Fairy Tales and Parents

Content Warning: Bloody Fight Scene around children

On the Road

Andaya thought many times over past couple weeks about the fairy tale of the Mountain. In the story, a pair of young siblings escape from danger by their parents taking them deep into the wilderness. The fairy tale children's parents died, and and older sibling does not help them stay safe. The pair of younger siblings strike off on their own. Like in the story, Andaya knew her parents were dead. Their cousin and the slimy cardinal had taken over the kingdom.

"Travis! We have to keep going. It is not time to camp for the night." Andaya scolded her younger brother, Travis.

"I'm tired. When will we eat? I want to go home."

She just held his hand tighter and walked ahead. They needed to make it to the wilderness then they would be fine. If they stayed together, they would be fine. They had already made it over 100 miles by her estimation. The city of Coral Gate was just ahead. They could make it by nightfall. The Anhult Wildlands were past that.

Hopes and Fears

There was a kind old lady in her dreams the last few weeks. She knew it was just a dream but she still appeciated being able to talk through everything happening. The dream lady agreed with her plan to go the North to hide from her cousin. The dream lady called herself Grandma Willow. She reminded Andaya of things to watch out for on the road. They were all things Andaya had heard from her mom or aunts so it had to be her subconscious pulling out reminders but it was nice to have reminders.   Stay away from busy intersections, don't call attention to yourself, don't have detailed conversations, and others. A few times Grandma Willow suggested for her to look for food in specific places in the forest. She directed her away from dangerous roads they would cross the next day. Andaya was sure her mom or aunts had told her those things before.

The siblings passed a few farm houses. Coral Gate was looming large in front of them. The swell of anxiety in her wasn't from their destination but the men that had started to follow them. She didn't know where they came from but a half dozen of them showing up on the road suddenly made her want to run. Andaya put her arm around Travis and hurried him forward. She started to tear up. They had been so careful. Two men stepped out on the road 30 ft ahead of them. "No!" she yelled at the men circling around them. "No!"

Fight!

Six men approached the siblings, several drew swords. Andaya hugged Travis and hid his face. The tears streamed down Andaya's face as a woman in a dark red cloak ran from the woods onto the road. The first blood splattered across Andaya's face when the woman sliced the neck of the man on the side of the road she had just entered. The battle that raged around her only lasted for a few seconds. Two more men fell. One man lunged for the children, his arms were cut clean off. A fourth man went down as the woman spun around and swung her sword over Andaya's head. The fifth man tried to grapple the woman but the sixth man ran. A hidden dagger from the woman's boot sprayed the last blood across Andaya. The woman threw the dagger at the last man, sending him to the ground. She caught up to him and finished him.

"Don't look Travis. Don't look," she held his head tight and walked up the road, away from the bodies, moving toward the woman.

The woman licked the blood off her sword. Andaya stopped cold in the road.

"I am Lupa." The woman in the cloak put her sword away. "Come children, Grandma Willow sent me. She would like to meet you."