Watch (A6)

Prompt A6: From dusk until dawn.

It’s a long watch, but he won’t let anyone else take it. He shifts to place his back against the bark of the tree trunk and his tail lazily hangs off of the branch he sits on. The battle with the Empire soldiers left the others weak and exhausted, and they need the rest. He’d been lucky to miss the worst of it, and fortunate that the ones that came after him couldn’t get any solid hits on him.

Still, he can’t count his blessings yet, not when he doesn’t know if they’ve been followed.

The sounds of the night draw his attention, but they can be easily dismissed. Fluttering wings, chirping bugs, and the hoot of an owl can be ignored. The Empire’s soldiers announce themselves with the sound of chains grating against each other and the snapping of metal armor as they march. They travel in large groups, unafraid. They have no need to hide. They are the hunters.

He looks down at his mark, and sighs. He hasn’t been able to call magic to him in months now. He tries. He mutters familiar words and makes a familiar gesture, but he knows it won’t work. The only one in their group who can still use magic is Evie, and he needs to get her to safety as quickly as he can. She’s been chosen, one way or another, to lead them now. He smiles at the thought of her but quickly schools the expression off of his face. He can’t risk giving his feelings liberty to show. Not even if now is all they have left… He shakes his head. Now is not the time to dwell on these thoughts, not if they were going to successfully find sanctuary and escape the Empire’s grasp.

Then again, Caelynn thinks it is time to fight back.

Evie can summon meteors from the sky and wield sacred flames, but she’s not a warrior at heart. Fighting in a war would kill her. It’s not a war worth fighting, not when the magic is gone. There is naught that they really can do. They have to leave and hide, it’s their only hope. If magic is dying, there is no way to fight back, and their numbers will dwindle until there are none left. Already it seems like there is no one left.

He clenches his fist as his tail swings angrily but his fury comes out only in tears.