Horns of War

Padan woke up to screams. He looked out his window to see the entire town in flames. "Aithene wake up!"

Aithene leaned up in the bed and rubbed her eyes. "Huh? What's wrong?"

"Look!" Padan grabbed her and dragged her to the window.

Aithene widened her eyes to see hulky green and brown creatures slaughtering the town guards with ease. They were huge, towering the guards of the village and were very muscular. Their eyes were large and circular, and there were tusks on their bottom teeth. They also carried well-made weaponry, but their armor was crude and made poorly. It was not like the full plate armor Aithene was used to seeing. A majority of their bodies were exposed. Their armor would only cover either one shoulder or both and their chest. The weapons they carried, however, were crafted with care. The blades were so well kept, that the inferno reflected light off them and gifted it with a mesmerizing shine. "Qên are attacking? Why?"

Padan shrugged.

" We need to leave," Aithene said and grabbed Padan's hand and headed for the door.

"Hold on Athene, what about Harern?"

"We'll find him on the way out come on!" The pair sprinted through the overly decorated halls of Padan's estate. As they ran both Padan and Aithene could hear the scream of the villagers outside. The bright ray of the sun gleamed through the huge glass windows on each side of the hallway but was outmatched by raging fires that swept through the village. Padan and Aithene reached the estates' front door. Aithene peaked a look outside to see the house guards fighting off a pack of Qên. "How are we supposed to find Harern? Where would he have gone too?" asked Aithene.

"He probably went back to the mages guild hall, we will find him there," said Padan.

"Alright," Athene said as she drew daggers from her sleeves.

"Are there Qên out there?" Asked Padan.

Aithene nodded."There are about four Qên and two guards. The guards aren't holding up so well. Weirdly enough though only two Qên are attacking the guards at a time. I'm not sure why they don't just overwhelm the guards."

"Who cares, that gives us a better opportunity to help them," Padan said.

"I'm going to go to the left of them and try to strike when I'm ready. You see the one on the right wearing no armor and a loincloth?" Aithene points to a Qên off to the side.

"Yes, he hasn't attacked the guards yet," Padan said.

" Try to take him out. We breach on three okay?"

Padan nods.

"One. Two. Three."

Padan threw open his front door and charged the Qên, catching it off guard. Padan rose his sword and slashed at the Qên's head. The Qên blocked Padan and shoved him to the ground. Padan quickly got up and stuck a massive attack. Padan stepped back in a defensive form. I can't beat it with pure aggression alone. I'm going to have to outsmart it. Padan took a closer look at the Qên and saw that the creature was not in a fighting stance.

"I can be faster than it in my stance and catch it off guard." Padan thought

Padan rose his sword as he brushed his left foot behind him. He then readied himself as the Qên screamed in a rage and rushed him. Padan dodged out of the way of the Qên and struck at its back. The Qên fell to the ground and yelled in agony. Padan threw his hands up in the air in a chant.

"Yes!"

As Padan finished basking in his victory, the Qên hit its wound with its fist and got up with a painful deep growl coming from its mouth and charged.

"Uh, oh," Padan said as he readied himself for another strike.

The Qên then raised its axe. Padan raised his sword vertically to block the attack. If Padan had been second later, his chest would have been cut open. Aithene protruded out from the shadows she was hiding and thrust her dagger into the neck of the Qên, and it collided with the dirt as the blood mixes with the ground. Another Qên wearing hide shoulder armor seeing this rushes Padan. Padan dodged out of the way of the rush and stood back in his defensive form. Aithene stood next to Padan with her daggers ready. The Qên charged again. Padan blocked its attack giving Aithene time to shove her dagger into the throat of the Qên.

The remaining Qên saw the killing of the others and ran away in a panic.

Padan rushed over to one of the guards once the Qên had fled.

" Do you know what's going on?" Padan asked.

"No idea sir." The guard said as he wiped dark red blood splots off of his face. "Earlier this morning we heard screams coming from the village, and we sent a small detachment to go down and check out what the commotion was. We never heard back from them. We then decided it was best to stand guard at the gates of the estate."

"Collect your men and head down to the village and help evacuate as many people as possible. When you are finished with that, run for the woods and don't look back." Padan said as he reholstered his sword.

The guard stood up straight and held his fist to his chest. "Yes, sir!"

Aithene stood behind Padan and wrapped her arm around his.

Padan distractedly walked out of Aithene's embrace. "Let's keep heading toward the Guild of Seiress." Padan then rushed toward town with Aithene not far behind.

As the two ran down the dirt path screams filled the air, and black smoke seemed to be everywhere. Blood splatters covered shop windows and home walls. Fires raged across the once vibrant marketplace and town center. Padan and Aithene dodged falling debris and fire, making their way to the town square.

"It's only a little way further!" Padan says as he pointed out a stone structure with bright blue marks on the front indicating a doorway.

Suddenly Aithene heard the scream of a woman nearby. She gazed over to see a Qên holding a villager by the throat and lifting her up into the air. Other Qên nearby laughed at the sight of the strangling woman as tears of pain ran down her face. Then suddenly with a swift snap, the woman's head was 180 degrees behind the front of her body. The body then flopped onto the ground lifeless as the Qên contained to stab and thrash at the corpse. Padan stood in shock at the horror he was witnessing as Aithene hid behind the walls of an already burnt house dragging Padan with her. Aithene was mid gasp as Padan began to draw his sword.

"Wait" Aithene said grabbing Padans arm. There's too many of them its suicide if we fight.

"We can't not do anything its complete disrespect!" Padan replied through his teeth.

"Padan I know its hard for you but you need to think about survival you can't help Harern if you're dead."

Padan didn't like how he knew Aithene was right. "They are going to pay for this, I don't care how long it takes I'll make them all regret crossing us"

Padan watched as the Qên grew bored Just then a bigger Qên approached the group and began barking orders at them. it was dressed similarly to the rest but had better armor and a distinct symbol on the chest piece. The symbol looked like two s's intersecting with curly ends and dots inside the end all enclosed with inside a flame. After receiving their orders the Qên ran off followed by the Qên with the symbol. Taking the opportunity Padan and Aithene headed straight for the guild house. Padan and Aithene rushed in and closed the door behind them. An old wizard startled and ducked under the desk in front of him. Padan looked around in awe. The entire guildhall was filled with mysterious books with weird lettering on them, and multiple scrolls that looked like they would crumble with a single touch were everywhere in sight. Candles covered everywhere Padan looked. Desks filled the main room in the hall with papers over them.

Aithene walked over to the old wizard cowering under the desk. "Get up we aren't Qên." The old wizard's eyes looked over the desk to see Aithene giving him a look of discontent.

"Oh thank goodness. I thought I was gone for sure! An old man like me can't fight like I used to."

Aithene aggressively reached over the table and grabbed the old wizard by the shirt and screamed. "Where's Harern!"

Padan rushed over and separated the two of them. "Aithene calm down!"

Athene huffed and went over to a bookshelf to examine some of the old tomes.

"I'm sorry about her she's worried about our friend," Padan said neatening the old wizard's shirt. "But if you do know where Harern is we would appreciate your help."

The old wizard gave Padan a face of irritation. "Alright, fine let me check the records. Every time a master and pupil leave for a mission they record it in this book.

The old wizard lifted up and dropped a large book onto the counter. He used his index finger to read down the page.

"Harern... Harern...Har. Ah, here he is! Says here that he left earlier this morning before the Qên attacked. He was doing some community work with his master."

Athene rushed over to the table causing the old wizard to jump back out of fear. "Alright, so where did he go?"

"They went to the poorer district of town. Apparently, they were going to help with some community work. His master always was big on showing him the kindness to others." Said the old wizard. "I'm not sure how his master reacted to the invasion. They may not be there anymore, but it's a step in the right direction."

There was a sudden massive rumble coming from outside. Padan looked out the window to see houses and buildings collapsing onto each other as the fires' rage came crushing homes under its weight.

Aithene walked over to Padan and put her hand on his shoulder. "What was that?"

Padan tensed his muscles and clenched his jaw. "The Qên aren't just taking the town. They are planning to destroy it!"

"What?" Aithene asked with dire inquisition.

" Those fires weren't accidental. They are intentionally trying to burn the village down" Padan Retorted.

He then looked over to the old wizard. "You need to get out of here. The town is lost."

All of a sudden the guildhall fell to the mighty flames that consumed the town. The old wizard looked at the fire and smiled then shook his head.

"As the librarian, I've spent my whole life here collecting these old tomes and books. I have to protect these in life and death."

Padan frowned as his hands relaxed. He then gave a nod of understanding. He looked over to Aithene "You ready to move out?"

Aithene nodded and opened the door to the guild house and ran outside. Padan moved for the door, stopped, and looked back. The Guildhall was beginning to succumb to the flames that turned the village to waste. The guild banners, books, and scrolls were feeding the fire making it grow stronger in power. The wooden beams holding up the second floor collapsed onto itself. Padan took one last look at the old wizard and was confused. The old man's expression was not one of sadness but of pride and happiness. As the roof collided in on itself, Padan closed the door and expected screams but didn't hear anything.

As Aithene and Padan sprinted to the location of Harern, the cries of battle filled the air. The sky became black with ash as it floated up to the heavens. Half mutilated carcasses littered the streets. Aithene covered her nose with her shirt to block the smell of burning flesh.

Padan's boots splashed as it hit the cobblestone. He gazed down to see his feet covered in blood. The streets had streams leading downhill with the blood of its citizens. Usually, this would concern him, for he could be stepping in the very blood of people he knew and talked to on a day to day basis, but all that occupied his mind was to find his friend Harern. As Padan ran, he heard a raspy voice.

"Help me, please!"

Padan looked over to see where the voice came from, but all that surrounded him was burning buildings.

"Somebody, please!"

Padan followed the voice down an alleyway that was off of the main street. As he rushed, Padan saw a middle-aged woman bleeding out on the ground. He ran over to her in a panic and tried to tend to her wounds. "What happened?"

"I was trying to escape the town when those dreadful things attacked." The woman bit her lips out of pain to the point where her mouth began to bleed.

Aithene caught up and ran over to Padan. "Padan what happened?"

"She was attacked by the Qên. I'm trying my best to stop the bleeding, but it keeps gushing!" Padan's hands are frantically trying to tie a piece of his clothing around her wound but to no avail. The once bright green cloak was turning dark from the blood.

Aithene looked into the woman's face to see true terror unlike she has ever witnessed.

The dying woman picked up on Aithenes' gaze and looked into her eyes and smiled. "You two must spend a lot of time together."

Padan hesitated in his response. "I suppose ma'am, but I don't think now is the time to."

The woman interrupted him. " I could tell by the way you didn't flinch by her presence. That's a sign that you know someone. That even when you hear strange footsteps in the distance, their presence is enough to know who it is."

Aithene pushed aside Padan. "You're messing it up. Let me do this I know first aid better than you do."

Padan took offense. "How? You've never even read a book on first aid let alone do it hands-on."

Aithene covered Padan's mouth. "I've taken care of myself since I was a child, I know how to bandage a wound now go lookout for Qên ok?"

Padan mumbled and mocked Aithene as his voice died off in the distance. He squinted his face and stuck out his tongue "I took care of myself since I was little."

The old woman's eyes focus on Aithene's as she began to undo the mess Padan put on the wound. "You must care about him. Is he his boyfriend?"

"It's complicated," Aithene said trying desperately to bandage the wound but wasn't as successful as she should have been. She was able to keep the woman alive for only a little longer.

The woman moved her hand onto Aithenes stopping her from trying to patch the wound. "I'm not so ignorant enough to not know I'm not going to make it."

Aithene stopped and allowed the woman to speak.

"I've been in your position before. Long ago I loved a man much like you do now, but something awful happened, and fear forced me to separate myself from him. I've regretted leaving him behind ever since. I know you feel for that boy I can see it in your eyes. Remember that in the darkest of our moment's love isn't something that we should hide to protect. It's something that we should use to protect each other."

Aithene laughs. "you're speaking nonsense old woman"

Shocked at her reaction she went to speak again but couldn't as she coughed her last breaths and hit her head against the wall she was laying on.

Padan walked over to check on Aithene "Everything ok?"

Aithene stood up and walked away from the corpse.

"Aithene what happened?"

"She's dead Padan forget about her."

Padan felt fury come up from him then thought to himself "How could she be so selfish?". As he was about to let loose on her he figured now was not to time to argue and draw attention to them. "Alright ill go look ahead. "

Padan looked out from the alley. "It's clear, let's keep going we are almost where Harern and his master said he would be."

Aithene cleaned herself up and followed Padan out of the alley and back onto the main streets.