15^th Illumis, 460 AG, 19:03PM, Heodal Kingdom

The bench next to Xyron wobbled, missing part of one leg that his mother always promised to fix but never did. The initial tremor felt like a needle shooting up his bone. He jerked, sharing Aolyne’s awkward reaction. His little brother whimpered and ducked, even though nothing had fallen. Kai rolled his eyes, leaning on the old table, still unsure if it was a dream or reality. Boulders like that couldn’t be real, but then the second, deeper tremor struck.

This time, everything seemed to break apart inside the house. Cups fell from the shelves and shattered at their feet. A sharp crack ran up the kitchen wall, sending a cloud of white dust onto Xyron’s clothes. He blinked, now scared of what would happen next. Kai wore armor, thanks to his father using him as a mannequin earlier, but the same couldn't be said for everyone else.

Aolyne started crying, his breaths bouncing off the walls similar to an echo. For a moment, Xyron could only hear the many pieces of wood crack second after second, along with the screams from other people outside. Then, the window burst inward with a sharp crack, like a tree branch snapping in half.

The glass broke first, then a hand reached through. It was armored, dark with road dust and war. The hand grabbed the window’s edge, pulled, and the soldier swung himself inside, tearing the frame from the stone. Xyron knew it was an Argo Kingdom soldier even before he saw the sigil, courtesy of his father’s stories. The man landed inside and noticed the boys.

Kai froze and stared at him, unsure of what to do.

“Xyron, get down!” Aolyne screamed, his innocent mind hoping that they’d be spared if they did not resist. Xyron stayed where he was and stood up to face the soldier, his whole body tensing and readying for battle.

But then, a figure came into view behind the soldier, Katyl.

Silent and quick as if from a story, she grabbed the kitchen knife hanging on the wall to her right. There was no warning, merely the faint, wet sound of her grip almost breaking the wax seal on the handle. The blade changed shape; Xyron saw it; he was sure. It became brighter, and almost doubled in the air. A high, thin hiss, like a kettle boiling, filled the room.

The Argo soldier turned, but not quickly enough; his mother was already moving.

She pushed the knife under the helmet, angling it up and in, not stabbing but directing it, just like she’d shown him how to split a chicken’s breast with one hand. There was a weird sound, like a drop of rain hitting wet wood, and the soldier’s knees lost their strength. Katyl pulled the blade out and braced herself as the body fell forward. The soldier’s hand grabbed her arm, but she shook him off and pushed him down. The man’s helmet fell off and scratched a line into the stone floor. The kitchen was too loud with Aolyne’s cries, the ringing of Kai’s armor boots scrambling away, and the scraping of the soldier’s metal against the floor, but also strangely silent, as if all the sound had been sucked out of the room. Xyron saw the blood first as a line, then a pool, dark and fast, running through the ground and staining it a reddish black.

Aolyne collapsed, burying his face in Xyron’s chest and crying, and when Xyron wrapped an arm around him. He felt another tremor move through both their bodies. Kai had doubled over by the back door, his shaking hands held on his knees, mouth hanging open as if he was going to vomit, but nothing came out except the thin, frightened sound of air. Nothing could have prepared him to witness such a gruesome death.

Katyl was already standing, one hand pressed to the counter for balance. She kept the knife pointed at the dead man, as if he might get up again, but her left hand shook, making the blade tremble. She looked at Xyron, and he saw the same fear in her eyes that he’d just seen in Kai’s. But when she spoke, her voice was flat and sharp, like a blade itself.

“On your feet. Now. All of you.” She wasn’t asking.

Xyron’s legs reacted before he even thought about it. He pulled Aolyne up; the boy’s face was covered in snot, tears, and sweat. Kai made a choked sound and forced himself up, stumbling as if his boots were three times as heavy.

Katyl was still standing over the body. Xyron’s mind wouldn’t call it a corpse, not yet. The knife was still in her right hand, the blade wet and shiny, leaving a trail of red drops behind her. She walked to the wall, slid the knife into the sheath part of her coat, and checked on the back door, her hands working quickly and with purpose.

Aolyne whimpered, and Xyron looked down at him. The boy’s eyes were squeezed shut, his lips moving in a frantic, silent count. “You’re okay.” Xyron lied. “We’re okay.” As he said it, he heard a sound he’d missed in the chaos, the steps of more boots, not in the kitchen, but outside, pounding up the dirt path around their house.

Katyl’s eyes followed the noise. She didn’t freeze; she never did. She opened the door and ordered the boys through, positioning her own body to shield the gap for as long as she could.

“Go,” she said, and they all went.

The air outside was much colder, cutting through Xyron’s shirt and raising goosebumps. Aolyne’s small hand clutched his wrist, almost hard enough to hurt, but he didn’t dare to pull away. Kai was at his side, still pale, but his face was set in a way that showed he’d decided to be brave, and Xyron envied him for it.

Katyl closed the door behind them, and for a moment, Xyron looked at the dead man inside through the broken window. Things really had gone wrong out of nowhere.

Aolyne made a sound, half gasp and half question, but Katyl spoke over him, her voice even lower than before. With all the shouts and blades clashing sounds, it was obvious the main battle was happening on the eastern gate, so going away from it was obvious.

“We go west, through the garden, and then as hidden as possible until we reach the gate and out of the village. Let’s move.” She led them into the rows of beans and limp, frost greens his mother had tended since summer. Dirt squelched under their feet, and the beans snapped under their boots. Xyron winced, but Katyl didn’t look down. She walked as if another boulder could come at any moment, and the only hope was to be far from that place.