017 - Leftovers and Ash - Part 2 -
Uriel clung to the bare back of Zeresha and wrapped his hands around her neck.
He buried his head against her fur and shut his eyes, as the mare dashed towards their home, hoping to find some degree of peace, but the minutes were anything but easy on his mind.
Each second seemed to extend to an hour and worry creased his face time and time again, he worried for Cassandra, he felt like everything was pointless with all the people of Old Meadow dead, and the uncertainty and loss left him in a pit of despair.
The little farm couldn't arrive soon enough.
When the house came into sight, Uriel felt his heart sink further as he could see the doors to the barn were broken, and upon getting closer the same was revealed to be true for the house.
The garden that covered the entry path had been trampled over and squashed by heavy footsteps and the door to the house lay in a pile of broken splinters.
Uriel hopped off Zeresha's back and dashed into the house with his tired legs, "Cass," he called out her name as he ran straight to her room.
Upon entering he found her straw bed torn up and scattered everywhere, the doors to her cupboard were hanging ajar none of her clothes had been taken but they were shoved in a messy way, which he knew Cassandra would never do, she was as neat and clean as a person could get.
Evidently, they had searched the house for any valuables, but it wasn't like they had much, the most valuable things they possessed was probably the cooking wear, pots, and knives, and his mom had a few pieces of jewelry and a hand-cranked sewing device.
Cassandra was wearing all their mom's jewelry at the festival last night so there wasn't anything in the house.
Uriel went through each room and found it in a similar state, the clothes were left untouched and everything else was a mess.
As he returned to the kitchen his eyes fell upon a knocked-over pot, the sight of which caused him to tremble with a surreal realization.
He stepped closer to the pot and looked inside to see that the contents had been cleared out, only a few traces remained of the bean curry that his mother had made for his birthday.
It felt like he had taken another arrow to the gut as he had to come to terms with the fact that he would never taste his mom's cooking again.
That was the last meal she had ever made for him, but the soldiers… they ate it, they ate his last meal from his mother.
His eyes boiled with hatred and bubbled with tears as he cursed them all dead, he had somehow managed to kill many of them but the ones he especially wanted dead were perfectly fine.
The thought of killing them gave him a renewed sense of strength, just enough to allow him to come to a decision, there were three people he wanted to kill, the knight Lambert, it was because of him that this mess happened, and by extension the new bloody queen.
It was her war that started all the troubles for Old Meadow that put her second on his list, and the person he wanted to kill above all else was that wretched archer Harald.
It was his arrow that killed his mother, then it was his arrow that killed his father.
Uriel branded the image of the man into his mind, a man with a rough-looking face, he had a shabby stubble beard with long brown hair that fell to his shoulders, and the most wretched part about him was that cocky smile of his that he showed each time he took a life.
Uriel etched his features into his heart making a silent vow that the archer's life was forfeit, he swore to the fates that if it was the last thing he did he would take that man's life.
That was right, last night was Cair-Andriel, it was his birthday, it was the day of celebrating the harvest, it was the on which the new men and women would take a spouse, after all, it was the day of new fate.
Nine years ago on that night, he had been abandoned by his parents, 8 years ago on that night the people of Old Meadow made it his birthday, 4 years ago on that night Ms. Casey and Mr. Zek had adopted him into their family and betrode their only daughter to him.
And this year his entire family was taken from him again, his village razed in fire, his parents murdered and Cassandra was nowhere to be found, indeed it was a day of new fate for him.
Uriel knew that he didn't have the ability to kill those two, not yet but after using Eldrin last night he knew that if he could learn to use it properly then he would have a chance at getting revenge, on his family's assailants.
Uriel breathed out a cold breath as he let the last of his tears hit the bottom of the pot, taking another vow, "I won't cry again, not until I return home victorious and give my family a proper burial," he swore through clenched teeth.
Uriel sat the pot down and went to the fireplace, when he checked inside he found that the brick was still inside, the soldiers hadn't found his sword.
He pulled out the blunt blade and strapped it to his waist, at the same time he pulled out the fat coin purse hidden inside.
It was his parent's life savings, ten gold, a hundred and twenty-two silver, and a couple hundred coppers.
It was a considerable wealth for someone from a village.
Uriel knew there was no point in leaving it behind, he hated taking his parent's money even if they were dead, but he promised to use it to find Cassandra and give whatever remained to her, it belonged to her after all.
Uriel scoured the house for any remaining items, he gathered a couple of coin purses and split the coins between them, it was dangerous to keep them all in one place especially while traveling.
Then he grabbed a couple of the knives from the kitchen one of the pots and some salt, he took anything that might be essential and packed it all into a bundle.
The last thing he did was change his tunic into one of his older ones with patches, as the one he was wearing had a large hole going from back to front and it was dyed in blood.
When he finished he walked out the broken front door of his house where he found Zeresha standing with her head hanging low.
He patted the mare on the head and stroked her mane with care as he took one last look at the home behind him.
Then he went to the barn with Zeresha and just like the house it had been ransacked, the food storages were completely plundered all the hard work he had put into the harvest with his family and the farmhands was all taken by the thieving soldiers.
The only good news was that they left the stacks of hay, Uriel left Zeresha to eat from a bundle and made his way to a particular stack of hay, he pushed it aside and it revealed a wooden door.
Uriel sighed in relief as he pulled the door up and found a small storage with some provisions, and three sacks of food, two were grain, and one was beans, while there was another sack of carrots it was one of Zeresha's and Loppers favorites.
Uriel's eyes widened as he looked back at Zeresha and found that she had hardly touched the hay, "Where's Lopper?" he asked with guilt, in his sorrow he had forgotten all about her mate.
The mare lowered her head and gently nuzzled against him.
"You don't know?" he asked.
"nghhh," she neighed softly and nuzzled his ear.
Uriel looked around with worry when he noticed another problem the wagon was gone, they had taken it into the village last night.
He considered tying the sacks onto Zeresha's body but when he looked around the barn pretty much all the rope that had been lying around was taken, the only thing that remained was an old saddle with worn straps.
Realizing the problem Uriel came to a decision, he would have to return to the village, hopefully, something remained, and he had remembered something else, all the villagers weren't necessarily dead.
They had split up into multiple groups and fled, for all he knew one of them might have found Cass and was currently looking after her.
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