Darkwind Chronicles: The Price of Sin 1

Prologue:
         Stalked. She was standing stock still in what felt like a block of icy terror, paralyzing her numb. Something malevolent prowled discomfortingly close nearby. As soon as she could force herself to move again, waves of bone-chilling hatred crashed over her and froze her in place once more. It was toying with her as prey and she knew it. This thing knew more about her than she did herself and that made it all the more intimidating. Why wouldn’t it go in for the kill? When she ‘listened’ more closely, she found it was guarding something, but what? If she could just get a little bit closer... but she couldn’t bring herself to move. What was it protecting? What was it so keen on keeping from her? At last, she was able to move her body and inched her foot forward when the behemoth snarled. She flickered her eyes to greet her monster, but closed them almost instantaneously. The image burned in her mind. Soft shuffling noises told her the beast was switching its stance to attack-mode. Her muscles went taunt in response, but it was no use. Movement wasn’t an option anymore. She opened her mouth to scream when something heavy and soft slipped over it, preventing her from doing so. Another creature? She forced her eyes open, only to be greeted by the vast night sky.

Chapter 1:
         A heavy, gloved hand of an unknown person muffled Sin’s strangled scream. At first, she fought it fiercely- her body, mind, and reflexes still running on adrenaline and fear- when a hushed voice calmed her.
         “C’mon man, take it easy, will ya? D’ya wanna wake the whole camp?” She recognized the guy’s voice and sank back to the dirt.
         “Sorry commander,” Sin responded softly. “Didn’t realize who it was.”
         “Geez, Sin, I toldja you can call me by mah name when no one’s around. It’s Kevin or, hell, Kev works if ya want.” Kevin grinned, pulling his legs in Indian-style, and looking up into the night. Of course, she knew what to call him- he’d told her at least fifty times- but it was hard to break her habit of formality. “Bad dream?”
         She nodded. “Same one. No matter how many times I have it, I just can’t seem to understand it.” She had told the second-in-command several times before, but she never had reason to worry. When she first disguised herself as a man, Sin thought she had to clam up and keep to herself completely. But, obviously, that didn’t do any good since she also wanted and needed information. She still had yet to gain much, but since Kevin had pried open her shell the girl-gone-soldier had learned some. Enough to help her learn about her clouded past? No, but enough, at least, to get her on the right track. What she did know is that she needed to talk to the captain. Desperately. The problem was while marching (or riding for her; she was now part of the cavalry) she was almost completely in back of the formation, nowhere near the him. Sure, she could always talk to Kevin, but there was only so much information she could get from him. Judging by what she heard from the other men, the Captain was quite knowledgeable about his country, Akemru, and her own, Sappan. Obviously, none of them knew her country of origin; else they would have already killed her. The two countries were at war and couldn’t deal with spies. But Sin was no spy. Fortunate for her, she looked nothing like her Sappanese ‘kin’, though that just continued leading her to believe she had, in fact, been kidnapped from her real home. Where ever that was.
                “Ah, tha’s alright. You’ll understand it ev’ntually…… Sin?… Sin?” The distant sound of the commander’s voice dragged Sin’s mind back from her contemplations.
         “Huh? Wha-? Yeah, of course.” Her response was airy, far-off, and not convincing in the slightest. Her mind was long gone from the conversation. Kevin just sighed.
         “Ya mind’s wand’ring again Sin. Don’t do tha’ on the battlefield. Don’t need tah be losin’ ya now, ya know.” He grinned hugely before latching an arm around her neck in a full-fledged, all-out noogie.
         “Aagh!” She cried, shoving him jokingly as her short, messy, red-streaked black hair grew messier by the second.
         “Ya give?” He laughed, continuing the onslaught of her head.
         “Never!” She whisper/yelled, her finger jabbing into his side in a futile attempt to stop him. It wasn’t the best idea in the world to get attached to someone who could die with the passing of any day, but in the army your troop had to be close to survive. And Sin and the commander were definitely close, like long-lost siblings. Many times she even wondered if she should reveal to him her secret but lost the courage to at the last second.
         Kevin stopped assaulting her hair as they both fell into a companionable silence. ‘I can’t keep going like this. I need someone supporting me. He’s got to know…’
         “Sin?”
         She glanced around quickly.
         “…Sin?”
         “I’m a girl.” Her confession came out in one swift exhale.
         “Listen—You what?” His voice caught in his throat. How could he have missed something like that? “Aw, Sin, don’t knock ya’self like that, you’re just-“
         “Kevin, no… I’m really… a girl…” Voice fading into a breeze, a crimson- invisible in the dark- dusted her high cheekbones.
         “I, uh- You’re serious? I… never knew.” He thought back to everything they’d ever done together. Every single one of those moments would have been unbearably awkward had he known her secret. It was sure awkward now. “So why are you here? You could have died! Surely you have a man back home-“
         “I do.” She interrupted forcefully then squirmed under the stare it brought. “He doesn’t give a damn about me, only about my body and the ‘services’ it can provide.” The explanation was soft and bitter, forcing unbidden tears to prick at her eyes. She hadn’t cried since she was very small when her pseudo-parents had so kindly informed her it was a sign of weakness.
         “Stop being a baby. Be stronger.”
         She dried her eyes, allowing her to speak again with a firm voice.
         “I may not know much about my past, but I do know that… that man is a cruel, vile slob bent on making me into an arm ornament for the rest of my life.”
         “So you’d’rather die?” He asked, the question harsh and protective.
         “Yes, I’d risk death to find out how to fix this broken thing I’m forced to call ‘life’. You didn’t seem to care as much when I was a man!” Kevin’s eyes softened.
         “Tha’ must be terrible, but Sin, ya’re like my little br-… well, sis tah me. I couldn’t stand tah lose ya.” He placed a soft hand on her shoulder. They sat like that for a few moments before Sin broke down and hugged him, sniffling into his shoulder. Kevin was only slightly discomforted having never, ever seen the girl cry, acting male or not.
              She regained control, wiping her face, just in time as the captain’s boy came about waking up the other men. The sun was just rising and it had already been a long day.
              “The captain’s going to talk to the entire troop this morning before we head out. Sounds pretty important. Be ready.” The boy told them, returning to his duty of rousing the infantry and cavalry. Sin stood, yawned, and ruffled her own hair, looking back down at Kevin.
              “Ya’re not goin’ intah battle are ya?” He asked as he rose to his feet beside her.
              “If that’s what happens today, then yes.” Butterflies cascaded into her stomach. ‘We’re going into battle today? I had no idea. I have a bad feeling....’ She brushed herself off, ducking into her pop tent to retrieve her few things, placing them in her pack and then rolling up said tent.
              “Ya can’t!” Kevin exclaimed, and then quieted his voice for the sake of privacy. “This isn’t the way to solve your problem.”
              Sin’s composure snapped. “Would you have thought that if I hadn’t told you? Look, I told you because I need some support in this, not sympathy or over zealous protection.” She finished resituating the pack on her horse and turned to rest her hand on his upper arm. “Please, just trust me, ‘kay?”
         He stared at her silently for a few moments before slowly nodding. “I gotcha’re back, Sin.”
         “Thanks.” She smiled with a sigh of relief. Something on her chest finally lifted. She had a true ally she knew she could trust.
         “I’d better go. Gotta go over our battle plan with the cap’n before he addresses the troop.” He tapped his fore and middle finger to his temple in a small salute. “Take it easy.”
         Sin watched silently as Kevin walked away. Overwhelming relief washed over her. She finally had the support she needed to get through this in one piece and she wouldn’t have to do it alone. But, with no one to talk to at the moment, she didn’t know what to do with herself. Fingers twitched and feet shuffled until she could take it no more. She unsheathed her sword and plopped herself onto the ground. Laying the blade lengthwise across her folded legs, she began to buff and shine its smooth metal, testing its edges for the sharpness. The blade itself was rather broad but not too broad and had a slight crescent shape to it. Hooked barbs on the top back edge made the sword very destructive and excruciatingly painful to its prey. Her forefinger, running lightly over the silhouette, slipped. She jerked back her hand to watch as the warm trail of blood trickled over her finger.
         “Ouch…. Damn.” Sin muttered, jamming said finger into her mouth. She barely noticed that almost everyone had left to hear the captain as she slid the blade back into its sheath. She stood, dusted herself off, and trotted towards the main encampment, tripping on her way. Her lying there on the ground should’ve been taken by her as an omen.

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         To Sin’s relief, the Captain hadn’t started speaking before she had gotten there. She stepped up behind a few of her fellow soldiers, shouldering her way forward towards where she expected the captain to be. The place was packed! Being in the middle of formation really distorted her perception on the number of soldiers in the troop. She caught a fleeting sight of Kevin and nodded to him in silent hello though she was certain he couldn’t see her to return it. While she tried to make eye contact with him, the whole encampment went silent. A few of them glanced momentarily at her then turned back to the clearing where the captain stood. If she hadn’t been a girl disguised as a guy and somewhere other than the army, she might’ve pointed out that he was quite handsome. Might have. Maybe. In a few years. When she knew more about herself. Not now.
         Sin chided herself mentally and forced her attention onto the Captain’s speech.
         “Men. I know the going’s been tough and we haven’t exactly gotten the supplies we needed, but I want you to understand one thing. You are the best. Those higher up than me may not realize it, the entire Akemrian army may not realize. Hell, some of you may still not realize it, but if I had the choice I’d’ve chosen this company all over again.” He paused to gaze around at his charges. Kevin stood beside him looking as important as any second-in-command should look. Sin tried to catch his eye again, but being shorter than everyone else around her made it impossible. “Now, we haven’t exactly gotten the rations promised, but I’ve sent a message addressing that same issue and we’ve had to and will make do with what we have. Today, it will all pay off.” A few roaring cheers rose up from the crowd and quickly died down like crashing waved. The Captain waited for the noise to simmer down- though it wasn’t long- before beginning again. “Today we go into battle with the Sappanese army!” More roars of approval. “You fight, not as an individual soldier for your life, but as an army for the lives, safety, and prosperity of our entire country!” The voices all around were mind numbing now, causing Sin’s head to swim. “We have trained long and hard,” he continued. “for this exact opportunity and we will accept it with open arms! Now, get ready! We march out within the hour.”
                With the end of his speech came a rally of shouts and roars that rose to an immense climax before the entire army set off for their armaments and Sin to mount up. She stepped up to her horse Zabu, patting his nose lightly before going around to his side and checking the tack. ‘Wouldn’t want to fall off in the midst of battle.’ The thought fogged over her conscious as she tightened Zabu’s girth. Her fingers fussed over various straps, her packs, the bridle, and reigns when a light tap came on her shoulder.
              “C-captain.” She stumbled, saluting the commanding officer. “Is there something I’m needed for specifically?” He shook his head.
              “At ease.” He offered with a nod. “Well, yes and no. I’ve noticed how close you and my second-in-command have come to be,” he began. “and being his half-brother I’d like to ask a request from you.” Sin waited expectantly for him to continue. He turned to pet her horse, keeping his eyes on Zabu’s. “Take care of him out there, will ya? Stay by his side when I can’t and I’m sure he will for you.” She couldn’t believe what she was hearing. His half-brother? He’d been watching them?
              “I’ll protect him with my life, Sir.” The black-haired girl responded formally.
              “Call me Kryss, Sin.” Her mouth gaped. “I know Kev has one hell of’a time just to get you to call him Kevin, so I’m not expecting much-“
              “How did you know my name?” Sin asked, kicking herself for interrupting. Kryss smiled knowingly.
              “I’m the captain. I’m s’posed to know things like this.” He patted the horse’s shoulder as he walked away. Zabu whinnied quietly after him as if he didn’t want the man to leave. Sin stood in an awestruck silence, eyeing Kevin as he jogged over and started an animated conversation with the Captain. An oil-black raven screeched overhead as it landed in a nearby tree.
              “Huh…” The word escaped her lips as a soft sigh. “Zabu, species of your gender confuse me.” She slid her left foot into his stirrup and swung herself up onto his saddle. The Chesapeake nickered in response as Sin took up the reigns and trotted off into formation.
              The raven crowed once more, sending shivers down her spine.

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Author's note:

Hoped you liked my first chapter! I’m very excited about how this story is going to unfold. Please, please review! Tell me what you think about the characters, what you think should happen, etc….