Audra - Draft Three - Chapter One

Chapter One - Wherein Catastrophe Befalls Audra and Her Family

It was a peaceful day in early fall. Audra was helping her mother in their garden, while Jelenna and Mirna, Audra's little sisters played house in the tree house their father had built them. Audra straitened up for a minute after bending over the ground weeding, and shaded her eyes with her hand as she looked out West, over the valley of fields, and onto the rolling, tree clad hills, where the setting sun was casting long rays of light. As she looked she thought happily of the book she was in the midst of.  The main character, Dragan was such a gentleman. He loved the side character, Milena so much, despite the fact that she hated him. Audra let out a long sigh. She had thought her neighbor Bronic's intentions had been true, she had thought he really loved her, at the time she could not have even dreamed money had anything to do with it.
Looking back, Audra realized that she hadn't really loved Bronic anyway, she had only been flattered by his supposed love for her - she wanted to love, and to be loved so badly. But she had learned her lesson, and must reconcile herself to the fact that she should never marry, should never find someone that loved her independently from her dowry.
She bent back over the weeds again and begun to ruthlessly pull them out of the ground. Venting her anger at Bronic, her anger at herself for being so taken in by him, and her anger at the other young men, on the weeds.
Her mother, who was also pulling weeds, turned and sat down on their house's porch, cradaling her baby in her arms.
"Your father will be back in from the fields soon, Audra, and he'll be hungry," she reminded her daughter.
"I'll get supper going. What should I make?"
Audra asked.
"We have some chicken from last night that you can cut up and put with a salad," her mother sugested as Audra headed into the house.
In the midst of the kitchen was a large wooden table, on which was a covered bowl with the left over chicken inside it. Audra went over to the windowsill and took a head of letus, some tomatos and a couple peppers off it, and began cutting them into a large bowl. When that was finished she cut up the chicken and poored it ontop of the salad.
Her father was already sitting on the porch next to her mother when Audra brought the salad out, and the whole family sat on a blanket to eat.
"Thank you, Audra, for getting supper ready," her father said, taking a large helping, "you've been such a help while your mother is busy with the baby."
Audra only blushed as she helped Mirna get some salad on her plate.
The family ate mostly in silence, since they were all very hungry after their hard days work, but they did not go right back to work after they were finished. Instead they sat around for a few minutes watching the sun set. It was a beautiful sunset that tinted the few clouds a lovely soft pink. At last, though, Audra's father stood up and offered to take the dishes back into the house.
"Father, can you bring my book out, please?" Audra asked, trying to look very sweet, "I want to read it a little before bed."
"Aye, I'll bring it," he said bending down and kissing her on her forehead.
He entered the house as the two little girls ran off to play some more in the last rays of sunlight, and returned a moment later with Audra's book. She took the book over to her tree as soon as it was in her hands and tucked it under her arm as she clambered up the tree.
"Be careful, Audra!" her mother warned, watching her as she climbed high up into the tree.
"I always am, Mother!"
She sat down on a branch, and, leaning on another opened her book and began to read. She could hear her little sisters playing, and her parents talking but she paid no attention to them. She was nearly through with this book and she simply must finish it tonight. She could feel her stomach knot as she neared the part when Dragan would tell Milena that he did love her, and that the evil Dijanic was lying when he told her that he didn't.
It was at this exact moment, as Jelenna and Mirna's laughter floated out of the tree house, as Audra's mother and father laughed together, and as Audra turned yet another page of her book that the sound of a loud, clear horn came to their ears - the alarm - raiders were attacking.
Audra's head jerked up from her book, her eyes wide, her knees shaking with fright, but her father kept his wits about him. Running to grab the baskets of food from inside he called to Audra to go and get Jelenna and Mirna and hurry within the town walls with their mother.
Jelena and Mirna, though little, were well aware of what the horn meant, and were already scrambling down the lader as Audra reached the ground from her tree.. She scooped up Mirna in her arms and ran for the village as fast as possible.
The quickest way to the village was through their neighbor's cattle pastures, but even that way it was a half a mile away, and as Audra opened one of the pasture gates and pushed Jelena through it she wondered how she could run all that way in time with Jelenna and Mirna.
She was running through the pasture, huffing and panting and dragging Jelenna behind her - the town was but a several yards away - when suddenly, from behind a small knoll in the ground, several raiders leaped in front of her. She screamed - louder then she ever thought she could scream - and tried to turn her course to miss them but they ran after her, spreading out and fencing her in a corner of the fence that surrounded the pasture.
She put Mirna down, bidding her and Jelenna run as quickly as possible into the town. The little girls ran off, screaming and crying, as they ducked through the fences, where their mother was.
Audra looked desperately for an escape, as the raiders moved in. One of them closed the gate, which had been open previously. Audra looked around again, she was trapped between a fence, and four raiders. They were tall and muscular and had long, scraggly dark hair which nearly completely hid their dark eyes.
One of them grabbed her arm, pulling her between them, though she resisted.
"Well isn't this a pretty thing?" he sneared, "I'm taking her back to camp" he declared, "the captain said we could have whatever booty we could find, and I like this little jewel." But a sword was raised above his head at that moment, and a clean slice made an end of him. Audra fell to the ground with the weight of the dead man, and, looking behind her saw - with horror filled eyes - what the other raiders saw. Her father, bloody sword in hand.
"Father, run!" she screamed, scrambling up. But it was already too late, as Audra had to see as the other two drew their swords walking strait for her father. Their swords were long, and jagged and looked like they had been carved from the very rock of the mountains, in contrast to her father's strait steel blade. But despite her father's superior weapon Audra knew he stood no chance, the men were vicious savages who would not obey the common laws of fencing. Her father pushed her behind him whispering, "run Audra, run quietly away! And don't go to the town - don't stop until you're safe in the woods."  She obeyed, running off, quietly as she beheld her father over powered by the two raiders. She wanted to scream, but she managed to hold it in.
She took off running, running as fast as she could and came to the top of a hill. She looked down into the hill and wondered what she should do. The sun had set quite far by now, and the hill was nearly completely black, a raider could be lurking anywhere, unseen in the valley below her, but where else was there to run? She stood there, wavering, and as she stood wavering, she realized that the known enemy was more fearful than the chance of an enemy.
Stumbling and tripping she ran down into the valley, nearly falling twice, but managing kept her balance all the same, she went with as much stealth as she could.
She reached the bottom of the hill and ran through the valley, ever aiming for the creek directly West of her family's farm.
She passed through the valley and climbed up the mountain a bit, finding cover in some bushes. There she stopped, waiting and listening for any pursuers. The mountain was all quiet except for the crickets and early whip poor will, and the bull frogs by the lake but far in the distance, up the hill and past her family's farm she could hear woman screaming, dogs barking and men yelling. There was a glow on the horizon, and she knew that it had gone ill with her town, for it was burning now, and her family as well, most likely.
She wanted to just sit there and sob, but she knew that would be foolhardy, the raiders would surely find her then. So picking herself up, she took off running through the trees for the creek again. She didn't know directions very well, but she could follow a creek well enough.
She went with all stealth she could - minding where she was stepping and so on - ever keeping her ears wide open for any sound of raiders near by, but she heard nothing but the forest animals and was soon at  the creek within. There she sat on a rock and rested for a while, refreshing herself with a drink from it.
What was she to do now? All her family might have perished, but perhaps not. She could go look for them, but if she couldn't find them then she would be easy prey for the raiders. But know she must. And so, standing up slowly, she started the walk back to town. It was midnight by the time she reached it - or rather, what was left of it. She could see the smoldering ruin in light of the few fires that were still going. But nothing else. There was no one around - not even the raiders. She sank to the ground and stared. What had she been thinking? That they would all be standing by the burn buildings? She was on her own now, and what was she to do? At that moment she heard a stick break. Audra froze with fear as she listened for any following sound. She could hear someone walking and was preparing to run off when the "person" came in view. It was her little black dog, Lucija. Audra breathed a sigh of relief, beckoning her friend over to her. Her dog was nearly unscathed as Audra bent to examine her.
"Oh Lucija! You can't know how happy I am to see you!" Audra whispered, hugging the little dog tight as she drifted into a sleep.
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