Codex Vinian Quartz¶
A Boy comes to Cinera
Written by Vinian Quartz.
Dedicated to Isabeli, Corvairus and Vicyven Quartz.
This is a story about a family in Parcines. This family was just
a small family on a farm going about their everyday business.
mother and father, Micheias Quartz and Valtarian Quartz, raise
their three children. The eldest of the three, Vinian, was a snow
white haired boy of strong stance. The second child, Corvairus,
was a boy that always strived to prove his worth, being the
middle child. And finally the smallest of the children, Isabeli
Quartz, had a beauty that could only be matched by high class
citizens.
The family all lived together in a tucked away farm, just north
of Parcines. The father would merchant items along the trade
route to Cinera, as Cinera was in direct trade with Remath. They
would make enough off the animals and farm products they supply
to earn a living. But Valtarian always had a taste for living
nicely and affording the items they desire, so he merchanted
in high selling items, rare items, gifts, weapons, armour -
basically anything he could turn a profit with, he would consider
purchasing.
On a day with heavy clouds and rain in torrents, Valtarian was
standing at his post, not a couple of yards from his house,
waiting for passing travelers to stop for supplies and to barter
his wares on the many patricians traveling for political
engagements or Cineran warlords looking to stock armour or reward
a soldier. Out of the downpour, an army of Cineran soldiers came
marching over the horizon, carrying war banners. Having
anticipated the eventual arrival of soldiers, Valtarian hastily
lit the warning signal to alert his family. Micheias quickly
gathered the children, and hid them away in the hidden cellar
containing a tunnel leading out to the river. As the army
approached the farm, Micheias could see that a warlord had
approached Valtarian and was speaking with him, gesturing towards
the house. Micheias began to fret, however knew she could not do
anything to save her husband if the warlord decided it so. She
stood there, eyes wide looking out from the corner of the window.
Valtarian shifted his weight slightly, as the warlord, Nariax,
insisted he be able to search the home for women and children,
that they were here by order of the Cineran army. Valtarian knew
the only thing that stood in their way was him a simple
merchant. Grabbing a dagger from his sheath that he kept for
skinning, he dove at the warlord, driving his dagger straight up
in an underhand stab, piercing his heart. Everyone gasped in
shock. Time seemed to stand still for that brief moment where
everyone processed just what had happened. As Valtarian stepped
around the falling warlord, an archer dressed in gold armour
stood out from the rest of the troop. He nocked an iron-tipped
arrow in his seelan-riddled bow, and fired, piercing straight
through Valtarian's left shoulder, sending him flying to the
ground in agony. At that precise moment, Micheias heart dropped
as she realized she would likely not be seeing her husband again.
She darted in one swift motion towards the escape trapdoor that
had been left open for her and her husband's quick getaway. As
Micheias slid through the exit, she knocked the piece of wood
holding the trapdoor up quite hard, slamming it shut, knowing
full well, the army would have heard it, and would not stop in
the search for her and her children. She rushed her three
children down the tunnel, away from the sounds of the army.
After running all through the night, Micheias was exhausted,
having tried her best to make sure her children weren't too
scared but were walking fast enough to make headway, or at least
she thought so. She set up a small camp beneath a river bank,
hoping that if a soldier marched near, she and her family would
be missed. Unfortunately that was not the case. What seemed hours
after nightfall, and after all three kids were asleep, Micheias
found herself slowly drifting into sleep. As she lay her head
down, she heard the faint sound of metal on metal - almost like
armour clinking together. Micheias flung herself up, waking her
kids as silently as possible. The children and Micheias sat up
against the bank, praying in silence that the army would pass
them by.
Suddenly, a leather-armored Cineran soldier stepped out
onto the river bank, in full view of Micheias and her family. In
that moment, Micheias understood exactly what Valtarian had
known. She was the only thing that stood in the way of the army
and her children. She told her eldest, Vinian, to take Corvairus
and Isabeli and run as fast and as far as they could. Vinian, his
features expressionless, grabbed his siblings in haste and took
off in the opposite direction, just as the soldier began to close
in on Micheias. Micheias grabbed her seelan-painted sleek retalq
dagger emblazoned with a single rose, and went into a frantic
battle with the Cineran knivesman. Unfortunately for Micheias,
with years of training on his side, the soldier managed to tip
the battle in his favour, wounding her in the stomach and sending
her crumpling to the ground. Vinian looked back as she fell,
shedding a single tear for his mother as he ran off into the
night.
Vinian felt as though he had been running for days. Knowing that
the small breaks along the way weren't nearly enough to rest them
as they needed, and the fact they didn't have any food or water,
was making his situation seem impossible. Vinian knew he needed
to get his brother and sister fed. Searching high and low, he
finally found some berries he recognized as edible, and sat down
with Corvairus and Isabeli for a small bite to eat. In the
distance, Vinian heard the faint sound of armour clinking. Vinian
signaled his siblings to remain silent and follow him. He
crouched low, looking for both the source of the noise, as well
as a possible hiding place. However, there was no cover in sight
for the family. The trees were far too small to hide themselves
in, to say nothing of the fact that the branches would barely
support one of them, let alone three. Vinian whispered to
Corvairus to take Isabeli and run east, away from the growing
footsteps to the west. Vinian knew he had to cause a distraction
in order for his brother and sister to get away. Corvairus
instinctively grabbed Isabeli and ran, hushing his frightened
sister along the way.
With his siblings heading east, Vinian quickly ran towards the
south, shouting at Isabeli and Corvairus to run. He looked back
as he was running, knowing too well that the Cineran soldiers
were at full chase now, an organized chaos. Darting through the
trees as fast as he could, and knowing the soldiers was getting
ever closer, he hoped his siblings would be safe.
Thank you for readying my first installment of this book. I will
be continuing the story in "A boy in Cinera." Please if you wish
it to come soon, Speak with Vinian.
I hope you enjoyed it.