Break of Dawne: Chapter 7 (WIP)
This chapter is a work-in-progress.
A sweet birdsong melody wakes me the next morning. The dim light of dawn provides enough light to see Sorrowe still sound asleep. The sound of a crackling fire echoes from outside. Periodically, I hear a metallic clink that feels out of place in the middle of the plains.
Another shoddy mud hut accommodates our party, which has grown by one member since the last time I built one of these things. Thankfully, my practice two nights ago was fruitful. I was able to produce a larger hut in fewer attempts this time. It’s still too small, but at least we didn’t have to sleep sitting up this time.
When I step outside the hut, I find Uncle Thenarius already cooking breakfast. Two skinned bunnylugs roast on a skewer over a small fire. Did he hunt those this morning? How early did he get up?! Geeze. The Glimmergrass Plains are filled with bunnylug burrows, but they’re nearly impossible to see in the tall grass, especially when it’s dark out.
Hope sits on a log near the fire while practicing a peculiar form. Sparks fly from the set of broken manacles in front of her
I walk behind her and peer over her shoulder. “How did you do it?”
She looks up. “What do you mean?”
“How did you break the chains? You’re a restoration specialist, right? You fix things. You heal people. Sorrowe couldn’t break those chains with her galviron spear, so how did you break them?”
She looks away and takes a deep breath. “What if the chains are supposed to be broken?”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean, we used chains for a lot of things around the house. I know because I’ve had to fix more than a few for Mom and Dad. Mom and Dad…”
She looks at the ground for a moment, lip quivering.
“But all of those chains protect something. Holding the gate’s fence in place. Forming a piece of armor. Securing a load to the wagon. All of the times I’ve repaired chains have been to protect something or someone.
“These galviron chains were hurting Uncle T. They were holding him hostage. What if by breaking these chains, I fixed the world in a small way?”
I scratch my chin, then my right horn. “I don’t know. Light-form magic is so foreign to me. I know you picked it up so easily, but I haven’t been able to make it work. I’m sure there’s a logical reason for this —”
Hope stands and turns toward me. Fierce eyes cut me off.
“That’s because your magic is logical and follows rules and stuff, but my magic doesn’t work like that. I feel what I want to happen and it just happens. I know I’m right about this.”
Sorrow emerges from the hut with one eye open, shoulders slumped and arms crossed. “Can you feel a plate of breakfast for me. I’m starving.”
Uncle Thenarius clears his throat. “Hmm, yes, well, that won’t be necessary. I prepared two fresh bunnylugs for my favorite nieces. Grab a leg and get your fill. Sorrowe, you can have one of the tails if you’re extra hungry.”
~ WIP ~
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