Lexy sat awkwardly with the other children in the carriage as the soldiers continued to gather children. From what Lexy had gathered and from how things went with Callum here in Anawrath people apparently pay taxes to the military by giving up a child.
Just freaking dandy. Lexy noted how she was the shortest and skinniest in the whole group. It was a little strange to her. One of the other kids eyed her,
“Were your parents so desperate they gave you up early? Or because they hated looking at you.”
Lexy looked to them smiled and laughed,
“Your parents won't even miss you”
The boy’s eyes widened,
“The hell!”
Lexy raised a brow and shook her head. The boy was about to go into a fit of rage when a few more kids entered and the guardsman with an ear and a half entered. He looked to the children,
“Understand that you all are no longer children, you are cadets of the army. I expect you all to act like it. Here in the military there is no tolerance for fighting, stealing,cheating or worst of all betrayal. I want you all to take a look at these faces around you and get to know them. These will be your brother’s and sisters in arms. You will face combat, death and hell with them. So best not piss each other off. Is that clear?”
The other children lowered their her heads while Lexy stared directly into the man's eyes when the cart was filled with a chorus of,
“Yes sir”
Lexy felt the carriage begin to increase in speed and heard the cloping of hoofs mix with wing flaps. The wind began to howl and Lexy eyed the man with one and a half ears.
“How did you lose half your ear?”
The other kids stared at her like she just asked for death while the man only darkly chuckled, he looked to Lexy.
“I failed to stay a part of my squad during the rebellion siege.”
Many of the children gasped,
“You were a part of the rebellion siege?”
“Did you see Salvailris in action! Did you see him kill the dark fairy?”
The man smirked,
“Yes I did see him. But no, I didn't see the battle between him and the dark fairy. What I did see was a son of a Cursed.”
Lexy watched when the children’s faces changed to absolute horror and raised a brow.
The man continued and his face went dark.
“It was skilled but I must confess it was strange when I had managed to get a cut into their shoulder. It healed on its own.”
Lexy felt the cart stop and the sound of hoofs and wing flaps died down to the sound of some snorts that came from the peryton. The man stood up,
“You children may know me by my last name, Alibis . Now Fenice will make his choice of which platoon you will go in.”
Lexy followed the rest of the children out of the cart to see they were now in a military camp with large sandstone walls plated with iron. Albis had the children line up back straight. Then Albis lined up with other troops facing the children.
“All salute! General Fenice is on approach!”
Lexy watched as a man with light electric blue hair walked up to the group. The strange thing to Lexy was how his hair glowed and softly floated. His eyes were a storm blue exactly like Lexy’s. The man’s outfit consisted of one similar to the other soldiers only with more intricate red swirls along his sleeves. It also had a higher collar and his gas mask looked to be in far better shape than the other soldiers.
The general looked to the soldiers,
“at ease.”
General Fenice looked to the group of children and began walking down the line as if to inspect each of them. Most of the children didn't see his gaze. He stopped at Lexy and General Fenice’s two storm blue eyes met Lexy’s. Lexy’s gaze changed to a glare when she looked at him while his eyes widened.
“What is your name?”
Lexy crossed her arms,
“My name is Lexy Dustwalker, you nitwit.”
General Fenice narrowed his eyes at Lexy’s bow, arrows and her fathers knife.
“Well then I shall inform you now that Cadets are not allowed weaponry until authorized. So I'm going to demand that you give up that strange bow, arrows and whatever type of knife that is in your pocket.”
Lexy’s expression changed into a dark enraged snarl.
“Don't you dare.”
Fenice raised a brow,
“You have a lot of fight for being so little.”
Fenice looked to the soldiers,
“Take the others to the mess hall, give them food and water. Take this child's weaponry. No food, no water for tonight. We'll see how defiant they are to their superior officers after that.”
Fenice began to walk away while the other soldiers went in to take Lexy’s bow. The first man who went to take the bow Lexy quickly bit their hand. The man yelped in pain. He quickly tried to retract his hand only for Lexy to bite harder causing blood to begin to fall into the sand. This caused him to scream and pull his hand back again. This caused his skin from the bite down to be peeled back a bit from Lexy’s teeth. The soldier fell onto the ground clutching his bloody bit hand and screeching in pain.
The other soldier's eyes widened and one quickly dragged the injured man away from Lexy. Lexy spit the blood and small chunks of flesh out of her mouth.
The four soldiers, far more cautious, stayed at least two feet away while trying to grab Lexy’s bow. Lexy quickly grabbed the first man’s arm once within her reach and kicked him in the blatter. The man screamed while the others gasped. Two men helped their injured comrade away. Lexy looked to the last man to see Alibis.
Alibis sighed and ran a hand through his hair.
“I'm not going to take your stuff, just let me take you to the dorm room.”
Lexy relaxed and gave a kind smile,
“Ok.”
Lexy said while she used a sugar laced voice.
Lexy followed Alibis to a building that was very long and upon entering it she saw it was filled with rows and rows of three stacked bunk beds.
Albis looked to her,
“Pick a bunk, you and the other cadets will wake up three hours before sunrise.”
Lexy nodded,
“Ok.”
****
Fenice was overlooking some paperwork when he heard a knock at his office door. Fenice looked up,
“Come in.”
Albis entered,
“I came in to report sir.”
Fenice nodded,
“Alright what is the situation with the Dustwalker child.”
Albis straightened his back,
“Well, they went to quarters with no food, no water just as you said. However no one was able to get the childs weaponry.”
Fenice raised a brow,
“Really now and why would this be? Surly capable soldiers should be able to easily put a child into place.”
Albis’s fox ears flattened against his head,
“Well, the first man is in the Emergency room and his hand was bitten so severely by the cadet that the doctor had to use forty six stitches to put his hand back together. Then the other man suffered damage to his bladder and also had to be taken to the doctor.”
Fenice pressed his lips into a fine line,
“You know what, let the child keep the weapons well and see how much they will want to carry it after magic assessment and training.”
Lexy had awakened to the sound of a war horn and Albis along with a few other soldiers barging in.
“All cadets up! It’s time for a magic assessment!”
Lexy heard the other cadets talk eagerly while some looked like they just wanted to find a corner to hide in. Lexy climbed off the top bunk and got in line with the many other cadets. The cadets filed out like they did yesterday.
Guardsmen were going down the lines asking what the children knew about their magic. From what Lexy heard there were four main groups that the guards were sorting the kids into, Mystic, Dragonblooded, beast-blooded, and wizard. Then there was every ten or more a child would be sorted in with a trainer because they were dual blood, tri blooded or a mixed blood.
It seemed to go fine until one of these inspectors reached Lexy. Lexy noted how this man was the same one she bit yesterday. The man looked at her with a scowl and his eyes glowed for a moment.
“You.”
He paused and his eyes glowed again.
“you're on the verge of being nothing. But you're hanging on to be something.”
The man looked to Fenice with a sigh,
“This one has barely any flowing. They have just enough to keep their attitude and body alive. But beyond that. They'll die the first-day sir.”
Fenice frowned at Lexy,
“That is a shame when they had such a fight. Alright, send Dustwalker to the dorms. Albis and I shall decide what happens to them.”
Albis watched Lexy be sent to the dorms and couldn't help but smirk. Albis watched as the rest of the cadets were sorted. Come to the end of the day Albis yet again was in Fenice's office,
“Sir, I think we should wait until the supplies get here then move camp. We have no idea how many rebels are out there. All we know is they are there and trained while we are filled with untrained recruits. It would be a slaughter.”
Fenice nodded,
“Very well what of the Dustwalker? What should we do with them? I received news that the family had vanished. So we can't exactly send the child back.”
Albis gave a cruel smile,
“When we move camp we could just leave the child to die. There is no better way than pain after all. If the child is willing to stay with us I'm sure with that much fire in their blood they will make it to the next point.”
Fenice looked to Albis,
“Have it be done.”
Albis nodded,
“Of course sir.”
****
Lexy woke up to the sound of a war horn again. The children again were sorted into lines. Lexy watched as the soldiers had the cadets be put into carts and how everyone was in a storm to leave. It was until everyone was ready to go that Albis walked up to Lexy,
“The rebels are said to be raiding this place. If you can manage to survive and get to the next camp we set up. Well, consider you worth training. Good luck little bird.”
Lexy watched the Anawrath forces leave till she was the only soul there. She huffed,
“Well, then that happened.”
Lexy eventually went to one of the outposts' walls to see people riding in on tiger horses. Quickly Lexy did the utmost logical thing one could do. She took out the scale the hydra gave her and broke it.
The wind howled and Lexy saw the rebels coming in closer she shuddered, “C'mon please, please work!”
Sand twisted around her as the hydra rose from the sand. The hydra looked to Lexy and tilted one of its many heads, “Hello child! So what do you-” He paused when he saw the rebels and looked back to Lexy.
Lexy met his gaze with fear in her eyes, “Could you give me a ride away from here please?”
The hydra gained a determined look in its eyes and readied itself to go. Lexy climbed on to the hydra and hung on as it leaped from spot to spot like a sidewinding snake.
Alcore and Jackson watched with awe from their tiger horses when Lexy passed in a flash riding on the back of a hydra.
Lexy watched as the rebels and the base faded in with the horizon. The hydra glanced back to her, “So who were those guys?”
She frowned, “they were people that had kidnapped me before. They also are the reason you and I met. Because I was running from them.”
The hydra nodded, “So that’s why you were in the desert. Also question, how did you disappear by the water?”
Lexy furrowed her brows and sighed, “I don’t really know how, I was focused on being home and I was suddenly home.”
The hydra reached the large rocky entrance into the cave with water flowing through it.
The hydra hummed, this gave a kind of gurgle sound rather than what normal humming sounded like. The beast tilted it’s head “well if you find a way make sure to visit my humble little rock.”
Lexy smiled, “Of course and i'll help you fight anything that tries to eat you.”
The hydra nodded, “I'll have to take your word on that.”
Lexy looked then to the horizon and saw a circling sandstorm, “Are the sandstorms magic? Or is that one piece of natural weather? Because as far as I'm aware weather isn’t supposed to move that fast.”
The hydra looked to where her gaze was aimed. He shook one of his heads, “Yes that is magic one even the people of Anawrath would rather be ignorant of than truly aware of.”
Lexy raised a brow, “why is there an evil wizard gang in there or something?”
The hydra gave a dry chuckle before she shuddered, “Evil yes. Wizard’s no. It’s a dusted wendigo that is named Algavorian.”
Lexy looked with wide eyes, “A wendigo, aren't they supposed to be evil winter spirits?”
The hydra tilted one of its heads at her, “For once you said something somewhat accurate about a mystic. Yes, the common type is a cold winter spirit. But they have much larger, meaner, and dustier cousins. The dusted ones spit lightning to make the sand turn to glass around you.”
Lexy winced, “Oof. That sounds scary.” She took a deep breath, “Maybe this ability requires me to focus on where I want to go?”
The hydra gave a hum, “maybe give it a try.”
Lexy closed her eyes and focused her teeth were beginning to hurt for some reason and so was her head. Lexy closed her eyes and suddenly she crashed into a tree and opened her eyes to find herself back in the forest.
Lexy looked at the sun to see it was almost down and despite the pain from crashing into a tree, she dashed to the mansion. Lexy quickly pulled the front doors open,
“Thokath! I got lost in the woods and I'm sorry I really tried to get back here as soon as I could.”
Thokath quickly ran from one of the side rooms, rushed up to Lexy, knelt down, and brought her into a hug. Thokath embraced her tightly while tears began to fall down Lexy’s face when she nuzzled into Thokath’s shoulder.
“I'm sorry, I'm so sorry.”
Thokath rubbed circles into her back,
“It’s ok, what matters now is that you're here.”
Thokath’s hug was warm and so soft Lexy couldn't help but fall asleep
Albis smiled as he stood in the desert and looked to the two cloaked figures in front of him. They had black outfits with orange embroidery however even with the cloaks Albis could see their glowing haunting orange eyes.
They glared at him,
“What do you have to tell us, Albis.”
Albis’s smile turned cruel and dark,
“Tell Orien that I found the bird and it is time to begin the hunt.”
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