The sound of metal meeting flesh instantly broke through the joyous atmosphere forcing everyone in the house to look towards the door.
We were all met with the tragic sight of a spear sticking through my father’s chest splashing his blood over the leather rugs. Before anyone could react to the scene though, my father had his lifeless body snatched out of the door into the darkness.
This caused my mother to scream her lungs out while sprinting towards the doorway after my father. Both of my uncles' present followed right behind her. She took three steps before she was met with three arrows that came through the doorway two of which were embedded in her chest while the third went into her head. She was immediately killed by the arrows and her body fell forward and hit the floor with a thump.
*plop*
I felt my heart drop inside my chest as I stumbled to my feet.
Two men then rush through the open door with spears and charged my two uncles who were rushing to close the said door. I was about to step forward to help them but my grandmother who had gathered my remaining family members stopped me.
“Do not go, Rallo, even with weapons there will be too many. I do not know who is attacking us but the warriors of our village should be here so–”
She was interrupted by a yelp.
*stab* “AHH–, Wait.. Levi?! Why are y– Oof” *stab*
My uncle Luke who didn’t have much fighting experience was taken down but not before recognizing one of the many attackers. Hearing his last moments filled me with guilt as I was sure I could have prevented this whole event. Why didn’t I just follow my gut?
“FATHER!!” Luca screamed while trying to run over to his dad who still struggled with his attacker even as he was taken down.
I saw three more arrows poke in through the window and jumped into action. I tackled Luca causing the arrows to miss him but I didn’t hear them hit anything solid so I turned to look while dragging Luca along the floor with me.
As I got around the table, which had been flipped at this point to serve as a barrier against the arrows, I was met with another bloody sight. One of the arrows pierced one of my aunts in her back and through her heart killing her instantly, while a second arrow struck the other aunt through her neck. She was gurgling and trying to speak to her daughters Ash and Bell but no words came. She slowly died choking and spitting up blood in front of her terrified twin daughters.
I wanted to console them but now was not the time. We had to get out of here now or we will be joining them in the afterlife.
“Grandmother, we need to get out here no–..”
As turned towards my grandmother I was frozen still.
That third arrow had struck her through her lung and forced her to sit against the easternmost wall of the house. I hurriedly crawled over towards her.
“No... Grandmother, you can’t die yet... I- I have so much to show you.. Those lights you spoke of in your speech are stars. They are just look the sun.. Th- The void is really just space.. The Earth- No, The Mother is a planet and there are more out the–”
I was stopped by a bloody finger being placed over my mouth. It was my grandmother with the wide grin she usually had. She tried to speak.
“Rallo, my boy, you really are chosen-*cough* *cough*”
With every cough more and more blood came out of the wound. I tried to stop the bleeding but the blood kept flowing through my fingers.
“I do not have much left time left on the Mother.*cough* You..*cough* *cough*. You all must leave here. *cough* do not let our legacy die along with us. *cough* Rallo, take the book, it will do better in your hand than these fuckin-*cough* *cough* also take this.”
She handed me a small amulet made of some type of metal that matched the image carved into the book. I put it and the book in a bag of food that was nearby and hurried to resume putting pressure on the wound which was now bleeding profusely.
“*wheeze* *cough* *cough* *wheeze* now go…*wheeze* lead your kin-*cough*go east-*cough* *cough*”
As the life faded from her eyes she slowly slumped over as she met with our fallen family members in the afterlife.
I felt tears stream down my face as I was overwhelmed with grief. I was frozen once again as none of the memories or knowledge I had could help me bring her back. I wasn’t the only one as my cousins who all saw her last moments all cried as well. They then all looked at me as they saw my grandmother pass on the leadership of our family to me.
“KIDS!! RUN!”
Our final uncle who was still fighting those trying to enter the house screamed out to us as he was taken down.
This woke me out of my lost state as an arrow flew by and hit the wall beside my now-deceased grandmother. I reached out and close her eyes before grabbing the bag which contained the book, amulet, and food before throwing it to Zoe which she promptly caught..
“Luca and Kai grab another bag of food and jump out the window there. Zoe, you follow behind them with that bag. I will send Ash and Bell through before following as well. Once outside, we will all run directly to the walls and toss the bags over before squeezing through the gaps. Once we are safe we can speak. GO!”Everybody immediately did as I said.
Luca and Kai both grabbed bags and headed out the window which was on the same easternmost wall in the house that our grandmother perished on, with their bags in tow. Zoe quickly slung the bag I gave her over her shoulder and jumped through the window as well quicker right after them. Ash and Bell ran for the window but took a bit more time to get out as their dresses slowed them a bit, but they were basically outside by now. I saw a guy raise his bow through the front door and made a quick judgment call and grabbed two of the smaller skirts that the men usually wore while sprinting toward the window. Ash and Bell had just made it onto the ground with the others when I came diving out the window with an arrow flying just above me that landed harmlessly on the short grass outside.
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Kai quickly picked me up off the ground and the whole group of us immediately ran toward the wall that was about ten feet in front of us. As we got close all three teens easily threw their respective bags over and I sent Ash and Bell through the biggest gap I saw which could easily fit an adult man through it. Next was Zoe who was tall but slender so she slipped right through. After her went Luca who wasn’t as tall but was naturally wider and even he had no trouble getting through. Kai was the only person who had a little trouble getting through as he was the stockiest of us all, but he made it through as well though his arms and legs got scratched up.
I slipped through the fence just as easily as Zoe and met the group who were waiting on the other side. I handed the two male skirts to Ash and Bell respectively as their current dresses would only slow us down at this point. The guys and I grabbed three bags and then turned to “watch” for any body who could have followed us through the wall to which there were none.
A few seconds later they indicate that they were done changing and we continued with our escape.
As we moved eastward through the forest the girls, who had never been outside the walls of the village, stuck close to the guys in the group. I decided to just group one of them with one of us so that we can easily keep an eye on all of them at the same time. We could also distribute the food easier this was as each group will have their own bag to eat out of.
I told Zoe she was with me, while Luca got Ash, and Kai got Bell. Everybody just went along with what I said.
We continued through the darkness for a while before I heard the sound of running water. I sighed in relief, as I was just beginning to think that I had led everyone in the wrong direction. After walking about fifty more feet I saw the river for the first time with my own eyes.The river itself was at most sixty feet at its widest and seemed to be pretty shallow, but could be isolated to just the piece we came across. I thought the name Bow River made perfect sense though once I saw the bend in the river.
We continued to the bank of the river before I grabbed a long stick that was on the shore. I then looked back and address those following me.
“Follow right behind, we have to cross the river as quickly as we can but I don’t want to lose any more family. Luca and Kai grab a stick like this and use it to keep balance in the water. Zoe, Ash, and Bell, you all can use us guys for support but watch your steps. Let's go.”
They all did as instructed and quickly followed me into the water. The part of the river we chose to cross had a mound of gravel and sand in the middle so it was pretty simple to get across.
The deepest part we encountered was about five feet which made us swim for a bit but we could tread the water for most of the way.
After crossing the river our escape could be seen as complete but it would be foolish to stop now so we just continue jogging east through a new set of everlasting trees.
We continued jogging for around an hour before slowing to a walk so as not to tire ourselves out. I asked if anyone had to attend to their “business” and they all said no, so we continued walking.
After walking for around twenty minutes Kai asked the question I had pondered this entire time.
“What do we do now? We have no home and will likely run into beasts out here with all this food. We can not die before avenging our family.”Luca nodded and spoke up as well.
“I agree, grandmother said we should head east but that was it. What if we run into those tribesmen? We have no way to defend ourselves.”
Even the girls nodded their heads at this before looking at me for an answer.
I thought for a moment before remembering the book that our grandmother told us to take. I quickly searched through the bag I was carrying and found the book in question before going through it.
They were twenty-six pages in total. The first twenty pages were about the traditions of the village and how to solve any problems the previous heads or elders had come across. This was basically useless to me now as you already know so I skipped over it and made a mental note to tear it out when the time is right. The next four pages were about the beast and plants that were in the area. This was useful but wouldn’t help out our current situation very much. The first of the last two pages was blank on the front which worried me for a second until I flipped the page and found what I was looking for. Allowing me to sigh in relief.
After flipping the page I saw a detailed yet delicate map of the surrounding area. The village itself when in the center of the map but was tiny as the scale of the map was quite large. The forest surrounding the forest were painted green and it covered a majority of the area between Bow River, which was accurately depicted, to the east of the village, and Spear Mountain to the west, which covered almost twenty percent of the right side of the map.
The only other significant image on the map was one that I was familiar with, however. It was the same symbol as the amulet that I currently had in my possession, the very same symbol that appeared on the front cover of the book.
It was located directly but far east of everything on the map and surround by blotches of green that I could only guess indicated fewer trees and more plains. I tried to search for any more landmarks that we had along the way but the map had none. But the symbol alone was enough to go on for now as we seem to be heading in the right direction.
I show my findings to the group who had been walking alongside me this entire time.
“The book that grandmother gave us has something that could be of use. Look here. This is a map of the area surrounding the village. The river we crossed not long ago is here meaning headed in the right direction. However, the more important thing is this symbol here far to the east.”
I pointed to the symbol before continuing.
“It should look familiar as it is the same as the amulet grandmother gave us. The map doesn’t have any other details as to what might be located there, but it is our only choice as of right now.”
Everyone nodded at my words but was worried about having to walk such a distance with no weapons. I understood their worries as it was quite dangerous to be in the forest with no weapons back on Earth as well. The danger was definitely higher here though.
I continue to speak as we continued to walk albeit with more pep in our steps.
“I know the distance is far but if we continue walking at our current speed for at most four days while only stopping to sleep and to relieve ourselves.”
This also earned a nod from the group but didn’t lessen the worry present on their face.
We continued walking for about maybe two more hours while only coming across nothing significant besides a freshwater creek here and there. We only stopped when everyone's legs started to feel shaky indicating they had to stop and found a creek that had drinkable water to rest near.
After settling down, I suggested we take turns sleeping keeping three people awake as a precaution. Everyone agreed and discussed who sleep first. I cut their conversation short though as I directly recommended that Luca, Zoe, and Bell sleep first which they accepted gratefully.
They quickly fell asleep while Kai, Ash, and myself kept watching for anything threatening. We decided to eat a few berries in our respective to keep our energy up, while quietly whispering about whatever came to mind.
Time passed quickly in the darkness as it soon was our turn to sleep after waiting around for about an hour. The group that we woke up splashed water in their respective faces before taking our now vacant spots near the bags of food to repeat the process.
I slowly drifted off to sleep as I thought to myself about the future of our group.
My last conscious thoughts being images of my family who I lost today causing a tear to roll down my now sleeping face.