Fire and Steel

Prologue: Aya

Aya's world wasn't always covered in snow. Her feet still remembered the sensation of warm sand between their toes and her face recalled the heat of a tropical sun. Now, there was no heat for the salty sea breeze to relieve, instead, it chilled Aya to her bones. The cliff Aya stood on had once looked over her favourite sight, the crystal blue waves crashing upon golden-white sand as green and yellow windbirds swirled in a cloudless sky conjuring zephyrs that cooled the beach air. Now she stood over the grave of her husband and looked over the Steadfast Legion's newly built ports, their waters tinted dark by the omnipresent cloud cover. 

The Legion's Icebreakers slammed past ice-dotted waves. There seemed no end to those ships, each docking brought with it the promise that more of Aya's people would be conscripted. The winds carried the telltale tension of impending war and The Steadfast Legion needed soldiers, so the natives of Rudira faced two choices, conscript or be driven out of their homes. The families of conscripts were taken care of by the Legion's growing fortune; Aya never could bring herself to blame those who joined the colonizers' ranks. One had to do what one could to survive these days.

The Firewalkers were never one to settle in one place, they were nomads who traced the Mother Isle's surface on foot, and so all of Rudira was the Firewalker's home. Thus as long as they walked, they could never be driven from their home. True as that was, Aya knew her home was dying, she knew that ice and snow were choking its life away and there was only so much that her bloodcraft could do to keep the trees alive, to feed the wind-birds or warm the sun-basking lizards. Still, Aya produced a glass dagger from her belt. The weapon was intricately sculpted to look like a tongue of flame given solid form and made razor sharp.

"I give this blood freely, I only ask to see this seed blossom before my eyes. Let it bear fruit and feed those to come after me. I pray that Hakim's spirit rests within the Great Flame and that his fire will light the coming nights." Aya recited, closing her eyes and tuning herself to the energy of Rudira. Then she pulled the glass dagger across her wrist, cutting deep enough to bleed but not enough to harm any vital blood vessels.

Blood dripped from her wrist into a divot in the ground where the snow had been shovelled away to reveal a patch of sandy soil. A single seed was nestled amongst grains of golden brown soil and as the drops of blood touched the seed and its surrounding soil, the deep crimson began to glow with feverish scarlet light tendrils of mystical smoke trailing off it. Aya knelt and shovelled soil over the glowing seed, stepping back to watch as the heat from her bloodcraft began melting the snow around her. The blood worked its magic, the buried seed grew from seed to sapling, to sprout, to tree, drinking thirstily of the melting snow around it. The new tree's branches began to sprout flowers but before Aya could see it bear fruit, she heard a scream.

'Radha!' Her mind thought immediately. Aya leapt into action, quickly wrapping her arm in a bandage before dashing back down the path she had walked to get to the cliff. As Aya ran, the screaming grew louder, it wasn't just one scream it was a dozen. 'Was the caravan under attack? Why in the Great Fire's name would The Legion attack them? They weren't in violation of any laws; they had no land to occupy, no money to pillage.

Yet as Aya broke through the tree line she saw the Firewalker caravan crowded around what looked to be two bodies leaking blood from their throats. As she approached her eyes followed the trails of their blood to see two kneeling legionnaires, their hands restraining a scrawny captive that shared Aya's brown skin, black hair and narrow face.

"RADHA!" Aya cried out. Rushing towards the two soldiers that were holding down her daughter before two more legionnaires caught Aya by the arms.

Next to the young girl's hand, the shattered remains of a glass dagger shimmered amongst clumps of dirty snow.

"Let her go! Please... I beg of you, let my girl go!" Aya pleaded, she couldn't lose her too, not like this.

Murmured commotion erupted within the gathered caravan, no one moved, and no one acted. They stood paralyzed by the knowledge that if they acted now they would give an excuse for the Legion to break the tenuous peace the caravan had bargained for. Tears burned in Aya's eyes and she did not have the strength to keep them from flowing.

"Let her go...? And give up all that fire. No no... I don't think I can pass up such an exemplary conscript. I will take this one to the heart of The Legion and mould her into a weapon unlike this land has ever seen. And none of you will interfere" A voice like cold metal sliced through the murmurs. Something in that voice sounded... reasonable, and logical and even as her mind screamed for her body to act, it remained still.

The voice was followed by the crunching of snow under heavy boots as a man of daunting stature approached from behind the Legionnaires. Wordlessly as if under some spell they parted ways and allowed High Commander Hurain to step forward, he walked with deliberate slowness towards the guards that restrained Aya's precious daughter. The High Commander's thickly gloved hand extended with the sleeve of a thickly furred coat and grabbed Radha's face by the chin, nudging it from side to side with a studious look in his eyes. Radha's amber eyes met his grey-blue gaze of cruel examination with one of unyielding fury. A bonfire of rage that was put there by her father, one that only burned hotter after his passing.

"You are this child's mother, yes?" The High Commander queried, not bothering to look at Aya.

Aya managed a nod through her sobs. She was too shocked to speak. 'Did this mean Radha would live?' Aya thought. It was the only thought that could bring her even the slightest bit of relief.

"I congratulate you, woman. Your daughter will become the final piece in my design.... Legionnaires! We have gotten what we came for, we leave for the Tusk! Steadfast we march!"

The high commander bellowed, and the Legionaries thumped their chests wordlessly before turning and marching off, a tide of grey and gold armour sweeping Aya's daughter away from her.

"MA!!!!" Aya heard her daughter call as she was being carried away. Something in her blood urged her to act, to dash after Radha and save her but her legs just would not move. The High Commander's words swirled in her mind, none of you will interfere, none of you will interfere, none of you will interfere. Those words somehow bound her hands and legs, she wanted so desperately to run after her daughter but her body simply couldn't.