Thoughts

Thunderstorms: Five

The rain came down in droves but Azra had no time to stop it.

He was still running as fast as his legs could carry him through the Dead Forest, trying his hardest not to cross paths with any unwanted company. His head was in a million different realities, but they were all asking the same question.

Are you really going back?

He didn’t know what else to do. The Elder Mothers were surely going to seek revenge after what had transpired at the edge of the Dead Forest. Wendi could be dead by now and he saw no way to refute this fact in his head. He had only one way clear to him now. And it involved doing the stupidest thing he had ever done in his life.

He came to a halt and listened keenly. The rain might have been a distraction to many, but it provided him with a wider scope than what the eye can see. Right now he felt the rain falling everywhere in Yori. He felt the pang of guilt well up in his chest when he could not feel the rain falling on Wendi’s aura. They must have dealt with her quickly.

He refocused the range and searched deeper into the forest until he found what he was looking for. He ran all the way to them, not thinking about why they were all here until he could actually see them.

“You’ve made quite the mess, Azra,” Mimo spoke as she jumped down from the tree. Even in her causal manner of addressing things, it was impossible for one to miss the anxiety in her tone.

“The twins?” he directed this to Mila, who was handing him his gear and weapons.

“Airborne. I wanted a lookout in case you were followed.”

“How did you figure out my message at your mother’s house was indeed a code?”

“Azra, you have been teaching my son the art of swordplay since he was six winters old and never once in all these winters have you allowed him use of a sword without your presence.”

He chuckled to himself as he continued to strap on his armor. There was a loud squawking of a bird as the twins descended from the sky and transformed back into their human forms.

“He was not followed,” Sila spoke as she and his brother drew closer to Azra.

“What happened with the Elder Mothers?” Mila asked and Azra didn’t need to say more past the fact that he had been ordered to return to his homeland.

“I want you to return home to your child Mila. He is not safe as of now.”

“And you are? It seems you have not grasped the concept that is in front of you, Azra. You are about to willingly go to the Thirteen Witches. The Thirteen Witches!”

Azra did not need reminding of what he was going to face when he made his journey back to his motherlands. But he was glad to see that Mila was not confused about the magnitude of danger that was in front of him.

“I must do this alone.”

He was striding to his steed when the hand pulled him back towards the group. This was the second time in his life he had seen Mila, so overcome with anger, that she was on the verge of shedding tears.

“You are behaving like a child, Azra! You know there is no hope of you defeating the Thirteen Witches. Why do you refuse help when you know you need it?

Azra did not have an answer for that. All he knew was that he needed to move forward with this alone. Was it because he had endured enough battles to last him a lifetime? Or was it the prospect that he was surely leading three more lives to a pointless death? Either way he was not going to be convinced otherwise about his decision.