CHAPTER 3

Chapter 3- Lisha

My eyes open slowly, everything was blurry at first. I pushed myself up slowly, my head was spinning, my body was weak. Around me, I heard faint cries and hurried footsteps outside, but none of it mattered.

“Where is my father? Where is he?” I asked.

“Lisha, please....” Perrone’s hand tightened on my arm. He tried to shush me, but his soft words only made my fear climb higher.

“No” I broke free from his grasp, stumbled forward, and kicked the door open.

It was really cold outside, my eyes darted everywhere, searching desperately. Didn't take a moment, I saw my father laying on the ground. Blood covered his throat and still seeping slowly into the dirt beneath him. His eyes was half-open, staring into nothing.

“No, no, no....”

My knees collapsed immediately and I crawled toward him with trembling hands. The moment my fingers closed around his, he was really cold.

“Father, no, no, no, no, no, please, please wake up.” My voice cracked into a sob as I shook him, as if I could drag him back from wherever he had gone. My tears spilled onto his lifeless face, mixing with the blood.

But he didn’t move. He wasn’t coming back. The reality broke me in ways words could never explain. Something inside me shattered.

I forced myself to my feet. “Mother,” I whispered before turning into a scream. “Mother”

I stumbled outside and froze. Bodies were everywhere, men I had grown up with, men who had trained me with wooden swords, laughed with me at the fire. Now they were scattered across the ground in twisted, unnatural positions.

I turned sharply to one of the soldiers staggering toward me, clutching his side, his cloth was drenched in his blood.

I rushed to him, grabbing his arm. “Where is my mother?Please."

He lifted his head, his lips tremble as he tried to speak. His eyes were wet, full of sorrow. “I’m sorry, my lady.”

I held him tighter, but he pulled away, limping off before I could stop him.

I rushed into the main building. My heart slammed against my ribs, as if it wanted to break free as I saw my mother.

She was sitting on the floor, her was back against the wall, her hands pressed tightly to her stomach. Blood seeped between her fingers.

For a moment, the world tilted sideways. My vision blurred. Then I dropped, collapsing at her feet.

“Mother, mother,” I called out.

Her eyes opened, just barely, and when they landed on me, as she tried to smile, i felt pain, I've never felt this sort of excruciating pain in my life.

I reached for her face with trembling hands, cupping her cold cheeks. “Stay with me, please. Please don’t leave me too. I can’t, I can’t lose you too.”

Her lips moved faintly, almost soundless. I leaned in, desperate to catch every word. “Lisha, my little moon....”

“No, no, don’t, don’t talk like that. Save your strength, we’ll get help, you’ll be fine.” Tears streamed down my face as I pressed her blood soaked hand against my cheek. The bead bracelet I’d given her days ago glistened under the torchlight, wet with blood.

Her head slowly tilted, with her hand slipping from my cheek to the ground.

“Mother, mother, mother…” I whispered, shouted, pleaded, shaking her lightly to keep her with me. “Please answer me. Please answer me”

But, just like that, she was gone.

My scream tore through the night. I cried until my body had nothing left to give and my throat had became dry.

Then I just sat beside her, staring at her lifeless form broken, emptied, and in pain beyond words.

Minutes passed before I noticed Perrone approaching. And then it struck me, when my father was fighting, it was Perrone who had stolen my chance. He had put me to sleep, robbing me of the fight by his side. The anger that boiled in me, searching for somewhere to pour itself.

I rose, my body shifting, half-transformed. Perrone was no match for me, and he knew just few magic trick.

He dodged my first blow, but that was only bait. My second strike caught him by the throat, lifting him off the ground.

“You put me to sleep while I could have fought beside my father and rescued him”

“You could have been killed,” he said between his uneven breath.

“They were no match for me and him. And what’s it to you? I would rather have died with him.” I jerked his head toward my mother’s dead body. “At least then I might have saved one.”

“But you saved more,” Perrone gasped.

"What's more without my parents, huh? Tell me what's more without my parents?“ I asked again. "Or maybe you only saved yourself.”

“You think I care about my life right now?” He said. “I wish I had died with them too. I wish I didn’t have to see this tragedy. But the gods willed it so. I’m no wiser for it, but I know this, if you want to kill me, do it. I have no regrets. It’s what your father would have wanted. And together, we saved children, women and even the unborn.”

I understood his words partly. But where was I meant to pour my grief? My hand tightened around his neck, his body struggling against my grip. Then, slowly, he closed his eyes. I could have ended him but my fingers slipped open, and I let him fall.

Instead, I bent down and slid my arms beneath my mother’s body. Her skin was already cold, and her weight seemed heavier. My legs trembled as I carried her through the ruin until I found a broken abandoned cart. I laid her down gently on the cart, brushed the dirt from her face.

I turned back for my father. His body was still on the ground, I dragged him and placed him beside her. Together, side by side, they looked as though they were only resting.

Gripping the handles of the cart, I pulled. My sobs came quietly at first, slipping between gasps for breath, until I could no longer tell if the wetness on my face was from sweat or tears.

All around me, the air was filled with sadness, broken crying people searching for their loved ones.

Then Perrone appeared, stepping into my path.

“Stay away,” I warned, “or I will really kill you this time.”

He said nothing and reached for the cart without asking, he pulled it from my hands and I let him. Though he was older, he moved it as if it weighs nothing.

At the foot of Mount Sinaco, he lifted a digger and struck the earth. I knelt beside him, tossing handful after handful of dirt away until a grave was shaped deep enough. We laid my parents inside, placing their daggers across their stomachs.

When the first shovelful of soil fell over them, my tears dropped with it, sliding into the earth. Together, Perrone and I covered them slowly.

He stood back, bowed his head and gave his final respect, then said, “I have to see to the others. We need to leave before they take this route on their way back.”

I could not look at him. My throat closed the moment I tried to speak, and I feared that if I opened my mouth, only broken sobs would come out.

Before leaving, he pulled me into a hug. Though i stood stiffed, I realized I needed it. He wishpered into my ears. “If the gods will it, we will survive and avenge them.”

And he let go of me.

“I’ll stay a little while,” I whispered.

He nodded and left quickly. I sat beside the grave until my tears dried, then rose to my feet. Brushing the dirt from my hands, I looked at the sky, the star was bright today.

“Whether the gods will it or not, I’ll make them pay,” I said to myself.