Chapter 1
The ground was covered in ash. It fell from the sky. Small fires burned amidst the rubble. There were bodys too. Many many bodys. The living picked their way through the corpses picking them up and piling them onto pyres. Not even checking if they were alive. None would be. In a fight with shadowspawn you either live or die. There is no in between. A man with hair the color of the deep ocean walked among them. He had grey eyes and pale skin. His face was marred by horrible scars. It looked like it had been raked with claws.
“Sir!” someone shouted and he turned towards the voice. A man ran up besides him, out of breath and panting. “There’s something you need to see.”
They ran across the battlefield over piles of rubble and fires. Over bodys. Their feet made the ash puff up and swirl around their legs. Finally they arrived at the very edge. There, a crowd of people stood. The man with deep ocean hair pushed his way to the center. A man lay there. His hair was bright orange. The color of tiger fur. His eyes were closed but it was clear he was alive.
“Imposible.” the man breathed
“Apparently not sir.” a woman said. She stepped up next to him “we found him just a few minutes ago. Dax tripped over him, we had already cleared the bodys from this section. He must have crawled here then blacked out. Er, sir, he has the hair. The prophecy-”
“Is a bunch of superstition. Do you really believe that sari?” he snapped
“You can’t deny it. Things have been happening just as prophesied, ronan. Please. At least consider that it could be so.”
Ronan waved his hand dismissively. “Bring him back to base. Have the healers look at him.”
“Yes sir.” sari saluted and ronan walked off scowling. The man was loaded onto a stretcher and taken to the rebel base. The streets were empty. People were scarce these days. Any who went with the rebellion were either dead or hidden deep underground. Ronan walked at the back deep in thought.
Who is this man? He thought one of Shadow’s tricks?
They arrived at the old movie that they had converted to a base. The doors were swung open and the group marched through. Healers and surgeons rushed to take the orange haired man. People gathered around him ogling the survivor until Ronan dispersed them with a few clipped words. Then too sari he said
“Get someone to go to the records. Find any information on this man.” she nodded and hurried off. Ronan wandered around, doing headcounts and taking reports. The losses had been heavy. They had lost approximately one fourth of their fighters. They were now down to about four hundred fighters. If this is kept up they would be dead before the next full moon. Ronan sighed and grabbed a passing scribe
“If you see sari tell her i will be in my room. And tell lendra to inspect the survivor. And if he wakes up send someone to get me. Do not say anything to him until I get there. You got all that?” the scribe nodded and scurried off. Ronan made his way up the stairs to his room and fell onto the bed. He closed his eyes and just layed there. His eyes had dark circles under them and his skin was relatively paler than usual. The room was cool and smelled slightly damp. It wasn’t bad but wasn’t all together pleasant. He opened his eyes and sat up. He didn’t have time for this. He was just so tired. He tried to stand but his head spun and he was forced to sit down.
What? He thought then he looked down oh.
He unwrapped the cloth on his arm and winced. The grey was up on his bicep now. He touched the skin. It felt as cold as ice. He tried to get up again but a wave of nausea washed over him. He fell to the floor vision spinning.
Oh no. he thought this cant be happening. Not now.
there was a knock at the door.
“Ronan?” it was sari’s voice.
“Sari.” he croaked
The door opened and sari stepped in. she gasped and knelt down next too him.
“What happened? Are you ok? Ronan-” she stopped as she was the mark on his arm
“You were bitten!” she gasped “we need too get you down stares.” she put his arm around her shoulder and got too her feet.