‘The Hell War will arrive... nothing will stop us...’

-Regol Leader to his troops before the attack on Xalli

XALLI

Hart woke up with a start. It smelled like there was charred wood in her nose. She sat up, coughing, and looked down at herself. Her Emahra Warrior uniform was charred, tattered, and stained. She looked around frantically and saw that she was in a cave. Suddenly Alta was rushing to her. The woman crouched down and took Hart by the shoulders as the girl trembled.

‘It’s okay, it’s okay,’ Alta said. ‘You’re safe.’

She was smudged up, her armour was a mess too. There were cuts and bruises on her face.

‘What happened?’ Hart asked.

‘Shuu,’ Alta said, grabbing a canteen from the stone floor and holding it up to Hart’s lips. ‘Drink this.’

Hart drank deeply. Then she coughed and pushed the canteen to the side.

‘Alta,’ she said, this time with a little more force, ‘what happened?’

‘The Regol attacked,’ Alta said grimly.

She stood up and put her back to Hart, hugging one arm across herself as she looked out a cave mouth at green forest and rain that was pouring down.

‘I got there just in time to grab you and Alathor, before you were taken in the initial attack. You were unconscious, I carried you. Alathor was so… strong. Regol chased us down... we barely lost them.’ She turned back to Hart. ‘Things are very bad.’

Hart’s heart hammered in her chest.

This couldn’t be happening. This was impossible.

‘My family?’ she asked in a rush.

Alta shook her head. ‘I don’t know if anyone survived, except Alathor. When you left the Academy, I warned your family you were coming and then chased you down... Like I said, I got there just in time to get to you and Alathor before... I don’t know what happened to anyone else.’

Hart drooped her head.

Tears stung her eyes.

She should have stayed where she was?

Had she led the Regol home?

She looked around the cave, she didn’t see her Sister.

‘Where is Alathor?’ she asked.

Alta looked grim. ‘We got separated… she led the Regol away… because you were unconscious. She told me to hide with you, lay low… We agreed on a place to meet.’

Hart looked worried.

‘Your Sister is a great warrior,’ Alta assured. ‘She’ll be okay.’

Hart let out a breath and she looked down at the stone floor of the cave. She ran her fingers through her purple hair and let out a long sigh.

‘Hey,’ Alta said, kneeling in front of Hart and taking her hands, looking into her eyes. ‘I know what you are thinking, but don’t think it! This is not your fault... this just happened. We’ll lay low for now... then we’ll get out of here... go somewhere safe.’

Hart nodded. ‘Yes,’ she said.

The women were silent.

‘Did they tell you about the vision?’ Alta asked after a long moment.

‘Yes,’ Hart replied, leaning her head back against the stone. ‘Yes,’ she repeated darkly, ‘they told me… They told us both.’

‘It’ll be okay,’ Alta said, squeezing Hart’s hand. Then she stood up and stepped back toward the mouth of the cave, keeping watch.