Before Dawn

JP with Winteroak and White_Caribou

Just before sunrise, Koshnem's war party rode into Aquilo as the first rays of sun crested the horizon, with the War Chieftain and the Voice of Winter at its head.

Close to one hundred men walked from the mountains into the mining settlement unopposed. Most living and working here were Odonine and it was easy to whistle orders across the valleys and gorges ahead of their arrival.

When they did, the small garrison stationed in Aquilo had been overpowered and the settlement surrounded. Confusion reigned among the Helian workers who were told to gather in the centre of Aquilo between the Slag and the Sprawl.

Most Helian craftsmen and workers gathered around Markus waiting to find out what this was about.

It felt good to whistle some commands again, getting better with it still. Likewise, to speak only in Odon once more. But that refreshed sensation would come to an end here shortly when she would need her native tongue.

Shalia's eyes scanned over the speck of a settlement cautiously. She had never seen Aquilo before, but it was nothing surprising based on what she heard in weekly reports and from Odonine themselves. Completely men it seemed. All filthy and touch-starved, entertained by little more than booze or games of cards and rocks, wrestling on the days that weren't tiring. Nothing really changed much here, did it?

As their horses came to a stop, her posture straightened and Shalia gazed upon the confused expressions of the foreigner workers. In her snow-white coat, flushed cheeks, and black locks, she would have been a sight for their sore eyes had she not been followed by almost a hundred Odonine and some black-clad figures, sitting high above them on horseback. Blades and spears ready to strike. Magik their people despised eagerly awaiting beneath her skin to wreak havoc, though she had little hope of doing so here.
She clenched her jaw briefly to suppress a grin as she imagined the officers' slaughter and how it marked the true beginning of a historic war. She could taste it...