The Plague

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Martha frowned and said, "Well then at least take some soup and wine over to them. I know they've been working really hard lately." The woman handed the items over to Roan before sending him out the door. "Now run home, the knights are going to do their rounds soon and I would hate for you to be caught in it." The woman smiled as she sent Roan on his way.

As Roan walked home, the night started to grow troubled. The skies turned black as rain started to pour down on the streets. People locked up their homes as the wind screamed. Rain drenched the whole town as knights walked around town cursing the weather.
 
Walking down the street towards his home, Roan felt the rain drops hit his face, at first they were only a few, often missing his body altogether due to the heavy winds. He heard shutters and doors close and a few guards curse the weather as he walked; then the rain picked up, faster and faster, and before he knew it the wetness threatened to seep into his bones. Roan picked up his pace, glad for the moonless night and even more glad for the rain that obscured the guard's vision from seeing while he walked home.

Once inside the safety of his house his mother began questioning him about the wetness and why he hadn't come home sooner; after giving her a poor excuse he handed her the soup he had received from Martha, effectively switching the conversation and went to change out of his wet clothes before his mother picked up where she left off.

Climbing into his bed, his mind drifted towards the revolution. How would he even begin to gather supporters? Without them he was ripped of all support, left alone to challenge a whole kingdom, which he had to admit would lead to his death rather than his success. I could ask Asylsa for help, he thought, looking up to his ceiling; pondering.
 
The next few days had been peaceful, the two families falling back into a routine and living normally. Asylsa avoided the knigths as much as she could and kept close to Roan, only leaving his side when needed. More shifters died, but the death counts were lowering to only one or two a day. The knights then started to feel the need to leave the town, thinking that they had weeded most, if not all, of the shifters out.

That night, however, was when the Stone family ran out of luck. It was a rainy night, almost one in the morning when a frantic knocking could be heard at the Barrister's door. As the knocking continued, the family woke up, wondering who could be at their door at such a late hour.

Outside was Asylsa, cold and soaked as she waited for the family to open up. At every crack of lightning and bout of thunder the poor girl would jump, proceeding to knock until someone, anyone, opened the door. The Lord Trevor had found out about this incident and had told the knights that he wasn't anywhere near the town on that fateful day. So, the knights took action. This led to the young girl, pounding on the Barrister family's door.
 
Roan stood before the helm, a captain of his own ship at sea shouting orders to his crew when he heard - was that knocking? He looked around but could see nothing besides his men running about the deck and getting ready for a brush in with an enemy ship. Then they fired, a canon ball missing his head by mere feet, causing him to lose his footing and fall from the quarterdeck. Then - What is that blasted knocking? - another round came at them, he wanted to scream at his men to loose their canons on the enemy, but he knew they wouldn't hear him over all the shouting. He should try - a canon hit him straight in the face.

Roan woke up with a jump and saw a flash of lightning outside his window then the clap of thunder shortly after which shook him fully awake. Once again the knocking came. He wanted to shout at whatever had the audacity to cause such a ruckus when he realized it must be the door. Pushing himself out of bed and quickly putting on a pair of trousers, Roan made his way to the door and opened it only to find a drenched Asylsa before him. "What're you doing?" He asked, bewildered at why she was out and about at that time and during the a rainstorm. "C-come on in, please."
 
Asylsa walked in and quickly said, "Get your parents, you need to leave." She was shaking from the cold and her thin dress was completely soaked. She seemed scared, desperate to get Roan and his family out of the house. She looked around, eyes wide in fear.

"They're coming, they're coming! I shouldn't have come here, but... I didn't know where else to go..." She mumbled, closing shutters and keeping the house completely out of sight. She couldn't have the knights come to Roan's house, she couldn't!
 
"Calm down," Roan said grasping Asylsa's arms. "What's going on, why do we need to leave?" Whatever it was that had her in this state must have been serious, he wondered. Had she spoken about him to her other friends? Did word get out that they were shifters? It's impossible, Asylsa would never betray them like that and if she hadn't he saw no possible way that the knights found out. Whatever had her so frightened couldn't be because of them. Then why? Roan pulled up a chair and signalled his friend to take a seat.

"Tell me in detail what the bloody hell is going on? It looks as if you're nigh on going mad."
 
"No, not until your parents get down here! They need to know, they'll know what to do..." Asylsa took a seat, water dripping down her hair. Knights could be heard down the street, riding past the house. Asylsa closed her eyes and held onto her seat, taking ragged breaths.

"Quick! She went to the tavern!" A knight was heard shouting, turning around and riding opposite of where the house stood. The red head shook, praying that they wouldn't stop to check the house.
 
"Fine, I'll get them" Roan sighed nodding to himself and went to knock on his parents doors.

"What is it that you have to wake us at this hour?" Leo asked Roan.

"Asylsa' here and shaking with terror; she won't tell me what's going on unless you and mother are there."

"Very well, go comfort here while we get ready," Leo said and shut the door. He woke his wife and explained the situation to her while he was getting dressed and after a short while both of them appeared before Roan and Asylsa. "So," Leo began. "What's the ma'er? You look frightened, child, has something happened?"
 
"Ma and Pa are dead." Asylsa said with a shaky breath. "The knights... they came to our house in the middle of the knight, said we were charged with helping the shifters. Ma woke me up and told me to go to your house, that there was a safe haven that they had been leading shifters too outside of the kingdom... said to lead you there. The knights... they weren't happy with Ma and Pa. They refused to go and were run through with a sword." Asylsa paused here. She had to tell them everything.

Asylsa took another shaky breath before continuing. "I ran outside, but the knights, they chased me... they managed to catch me after I tripped... I don't know how I did it but I held my hand out and... and vines they just wound up one of the knight's bodies and strangled him... I killed a knight. I ran the rest of the way here and now you have to leave. They're going to find out that you're shifters and they're going to kill you if you don't leave now!" She was nearly sobbing as she finished. She hadn't been this scared since the day she was almost hanged. She had to get them out of here, but she wasn't sure how.
 
Roan couldn't believe what he heard. Asylsa's parents were dead because of what he'd done, he glanced at his father in shock. The old man was right, his actions caused the death of Asylsa's actions; all of this and whatever was to come was his fault. Shocked still he watched for his parents reactions while they nodded solemnly and began to gather their things. "Change shape, son," Leo said, turning himself from the big bellied blacksmith to a handsome, lanky, salt and pepper haired man while his mother went from short to tall and turned her once dirty blonde hair to dark brown. Roan followed his father's orders and changed his eyes to a deep green, his hair to a blond perm that went to his shoulders, and made himself look slightly older while he gathered his things.

"This is so they don't recognize us," Leo explained to Asylsa in a much deeper voice when they'd returned. "Here, put this cloak on, it'll help keep your face from the knights." After gathering they're belongings they packed everything onto the cart at the back of the house while Roan saddled the horses and prepared their escape.
 
Asylsa nodded and took the cloak, putting it up to hide her face. As soon as things were ready they were off. The girl felt surreal, as if everything around her was crumbling down, too many things happening in such a short time, it almost scared her. She watched as the rain blurred the outlines of houses, yells from the tavern faintly reaching her ears as the knights searched it.

The cart jumped when a pair of knights stopped them. "I am sorry, but we are not allowing anyone to leave the town at this time. A fugitive has escaped and we need to search for her." The knight explained, making Asylsa shiver in fear. She looked over at the three she was escaping with, hoping they could come up with something. She was sure if they asked to see under her cloak they would find that she was the person they were looking for. When did things get to this, she wondered. What event caused this catastrophe of events?
 
Roan sat in the back with Asylsa while his parents controlled the horses up front, a folding head was over them to keep them from the rain while they road and all the Roan kept sure to keep his gaze from Asylsa out of shame of what he'd caused. No doubt she probably will hate me for this, if she isn't already. He wanted to apologize but he didn't know how, and he was afraid she wouldn't forgive him and he didn't know if he could live with that - knowing that he'd caused her life to fall into ruins adding to it the fact that she would never forgive him.

While his thoughts ran the carriage suddenly stopped and he heard the faint voice of a guard outside. "We're only merchants here on a trade visit," he heard his father explain to the guard. "If we don't return to our village soon our profits would all be for naught. Whoever this escaped person is, she isn't with us, I assure you, sir knight."
 
"I am sorry sir but we will need to-" Asylsa caught the eye of the knight and glared. His eyes seemed to glaze a bit and he smiled. "I am sorry sir. Please carry on." The knight moved out of the way, causing the other one to look at him with confusion before moving out of the way too. The cart soon started moving again and Asylsa started to shiver, her body starting to get mad at her for doing whatever it was she had been doing so often in one night.

Asylsa looked over at Roan before curling up. "I'm sorry. This is all my fault." She pulled the cloak tighter around herself, trying to get her body to stop shivering so much. She looked down at the floor as she continued. "I can understand if you hate me for making you leave your home. I sort of deserve it." She started to feel a bit tired, her eyes closing as she shivered.
 
Roan watched as the encounter took place, his heart pounding in his chest when the knight suddenly let them pass, confusion written all over his face he looked at Asylsa and back at his parents who were looking at each other with confusion. It seemed they didn't know what happened either. "I'm sorry. This is all my fault," he heard Asylsa say and his neck snapped towards her. What? "I can understand if you hate me for making you leave your home. I sort of deserve it."

"No," he managed to say after a moment of silence and grasped her hand. "No, it's not your fault. If you'd stayed you would've been killed with your parents; it was right of you to come to us and I'm sure my parents don't mind at all." He noticed her shivering and moved in to hold her in his embrace to share his body's warmth. She must have gotten a cold from being drenched by the rain, he figured. It surprised him, however, that she would apologize; the apology should have been his to say not the other way around. Although he did feel little comfort in knowing she didn't blame him for her parent's death. A small sigh of relief escaped his lips as he looked on wondering where his parents planned on taking them.
 
Asylsa was grateful for him hugging her to keep her warm. "Roan... Do you believe in witches still being around?" She asked, sounding tired. Even with the warmth she still shook, though less with the body warmth. She leaned against his shoulder, happy to have his friend not hate her.

The red head smiled as she chuckled a little bit. "Besides, witches are just humans with a bit of magic in them..." She started to fall asleep the nights events taking its toll on the young girl. It wasn't too much longer before the red headed girl was asleep on her best friend, who happened to be a shapeshifter.
 
Roan wondered at the question asked by Asylsa. "It doesn't seem too far fetched," he replied at last. Alas, they existed, didn't they, shifters who could change their shape and bodies at a whim, to say that witches exist wasn't so unbelievable. He recalled the strange thing story she told his parents when she was captured about a vine choking a knight or something of that nature. He looked down and noticed she was fast asleep. Taking her lead, he tried to sleep himself but couldn't now that he was fully awake. "Where are we headed, father?" He asked after several failed attempts to sleep.

"Aeborne," his father replied with that strange deep voice. "I heard the knights haven't yet been there and it's the closest town we can stop at before the Drow kingdom. By the way, when did you tell her?"

"Tell her what?"

"Who we are," his father said looking back at him.

"A few days back. She already suspected it, perhaps even knew it." His father simply nodded and turned back to the road. They were making their way to the Drow kingdom, he thought to himself as he watched the road pass them by, his gaze occasionally falling on Asylsa. He could only hope, however, that they were kinder to shifters than the humans.
 
Asylsa didn't wake until the sun breached the horizon. She blinked as she yawned, still a bit tired and worn down. She looked over at Roan to check if he was awake before looking out at the road. She wondered where they were going, but wasn't sure if she should ask.

The young girl looked down at her hands, curious after what happened last night. She focused a little bit, unsure as to what would happen. A small spark jumped out of her hand and bounced in it, jumping from one hand to the other. It was a green spark, seeming to wait for Asylsa to do something. She moved her hands, making the spark do strange flips to get from one hand to the other. The sight made her giggle softly, playing with the small thing.
 
Roan woke up startled at a sudden popping noise and found a green thing jumping from Asylsa's hands. "What is that?" He asked after a while and shifted on the bench to get a better position. He didn't remember falling asleep last night; I guess I was tired, he shrugged to himself and looked around to find that the sun had come up and his mother had taken over for his father while he slept. He wondered how far they had gotten from the city and how close they were to Aeborne. They'd been travelling for less than half a day so a great deal more distance had to be covered before they saw any sign of civilization.

"How're you feeling?" Roan asked after a while. Losing both her parents, he felt certain Asysla was not taking things very well and hand't completely gotten over it. What else could he do besides ask? If he could he would have brought them back, but the only strange thing he was able to do was change how he looked, and asking his parents to change to the way her parents looked would be a little too weird, and most likely crossing boundaries.
 
"Nothing. I didn't wake you, did I?" Asylsa said, quickly squashing the spark in her palm. She didn't answer his second question, unsure of what she was feeling. She instead turned to look outside before asking Roan, "Where are we headed?" Her ma had told her to send the family to the Drow kingdom. There was a little town where refugee shapeshifters could stay and start their lives over in a calm environment.

As they road, Asylsa felt like this was all a dream, she would wake up and her parents would be alive. She wouldn't have to leave and Roan and his family wouldn't have to change their appearance and leave their home. She almost was tempted to pinch herself, just to get her to wake up from this crazy nightmare that was her life. She sighed as she wrapped her arms around herself.
 
"No, it's fine," He responded curiously looking at her hands when she ended her little display. "We head for Aeborne, or at least that's the plan. From there we go to the Drow Kingdom and restart our lives." Roan pointedly noticed that she ignored his second question and thought that it had devastated her to such a degree that she couldn't talk about it. He could understand in a sense, many of his friends were killed by the knights, but he didn't exactly know the pain of losing parents. Although he hated to admit it, gladness filled him of the fact that he still had his and he was sure his father wouldn't mind having Asylsa stay with them.

"I hear the Drows are a kind, but misunderstood people," Roan said after a while of silence. He heard rumours of shifters having a safe haven within their kingdom, but how true he couldn't say. It made sense, however. They weren't as cruel as humans and because they lived longer, he supposed they had more wisdom and experience than they did - and since they had a rather large and powerful kingdom, they wouldn't need to feel any sort of threat from the shifters, or so he hoped.
 
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