Chapter 4

"No..." Freyja repeated, watching the camp blaze. She flew down the hill and a piercing shriek caught her attention. Peppa landed on her shoulder, his feathers slightly charred.

"Peppa! Where is everyone?" He flew off, Freyja following from the ground. He landed by a figure slumped on the floor. Freyja crouched next to it.

"Gray?" She asked, tapping his shoulder. His eyes fluttered open.

"Freyja...go find Xerxes...near tent..." He fell unconscious and Freyja told Siren, who had been standing nearby, to look after him.

Freyja ran in the direction of Xerxes' tent, avoiding burning tents and bodies. She pelted round the corner and saw him. Xerxes was crumpled on the floor, covered in blood. Freyja lifted his head onto her lap, oblivious to the blood soaking through her trousers. He smiled at her, his eyes misty as the life in him drained away. He touched her face gently.

"Jei'a fa tarem, Altariel" He whispered. His hand fell and he failed to breathe.

Freyja buried her face into her hands and began to cry. She felt guilty. She hadn't been there for any of them, whatever had happened and now Xerxes was dead. She touched his face and called him the name she had not used for 8 years.

"Father..." She stood, resting Xerxes' head gently on the floor. She looked around, eyes blazing with anger. She walked away, wiping her eyes on her shirt. She came across Siren talking to a battered Taboo.

"Tab? What happened?" She asked. He turned to look at her and she winced. He had a slash on one cheek and was cut on his arms.

"It happened about half an hour after you left; it seems that Raiden and a few of the troops got fed up of waiting to move, so they rebelled, took as many with them as they could and burnt the camp. Not quite sure why though. Killed most of those who were faithful to Xerxes. Though I'm not sure who killed Xerxes..." He trailed off, rubbing the slash thoughtfully.

"It wasn't one of ours" Ryuu approached them, a dagger in one hand. He passed it to Freyja glanced at the carving on the blade and she paled instantly.

"Freyja?" Siren took the dagger from her and inspected it. "Menai"

"Cordelia? She was here?" Taboo said.

"Why would Cordelia come here? What was the point in killing Xerxes?" Siren tapped her forehead thoughtfully "Unless...she knew that Raiden would take most of the troops and that she could take advantage of him"

"Siren" Freyja looked at her "When we get back to London I need you to find out what Cordelia is doing" Siren nodded.

"Break camp?" Ryuu asked.

"We need to bury the dead first" Everyone split up to tend to the survivors and bury the dead. Gray limped over and gave her a bag he produced from his belt.

"Your father gave that to me a while ago Said I was to give it to you if he died" He walked away, leaving Freyja holding the bag and looking after him in confusion. She looked at it curiously, receiving a shock when she opened it. A pendant fell into her hand, with a light on the end. On closer inspection, it turned out to be a spell trapped inside a tiny glass bottle. It flickered, and seemed to grow brighter when she laid a finger on the glass. Freyja started to probe with her own magic, wanted to find out its origin. The spell brightened as she traced its complex symbols with her magic. It was old. Very old. Before she got any further, the spell pushed her away and she blinked, looking at the pendant in her hand. Few spells could do that. Whoever had made it knew what they were doing. If it was stolen, the spell could stop the thief from using it. Freyja had seen cases of people stealing items with strong spells in them, and they often got burned or, occasionally, killed. Though people rarely spelled their precious items to kill anymore. It was complete waste of time, as anyone who did steal often you could be tracked and killed by hand easily. Freyja clipped the pendant around her neck, and started. The pendant glow brightened until it was painful to look at, and the spell felt...contented, like it knew Freyja and was pleased to be with her. Freyja dismissed it with a shrug. The spell was old, after all.

"Freyja! We're all set to go!" Siren carolled. Siren's ability to remain cheerful and calm in life-threatening situations never ceased to amaze Freyja. That was part of the reason why she was a good spy; she managed to stay cool under pressure. She shook her head and turned to her father's grave resting her hand on it for a second before turning away, perhaps to never go back there again. Peppa landed on her arm, his piercing shriek making her wince. The survivors were gathered around discussing routes. As Freyja approached, they fell silent and watched her. She realised that she was their leader now, being Xerxes' remaining child.

"Best get going, she said, sighing. They all nodded and started moving in the direction she had pointed too. Behind them now, she took stock of the numbers. Twenty seven out of over fifty. A few had been killed, but Raiden had taken most of them. She swung herself into Epos' saddle and rode up to Gray.

"Gray, do you have any idea where Raiden went?" he looked up at her, eyes searching. He nodded slowly.

"North, a touch east" Freyja frowned. There was nothing in the North...it was mostly a barren wasteland. It was probably one of Raiden's thoughtless actions.

"Oh and Gray?" She swallowed the lump in her throat "We found Regan" She didn't need to continue, his eyes told her he understood. He looked at the floor and Freyja nudged Epos on, deciding to leave him alone. After several hours of silent travelling, well, silent apart from Peppa's harsh shrieks and Siren's conspiratal giggling with Taboo, they came across another burned camp. The giggling ceased and Freyja's face twisted with sorrow. She knew now, that every time she came across a scene like this, and she would see many in time yet, memories of Xerxes would haunt her.

"She moves fast" Kali said.

"Search for survivors" Freyja called, but she added quietly "Though I doubt there are any" They picked through the burnt canvas and poles, shifting through and grimacing every time a charred body was uncovered.

"Freyja" Siren yelled. Freyja followed her voice and found Siren leaning over a large slab of rock, probably from the mountain face. It was propped up on some rubble, forming a cave. Siren smiled up at Freyja, the destruction doing little to dampen her spirits.

"What is it?"

"There's a kid in there" Freyja looked at Siren incredulously.

"You have got to be joking" Freyja said. Siren gestured toward the rock.

"Take a look yourself" Freyja crouched down and called a ball of light into her hand. She looked into the gap and saw a little girl curled up inside, watching her with terror in her small face.

"We need to get her out of there" Freyja eyed the rock "That could collapse any minute"

"Ryuu! Get over here!" Siren yelled, looking around for the blonde. He appeared next to them.

"Yes?" He asked and Siren waved a hand at the rock.

"There's a kid in there. We need you to lift the rock without killing the girl in the process" She explained. Ryuu looked slightly confused before examining the rock, spotting weaknesses and fissures in the rock. He set his hands in the cracks, heaving it off and twisting it slightly so the girl would be hit. Everyone (for a crowd had gathered) cringed at the grating sound as the rock released its captive. Freyja swept the girl up, cradling the terrified child in her arms. She looked over her shoulder at the crowd and Siren stood, flapping her hands at them.

"Shoo! You're scaring her!" They scattered as Siren's pitch rose dangerously. Freyja set the girl on the floor, and lifted her face so she looking into Freyja's face.

"Are you alright?" She asked as gently as she could. The girl nodded reluctantly. "What's your name, child?" The girl looked at her through mercury eyes.

"Vespera sae Arias" The 'sae' meant that the child was royalty of some sort, a new title designed by the aristocratic buggers who insisted on staying royal even though it meant nothing to most. "My parents are gone?" She asked, lip trembling. Freyja had come across a man with Vespera's eyes but there had only been a woman dressed as a slave, there had not been another female body.

"Your father yes...but your mother might live still" Vespera smiled, but it vanished quickly. "She's not my mother. She's just my stepmother"

It was rare for them to re-marry. They wanted to keep their blood 'contained', whatever that meant. Most people were related to each other one way or another. Siren and Freyja had once traced their roots and found that they were distant relatives. Freyja pondered, looking at the girl's dirty face. Then it clicked, she had heard the name Arias before. Ethan Arias had shocked everyone when he had announced his wedding to one of his late wife's friends. Maya Arias had died from being poisoned by none other than the woman who married her husband after her death, Mari, her childhood friend. The 'upper' classes were more violent and backstabbing then anyone else. In a clan, everyone (usually) stayed faithful to the leader to the death, regardless of whether they like him/her or not. Loyalty is a prized trait among groups, and few turn on each other.

"Vespera, do you anywhere else to go?" The girl looked up and shook her head fearfully, eyes huge.

"Very well. I suppose you'll have to come with us until we find somewhere safe" Vespera clung to Freyja's hand, leaning against her. Freyja smiled at the petrified child. "I am Freyja" Roxanne was leaning over rock, running her fingers along the surface.

"Roxy, what are you doing?" Roxanne bent so was at eye level with the girl.

"Arias?" She asked Freyja, who nodded mutely "You'll be fine, child" She straightened up, and gestured at the stone "Do these symbols look familiar to you?"

Freyja leaned close and recognized the carvings running along the face.

"They look like the ones at the temple" She touched it "Stone's the same too"

"Yep, pure black marble. It's old too" Roxanne shrugged. "There must've been a temple here like the one back home"

"Whoever did this" Freyja nodded to the camp "Must have destroyed the temple too"

"Why the heck would they do that to a temple?"

"Blasphemers! They shalt be smote down!" Siren shouted. Glancing around at the odd looks she was receiving she just shrugged and grinned wildly. She skipped away, twirling as she did so.

"Your friend is odd" Vespera observed. Her silvery eyes had lost the scared look in them and Freyja could see the traces of her ancestry in her. She held herself like a princess. Her clothes, though a bit torn, were fine and her hair was pulled up in an elaborate bun. Freyja ran a hand through her own hair, pulled back in a braid that reached her waist.

"We better get moving before whatever got them gets us" she heaved Vespera onto Epos, who shifted slightly under the new rider.

"Don't even think about it" Freyja warned the stallion, who snorted and stood quietly. Freyja mounted behind Vespera, and they moved on, avoiding forests were possible, so as to lower the chances of getting attacked. Vespera sat silently, playing absently with Epos' mane, who seemed to adore the attention. Freyja was surprised at his acceptance of the child. Epos usually hated children, especially small ones. Last time a child tried to get on Epos he would have kicked the boy in the head, if it weren't for a well timed dive from Freyja. Everyone had threatened Freyja, saying that Epos was mad and should be shot. Freyja had explained that Epos only really let her ride him. This had earned Freyja her position as a social outcast among the women of the clan, apart from Roxanne, Siren, Kali and Gray's late sister Regan.

"Freyja, Kali could you come down here?" August turned in his saddle "We're at The Dash"

"The Dash? Why's it called that?" Vespera asked. Freyja was watching for any signs of movement but she replied with her eyes fixed on the wide pass.

"That's what you do. You have to dash the pass otherwise you won't live. A whole colony of bird- monsters hide up there, you stop when you're going through they'll dive on you and, in 25 years there has been no recorded case of someone living after stopping or slowing down"

"Oh. So we have to go really fast through it?"

"Correction. Epos has to go really fast through it" Freyja leaned down to whisper in his ear. He shifted slightly, breath coming out in clouds as the temperature dropped. The second worst aspect about The Dash was how the temperatures change in the blink of an eye. If you waited too long you could freeze or dehydrate. You had to be prepared when you arrived. August nodded and the horses broke into a gallop. Both Kali and August had their guns out and Kali threw one of her handguns to Freyja, who held it ready in one hand. Vespera was clinging onto Epos' mane, watching the sky fearfully. They had just made it out when they appeared. They filed out of their nest, dropping towards them like stones, aiming for the faces of the unarmed. Bullets flew from Kali and August, Kali's wrapped in bits of lightning. The horses kept on running until they were covered by dense forest. They waited until the raucous noise of the monsters had died down before venturing out. The left the horses to rest and the sat around in a protective circle, watching the nests nervously. Though it was rare for them to venture far from their protective nests, they were known to pick off small children, and so Vespera was placed in the middle.

"What were you doing under that rock, Ves?" Freyja asked the girl who was patting Epos' nose happily.

"Papa put me under there, saying I would be safe from Cordelia" She said matter-of-factly.

"So it was Cordelia..." Freyja mused. Vespera bit her lip as she nodded.

"Where are we going?" She asked Freyja as everyone started to move.

"Back to my home" Freyja explained, lifting Vespera onto Epos "Home..."

As the horses plodded along, Freyja thought about what Xerxes had said before he had died. "Jei'a fa tarem, Altariel"...I'm sorry, Altariel. What had he meant, I'm sorry? She was sorry because she hadn't been there...she hadn't saved him from Cordelia. Now it was more important than ever that they should find out what the 'Government' was up to.

"This is where you live?" Freyja snapped out of her thoughts at Vespera's question. Another camp was there, except this was made out of stone, and had a few people wandering around inside.

"That's right" Freyja felt a surge of relief. They had gotten back without losing anyone else. They had even gained a person. Vespera was looking at the camp with interest, a shy smile on her face. She hasn't been anywhere without her parents Freyja realised. Most children were raised in violence, learning young how to fight and survive a war. Freyja had been spared seeing a full-sized war, but August had fought further east. Everyone expected treachery, and wouldn't be surprised if their child turned and stabbed them. The upper class' children, however, often led sheltered lives, their parents not wanting to expose them to life, which Freyja thought was pointless. What was the point of living at all if you couldn't see it? Vespera had probably never seen any bloodshed at all, and Freyja was envious of her. She would have loved to have never seen people die, to have never to have planned and carried out an attack on someone else.

"What's that?" Vespera asked, pointing at a tip of a building peeking out between the cliffs.

"That's the temple" Freyja explained as she slid off Epos. "I'll take you up later, maybe" Vespera nodded then frowned. "What is it?"

"What'll happen to me?" Now it was Freyja's turn to frown.

"Why are you scared, child? I would never desert someone under my protection, which, I may add, you are now under" She nodded and Freyja sighed and gave Epos' reins to a nearby soldier, who started and eyed the horse nervously. Epos, however, retrieved his reins and wandered away in the direction of the twin pools behind what was now Freyja's house. Freyja showed Vespera where everything was, introducing people as she went along.

"Freyja?" Freyja, who was in the middle of a long explanation about the position of the camp and its importance, smiled at Vespera.

"What is it?"

"Who was Xerxes?"

"He...he was my father" Freyja explained, fighting back tears, knowing that if she cried in front of Vespera the girl would remember her own parents. So Freyja bit her lip "Why?"

"The men mentioned his name...and when you were talking to yourself a minute ago you mentioned him"

"I was talking to myself?" Vespera nodded and Freyja shrugged "Force of habit I suppose" Vespera nodded again and Freyja continued talking, though she was slightly disturbed by what Vespera had said to her. After she had sent Vespera into her house for a bath, she turned to Gray, who had, on the trip back, been next to her all the time.

"Gray, when we came back...did I talk to myself at all?" He shook his head, and told her she had been nearly silent the whole time, apart from when she was talking to Vespera. He sat down, puzzled. The girl must be able to see people's thoughts...and she obviously didn't know about it. She stood and entered her house. It had once been Xerxes' but as she was now unofficial leader of the tribe, it was now hers. It was large, with black marble outside and oak flooring inside. Vespera popped up next to her, dressed in some old clothes of Freyja's. Now that she was clean, she looked younger, nine or ten maybe, which was probably her age.

"Freyja, can we go up to that temple?" Freyja glanced at the sun, establishing what time it was. She nodded.

"It's not too late, sure"

Vespera pulled on her shoes and they trudged up the steep path, informing the guards where they were going. Freyja was twirling her glaive, a high whistling sound echoing around them.

"What are you doing?" Vespera asked after several minutes.

"The sound does something to the monsters around here, drives them away. I don't want to have to..." What else Freyja was going to say was cut off by a thunderous roar. A monster tore towards them, the ground shaking under its immense weight. Freyja engaged it, slashing at its legs.

"Ves! Run back to the camp and tell them I need help!" She yelled to Vespera, who was rooted to the spot. She turned and ran as fast as her legs would carry her, vanishing in the dust she kicked up. The monster turned away from Freyja and went after Vespera. Freyja jumped in front of it, slashing at it again. It merely tossed her against the wall and Freyja lay there, blood stream down her back and side where it had hit the wall.

"Why is it going after Vespera?" She asked herself drowsily, barely aware of the blood. "Unless she really can have access to minds..." Freyja's head snapped up and her eyes widened. "They'll use her..."

Freyja heaved herself up, limping after them.

"Survive Vespera sae Arias...survive..."