them. It dawned on her that this zealot was heading in the direction to where the navy-haired female and younglings escaped. Von-wratha sped behind the zealot and tried screaming out to warn them, but her screams didn’t leave her lips.
The zealot imposed its frightening form over the crouching younglings in the corner of the room. Its gauntlet rose to the air with the glowing red psi-blade overhead, and in one quick downward slash, blood painted the corner walls. Von-wratha heard a female Girian shriek behind her, the navy-haired female leapt onto the zealot’s back, wielding a small lizard-handled dagger, but the zealot pushed her off in one swift motion and plunged its red blade through the female.
Von-wratha saw the female’s eyes at that moment. Her eyes were bright silver before they muted into glassy dead orbs. The female collapsed on her back. Blood started to spray from her mouth before the zealot retracted its psi-blade. Von-wratha was a hardened killer. She was not only used to, but comforted, by the sight of blood. But this moment made her spirit shatter. This was far worse than anything Matron Aeos had ever done before.
The silence after the slaughter was deafening. She grabbed at her phantom forearms, hoping to pinch herself back to the Black Walls, but her attention was snapped away when a scream emanated from a closed wardrobe. Her ears perked, listening to the cries before recognising they could only come from an infant. The zealot heard it too and burst its psi-blade into life again. It confidently walked to the wardrobe before smashing through the flimsy metal doors.
Von-wratha felt her heart drop into her stomach. She rushed over to the wardrobe to find a tiny, moving bundle inside the lower shelf. She froze as the zealot reached its unarmed gauntlet into the closet to peel back the layers of the shrieking cloth. It felt like an eternity had passed as Von-wratha watched the zealot cocking its helmet to the side, looking at the newborn female. The tiny infant continued to wail. However, the zealot lowered its arm and finally retracted its psi-blade back into its wrist. Von-wratha glanced to the zealot, to see their helmet melted away revealing a Girian face. A younger Matron Aeos curved her beautiful black lips into a wicked smile. She broke into her spine-shivering cackle, and her head tilted backwards and continued to roar with laughter.
Von-wratha collapsed to her knees, attempting to stop herself from being sick. She felt like she was being dragged back to her body. The vision of Aeos’s continued laughter blurred and she began falling into unconsciousness.
~
She awoke beneath the shade of a giant serpent maw in front of the gates. The other fledglings were laying at the base of the monolithic doors. She watched some struggling to stand and others spilling sickness on the sands, while the rest didn’t move. Her legs trembled beneath her weight as she rose from the ground. Her gut was turning violently inside. Teleportation sickness was a common side effect.
Von-wratha felt her mind returning to her shaking body. The memories of the vision flooded her thoughts. Her mind replayed the faces getting butchered by Aeos’s zealots, and her mother’s face wild in fury as she tried to protect her younglings, only to join them in death. She felt a burning liquid rise in her chest. Her head shot down to release a mustard green sick liquid, inches from her toes. Sweat rolled down her face as she unhooked a water pouch from her belt and drunk deep to wash the foul taste from her mouth. It didn’t take long for her pouch to empty. Her forearm swiped across her brow as she looked to the fledglings around her. It dawned on Von-wratha that Nalax wasn’t among them.
Her chest tightened as she looked to the waving desert horizon. Had he left her, she wondered. As she stepped forth, her footing was lost and collapsed back to the ground, just missing her puddle of vomit. She looked below her to find cracked pieces of dry bones wrapped in tattered black suits below the gates. They had belonged to fledglings who failed to wake up.
A bestial shriek came from the horizon in the waving desert. Von-wratha focused her eyes on two dark figures in the distance, slamming into each other with great speed and ferocity beneath the sand-sculpted canyons. Nalax was battling against a bosh’kag, a scaly creature that had a taste for Girian flesh. Von-wratha had wondered how he managed to jump into action and trouble in such haste. She questioned why Nalax hadn’t tried searching for her before starting the trials.
Von-wratha siphoned her telekinetic energy, and she felt power billowing in her veins. Her blood rushed to legs, and her eyes narrowed at the beast. She sped with all her fury towards the bosh’kag’s iron-like claws. She pushed Nalax out of its way and leapt upon its limb, running up to the monster's shoulder. He was knocked to the hot ground and watched Von-wratha with both awe and shock as her legs wrapped around the bosh’kag’s neck and shoved her snake-handled daggers into the beast’s eyes, blinding it. The creature instinctively reached towards its face attempting to grab at its attacker, but she was too quick and hopped off the monster’s back, down to its double-jointed legs. Von-wratha’s heart was like a hammer in her ribs. She felt her eyes burn inside her skull. A surge of pleasure flooded her mind as the monster helplessly staggered above her. With all her rage, she plunged her daggers in the bone-plated groin of the bosh’kag and waited to hear the monster’s roar of agony before slashing open its lower half.
Nalax watched in terror beside the fight. Von-wratha knew that he had never witnessed his friend kill with such cruelty. The bone-plated monster buckled its legs and was about to collapse on top of her. Nalax hastily intercepted her seconds before the beast crashed into the sands. The two of them landed on a jagged boulder, scraping their skin and slightly tearing their black survival harnesses, but that was the least of their worries. Von-wratha swallowed the rising dust clouds, creating a horrid dryness in her mouth that only water could cure.
“Get up! Get up!” she screamed and kicked Nalax in the legs, forcing him to roll off her.
“What happened back there?” he said.
“I could ask you that same question. You were nowhere to be found beneath the gates. Instead, you enticed a bosh’kag, almost making us food!” she shouted, feeling the heat in her eyes die down.
Nalax stood up, wiping the dust from his face and maroon hair as he stared at her.
“Why did your eyes turn red, Von?” his voice had a tint of fear in it.
“Did they?” Von-wratha said as she reached behind her belt and sheathed her daggers.
“I’ve never seen them do that before, I would notice-,” Nalax said as his cheeks turned a slight shade of blue.
Von-wratha’s brow rose high in her forehead. “You would notice my eyes?” she said, waiting for a response that never came, “Anyway, why does that matter?”
“It’s just something that the mirrored snake showed me in a vision,” he said quietly as he stared back to the Black Walls, “did you have any visions?”
Von-wratha looked at two red orbs glaring at them from the top of the walls. “Come, we need to find shelter soon before any other fledgling finds it first,”
“I think they took the opportunity to find something while we were fighting the bosh’kag,” Nalax said putting his knuckles on his hips.
She felt his stare returned to her, looking at her black survival harnesses that were stretched tightly across her body. She sensed an unusual thought fleeting across his mind but didn’t probe deeper. Whatever it was, Von-wratha felt a smile rising in her.
“While we were fighting the bosh’kag?” she said as she glared at him with her hand on the hilt of her dagger.
“Apologies, while you were fighting the bosh-kag,” he said with half a smile, “I was on my way to the Sun Hills, that’s where that thing came from. I thought you were already there,”
“No,” she said, glancing to the shadowed canyons to the west, “if they’re coming this far out, then there will be more of them,”
“Most likely, but it’ll be nothing for you,” Nalax said, tapping her shoulder, “and there’s a small lake there, it’ll be a good opportunity to wash off that disgusting red blood.”
Von-wratha barely heard her friend’s voice. She sensed Matron Aeos stabbing into her consciousness. The Twins’ eyes will always be upon you, my daughter.
She clasped her mind shut and shook Aeos’s thoughts from her head before turning her attention to Nalax.
“Come, the day’s nearing its end.” she said beginning her trek into the desert.