Evil isn't born it's made

An age of gold will end and so the land will be torn asunder trice and thrust into endless battle. Two born of the same blood will lead an army to opposite ends of a battlefield and so they shall too be torn from the binds of blood. One shall survive and unite the world in darkness and death.

Chapter One
The markets bustled with shoppers darting from one stall to the next to find the items they needed. A young girl played with a lock of long curly, red hair whilst swinging a basket casually in her other hand. She dragged her feet through the dew soaked grass, dampening the hem of her blue skirt. Mother expected her back by midday. She slipped up to a table covered in silk ribbons, if she was careful she might, this  time, have enough coppers to buy herself a new one. She reached up to touch a brilliant blue one at the back only to have her hand swatted away by the shopkeeper. 'Begone child of filth, we don't want your dirty money here,
She jumped back and ran down a nearby alleyway. She never understood some peoples distaste for her family. Her mother was the matron of a pleasure house and she looked after many young girls and a few young men and their children. Marantha was not often allowed in the front rooms but she knew that there were many visitors from this village, and many of them were satisfied with the service they received.  But when it came to being outside of the house many people turned her away in scorn and perhaps guilt. Child of filth and evil they would always say.

Marantha walked around the outside of the market and saw a familiar face led a horse to the animal pens. Kell the stable boy stopped and lent against a wall. He was whispering to someone in the shadows. Mara crept closer to try and over hear. A young lady in a pale yellow dress came up to him and he wrapped his arms around her waist. Though the girls face was covered Mara knew exactly who it was. Her older sister Avalyn, sneaking off to be with her lover.
'Ava!' She called ' Ma said you would be in big trouble if you two got caught together again!'
The youths turned towards Mara and Avalyn took a step towards her, holding out her hands, pleading.
'Don't worry i won't tell. I just don't want you hurt when we have to leave for court.'
Avalyn smiled at her sister and held both hands in hers.
'That's why Kell plans to join the legion, so he can make enough money and run away together. If everything goes according to plan, in just a few short years i'll be able to marry my own captain of the guard!' Avalyns eyes glistened, filled with her dream. Kell walked up to the two sisters and placed a hand on Mara's shoulder. 'we love each other, we will find a way to be together'

Mara smiled sadly at the couple. While she was too young to experience the love they felt for each other, she knew they were doomed in their quest to be together. Mara and Ava were training too hard to become ladies in waiting at court for such a youthful love to survive. They were destined for more rich or noble husbands their mother would always say. 'come on Mara lets finish getting the supplies for mother together. She'll be angry if we're late for Dynald's lessons' she said as she let go of one hand and started to lead her from the alley, throwing a quick look and smile over her shoulder at her lover.

Dynald was such an elegant old lady Mara always though. Dynald had grown up in the courts waiting on the noble ladies of her age. She had done well for herself and managed to secure a marriage with a handsome minor nobleman. They were in love for the first few years until she birthed a son. Her husband gave into the drink and gambled away their state. Despite Dynald's best efforts they found themselves fall into disgrace among the nobles of the region. Her husband didn't seem to care and just frequented the whore houses and taverns more. As her son grew older, she had to leave more and more care up to the nannies and tutors while she tried desperately to salvage their reputation and some money. She began her own same trading enterprise that she kept well hidden from her husband. As she withdrew more and more from her family, she started to help young girls find their way to court and helped them improve their station as she had. Finally when her husband got very ill and died, Dynald bought a town hose in Wyvernmill and moved away, leaving her son the run of the estate. Unfortunately he had developed his fathers temperament and was insufferable to the aging lady.
She had told Mara, that that was when she met her mother. Young, looking for work at the pleasure house and with two young children. Dynald had seen potential in the young girls and agreed to help make them a better life than what their mother had had. Since then avalyn and Marantha spent several hours a day, learnign to read, write, recite poetry and stitch. In return they ran errands for the lady and helped her with chores that she was no longer able to do. Dynald also enjoyed the company.

Dynald sat in the sun room with her embroidery abandoned on her lap. She was staring out the window, lost in a daydream. The girls waited patiently by the door, waiting to be let into the room. They listened for a moment to the birds which hopped around the base of the tree just outside the room. The birds stopped and the silence broke the old lady's revere. She turned and smiled at the girls. 'Come sit and read me some poems from the golden era.' Avalyn busied herself with making some tea and Mara chose a book off the shelf and sat on some cushions opposite the lady. Sweet floral fragrances filled the air and mixed with the sweet melody of the girls voices as they recited poems about long lost kingdoms and forbidden loves. 'Forbidden loves aways tug at the heartstrings' Dynald remarked 'but they are always so doomed to fail' she said looking pointedly at Ava.
'Your mother wanted you home early this even Avalyn, for the fitting of your new dresses for court' She smiled and Ava grinned. It wasn't long now and the sisters would be whisked away and be the stars of their own love stories set in the drama of court.
 

The sun started to fade and Mara glared at the embroidery flower that sat on her lap. It still wasn't perfect enough. Mara sighed to herself and put it aside to put on another kettle of tea. She heard hooves clatter on the flagstones outside. Dynald sat up straight, and quickly put aside her embroidery. 'i didn't realise my son would arrive so soon, quickly go child' 
Heeding the lady's warning Mara put down the kettle and slipped out of the room quickly, a door across the hall banged opened and a scruffy and drunken man stumbled through the frame. 'Where do you think you're going' He grabbed her by the arm and tugged her back towards the sun room. 'No wonder i'm losing so much money on this place' he rambled at Dynald. 'You have such pretty servants. Well i found a buyer from this awful house, and i'm taking some of them with me where they'll be more useful to me' he cocked his head towards Marantha and raised his eye brow. Dynald looked horrified 'please Tiav i need my servants, they will come with me when i am moved' Tiav snorted and pushed Marantha back into the hall 'this one is too small to be of much use to you' He pushed her into the arms of his waiting soldiers and started to walk towards the exit, he paused 'A caravan will be here in a week to move this place mother' he spat. then he stalked out of the house into a waiting carriage. The soldier pushed Marantha towards the door and roughly lifted her over the edge of a cart. 'you girls look after this one, or you'll all get a good flogging' said a rough voice.
 Mara cried out and flailed wildly as the hands in the cart tried to hold her still. A hand was pressed against her mouth, muffling her screams and a soft voice whispered in her ear. 'Hush child, there is nothing more we can do. or we will all die'

As the cart carried Mara further and further away from her home, her cries died out to small sobs and hiccups. Eventually her tears dried up and she felt herself being numbed by the rocking of the cart. A gentle hand stroked her hair and soft voices whispered stories to her as she fell asleep.

When She awoke the sun was shining and the rocking of the cart had stopped. She sat up quickly as she remembered what had happened the night before. Her eyes immediately welled up with tears, she had no idea how far she had been taken from her home or how far they would take her. Though she knew that now, running away was not an option. The face of a young lady popped over the edge of the cart. 'Oh good you're awake' she smiled sweetly and held out her hand to help Mara down 'breakfast is waiting, we let you sleep for awhile but we must get going soon. This is hard for you, i know, it'll take some getting used to but we'll help you.' Mara took the womans hand and was lifted from the cart. The woman led her to a campfire where the other servants sat. An older lady held out two bowls, 'Here's yours Sadis, and yours young miss. welcome to our family'

Mara ate quickly, realising that she had become hungry over the night. She then went to look for a nearby shrub to relieve herself. An other serving girl went with her as if they were afraid something awful would happen to them if they let her get away. And with a master like Tiav, perhaps there would. The serving girl led her back to the cart and helped her up the lifted herself easily over the edge and settled back against some sacks and closed her eyes. "enjoy the peace while it lasts kid, we will be put to work shortly" mara looked over at sadis who lounged lazily on a sack opposite. Sadis explained all about Tiav's home. It would be a weeks journey from now and they would pass close to the borders of Mesor. Once at the estate they would be expected to get back to the harvest, looking after the grounds and house. Sadis worked in the kitchen and promised to help find Mara a place to work there. "you can lose yourself in the cooking" she said "even for just a moment you can forget that we are slaves in all but name"
The carts continued their rhythmic rock across the country side for three more days. Mara was occasionally overcome with grief and longing to be home. She stared out at the world slowly rolling by as she let her hope for a grand rescue slip away. She listened to the girls chatter away or sometimes just sat in silence. She watched them doze on sacks of food. On the morning of the fourth day the girls seemed more restless than usual. They said they were over halfway to the estate They didn't want to scare mara but to them this trip was a holiday away from the hard slog at the estate. And the thought of it ending brought back a lot of the anxieties of home. The girls became noticeably more and more on edge. They didn't want to return.
Sadis walked with marantha as usual to a nearby bush so she could relieve herself. They were just a short run away from the Forrest and Mara would be lying if she said she didn't consider just making a run for it. But she wouldn't survive long out in the wild. Just as she lifted the hem of her skirt and started to squat screams erupted from back st the camp and people came crashing out of the Forrest a short while away chasing after the group. People held swords aloft  and swung wildly at tiav and his men. A hand grabbed Mara roughly by the shoulder and spun her around. Sadis stared at her with wide eyes. 'run girl. Into the woods go!' Mara didn't feel her feet she bolted across the plain and crashed through the trees her feet carried her over fallen logs and deep into the Forrest. For a moment she heard the footfalls of sadis following behind then they faded and Mara was alone with her own crashing steps. A sharp pain shot through her torso and she became short of breath and slowed to a walk. The adrenaline pulsed through her body but she felt pike she couodnt run any further. Then a loud crash and a yell nearby sent her fleeing deeper into the Forrest she ran and ran still her whole body ached and her throat burned so dry. She stopped and lent against a tree. It's coarse bark pulled against the delicate and now rather dirty fabric of her dress, but it was cool and felt ancient and untouched. She sank to the ground and lay spread out in the dirt. She felt her chest heave with the weight of the run. She closed her eyes and opened her ears to the sounds around her. As she settled the birds started to sing again. And the crickets returned to chirping. No longer disturbed by her flight though the underbrush the Forrest returned to its ancient state of being. When Mara opened her eyes her breath had returned to normal and she was starting to feel the chill and the damp of the mossy ground. As she sat up she remembered where she was or rather realised she had fled wildly in no specific path and had no idea how to return. Or even if she should return. The bandits looked like they were ready to kill. Perhaps there was no reason to return to the group. She was free from Tiav, but this was not how she wanted to be free. Her throat felt like sand and she longed for a cold tea or a mulled wine. She knew a stream would have to do. If she could find one. Mara rose on shaky legs her thighs and calves burned with from the extreme exercise. She stumbled forward steadying herself on a tree. She raised her head and lifted herself. She would be a lady of court she said to herself. Be as graceful as one, don't show the pain. And so she walked on through the endless Forrest, going deeper and deeper as the day cooled.

Mara pushed on till the mist started to settle and the light started to fade on the canopy. The damp did little to quench her thirst but helped cool the burning in her legs and chest. As the birds started to quieten Mara heard a soft trickle coming from her right so she changed her direction and headed towards the sound. A short walk later she nearly stepped out and fell down a small ditch with a small slow running river. The water rolled over stones and bugs hoped from stepping stone to stepping stone. Marantha tried to careful step down to the river but her legs were weak from the trek she slipped and fell face first into the river. She pushed herself up with weak arms, and touched her face gingerly. She had a couple grazes from the trees which stung and she could feel a bruise forming on her cheek.  

She scooped water up with her cupped hands and drank eagerly the water was crisp and started to ease the fire within her throat.  after she felt bloated with water she scrambled up the end of the river and rested. since she had fallen in the river she was no soaked and getting cold. it would be dark soon too she thought. No shelter or warmth or food. she wondered how long she could survive out here before she succumb to the forest. She hiccuped and the tears that sat waiting in her eyes fell. she felt herself sob as she realised she would never again see her home town, her mother, Avalyn or her friends. she clutched at her legs holding herself in a ball and wept. once her tears stopped and she stared at the bark of a tree she chastised herself. If there was even the slightest chance of seeing her family, she would have to get up now and continue. She would do all it took to get back home. She picked herself up and wiped her face with the sleeve of her dress. Then placing one foot in front of the other she walked upstream. She found a small clearing and worked quickly to gather some sticks and dry pieces of plants to make a fire. Marantha worked quickly she had stopped shivering during the walk and she knew if she stopped she would feel the cold again. She had to kept moving. Getting the fire started was harder than she expected with only one person. She and Mara had made fires together many times when playing just outside of the town the memory of her threatened to bring back the tears but Mara persevered and felt a moment of joy when she saw the sparks catch on the plant matter and a small flame licked the pile of sticks. Mara ran around the clearing gathering more and more wood for her fire. She ran excitedly and piled the wood onto the fire and soon it was big enough for her to sit back and admire it. She lent against a tree and sighed. she noticed how hungry she suddenly was. She hadn't eaten since the night before. But there was no food around and she didn't know how to catch an animal. She sighed and resigned herself to a very hungry night. Marantha looked around and started to remove her once blue dress. It now had so many tears in it and was stained all over. she hung her dress over a tree near the fire and hoped that it would dry somewhat. with another quick glance around the trees which she thought was a bit silly she was totally alone out here. No one came out to the forest. She laughed and removed her under clothes and skipped and ran to the stream. she jumped straight it and tried to scrub the filth from her body and clothes. The water was cold and didn't invite her to stay long so she quickly hopped out and decided that she must be clean enough.
She gathered up her underwear and walked back shivering to her fire. she was grateful for the warmth as it help dry her body. Her dress was feeling a lot less damp. She tore at the edges of her dress. it was hard to walk in something so long anyway. She kept the torn off fabric and put her dress back on over her wet clothes. and she curled up beside the fire yawning. The sky had gotten dark quickly and Mara drifted off to a restless sleep.
she dreamed of the bandits attacking her home and dragging her out kicking and screaming. then she passed her families bodies laying in the dirt and she screaming thrashing out at her captors. Everything went black and
her hand connected and there was a grunt and a laugh from someone nearby 'you think it's so funny then you take her Curif' some laughter 'only you would have trouble with a sleeping child Kurome' a snort and Mara felt herself being shifted. She was hanging over someones shoulder. And she wasn't dreaming anymore. She screamed as loud as she could. the person who was holding her, Kurome she presumed, swore and shifted Mara taking her off his shoulder and placing her on the ground, but held on tightly to her so she could run. SHe felt him shift in the darkness and thought he must be crouching at about her face height now, looking at her. 'Don't be frightened kid. I'm Kurome and this is Curif.' one hand was removed from a shoulder briefly then clamped back on 'while we were on the way to our home, we found your path crashing through the forest. Then found you by a dead fire shivering. You can't survive out here alone so we're taking you somewhere safe.'
a voice came from so close she jumped at the sound 'were you a part of a caravan group that got attacked?' Maranthas voice caught and she just nodded 'wow you came a long way kid' said Kurome sounding a little impressed
'i.. i can't see' Mara finally stammered.
'we know' Kurome replied softly 'i'm sorry we gave you something to drink while you were sleeping. Just to be safe.' he paused ' not many of your people come this way on peaceful terms. Your vision should return shortly. It's night time anyway so there isn't much to see but shadows'
'and you should consider yourself lucky you don't have to stare at Kurome's face' Curif erupted into laughter at his own joke. a loud whack and an 'ouch' followed. Mara felt a smile creep onto her face
'come one kid, we'll take you home'
Kurome lifted her up onto her shoulder and Mara relaxed a little. These men might have saved her from certain death.
'you're a lot easier to carry when you aren't kicking and screaming'
At some point Mara fell asleep. The forest was quiet except for a few twitters of night birds and the rustle of leaves. She could barely hear the the footsteps of her rescuers and the gentle gait of kurome was soothing. When she awoke the first light of dawn was starting to peak through the trees above. And Mara saw her rescuers for the first time.
They had covered her with a cloak and left her to sleep in a mossy clearing. Both men lay close by wrapped up in traveling blankets. They seemed to be quite long and lean their faces more angular and square. Marantha watched them sleep for a moment until one man started snoring and the other jerked awake. He blinked at Mara, confused for a second then smiled. 'have a good sleep kiddo?'
Mara nodded she recognized the voice as the man called Kurome from last night. He sat up stretched and yawned. lets get you something to eat. Mara watched as he rummaged though a bag and pulled out some bread and a stick of meat. He broke off  a chunk of each and handed them to her. She took them and ate she was still very hungry and the food was amazing. Kurome laughed at her scoffing the food so she slowed down. Curif started to snore so he shook him awake. Curif muttered and tried to roll over but Kurome wouldn't let him. Come on you big lump, we still have a long way to go and we're behind schedule. Curif sighed loudly and grabbed at the food Kurome threw at him. 'fine' he said curtly and dug into his food whilst packing away his traveling blanket.
Kurome turned to Mara 'how able are you to walk?' Mara sat silently for a bit, she didn't want to be a burden to these men or they could abandon her in the forest so she shrugged and said she'll walk. She promised herself she would do her best to keep up with these men and not hold them back. 'Good that's the spirit' He held out a canteen 'drink up we have a long way to go' Curif was standing and stretching again. 'by the way, what's your name?'
Marantha told them a little about her life, how she ended up in the forest and they told them a few small things about their home. Not long after the great war and the end of the golden era, they didn't have enough people to do much at way with Lerrad and Mesor so their people retreated into the great forest and vowed to protect it and keep the others at bay. Though now the two kingdoms completely avoid the forest, saying that who ever enters will never return and they've forgotten that a kingdom even went to live amongst the trees. They described how they lived in a large sprawling city but Mara found it hard to imagine. 'you'll see for yourself' curif said 'in 7 more days' then he grinned as he watched Mara's face fall in the horror of walking 7 more days through this forest. She had tripped many times, scuffed her feet on unseen rocks and logs, been scratched on the face and every limb by sticks. her dress caught and tore more and her legs burned with the effort of every step. kurome and Curif offered to carry her and most times she refused. Curif was amused with how stubborn she was ans slightly impressed. On the second day the men decided that her dress was not fit for such a trek so they gave her one of their tunics, it was soft and pliable yet thick enough to offer protection from the branches of shrubs and from the weather. Being made for a fully grown man however, it was enormous on mara. It came down to her knees and the sleeves to her elbows. She tore off a large sash of her dress and tied it around her waist to help hold the sack close to her. She then begged the men to keep what was left of the scrappy dress.
After a couple days she fell into their rhythm and the walking hurt less. They would continue to walk for a couple hours after dark to make up for lost time, Curif or Kurome would carry Marantha at this point. Then they would settle down for the night wrapped up in blankets and cloaks. They would awake at first light, eat and get going. They walked for almost the whole day. Only pausing to take food out of bags which they would eat while walking, to fill up their canteens at clean streams or to relieve themselves. Most of the time they walked in silence and mara would look around in wonder at the trees and wildlife. At first it was all new to her, and the men started to point out and name the various flora and fauna. After 5 days she could name most of the animals and plants they came across. on the morning of the 6th day Kurome told her that they had entered the inner patrol boundary, they had been spotted in the night and some of his people would be meeting them and walking back with them for the final trek.
At sunset that day, there was a whistle that was similar but not quite like those of the birds around, Curif responded with a similar call and three more people stepped out of the trees. To Mara they seemed to just materialized out of thin air. Since she had been slowly them down so much she didn't realise how skilled these people were at walking amongst the forest. They were silent and just slipped in and out of the shadows as if they were a creature of the forest too. The men laughed as they saw them and rushed to embrace their kin they sat down and started chatting animatedly about events and their journey. '... and that's when we came across this big path crashing through the woods, so we followed it and to our surprise found a child!' said Curif The whole group turned to Marantha who blushed and looked down. 'we couldn't just let her stay and die in the forest, and she's been keen to keep pace with us' One of the people that had joined them was a women called Daserala, she raised her hands out to Mara 'Welcome to Domegaire child' Mara Walked towards her the took her hands. The woman embrace her and sat her on her lap. 'i'll take you to the queen and we'll find a home for you' she said sweetly. 'Did you two come across Jonane and her group? they found a wanderer too they arrived the day before yesterday. Said she was apart of the caravan that was ambushed. Told them some pretty terrible stories about the noble that as killed.' Marantha stiffened and tried to turn to face the woman, her eyes were wide 'they killed Tiav?' she whispered Daserale nodded solemnly 'he fought back the stupid prick, Did you know him?'
'he took me away from my family, now i'll never seen them again' Marantha paused for a short while she had forgotten the events of a couple weeks ago being ripped away from her home and she started to cry. The group looked alarmed and Daserale tried to comfort her. 'Then perhaps you'll know the young woman who we found' she said 'Her name is Sadis'
They sat late into the night talking. Kurome and Curif had been away from their home for a couple months it turned out, They'd been on a ranging mission to find information from one of the villages near the edge of the forest. Their return had just happened to coencide with the raid of the caravan that had passed too close to the forest. The people of Domegaire raided caravans in the disguise of bandits to find out information about the outside world. They believed that a second great war was coming and they needed to be prepared for it. Though they tried their best not to just slaughter everyone, they did kill those who attacked them. Domegaire had no use for servants they said, and they despised how the other places treated their people so cruelly. Marantha fell asleep to the sounds of talking and laughing, feeling almost at peace.

At first light they woke again and set out for the final leg of the journey.
by early afternoon Mara started to notice small houses tucked under the trees. Most were small wooden cottages, covered in moss so that they blended into the shadows of the trees then she looked up and saw more houses, perching between branches and surrouonding the massive trunks of the trees. Marantha had never seen trees so tall. Bridges were hanging between houses in the trees, ladders dangled down from them and starcases wound around the outside of the trunks. The underbrush of the forest cleared away and paths between trees became more visible. Marantha stared in amazement at all the people and children who ran from house to house, carrying things, sat on the edges of balconies dangling their legs, they lent causually on the railings chatting and laughing. She heard someone singing a melodic and earie song. It was like stepping into a whole other world and Marantha was absoloutely capitvated by these stunning people. They were all so elegant, some in flowing gowns, others in tights and tunics. Daserale fell into step beside Marantha and put her hand on her shoulder. 'Welcome to your new home child'
'it's so beautiful' she replied as she stared with an open mouth at the sight
'thank you, we do take great pride in our home' Kurome chuckled behind her. 'this is where Curif and i must leave you with Daserale, we have to report to our officer and see our families' Marantha turned to face him and as he crouched down she gave him a big hug
'thank you for rescuing me' she said
'No problem kiddo' he ruffled her hair 'we'll see you again soon'
Kurome and Curif walked off towards on of the trees and waved behind them. Marantha was sad to see them go, after a week of traveling with them she had grown attached but she held on to his words like a promise. This was their home and they would be able to find her and see her again. Daserale lead Marantha deeper into the forrest and the rest of her group dispersed into the trees, they all had familes and jobs to attend to.
As they walked deeper into the forest, the trees grew larger and so did the houses. As night started to fall Marantha was struck with awe again as she watched the houses slowly light up, lights glowed out of windows and lights twinkled around railings and wound themselves down stairs. The city transformed again into a place of magic. Then the trees opened up to an enormous clearing with a picturesque lake in the center. on the far side a river flowed into the lake and beside it stood a group of trees even larger than the others of the forest and between them hung what appeared to be a palace.