Chapter Text
Smoke filled the air as the boy raced through the trees as quickly as he could. The path was familiar, his mother had led him down it many times in his short life. The clanking of amour echoing among the burning remains of his village - his home – spurred him on. They had appeared out of nowhere, the hawk headed men, they had appeared and laid waste to all they saw. His mother had put the metal box in his pack and pushed him towards the woods, her instructions clear - run.
Run through the woods. Run to the Stone Ring. Push the symbols she had made him memorize long ago, throw the box through the ring, then hide. Hide until men wearing the colors of the woods came through the Ring - until his father came.
He had remained hidden in the woods, waiting, watching, as his mother confronted the men - until she fell dead at their feet - and then he ran.
He ran through the woods as smoke followed, as every branch reached out to grab him and each root threatened to trip him.
He ran to the Stone Ring where each year he sat as his mother told him the story of the year the Fire Rain had touched the ground, burying the Stone Ring and gave her one hundred days with his father.
He touched the symbols on the pedestal, and the red domed center, watching in awe as the glowing water splashed outward and stayed in the ring.
He ran up the steps and tossed the box - pack and all - into the shimmering ring.
Touching the red dome again the blue light winked out and he hid. He didn't go far, just deep enough into the woods that he couldn't be seen from the clearing. Burrowing into the underbrush he pulled the worn, oversized jacket of mottled greens around him and waited, eyes on the Stone Ring, until the men dressed in the colors of the woods came, until his father came.