Elaine's Revenge

The Most Skilled Paladin

The Most Skilled Paladin

Panting, tears streaming down her face, Elaine struggled to keep up with her mother as she pulled her along by the wrist. Blood, fresh and hot, flowed over their connected hands. Elaine couldn't see where it was coming from. She was scared to know.

The two of them ran across the backyard of their house. Her mother didn't dare even glance back. She was focused only on running and getting her daughter away.

But, Elaine had to look.

Their home was going up in flames. The orange and yellow light had eaten through the roof where the blaze had been started. It would burn down through the floors as the night wore on. No one was making any attempt to stop the fire.

As her mother pulled her away, Elaine could see the front of the house. She could see the unfamiliar men taking things from the house. Valuables. Boxes. Dresses. Anything that held any worth. It was all being stolen. Anything that might remain would be eaten by the fire.

Even out here, far past the yard, and into the fields, Elaine could feel its heat on her face. She knew fire was dangerous. She had received the warning plenty of times when getting too close to the fireplace. But her child's mind had been completely unable to imagine the horrific magnitude of seeing a fire that devoured a house, sending up plumes of smoke dark enough to blot out the moon.

Looking back as she was, Elaine didn't see the ditch before she had already tumbled forward into it, hand falling from her mothers. Pain erupted on her knees as she skinned them on the dirt. She started crying immediately.

Her mother didn't give her time to do more than that. Turning back, she scooped her daughter up into her arms and turned to continue her desperate flight.

But, now Elaine could feel the hot blood pouring out onto her chest. She could see her mother's pale face and her wide, terrified eyes.

"Mama-"

"Keep your head down, Elaine!" She grabbed her head and forced it into her shoulder.

Elaine could still lift her eyes and see over it to the house. It was growing smaller as they ran away from its shadow. The fire was eating at the upstairs now. Where Elaine's room was. She whimpered, reaching back uselessly.

A breeze came across the land and blew the smoke away. On the far side of it, Elaine could just barely see the outline of a ship.

And the dark flag flapping at the top of the main mast.

Her mother tripped and staggered. She barely avoided falling, her arms tightening around her daughter to keep from dropping her. Elaine turned to see her face, but the hand at the back of her head kept her in place.

"Mama..."

"I'm fine..." She panted, struggling to run again.

The blood trail she left behind was as obvious as it was thick. Elaine tracked it all the way to the back door of their house where the two of them had escaped from. Would it take long for those men to find them?

"Mama, where's papa?" Elaine trembled, crying in earnest. "I want papa!"

Her mother didn't respond. Elaine clutched her desperately, praying for her father. She was sure that if her father was there, none of this would be happening. He was so big and strong. Surely, he would be able to save the two of them.

Their desperate flight continued until the house was approaching the horizon. Her mother just kept running, pushing desperately forward into the tall grasses of the Great Plains. Uncaring of where she was going, just trying to get away.