Chapter Two

Stupid rain, Atra grumbled to herself. She fastened the roof to her little shelter to the tree, and sat down, back against it. Letum sat shoulder to shoulder with her. She shook the rain from her hair and mask, and handed the mask to Letum. As expected, he turned away as not to see her face. She admired that consistent form of respect she got from him.

He ran his fingers across the smooth surface of the mask. and brought it close to inspect the surface finish. "We should make it to Victoria by tomorrow morning if this storm lets up." The freak event hit hard and fast, and would likely be gone within the next couple hours.

"I'm glad I grew up in Anfang. We rarely had these stupid things." Atra got a chuckle out of Letum.

"I wish I had that." The capitol and surrounding Auroran cities had relatively frequent storms. Northerners.

Their dinner was a pair of rabbits Letum had caught an hour before the storm's arrival. The roof Atra had fashioned was made from leaves, pine straw, and miscellaneous branches. This kept the fire from the rain, and the smoke filtering through the canopy. Atra was very familiar with the smell of smoke, so that wouldn't be an issue for her. The problem was Letum wasn't. Can't blame him. He didn't have his home city destroyed.

If not for the skywatch post, the pair would have flown from Vis to Victoria in under an hour. Damn Südlanders. If her people hadn't attacked the emperor's guard when they'd come to Südland, Then the empire wouldn't have leveled both Anfang and Nachfolge. Now the empire watched the skies. Südlanders with powers no less. Such a rarity.

She could tell Letum was feeling down. He'd only had half his rabbit. Stupid man always eats it all. She touched the back of his head, with one hand, and his left hand with her other. She used her healing ability, and forced it through Letum. Immediately she could feel his pain. Dark and deep mental anguish. She combatted that with a small amount of her shadow veil power, which had the drawback of numbness. She felt dead inside, but she could make Letum feel better, if only for a time.

Atra was rewarded with Letum relaxing, leaning closer. Better than drinking yourself to death. She was born with the 4 powers he lacked, able to heal, tap into generational memory, disappear into shadow, and a bubble of silence. Letum's powers had a far darker background, not genetic but engineered.

"Atra, why do you follow me?" Oh here he goes again. Always with deep questions when in a relaxed state. At least this one is new. Atra withdrew her powers, and collapsed back into the tree, breathing hard.

"You didn't kill me when I tried to kill you, back in Immemor. You are a good person at heart, and we have mutual good goals."

"Sometimes I can't tell if I do."

"Letum, Moros raped your mother, and killed her when you were a child." Letum tried to respond but Atra continued. "You ended the breeding program, releasing all those people back into the world."

Letum interjected, "Most of which were murdered by the hands of my brethren."

"You are not their keeper. Stop this nonsense."

The pair went silent.

---

Letum woke only 5 minutes after she did. It was the middle of the night, but they needed to move on. At this rate we'll get there by 2.

The rain and fog was gone, but the sun was not out to dry the land. "I'll need new boots when we arrive." Atra chuckled, helping Letum stand.

"I probably will to. Should have bought some from that Regnum guy."

"He tried to rob us." Atra said flatly, then rolled her eyes as Letum grinned. "Idiot."

The road was very wide, enough for two wagons to ride in opposite directions without issue. Other roads, such as Duo Rum to Nachtthal, weren't nearly as well used. Atra didn't have the ability of Darksight that Letum had in a spike, so she followed him by the light of the moon. This night in particular was brighter than the last. It was due mostly to the canopy of trees being rather lacking. As they neared the mountains, the trees around the bloodletters transitioned from oak to pine and spruce.

"We'll be camping out tonight I reckon. The gates close like an hour ago." Letum commented, avoiding a root Atra tripped into.

"Damn. I bet if Omnia or Lupa were here they'd go ahead and let us through."

"If they weren't in Regis and Vena respectively."

"Ah well." The two women, Omnia and Lupa Dura were friends of Letum since his youth. They were two Enforcers of the empire, but neither supported it. Both did their best to sabotage anthing the empire tried.

"We could use one of your brother's names," Atra said, taking a drink from the stream off the south side of the road. "The red hair is unmistakeable."

"If it were so, the traders would have seen right through my lies." Letum mentioned, turned away from Atra. She put her mask back on, and he took a drink as well.

"They were offwordlers, though."

"That's fair I guess." Letum continued to lead the way.

Victoria was not the final destination, that designation belonged to Apex, across the western mountains. Acer Velox was a contact of Atra, and information gatherer for a southern group Atra was acquainted with. Unlike the larger faction of her people, they were after peace rather than riots, and terror. If we just get him, we can make progress. In order to properly retake the throne of Oran, they would have to have southern support. If not, they'd end up like the current democratic regime.

Soon the moon's light above was distorted from smoke rising in the distance. The pair could see the city now. It had a glow to it, as normal, but the closer they got, the thicker the smoke looked, the darker the sky was, and the more orange the city looked.

After a couple more minutes of walking, Atra heard gunfire. Letum must have heard the same, because he shot into the sky, and toward the city. She ran toward it, much slower than Letum's flying, but climbed the gate. There were no gaurds. There are always gaurds.

The smoke came from the northern side of the city, so Atra ran to her right. She felt the air grow hotter, then Letum dropped down next to her. "There's a nice spot on a nearby building to watch." Atra let Letum lift her by the arms, and the pair landed softly on the roof of a building accross the street from the fire.

"Shit." Several buildings in a row were fully engulfed. Soldiers and Enforcers stood outside of it, shooting the poor souls who tried to escape. Her heart hurt at the sight. Reminds me of Anfang. If she'd tried to interfere she would have ended up dead. "Only the enforcers have firearms." Atra commented, watching from the ledge. The building wasn't near as tall as those in Vis.

"Why would Moros send them here?"

Victoria was not the largest cities in the east. Aurora held several. Vis, of course, Grandes, and Regnum. That said, Victoria was a major trade city for the Occasus Dominance. "I would say fear, but they'd probably let them live in that case."

"Punishment then. Setting an example." Letum spat. His arms were crossed behind his back, his usual posture of reflecting and taking something in. Atra would have teased him for the soldier type stance, but this definitely was not the time.

Atra supressed her tears as she left down the roof access stairs, to the level below. Evidently it was an apartment building, so Atra and Letum bunked out in the first empty room they found.

---

The burned out building had a good two dozen corpses outside of it, not in piles, but left in their places. Some had arrows in their head, but the majority just had holes of bullets. Why the hell would they gaurd the corpses? Maybe a dozen men littered the area. A large sign was displayed in front of the structure, reading "Victoriani publicani mercatoresque non nuntiavere actiones Australium, quod ad mortem Caldum Corvinum duxit." Atra had to translate it in her mind. "Victorian Customs and Trade failed to report activity by the southerners, leading to the death of Caldum Corvinus" Gods they are long winded

"Identify yourself." Atra heard, while walking away, she ignored the question until rough hands gripped her bare shoulders. "Identify yourself Southerner."

"What crime has she committed?" Letum asked, stepping forward.

"It doesn't matter. You should know that, high one. The senate declared southerners as non citizens of the empire. They don't have rights here."

"It's really fine, Vox." Atra lied, "I am Fata grau." She removed her mask, to which Letum turned away.

The Enforcer seemed satisfied, and let them on their way. Letum didn't have to ask, the man would be dead by the evening. Don't look on me and live. She was reminded of her mother, who insisted she wear a mask, and become something good for the world. "You will be more than a martyr's daughter." As if the scars and platinum hair didn't give it away. Letum knew her name but not of her family.

He also hadn't asked, which was odd to Atra. All her life she was given questions on her family or mask wearing habit, but Letum just acted normal. Treats me like a normal person. What she knew to be oddities were just a fact of life to him.

"It'll be a week or so before we make it past the mountains." Letum's words brought Atra's thoughts to a halt.

"What all do we still need?" Atra asked. She knew they had the proper weather gear in their packs, as well as weapons. Should have put more effort into this plan. She knew some rebels who would be helpful for weapons when they finally took the throne, but that goal was a long ways away.

"Food, I guess. We have the dried meats, but we probably need other stuff too."

Letum went to the southern part of the city, while Atra stayed in the north. The first thing she did was look for Southern granola, Ruh Riegel. That task took no time at all.

She walked into a shop decorated straight out of Südland. Painted wood displays, rough iron accents, and lots of greens and reds. She walked through the shelves of pre packaged items, and settled on a free for all buffet of different ingredients. A sign read, "Just add honey and butter."

Atra took a glass jar from the shelf, a good Half gallon, and started scooping ingredients into it. oats, crushed almonds, a hint of peanut, sunflower seeds, crushed pecans, brown sugar, raisins, and chocolate chips. After sealing the large jar, she went to the front counter, and set the glass on it. She looked up from her hefty find, and saw a familiar face. "Vita?"

Vita Fels met her eyes and her pupils went wide, "Brandt?"

"Mein Gott." Atra shook the slightly older girl's hand. "It has been years." Both women fell into Allzunge, and Vita pulled Atra aside, into a storage room.

"Holy cow, what are you doing in Victoria?"

"What are you doing running a store?"

They sat at a table, and Vita cleared the surface off, Atra took off her mask and set it down. "I guess I will start then. I started this place up as a cart, but the locals love the freedom of choice, so I ended up wih a brick and mortar."

"I am here with Letum Corvus."

Vita did a double take, "Letum Corvus?"

"He recruited me out of the south."

"What for, and who is he? I know Moros and the others and all." Vita asked, shocked.

"I cannot go into detail, but we are gathering contacts and making connections across Oran."

"Did you have something to do with the Customs massacre?" Vita raised an eyebrow. Atra sighed, Ever the astute one.

"Arrived as it was happening. What do you know?"

"Illegal weapons deals, not much more," The girl shook her head. She wore a dress, not frilly, but it had pockets. Most women wore them unless they were tradesmen. Her hair was cut short, much like Atra had as a child. They'd shared the look, but Vita continued it.

"Shame. Our people are so passionate but too brazen."

"Aye. How did the others take you leaving?"

"Not well." Atra had the flash of a memory of blood, and a knife. "But I'm happier and better on my own. Letum is a very good man."

"That's good to..." Vita froze, "Were you behind the death of Caldum Corvus?"

"A good circumstance, but no." Atra lied. It pained her to do so toher dear friend, but it had been years since Atra knew her so closely. I can't trust anyone, She remembered the saying of her mother. "We are headed through the mountains to Apex to a contact."

"Good time of year for it." Vita nodded, had they been in the fall or winter, it would be a very dangerous trip. "what can I help you with?"

"We have meats, but no other food at the moment."

"I do have a couple ideas," Vita smiled, standing and walking to the store floor. Atra put her mask on and trailed behind. Before she left, her old friend hooked her up with some peanut butter, hard crackers, and an assortment of jams and preserves.

After looking through a few more stores, she met back up with Letum. The following morning they left for the mountains.