Chapter 1 - part 1

           Natalie looked into of the towering giant’s malevolent eyes as she pulled taught the bow in her; the beast raced toward her. The charcoal sky hid some of the hideous features of the giant's deformed face, but his rage cut through the coolness of the night. Light flashed. As electricity surged through the air, it revealed the ten-foot club that the creature, ready to pulverize her and the man lying next to her, held high; from the muscular features of the giant, Natalie assumed the blow would do no less damage to the hill crest they stood on. When the creature was only dozens of feet away, the time had come. She let the arrow slice through the air and take a final place of rest in its mark. The arrow only penetrated the beast when Natalie began to fall, as though a hole in the mountain swallowed her up.

            “This may yet be upon you sooner than you think, Natalie Dumar. Your time is coming,” a familiar voice whispered in her ear.

            Natalie woke up drenched in sweat. Her hands shook with fright until she realized that she had again been dreaming. For the last three nights, Natalie endured the same vision; some nights she even enjoyed it. Each night, she was taken to a wonderful place. Creatures she had only heard of in fairy tales occupied the world she entered in her dreams. The land was inundated with adventure and contained a mystical feel to it.

Each of the three nights, Natalie did something different while she was in this world, but the dream always brought her to the same place, and she never remembered how. Every time, she stood on the same mountain with that man lying next to her. Who is he anyway? Natalie wondered. The man wore plain clothes and his face lay in the dirt. For all she knew, she was protecting a poor beggar from his impending doom; she and her bow were the only force that stood between the man and eternity. That possibility never stopped Natalie from hoping he was handsome and might fall in love with her.

            The irony of the situation was laughable. I hate even running. You couldn’t pay me to work out like I’d need to if I was going to fight in a battle. Natalie chuckled to herself. She doubted if she would even be able to figure out how a bow worked. Even more laughable than that was the small effect an arrow could even have on a beast of that size. Natalie’s smile turned to a shudder when she thought of the rage in the eyes that faced her each night. Almost seems as though his hate could kill me.

            As she thought about the monster, Natalie began to fear that her sister had been killed. The same, unsettling feeling pervaded her thoughts last night as well. Her older sister scolded her then and told her to go back to bed; tonight, again, Natalie felt weighed down by the feeling of death coming from her sister's room. Ever since their mom died, Jessica and Natalie had struggled to survive with only each other to lean on. Their only memento of their mother was the necklace she gave them. Try as she might, the urge finally overcame Natalie; she ran to her sister's room.

            “Jessica!” Tears forming in her eyes, Natalie shook her sister awake.

            “What is it?” Jessica, trying to regain consciousness, grumbled. The anxiety in Natalie's voice mixed with the tears in her eyes jerked Jessica to a fully alert state. “Have they come?! Hurry! We'll take the hidden path behind the–”

            “No. . .” Natalie solemnly stopped her sister. “I. . . I just wanted to make sure you were all right. I was... well, I woke up... “ Natalie's attempt to forestall her sister's anger accomplished, for her, the opposite effect.

            “You were dreaming again?” Jessica asked angrily. “I told you not to wake me up unless it was important. Now go to bed.” Jessica rolled over and pulled the covers back to her neck.

            Natalie nodded and studied the face of her sister before walking out of the room and down the short hallway to her own. The thought of losing her only sister, even if it was only a dream, left Natalie trembling. Natalie was so lost in her thoughts that she didn't hear the raining of blows upon the front door at the bottom of the stairs for several seconds. Natalie looked and saw flashlights shining through the windows of the downstairs living room. She turned to run back to her sister's room, but Jessica was already standing behind her.

            “Get your things and meet me in my room.” Jessica quietly blurted the orders.

            Each girl ran to her room and grabbed an already packed, lightweight sack of food and clothes that was prepared for just this occasion. Natalie looked around her room one last time. This place had been her comfort and protection for the last five years, and now she would be forcibly removed from it, one way or another. The misty blue walls gained life by the posters that she had hung everywhere. A small dresser stood in the far corner of the room. Their dad never cared much for them, and once he left, their mother couldn't afford much. Natalie joined Jessica in her room to see that she had already removed a wall panel near the floor in the corner of the moonlit room. Natalie made a mental image of this room as well: the auburn carpet and walls which were white, save the far wall which was grayed from the fire that had burnt in an electrical surge near her desk. The likelihood of her ever returning to the scene of so many memories died when she heard the downstairs door begin to crack. A tear fell from her cheek. Jessica motioned for her sister to get in the opening in the wall. Jessica, pulling the panel shut behind them, followed her.

            Natalie’s often-quick tongue stuck to the roof of her mouth. She looked around, into the dark shaft. After a few minutes, her eyes adapted to the darkness. They both sat on a ledge behind the wall of the room. Below them was a long, sloping corridor that she knew led to another fake wall on the ground floor, outside of the house. Scuffling feet entered the room. The following minutes produced crashes either of glass or something heavy against one of the walls. Natalie nearly yelped when something hit the wall where they were hiding. Heavy boots entered the room.

            “I can't find it, Sir.” a male voice spoke near the panel the girls hid behind.

            “It is either here or with those brats, soldier. My wife would not have let anything happen to it. I doubt the girls even know how to use it. Where are they anyway?” The angry voice, which boomed through the panel, was the man Natalie once called “father”. When his voice fell upon her ears, fear swelled to encompass her mind until she could hear nothing but the pounding of blood in her head. Two arms gently wrapped up the hurting child. It was a moment before Natalie realized it was her sister and not mother that held her.

            “I have no care for what you think you are capable of.” Their father growled. “I want them found! I don't care if they are dead or alive, just get me that jewel.” The man stormed out of the room. A rush of footsteps followed.

            Natalie and Jessica began to descend along the sloping corridor. The passage was dark, but the panels let in enough light to allow the girl’s eyes to see where they were going. It was raining outside. Natalie often felt the water beneath her hands and knees.

            Natalie’s fear wasn’t without justification. Her father was the provincial governor; he was a tyrant in the most absolute sense of the word. Jessica and Natlie’s parents were married fifteen years, eight of which their father spent as a provincial governor. Until her eleventh birthday, Natalie saw him as a caring father. Without warning he began tormenting his wife, first vocally and eventually with brute force. He refused to allow either her or their children more food than was needed to stay alive. He was re-elected a year later and began to make almost obscene laws under the guise of helping the province that he lived in. During this time, he eliminated poverty in a controversial way. Anyone who was homeless (for a female this meant not married to a man with a house) became an illegal citizen and subject to execution on sight. However, despite the silence on the subject, most knew that women were often taken and sexually abused; the boys were either beaten to death or used for brutal games.

            Soon after his reelection, Natalie heard an argument between her mother and father about a pendant. That night, her father left on what he called “business”. Natalie's mom gave the pendant to Jessica who now wore it in a little pouch beneath her shirt. The pendant was no more than a silver eagle with garnet stones for eyes. Neither girl understood the importance of it, but their mother's last wish was that no one ever gain possession of it, save them. To the girls it was not something to be fought over; it was their only remnant of their mother. The years following their father’s departure, Natalie and Jessica helped their mother build this escape route which exited toward a long tunnel they dug  north of the house. It contained enough food supplies to last several months; each batch lay in differing locations along the eight-mile hole.

            He was never able to take the pendant from mother because it belonged to her. Natalie thought with not a little anger. Everybody called it an accident that mom was mugged and killed on the way home. How perfect that it would happen the same week he disinherited Jessica and I. Natalie's blood began to boil at the thought of the man now searching for them. He was never much of a father to begin with, and because of him, they’d have to wait in this dark and damp room until night fell before they could move to the underground passage across the arroyo.

            “Quiet,” Jessica hissed. Natalie realized she was breathing hard and forced her breathing to calm.

            Hesitant footsteps began down the stairs, not far from their hiding location on the bottom floor. A snarl from the governor rang in their ears; the sound came from some place near the shaft they sat in. Natalie held her breath instinctively.

            “Where is my pendant?”

            “Governor Jorrigan, it isn’t here. The girls must have it, but they can’t be far. The beds are still warm from their body heat.” The soldier’s voice, though direct, quavered as he answered. Royce Jorrigan’s governorship was no longer a simple position. He had, by all rights, become king of the province.

            “Did the girls sneak past your men, commander?” their father growled.

            “That’s impossible, sir. They’re only children, and our men are professionals: the best of the best.”

            “Then tell me, commander of the best of the best, where are they?” The governor’s voice bellowed. Natalie imagined the person he called commander standing there and attempting to hold back his anger and fear like she used to.

            “Logic dictates in the house, perhaps some kind of hidden room or something. We’ve found three hidden rooms already, but they were empty. We’ll begin to tear down the walls at your order, Sir.”

            “No need, commander. Burn down the house. That medallion is a precious metal, the whole house and anything in it will lay in ashed before that pendant starts to even bubble from heat. Don’t you agree that the ashes will be easier to search?”

            “Sir… do you—”

            “Be careful, Soldier,” Royce ordered unwaveringly. “If you question me, it may be the last thing you do as a commander.”

            “Yes, Sir. I’ll evacuate the premises immediately.”

            Natalie and Jessica grasped one another’s hands in silent horror at the thought of the fire consuming them. The shouting of voices and the rushing of feet gave the sisters the distraction they needed.

            “Follow me, quickly.” Jessica said in a hushed voice. She deftly slid the panel in front of them to the side to reveal the glaring sun in their eyes. Both girls squinted at the contrast to the darknessthe sun gave. They did not have the time to adjust, however; while cursing the risen sun’s unforgiving rays, they ran as soon as the patrolling guard was out of sight.

            Had it been night, the girls may have survived, but as they were running into the arroyo, another guard came around the corner and spotted their sinking heads. “Stop!” the soldier called. Shout upon shout followed. Natalie’s ears didn’t concern her, only the yearning in her legs to move faster and in her heart not to die.

            Jessica was first to reach the cavern in the side of the arroyo. She reached in and immediately found what she was looking for. The silver peacemaker in her hand flashed to eye level then a bullet came flying out of the barrel toward the first head to show over the edge of the arroyo as Natalie made her way into the cavern. The soldier tumbled into the arroyo, landing on his neck. Neither girl waited to see if he was dead or not; they were in the cavern and crawling as fast as they could.

            Had Jessica paused for a moment, she might have screamed at the thought of killing someone. Their mother made sure they knew how to use an array of weapons, but killing someone had never been on their list of goals. In this moment, however, Jessica could think of nothing more than her sister’s safety. Adrenaline and desire won out over morals for the moment.

            The girls knew it wasn’t over yet, for shouts, coming from the other side of the arroyo, sounded behind them. It wasn’t long before a volley of shots was heard from an automatic gun at the entrance of the tunnel. The girls dropped into a belly-crawl, thankful for the daily exercises their mother made them promise to do. Why hadn’t we moved out of the house like mother suggested before she died? Natalie questioned with great intensity.

            Natalie quivered as a rush of wind passed her ear before a bullet lodged in the rock next to her. The thought of screaming seemed so appealing, but her mouth wouldn’t open. Her senses were overwhelmed and her vision faded into a clear white.