Chapter Text
It started the same way it always did. I woke up to a loud sound of a door bursting open. I quickly got out of my bed and left my room running towards the staircase. “Mom? Momma, where are you?” I yelled out, bolting down the stairs when I heard a scream. I ran through the familiar house, the adrenaline-fueled panic coursing through my body. I skidded to a halt in the hallway as I watched my mother be slammed against the wall by a man with tawny brown skin, a strong brow line and a cloud of dark curls. “You'll die before you drain another.” The man said his voice cold and devoid of emotion; he slipped an alloy dagger from a sheath on his leg before stabbing it into mom's chest. She screamed; it was an ear shattering sound. “MOM!” I cried out, her head lulled to the side, her eyes were lifeless but surrounding them were bright red veins. The man's head snapped toward me as I rushed to my mom's body.
“Fuck she had a daughter” another male voice muttered, I looked up as I held my mother's body tightly in my arms to see a boy who looked to be my age and was a spitting image of the man who just kill my mother, so I assumed he was his son. His brown eyes were much softer than his father’s cold empty ones as he gazed down at my sobbing form clinging tightly to my mom’s body. “What do we do dad?” I heard him ask his father while I held my mom's body silently praying to Malek that he hadn't taken her from me. Though I knew it was true I could feel how the warmth was slowly draining from her body. Everything blurred together as I held onto her. “What was I going to do now that mom was dead? How would I survive without my mom? She was the most important thing in my life and now she was gone.” The thoughts ran rampant through my head as I sat there on the ground holding my dead mother’s body.
The boy knelt in front of me and slipped a vial from his jacket, lifting it to my mouth he gently nudged my lips to part. “Open up,” he murmured softly, his eyes full of sympathy or pity. I parted my lips slightly to protest and ask who they were, but it was enough, he tipped the vial into my mouth. I felt a cold liquid run over my tongue and down my throat. “I'm sorry for this.” he whispered, he stood up again walking past his father and out of our house. My head started to feel heavy, and I could barely keep my eyes open, “what did you do to me?” I slurred in a panic and drifted off into unconsciousness. The last thing I saw were the cold brown eyes of that murderer before my head hit the stone floor of our house and went under.
I sat up in bed clutching my chest panting softly in the darkness of my room. “Fuck…” I muttered softly, holding my head as I brought my knees up to my chest. “It's just a nightmare Leigh... Mom has been dead for 6 years” I whispered quietly to myself while trying to calm my racing heart. I've repeated that mantra every morning for the last two months. I don't know why I've started to have that same nightmare so much. Its fucks with my sleep, I haven’t been able to get a full night of sleep at all since it started. “Gods,” I groaned finally getting out of bed I stood up stretching with a yawn. Today was Conscription Day, the deadliest day of the year. It was the day you chose what quadrant to join. There were the Scribes, the Infantry, the Healers, and the Riders quadrant. The rider’s quadrant only accepted volunteers unless you were a child of one of the members of the rebellion then you must go regardless once it’s your conscription day. “I was going to join the rider’s quadrant because that's what my mother would have wanted me to do. Not actually she probably would just scream at me and cry. Especially considering how dangerous this was and I most likely wouldn’t make it home alive.”
The rider's quadrant is the most dangerous and has the most deaths, especially on Conscription Day. To even be considered a rider cadet you must cross an eighteen-inch stone bridge called the parapet which is what connected the rider quadrant to the main campus, it's also 200 hundred feet above the ground with a rushing river under it. They don't even give your body back to your family, they will leave it down there and place a stone to mark you as dead along the path to the parapet. It seems gruesome but the danger is worth the glory and respect that comes from being a rider. I only want to join so I can kill the son of my mother’s murderer. Bodhi Durran. He is one of the Rebellion leader’s children and was marked with a Special relic that warns every one of their identities. I have only one goal this year, make it across the parapet and survive long enough to kill Bodhi. That is another thing about the rider’s quadrant we have no other rules besides the codex which we live by. It lets us kill our fellow cadets if they are not a part of our squad or if they are awake. It is strictly prohibited to kill another cadet in their sleep. I had spent all night fixing my pack so I could carry all that I would need at Basgiath. I had sewn special sheaths into the thighs of my pants so I could carry them across. I have been planning this for 6 years now, there was nothing that was going to stop me unless I got myself killed. I should be fine but then again, I don't want to be overly confident. I gather my hair into one hand before twisting it tightly and tying it into a bun at the base of my neck. I used two bobby pins to clip back my dark turquoise bangs. I walked over to my window looking out at the sky. There were dark clouds moving in from the west. “There is going to be a storm,” I grumbled to myself as I slipped out of my night gown. I pulled on my tight leather pants and grabbed my bra off the post of my bed and clasped it behind my back. I opened my armoire looking for a decent shirt to wear. It needed to be tight fitting to fight the wind resistance on the parapet especially with the storm that was rolling in.
I found a decently fitted t-shirt and put it on before grabbing my jacket and slipping a dagger into the hidden sheath along the inside of it. Once I was fully dressed in my clothes I knelt and laced up my boots before I looked at myself in the mirror. I felt so different from my mom, but dad always said I acted exactly like her. I hoped dad would understand but I needed to get revenge for mom. Bodhi Durran wouldn’t make it to his third year. I knew dad took moms death hard he had moved us from the Luceras Province to the Morraine Province. He couldn’t take all the memories the old, house had in it. But honestly, I was glad we moved too I couldn’t go through the front door of the house anymore because all I saw was mom dying in that doorway repeatedly each time I walked by the door it played in my mind. Before I left the house, I grabbed my pack which I had packed the night before. It was decently light because I didn’t want it weighing me down on the parapet. I walked past my father’s room pausing in the doorway to watch as he slept. I wouldn’t die. I would not be another loss for my father. I noticed my mother necklace on the dresser no doubt dad had been looking at it again. I silently pushed open the door and walked over to the dresser, picking up the necklace I admired the garnet heart charm on the necklace. I felt an indent in the back of the charm, so I flipped it over to see the marking. It was the initials M.M.
“Mara Mallory,” I murmured softly to myself. That was my mother’s name. I have no clue why dad kept the necklace it was supposed to be burned and offered to Malek when mom passed. I put the necklace on making sure the charm rested against my heart. Taking one final glance at dad, I turned and left his room. Stopping at the front door I pulled out a piece of parchment and wrote, ‘Dear dad, I am sorry for this, but I have no other choice. I will take revenge for momma. I am going to survive the Riders quadrant and come back home to I swear to Malek I won’t be another name on the death roll at Basigath. I hope you understand why I must do this. In the case I don’t come back to you know that you were the best parent I could ever need. If I die just know I won’t be alone in Maleks domain I will have momma at my side. Love your little raindrop, Leigh.’ I folded the parchment in half and tucked it under his jacket before slipping out of the house with a sigh.
A few hours later and I was standing in a long line of people all getting ready for the Parapet. There were a girl two people in front of me with a coronet braid. From the looks of it some of her hair was silver. She was talking to a girl with golden brown hair which was cut short. Judging by the black leathers she was wearing she was a rider. Normally I don’t give a crap about other people, but I heard her name when she told the lady writing the roll. "Violet Sorrengail huh?” I thought, as I had heard the rumors of general Sorrengail’s daughter being weak and having silver hair. “Why is she joining the Riders quadrant,” Some bulky blonde boy scoffed in front of me. “The wind blows too strong, and shell go flying off the parapet” he said to some boy standing in front of him who looked utterly terrified of him. “Luckily you’re too big to be blown off by the wind but maybe you’ll break the parapet with all that weight,” I grumbled under my breath as we moved forward, shivering in the cold as the wind and rain started to pick up. The bulky blonde was named Jack Barlow. I heard him say it to the role keep before he walked past into the turret to climb the 250 stairs to the top. “Name.” said a female cadet with short fiery red hair. I believe she was a third-year judging by the insignia on her fight jacket. “Leigh Mallory.” I answered, while fiddling with the strap of my pack. “Mallory huh? Didn’t your mom get killed by a rebellion member?” the girl asked looking me up and down after she wrote my name down. I nodded softly before I walked past her and into the turret before she could say more about the topic.
I looked up from the bottom of the huge spiral staircase, before taking a deep breath and beginning my ascent to the top. I started climbing the stairs, placing my hand along the wall to guide myself as the farther up I went the darker it was and harder to see. I paid attention to the sounds and feelings around me. With how my vision was dimming I needed to really on my other senses to get me to the top. I heard footsteps behind me, but I didn’t dare to look because if I looked down, I knew I’d get sick, and I couldn’t risk that as I climbed. The wall is the only thing that provide support since there was no railing. I heard the annoying blonde above me rushing the person who was in front of them. “He no doubt would probably be one of this first to kill another cadet if he makes it to the quadrant.” My foot slipped on some loose debris from the steps and caused me to gasp. I dug my stable foot down and push my palm into the wall while I got my foot back into a stable position so I could continue up the stairs. Around the halfway mark I was breathing more heavily. Despite how much training I had put into this, I was still easily winded which I would have to fix if I were to survive in the quadrant. “By the gods,” I thought with a huff of breath before I heard a scream from below and then a spalt. A shiver went up my spine as I registered what that sound was. Someone just fell to their death. I swallowed back the bile that formed in my throat at the thought and forced myself not to look and continue forward. I could see the light from the top of the turret growing brighter the closer I got. By the time I reached the top I was practically dead on my feet, but I was forced not to show it. I couldn’t show weakness around these people. I couldn’t have them thinking I would slow us down if I were to end up in a squad with them.
“May I have Zihnal’s favor, or I don’t know if I will make it across.” The thoughts came quickly and then left. I needed a clear head for the parapet or Zihnal’s favor or not. I would not make it across. I looked up to see a physically imposing handsome man with windswept black hair, tawny-brown skin, and eyes like onyx flecked with gold. I took notice of the rebellion relic on his arm.“Xaden Riorson? It must be him. He has a third-year insignia on his flight jacket.” Rage built within me, but I calmed down as I stepped forward reminding myself that it wasn’t his father who killed my mother but his uncle. “Get moving.” He ordered with a cold almost bored look in his eyes. I steeled before looking up just in time to see that same bulky blonde boy shove another off the parapet and to his death. With one last deep breath I took my first step onto the parapet.