Callia's Redemption

Liza races until morning. She’s heading northwest while Ambra stays perched on Liza’s rear. I have no idea how I got an animal sidekick, but Ambra doesn’t seem to be wanting to go anywhere away from me.

Once Liza becomes tired, I climb off of her and start walking. She’s grateful to be relieved from the added weight and nudges the side of my head. I just pat the side of her face and pull her along. I have no idea where I’m headed, but Ambra seems to have an understanding. Every time I veer a direction she does not want; she screeches at me until I correct myself. This bird is going to drive me insane before the end of the trip.

I finally stop to rest. Ambra takes flight to check for anyone following us. While she does this, I clean Liza and use a pick I found in her saddle to clean and scrape her hooves. I pull some more food from my back and bite into a hunk of bread. My trick in the village will stall Gstalt at best. He’s paler than I remember but his magic is much darker. By the power levels I was getting off of Gstalt the plan somewhat worked. I managed to more than half his magic. He now has the power less than a God, but a bit more than a Demigod. He’s vulnerable.

The problem with Gstalt’s dark magic is, even though he’s technically weaker than me, it’s also wildly unpredictable at his level. He can use things I cannot for a power source, like an animals’ life for example. I can use heat and water as an external source if necessary. I usually don’t like to since it typically destroys the source entirely.

Ambra has not returned after forty minutes. I’d leave but I’m fairly sure I’m supposed to stay until she returns. She might just be hunting for food. Usually hawkravens like to eat four times a day. I put my cloak on and lean against the tree as Liza grazes, dozing off slightly. I’m so tired that it’s hard to keep from falling completely asleep.

I open my eyes as I hear a stick snap, Liza screams as she rears, and Ambra starts screeching in response. I lurch to my feet and see nothing out of the ordinary. When I look over to Liza, I see a snake near her. I use my power to fling the snake, picturing a finger flicking him away. The snake goes flying into the bushes. I go to Liza to calm her as she rears up again.

“Whoa honey, whoa.” I say as I soothe her, holding my hands up to tell her it’s okay. Liza finally settles as I stroke her snout. A screech from Ambra sends her reeling again, knocking her hard into me as she lands. I fall and feel a sharp pain as I hit my head on something. I hear Liza and Ambra screaming as everything loses shape. I feel Liza nudge me as everything slowly goes black.

My dreams are vivid. It’s playing my reanimation over and over again. Falling from the sky while I’m sleepily awake, not very aware of what is happening. I didn’t notice it at first, but there was a gray light as I fell. Something moved me away from my original destination. A Wind God is what did it. Why would it do that? Unless my birth parent had tried to plan something with the Wind God. That, or it interfered so I could not be returned to Gstalt. Either way is a good thing for me.

I wake slowly. At first, I’m startled with what I see. Above me is me, in a mirrored reflection. There is a wooden ceiling above my head surrounding the mirror. What happened? I remember Ambra and Liza being spooked, and Liza knocking me over. What had them both so scared? It couldn’t have been the snake. Hawkravens love to eat snakes, especially the venomous ones.

I look up at the mirror and see that my silvered hair has recently been washed; when held up to the light there is a lilac tint to it. I touch the back of my head and wince at the pain it produces. There are stitches underneath my fingertips. I must have cut my head on a rock when I fell. There is a slight cut on the pale skin on my forehead that I likely got from the fall as well. My light ocean colored eyes, with a surrounding lilac ring, fit in with a framed heart face. My red lips also seem to have a small cut on them, but I’m unsure where I could have gotten that from.

I sit up slowly, holding onto a blanket made of deer hide, that is covering my exposed midriff. The rain outside is slightly therapeutic as it hits against the windowpane. What is going on? How on earth did I get here? I look around and notice that there are bottles lining the walls; they’re potions. On the table next to the bed are herbs, needles, and string. This must be a healers’ quarters. The mattress I’m sitting on is thinly stuffed with feathers and lined with deer skin. Other than the small wooden chair at the table, and fireplace in the back corner, this room fairly plain.

The only light given in this room is a lantern on the table near the bed and a small window at the edge of the bed. I’m hoping I didn’t get robbed, and a healer managed to stumble upon me and bring me here for care. I mean, the karmic payback would be justified but still. Hopefully, Liza and Ambra are okay, though I don’t see Ambra going anywhere without a fight.

Slowly, I place my feet on the ground. They touch something hard, and I realize it’s my bag, with my cloak placed on top. Well, at least I didn’t get robbed. I pull on a light blue shirt from the bag. My pants and boots are still on, so they may have removed the shirt since it likely had blood on it. That does not make me feel better, but at least they left the breast band on.

I stand up and grab my bag. It appears they stuffed the bloodied shirt in the bag, so at least I have one less blood trail to worry about. It’s raining outside, so my blood should be washed away. I put on my pack and the cloak. I need to get moving. Gstalt is likely on my trail, and I haven’t a clue to how long I was unconscious. What was it that spooked Liza?

I go to the window and look outside. There is no one out there that I can make out. I see Liza tied to a wooden post in an open horsed stall, so she stays dry. Interesting. As I touch the window, I hear Ambra screech. I turn my head in time to hear claws attacking the door. Why is she inside?

“Stop that bird!” A man yells as I go to the door.

“What is wrong with that thing?” Another one yells, his voice seeming slightly familiar.

Ambra screeches again, this time her claw making it through the door.

“Ambra!” I nearly yell as I see a faint hint of blood on her claw.

“If she’s awake we need to go.” The man said as he opens the door, causing Ambra to fly at me. She quickly veers after reaching me and starts pulling on my hood. I follow once she takes a nip from my head.

“Ow! Ambra okay, okay I’ll go.” I start to nearly run to keep up with her. I keep my head down to avoid her massive wings. When I enter the hall she folds her wings and perches on my shoulder. I still race out the door of the little cottage, unsure where we are or who we’re even with.

Once outside Ambra takes flight, heading straight for Liza. I look over as I sense something horrible. Men on horseback are racing towards us. That is not good in anyway shape or form. I run as I see a massive black ball flying towards us. I picture my hand slapping away a fly as I go, knocking the ball off course, hitting and killing a tree.

I stop running and picture a tidal wave in my mind and push it out, causing a sea of lilac to splash onto the men, knocking them off their horses. I picture a lightning storm above them, striking the sea of lilac I created. The magic shocks the men into an oblivion, either permanent or temporary sleep is completely up to their power level. It’s enough to stall Gstalt but kill a much weaker man.

Liza comes racing towards me just then, so Ambra must have broken through her harness. I swing onto her, and she takes off faster than I can speak. I need to get as far from here as possible, but I have no clue as to where I am. My main plan right now is to head to my place of birth. This way, I can learn more about the ceremony that took place to revive me.

I need to find a way to get Gstalt off of my trail, but I do not have an idea how. I still also do not know who took me to a healer when Liza injured me. I’m still not what sure scared Liza and Ambra. If it were Gstalt, Ambra would have woken me and started forcing me to run. She sensed Gstalt coming while I was in the healer room and her action was to grab me, so my theory that it wasn’t Gstalt has to be right.