Kiara lay with her head on Arion's chest, which slowly rose up and then went back down again. The soft sound of him snoring hung around her, so did his smell. It was pretty late in the morning, if not early afternoon. But the night before, the both of them had guard duty, so they would be forgiven for that. It has being weeks since Arion confessed his feelings for her, and they have slept together ever since. Fully dressed, they didn't have sex yet. In some ways, she didn't think that she would be ready for that. It has also being weeks since the last rift. Which in her mind was strange, the time between rifts opening was a most a week. Not a month. She sighed, glad that she was inside the army camp and not back home. Her father was probably loosing it, he was already on edge if eight days went by before a rift opened up again. Losing his temper, drinking, which resulted in her being hit. Slowly, she closed her eyes, once again reminding herself that she was no longer in that place. She was outside her father's reach, he could no longer hurt her.

"Ohh look at you, attempting greatness! Pity it's just an attempt," the voice of her father echoed through her mind. The memory rushed back to her, in just a matter of seconds. She just defeated a much older boy during a sparring match, and her father just walked by the training ground. She was so proud of herself, and full of hope. Hope that her father would be proud of her too. But that was a foolish, her father was not proud, he was just ashamed that the older boy was not able to defeat her with ease. "Your existence is proof that failure has a sense of humor." Another memory, just as painful as the last one. She couldn't have being older than six, it was close to Benjamin's birthday party. When she made the stupid mistake of asking her father why she didn't have one. She was excluded from the celebration, and was sent to her room without food. Her father couldn't hurt her physically, but the memories still hunt her dreams. The emotional torment only stopped as long as she stayed awake. Not that not sleeping was an option, she was a member of this army, and she needed to be ready. She woke up, tears streaming down her cheeks onto Arion's shirt. Then there it was, the sense of dread. A rift was about to open, close by.

"Arion," she said, while she shook him. "A rift is about to open, we need to get ready." he woke up and jumped out of bed. Quickly walking towards the other room where he kept his clothes. She got dressed, her hair was already inside a braid, so she didn't need to pay attention to that. She placed the scabbard with her sword on her hips and walked out. The rest of the men were already running like headless chickens, getting their weapons, preparing the horses, putting on their armors. Tom passed her by. "Tom, you take Brigit. The two of you are in charge of getting civilians out of harms way."  he nodded and rushed towards Brigit. Tom already had a group of men selected who would preform this task. Kiara walked towards her horse, who was already saddled and clearly ready to go. She mounted, at the same time most of the men did.

"Kiara, lead the way." Arion said. She didn't respond to that, simply commanded her horse to go, and he did.

*******

This time, the rift was about to open in the middle of a wheat field. The farmers, were already planning to take their harvest to the village a couple of miles away. When the army of Lord Snemåne and that of the Core of Protection arrived. Benjamin was leading them, he nodded towards her in greeting. But she was shocked to see the state of his face, it was all brushed up. The same went for her uncle's nose. She knew who was behind the injuries, her father.

"Kiara," her uncle said as he walked up to her. Wrapping her into a tight hug. "You look, awesome. The clothes' suite you." she nodded.

"Thank you, uncle. But we have time to talk after the battle." she said. "A small team of the army is already making sure that the civilians are out of harms way. I have practiced with the scrolls and tomes, Benjamin gifted me, so I am able to help him. Place the rest of the men where you want, only I want Arion close by." her uncle nodded in reply, and started to give orders.

"Lordling, you have my niece's back! While she has her brother's!" he shouted. "The rest of you, I hope you have paid close attention!" Kiara didn't pay close attention to what happened next. They were in time, and even had moments to spare to coordinate. Which was also something new. She took her place next to Benjamin, her sword already in her hands. While she called upon her magic, which started to circle around her in the golden glow with hints of soft purple. She noticed that Benjamin did the same thing, but his magic missed the hints of purple. There were no colors at all except for the golden glow. Was there something wrong with her magic? She shook those thoughts out of her head, no, there was no time for self-doubt, she needed to focus. Dark clouds started to gather, purple lightning shot through the sky. The shattering sound, of something breaking, the smell of decaying flesh. All of that came at once, but they were ready. She struck down the first Riftwalker that came through the rift, Benjamin struck down the next with his magic. Something she has never seen him do before, but there was no time for questions.

"Benjamin, leave the Riftwalkers to us. Focus on closing this thing back up." she screamed. He looked at her with narrowed eyes, there was an anger burning inside them. She has seen her brother mad before, but never this angry.

"Fine!" he snapped. What was going on with him today, or rather, what has their father done to him. He didn't look at her, instead he raised his hands and started to close the rift. Another breaking sound interrupted him, however.

"Kiara!" her uncle screamed. Another rift burst open, just on the other side of the field. Riftwalkers were already pouring out. "You need to close it, no worries. I will cover Benjamin."

"Arion!" 

"Right behind you, Kiara," he said, before she could say anything else. With his confirmation, she rushed through the crowed. Fighting of Riftwalkers, avoiding the razor sharp claws. "Keep those boiling hot hand off my girl." Arion screamed, to a Riftwalker while killing it. "Do what you need to do, Kiara." she placed her sword in her scabbard, raised her hands and started to let her magic do the work. It was not as taxing as the first, but it wasn't easy. She could hear Arion fight with the Riftwalkers behind her back. She also could hear his labored breathing, they just ran towards this rift while fighting one Riftwalker after another. There was no way that she could blame him for being already out of breath, she was not much better off.

"Kiara, my rift is closed." Benjamin said, hers was almost done. "Leave this one to me," 

"No, I can do it, Benjamin." she said. "I am no longer that weak little girl, I can do it." A smile tucked on her mouth. And there it was, the last bit of the rift was closed. The remaining Riftwalkers were slaughtered by the rest of the army. They did this, together, as a group. There were wounded, but no one got killed. All the farmers were safe, although the grain was destroyed. But if that was the only thing, she could live with that. She sat down, breathing heavily. "I did it." she whispered. "Did you see that, Benjamin, I did it." she gazed up at him. "We did it." He nodded and sat down next to her.

"You did it, little sister, you did it. You have trained those men well, you have learned magic in record time. And you did that all on your own." he said. Those were all compliments, but still the fact that he called her little sister didn't sit right with her. He was planning something, and from the expression on his face, she could tell that she was not going to like it.

"Father hurt you, didn't he?" she asked, and he nodded. "Because you didn't listen to him, he hurt uncle, too." He nodded again. "And he asked you to do something, didn't he?" Again another nod. "Something that involves me." Benjamin glanced over at her. Her heart stopped beating and all the air rushed out of her lungs. He was bringing her to sleep, so that she wouldn't fight him. 

"What are you doing to her!" Arion shouted in the distance. The image of him was vague, and she wasn't able to focus on him. But he, too, fell to the ground.

"I am sorry, Kiara. But father has Emma, he is going to hurt her and I can not allow that to happen." Benjamin whispered. She wanted to curse at him, she was finally free. Away from her father, away from all the hurt that he was able to bring. And now her own brother, the one who has seen the abuse up close, was going to take her back to that place. But her voice didn't work. 

********

"I hope that you know what you are doing?" his uncle asked, when Benjamin picked up the unconscious Kiara. There was a cart nearby and he lay her carefully in there.

"What am I supposed to do otherwise? Father has Emma, and he is not going to give her up. Until I do what he says." Benjamin said, his uncle lay Arion besides Kiara. "Remove her sword, father will take that from her as soon as we arrive. Throw it to one of their men as we ride on by." His uncle looked at him with narrowed eyes. 

"You are just like him," his uncle whispered, and he knew that he was disappointed in him. He was disappointed in himself, too. But what was he supposed to do, fight against his own father. His uncle, and grandfather were not willing to that either, and they were older, wiser and stronger than that him. The rest of the Lordling's army were still fighting with the Riftwalkers, while their people slowly faded away. Making their escape to the compound, and he still begged the Gods that he made the right choice.