Just kidding! here's the chapter. Pretty much done, just gonna add a little more tonight ^^
“Is it possible?”
“She’s a girl!”
“This can’t be!”
The ceremony was over, yet all the Kletchars could talk about was her. How it was impossible. Not only was she the first daughter ever born into the Kletchar families, but she was the first woman to ever have Kletchar’s gift. The first woman to become a Melkrix of water.
Jaro remembered the stories her father told her when she was younger. Tales and legends of the Melkrix, powerful people gifted with the magic of the gods; he said that it was inherited, that only the child of a Melkrix could become a Melkrix, and because the power of water and rain belonged to Kletchar, only his sons could receive this gift.
She could hardly believe it herself. No others had witnessed her dream, at first, she’d though it was just her imagination, her lack of sleep; but then the old man, Thohma they called him, had reached forward and lifted the pendant that the ghost had given her from her chest. A small blue stone in the shape of a tear with a web of iron all around it, hanging by a chain on her neck.
Valek told her later on, when they’d all mounted their horses, that the second after she’d drunken the water, the rain stopped falling on her, as if an invisible dome had formed around her, keeping the water, and once she opened her eyes it disappeared.
Half the men had accepted her right then and there, cheering that the first daughter of Kletchar had brought back the Melkrix; the other half had started muttering that this was wrong, that the gods were smiting them and that she was a curse besides a gift.
Her father had been smiling since she’d opened her eyes, even as the rain started falling harder, drenching every man in the clearing. The dry cloak she’d been given after the ceremony hadn’t held long either. Even Storms saddle was soaking; she’d have to dry it off when they got back to the village.
“It’s hard to believe that you’re the next Melkrix… it’s been three hundred years, and now my little sister has been gifted” Valek was riding beside her, a smile just as big as fathers on his face.
When Jaro looked over her shoulder she even saw Kilian and Asgar giving her smiles, though small.
Lysias was riding a bit further behind, unlike the rest of her family, he wasn’t smiling; he was just looking down at his hands, not even noticing her glancing over.
She gently tugged on Storm’s reins till Lysias had caught up to her, “hey, you alright?”
“Yeah- yeah…” he sighed, then gave her a big smile, “I’m just thinking… Father said earlier that you being born meant that Altaya’s magic has left us… but now you’re the first Melkrix we’ve seen in hundreds of years. Just find it a little strange” he shrugged, but continued to smile.
“Well, I wouldn’t call myself a Melkrix… Gods I don’t even know what I need to do now; wait for something else to happen again?”
“Maybe the gods chose wrong- they may have just confused you with the other hundred men in the clearing” she scoffed and lightly hit her brothers shoulder as he started laughing.
“Are you saying I look like an old man? Half the Kletchars here have grey streaks in their beards, won’t be long till they’re all looking like Thohma.”
“You’re as stubborn as one” Asgar said from ahead, his words almost impossible to hear over the rain.
“If you think that I’m stubborn as an old man you haven’t seen me be stubborn!” she shouted after him; gasping in fake anger when Kilian and Asgar started galloping away, laughing as their horses kicked up mud straight into her face.
“That’s it. Lysias, let’s get them” she gave her twin a sly smile before sending Storm into a gallop, chasing after her two brothers.
Their steeds raced past the other horses, some startling and others not even giving them a glance.
At this speed the rain was constantly hitting her in the face, all she could see were the feint dark brown shapes of her brothers horses. The mud that they kicked up when she got close didn’t help much either; their mother wouldn’t be very happy when she returned, soaking wet and covered in mud, but she didn’t care.
Jaro didn’t notice her brothers stop till Storm skidded to a halt, almost sending Jaro flying over the mares head.
“Why’d you stop?” she asked, wiping mud off her brow.
Asgar and Kilian didn’t need to reply. A familiar scarred face was sitting on a tall chestnut horse.
“Southerner” she muttered.
“Northerner” the man replied. His voice was just as cold and dull as before.
“Acha, you know this man?” Kilian asked.
“I saw him in the markets yesterday, never caught the bastards name” she glared forward.
“My name isn’t important. I’ve come to warn you. The knights you saw yesterday, they’re planning on attacking the Kletchar families” Asgar laughed.
“Knights?” he laughed again, “if southern knights even dare show their shiny skin here any northerner will gladly kill him. We made a pact with the southerners. We stop raiding their lands if they stop sending their metal men across the stone sea. We’ve kept our word for hundreds of years, why would they send knights over now?”
“You’re warning is unneeded. The few men I spotted are nothing compared to us Kletchars. They might have armor, but we have numbers. We’d have spotted them if there were more than a hundred” Jaro said.
“What’s going on here?” her father’s voice sounded behind them, muffled by the rain.
“We spotted a traveler, Vaska. Says southern knights are planning on ambushing us” Kilian answered, turning his horse over.
Her father and the men behind him laughed.
“We’d have found them by now if they were any threat to our family” Kadeck said as he rode up behind her father.
“Southerners can’t hide in lands that don’t belong to themselves” the Kletchar’Rek man she’d called a badger said.
“Aye, Pastak is right” Kadeck nodded.
“The only southerner we see here is you, boy. And it seems to me you’re just a bit too close to Kletchar’s Lake” Pastak, the badger, said as he stopped his horse in front of the scarred man.
“I’m not dumb enough to encroach on a northerner’s tradition. I saw the knights, followed them, and overheard their plan. They plan on attacking you today, to wipe out the strongest family in the north before the south attacks” Jaro felt she was the only one who was uneasy at these words. Even Lysias was laughing.
“Encroach! Bah! You southerners and your fancy words. You don’t belong here boy. Off with you, unless you want to lose your head!” Kadeck shouted.
Past the trees she saw the sky lighten with a flash of lightning just before a loud rumbling thunder followed.
“Leave him Kadeck. We best be returning home before the storm worsens!” as if the gods were listening, the rain started falling harder and faster. One had to shout to be heard now.
And that’s what the southerners had been waiting for.
No one saw or heard the arrows till three men fell off their horses, clutching at the arrows sticking out of their chests.
It took a few more seconds for them to realize that the scarred man was telling the truth.
Jaro turned Storm around, trying to spot the archers, yet it was impossible to see in the dense rain. When she turned to her father, ready to attack or flee on his word, an arrow flew by her face, cutting open her cheek. Four more men fell around her.
Horses started spooking now. The sudden falls of their riders caused many to flee, screaming as they ran from the hidden danger.
Storm spooked to the side as a giant bay galloped by, eyes wide as it slipped on the mud.
After another volley of arrows southerners were charging, metal armor and spears glinting as lightning struck.
Men fell, whether because of arrows or fleeing horses, she couldn’t tell.
Jaro watched on in horror as hundreds of knights started slaughtering her people. Even the Kletchars who’d brought their weapons could do nothing. Horses were rearing and trying to flee, but most died at the end of a spear; it was all Jaro could do to keep Storm from running straight into a southern spear.
The Kletchars finally realized what was happening and started striking back. Man and horse alike were screaming, screaming as they fought to survive and free their family, shouting as they slew and were slaughtered. The groans of the dying were the next sounds she heard, accompanied by the rain, thunder and trees. As the fighting grew bloodier the storm grew stronger. The wind was tearing at her hair, the rain pelting her face and the screams were all around her. All Jaro could do was watch.
Sometimes she thought she saw her brothers, one time it looked like the southerner with the scars was fighting one of the knights; but no matter what she thought, no matter what she saw, she couldn’t move, couldn’t help her people fight.
She looked up just as a tree behind her was struck by a bright powerful tendril of lighting. The tree went up in flames as the thunder boomed around them.
Her dream.
Her dream had been warning her.
The screaming wind and men.
The branches and men fighting.
The groans of the trees and the dying.
The thunder, the lightning.
The fire.
Jaro turned Storm, finally regaining control over herself, yet what she saw made her scream.
Asgar’s horse as on the ground, bleeding to death. Her brother was struggling to stand, his leg obviously twisted, and a knight stabbed him through the heart.
“Asgar!” she screamed again, cursing herself for forgetting her sword.
Then Kilian was attacking him. Breaking the knights spear in half in his rage, his sword slicing open the knight’s throat.
Kilian killed two more before one of the hidden archers loosed an arrow into his back, and still he managed to take down another knight before a second arrow pierced his heart.
The blood from the scrape she’d gotten mixed with her tears and the rain. This was just a dream. They couldn’t be dead. Her brothers couldn’t be dead. They weren’t allowed to be. These southerners weren’t allowed to kill her brothers. These southerners weren’t allowed in the north.
She’d kill them. She’d kill all of them.
Jaro was about to jump off of Storm, ready to grab the closest weapon, when a large hand gripped her arm, “Jaro. You need to escape. We need you to survive. Run!” her father was covered in blood.
“No! I can’t leave you! They’ve killed Asgar and Kilian. We can’t let them win!” she screamed.
A spear stabbed her father’s side before he could reply.
“Run girl, run!” her father roared, turning around striking down the knight who’d stabbed him. Just before an arrow struck him through the neck.
“Vaska!”
Before she could do anything Valek came galloping towards her and grabbed Storms reins. Jaro almost fell off as the mare lurched into a gallop, having little more than wet mane to hold onto.
She caught the battle in short flashes, one man fell off his horse, another prepared to strike another in the back, a knight with a missing helm was trying to limp away from the battle, yet just as quickly as she’d spotted them they’d been replaced by others. One thing was clear.
The Kletchar’s were losing. For every one northerner she saw five southerners with perfect armor.
Storm reared.
Jaro fell.
A knight jumped down from his horse and pointed his spear at her chest.
None of the knights were wearing the colors of their kingdom, nor were they carrying flags or sigils, yet this one had forgotten about his breastplate.
Unlike many, maybe all of the knights, this one had an eagle with its talons out in front of it engraved on his armor.
She rolled to the side just as the knight drove the spear down, cutting her arm but missing her arm.
She jumped up and tackled him before he could readjust the spear. She roared at him and threw off his helm, but he’d had the advantage of strength and size and flipped her over.
His hands were on her throat before she could move.
The knight was glaring down at her with pure malice.
She tried to claw at his face, hurt or hit him in some way, but the parts she could reach were protected and her arms were too short to reach his face. But she struggled, even as her lungs started aching for air she struggled, fighting the knight with every ounce of her strength.
A spear struck straight through the man’s skull and his blood splattered all over her face.
“Are you alright?” Valek jumped off his horse, dropping the spear before picking her up.
“Yeah-” she saw a knight behind him, “Valek!”
Her brother turned around just as a tall chestnut horse ran over the knight, “We need to run! We’re outnumbered!” Valek jumped onto his horse without a second thought, untying Storms reins from his saddle.
She quickly jumped onto the silver mare, kicking her sides before she was even properly seated.
They were galloping out of the battle seconds later, leaving the screaming of men behind to be replaced by the screaming of wind, rain and thunder.
It took her a while to realize they weren’t alone, the scarred man, the one who rode the tall chestnut, was galloping just behind her. Blood was splattered all over him and his horse, yet the rain was quickly washing it off. He wasn’t attacking so she ignored him. Once she and Valek were safe they’d deal with the southerner.
Spring Month: 2 
Day 
