9 - ruin

She walked through the burning city, looking for the way out. She heard more screaming, the roar of the fires...

A tear rolled down her cheek as she walked. She was certain that Jack would die in there, if he did not leave soon.

Before long, she found the gate out of the city. With a final look back at the burning city, she walked slowly out the gate. She saw a person chasing after her. At a glance, she could tell it was not Jack, so she ran. With her head in such turmoil, she could not reach for her magic properly, so without anything to aid her, she was fatiguing. She tried to run, at least, but before long, she was stumbling.
Layra looked around

She wasn't the only person running from the city. Many citizens had fled now long after the explosion, and even more when the majority of the city was burning. She turned around again and saw a lone man in the dirt, without visible armour, crawling face first through the dirt, away from the city, but she could see people moving in on him.

It was either a prisoner, who they had heard nothing of since the castle, or...
Without a second thought, she pulled off all of her armour as fast as she could, to lighten her load, and sprinted to the man. Jack.

He had passed out, but the men were still advancing on him. She managed to grasp enough energy to create a blast that dazed all of the soldiers for a brief moment. It was a flash of light that blinded them momentarily, and their vision would take a time to return. She drew her sword from her belt and attacked them.

Some of her ill focused swipes simply pinged off their armour, but some of them found flesh, and each one that did left a scream and a flow of blood in its wake.
One soldier lived long enough for the effects of the flash to wear off enough, to see a blade rushing towards him. to his surprise, he did not die on the spot, but rather, connected with his knee, where there was a small gap in the armour to allow movement. He fell, screaming, to the ground.

She looked down at Jack. He had lost a lot of blood; his face was pale, and there was a smear of blood on the ground, beginning with a few irregular drops to a veritable torrent where he had crawled. She saw the arrow sticking out of his shoulder, and before she removed it, she stopped. Removing it would simply let the blood flow freely, and she had no way of stopping it.

But, he hadn't lost enough blood to be life threatening yet.  He would be fine, but Layra currently didn't know where their relationship stood, not any more.
And there's nothing I can do for him, now

The thought invaded her mind. He didn't want to simply leave him here, but lacked the strength to move him. she figured that staying here would be certain death, especially now that she is unable to fight.

Her headache was getting worse, and her vision was starting to fade. She got up slowly, unstable, and walked, off balance, towards the river which gave life to the city.

Before she was even half way, excruciating pain wracked her body. She fell to her knees, her face twisted into a grimace as she tried to steady herself, and force her body to move, but it was too much for her. Her vision was intermittently fading, then coming back in to focus, and fading again.

After a few minutes, the pain had receded enough for her to be able to force herself to her feet, however unsteady she was, and continue slowly to the water.  She made it, finally. Less than a minute after reaching it, the pain returned again, but not as bad as before. It still forced her to her knees.

She turned around and looked at the city. It was still burning, the fire and smoke lit the sky a hideous orange. Jack was still laying on the ground, and didn't seem, from this distance, to be moving. She turned away from the sight, as tears ran uncontrollably down her cheeks.

To her mind, everything happening right now, it was her fault. Not Jacks. She had convinced him to follow her path to revenge, and that is why they are here...
She looked at her reflection in the water. Her hair was much longer than she had ever had it in Rema; her time in the mountains had let it grow long, but now, there was blood and ash in it, making it feel heavy and disgusting. He face had numerous cuts, bruises and scars from both today, and the time leading up to it.  She hardly recognised herself, and was in many ways ashamed of how terrible she looked.

The thought was brief, soon to be replaced by more pain. This wave was milder than before, but she couldn't figure out what was causing it. She hadn't sustained any major injuries like Jack had, and she knew she had a headache from magic, but... this made no sense to her

She cupped her hands and placed them in the water, then splashed the water on her face. It was refreshing, and removed most of the miscellaneous grime from her face. Blood, dust, ash. It made her feel a bit better, and the cool water was relaxing. She was far enough away from the fires for the air to be somewhat cool again. She took a breath and plunged her entire head into the river, and ran her hands through her hair. It was now clean, to a degree.  

She noticed, too, that she was getting very tired. She didn't know how long since she had last slept, if it had been the roughly 3 days like normal, or more, or even less. Nonetheless, the inexorable grip of sleep beckoned to her. Her eye lids fluttered slightly as she forced herself to stay awake. It was no time to sleep, far too dangerous. But, the night claimed her, and she slid down to the ground and her eyes closed.

Good luck...Jack

Her final thought before she drifted into dreams


-----------------------


When she woke, there was no pain. No headache. The numerous cuts and bruises were still there, but the pain she expected was not. She looked at the sky. It was blue in places, but in others, it was obscured by clouds. It could have been smoke, too. But she wasn't sure. It was black, and it blocked out the sun, leaving only patches of blue.

The city seemed to have stopped visibly burning, but she figured that the ruins were still smouldering, below her view. She picked herself up off the ground. Considering what had happened here, it was incredibly calm. Peaceful. As she made her way back to where jack had been, she walked past numerous bodies. Soldiers, some civilians who had succumbed to injuries. Or had been slaughtered; she wasn't sure.

She saw someone sitting, a silhouette in the distance. The figures knees were raise to just below the chin, and arms wrapped around the legs. She couldn't tell who it was from here, but she knew in her heart that it was Jack.

Spurred on by this thought, Layra ran as fast as she could to him. it was Jack, but looking at him made her feel sick.

His face was battered and bruised beyond recognition. His entire body, covered in blood. What could be seen of his skin had gone milky white from blood loss. His hair was messy, and like hers, was caked and matted with blood and ash.
He didn't seem to notice her at first, and when he did, it took him a moment to recognise her.

"Sorry" the word came from him with a frailty that took her totally by surprise

"For what?"  The shock in her voice was noticeable, but she really didn't know to what he was referring.  It could be several things

"I lost control. In the city, you told me to leave... I remember that. But it wasn't me. I'd never talk to you like that"

She nodded

"Its fine, Jack" she sat down next to him and wrapped her arm around his shoulders "it's over"

He got to his feet, using his hands to steady himself as he stood, and walked unsteadily towards the river. He seemed to have the same thought that Layra had had. He splashed water on his face and through his hair, but finding a splash insufficient, pushed his head into the river. When he resurfaced, his skin was clean of dirt and blood, but still horribly scarred, and his hair was slicked back, now devoid of the grime that had previously been there

"What now?" his voice was still weak

"We need somewhere to go. It's still not safe here"

"But where? It's too far to the mountains for me at the moment. I can barely walk"
Layra sighed. He had been injured much more seriously than she had, so it didn't surprise her.

"Closest thing I can think of... is Rema" Layra's voice was soft, too. Still slightly shaken by the experiences the night before

Jack nodded, and got to his feet. They began trudging north, slowly.  They stopped several times. Jack was still unable to find any magic to keep him going, his headache was still too bad, so they had to go at a commoners pace

By the time they got there, it was sunset, and Jack's headache had receded enough for him to use some magic, and his pain in general had gone.

The ruins of the old city, and their home, were totally deserted, and covered in dust. Blood stains were still visible in some places, but had faded quite significantly.

They walked towards their old home. It was crumbling, and you could see from outside, the stairs that led to Jack's room

It seemed so surreal to be here, for both of them. So long since Jack had walked down those stairs and first met Layra. It seemed like another life. Another world. Nothing here seemed real any more.

Without a word, they came to the same conclusion where to go next. They walked to the back of the city, and found the mountain that formed the coast-side of the wall, and through the cave that went through it. They were overlooking the ocean, from a rocky outcrop. To both of them, this place had a certain significance that it likely hadn't had for anyone else in the city.

They sat on the edge, legs dangling over the side, Layra resting her head on Jack's shoulder

"Do we go back to the mountains?" Jack asked, his tone more serious now

"Possibly" she started "but I think we can do something more... memorable"

One of Jack's eyebrows rose, unsure what she was hinting at. She saw the look and continued

"No one has crossed the desert and returned. Or the ocean. I think we could"

He was unconvinced, but nodded all the same. If they were given time to recover, he too thought that it would be possible...at least for them. Probably not so for anyone else, though.

"I'd rather go the desert" jack said, finally

"Why?"

"My understanding is, its arid because it doesn't get proper rain fall, because it is quite a bit inland, correct?"

"Yeah, pretty much"

"Well it can't go on forever, and I'd hazard a guess that it will be a lot easier to cross than the ocean"

Layra nodded in agreement. He had a point, but it would take them a fair while to even reach the edge of the desert, whilst the ocean is right next to them.  

"So when do we want to leave, then?" Layra said, after a few minutes quiet contemplation

"In a few days. I need time to recover. E'trin really took it out of me

"You pushed too hard, that's why"

"The arrow in my shoulder has nothing to do with it?"

"Yes, but not as much as the abuse of magic.  On that note, how's the headache?"
He rubbed his head

"Still there, but not as bad. At least I can see straight, now"

Layra laughed, even though it probably wasn't meant to be funny.

A few minutes passed, and the sun fell below the horizon, and it was getting very dark, very quickly

"It wasn't a memory, was it Jack"

The question took him off guard, but he knew what she meant. The 'memory' he had explained to her, soon after he had woken up with amnesia

He shook his head

"E'trin. I had a feeling there would be an explanation for it, and now I have it..."
Layra saw his eyes drift off, into thought, but she had no idea what he was thinking about.

Quite unexpectedly, Layra's stomach rumbled. She hadn't felt hungry before, but now she was positively starving.

"Is it too late to go hunting?"

He hadn't heard her stomach rumble, but he heard her speak, and Jack snapped back to the present.

"That depends, think you can find anything? I'm as hungry as you are"

Layra thought about that for a minute.
"There are boars on the plains outside the city, but they aren't easy to find at night. Too dark"

"Too bad we have nothing to do till sunrise, then. I'm not tired, not really"

"neither am I, but if we really are going to try to cross the desert, we should have a look around the ruins for anything that may be of use, that wasn't destroyed when we  got attacked" Then Layra stopped, noticing something "where's your sword?"

It wasn't in his hand, beside him, on his back or anywhere she could see. Jack sighed

"When I woke up this morning, it was gone. I tried looking for it, but couldn't see it anywhere. Besides, I was thinking of replacing it anyway. The superb craftsman ship aside, it is quite difficult to use. It isn't weighted correctly, and the double blades make it quite awkward to use at times"

"To Lucas', then? See if he has any in his basement that aren't rusted?"

Jack nodded. It was logical; he wasn't going to find any swords in the local area, aside from the workshop.

The door of the workshop was decayed and falling off its hinges, but the walls of the building were also crumbling. Inside, they could see rusted armour and weapons, but he could also see the trapdoor that had once resided underneath the sandbox. The sand was, for the most part, gone now, but small amounts now filled the gaps of the trapdoor.

It took a minute to pry open, and as they went down the ladder, they were confronted by the skeleton of Lucas. Last they had seen of him, long ago, was him hiding in here, bleeding. He had accepted his death was inevitable.

Around the walls of the room, Jack and Layra could still see many, many weapons. Daggers, swords, and a few war-hammers, and one or two axes.

Jack went through them one by one. He told Layra to wait up top as he tested them all. He illuminated the room with magic, and, one by one, tested the balance, weight, size and grip of each of the weapons. Before long, he had emerged with two weapons: a small dagger and a long bladed sword. It was not as unique and well crafted as his old weapon, but it was much more balanced and easier to swing, and because the blade was not curved, it was suitable for both stabbing as well as slashing, unlike his old one.

The dagger, he figured, would be more useful as a tool than a weapon, such as if he was cutting food, or needed to skin an animal, and on that basis, he kept it. it was the sharpest of the daggers in there, and its grip suited him nearly exactly.
In the dark recesses of the room, he also found a belt with a dagger holster on it, and a selection of leather sheaths with back straps. He grabbed the belt, and two sheaths, and ascended the ladder.

He tossed one sheath at Layra's feet as he put the other one on, followed by the belt

"Put this on; much easier to carry a sword" he slid his sword into his one, and the dagger into the belt

It fit her, but not perfectly. Still, it was good to have a proper place to keep her sword.

For the rest of the night, they went through every house in the city, and by the time they were finished, they had a backpack each, both made of boar skin, there was one razor in a person's bedroom, which was still sharp. Jack claimed that without a second thought. He had started to grow a fair bit of facial hair, which he had last tried to cut off with his dual bladed sword, ending in a fair bit of blood loss and a nasty scar, which, as it was, is now hidden by his facial hair.

They also found a flint rock. Jack questioned the value of keeping it, but Layra insisted it could be useful if they were, for any reason unable (or unwilling) to use magic to light a fire, and need to resort to flint striking. Apparently, this was used to create sparks to light tinder, and was the primary way for those without magic to light fireplaces in Rema. Or so Layra said; she had always lit the fire at home with magic.

They also found, in a small bag, a sturdy, yet delicately carved, bow. It was accompanied by a bundle of roughly 30 arrows. Needless to say, they took this with them. Jack had never really used a bow, but Layra had, so she took it.
The sun was rising soon after they finished searching the last house. The city had seemed small before, but after Jack searched every single house, he realized just how many people must have lived there. Most houses had been destroyed, and were devoid of any useful contributions, yet some were still relatively intact.
They headed out onto the plains, and within an hour, they had seen a wild boar. Layra levelled the bow at the animal, and let an arrow fly, which slammed into its leg

Layra swore; she had been hoping for a clean kill.

"knife." She said simply.

Jack drew the dagger (which may as well be a knife, for all they intended to use it for) and tossed it to Layra, who stabbed the wounded animal in the back of the neck, killing it. She wiped the blood off the blade, on the animals back, and tossed it back to Jack, who caught it on reflex.

They cooked it, and cut pieces off it and sat there, eating. They had not eaten properly in several days, and they were starting to get weak, and by the time they were finished, most of the good meat had been removed from the body.

When they finished, they decided they had no reason to stay in the area any longer, and headed east, towards the group of trees, which would then taper off into scattered grass between sands and dirt, and then into the desert proper.
It took nearly a day to reach the edge of the desert. It was hot. Very hot. Jack and Layra looked at each other.

"Are you sure about this?" Layra asked as they stood on the edge of the arid wasteland

"No. But let's go anyway"

They walked across the boundary, where grass finally slid into nonexistence, and headed for sa place that no one knew a thing about.