Cold. That was all that existed in the world. The freezing cold that clung to one’s body and penetrated down to the bones. That was all they knew. The cold… and the mud.

Behind him, Dirk could hear Raven’s teeth chattering as they stumbled along through the muck. He could feel him stumble against his back, entangled in chains that bound them all together. He couldn’t really blame him. Walking through the mud was like walking through soup! The dirt road in front of them had been churned up by the hundreds that had marched before them, making it nearly impossible to walk through the sloppy mixture, even for the adults in the line. The numerous children that were scattered through out the line were practically drowning in it due to the weight of the chains, which were hard to struggle along with even on a nice sunny day. Most were sunken down all the way to their chests, causing them to be dragged along by the taller figures.

Dirk was fairing better then Raven. He, as a half-dragon, could generate his own heat source. Though he didn’t have the advantage of wings, which he could have wrapped around his person, he could at least feel his toes a little bit. He wasn’t going into hypodermic shock like his friend.

At this thought the boy glanced behind him. Raven was clinging to him in order to stay upright. The smaller boy could barely stumble along through the mud, teeth chattering as the rain continued to pellet them. Dirks’ eyes went wide suddenly as he tripped over a rock, sliding forwards in the mud. Raven whimpered as he was carried with him, his weight pushing Dirk further down into the mud. Dirk groaned and straightened, raising both up as he shuffled forwards. This was defiantly hell.

They had been marching since they had set out that morning. Though it had rained hard enough to force the soldiers to get off their horses and walk beside them, they continued on. Through the river of mud and hell, they continued on. Though they had cursed the gods for their sense of humor and had prayed for them to stop the rain, they had continued on. And the rain never let up, continuing to pour on the drenched chain gang as they marched their way slowly down the soupy road.

Varen made sure to glance back every now and then to check that the boys hadn’t drowned in the mud. He had no problem with the wet and the wading. He wasn’t even very wet, which was a miracle, considering the circumstances. Some of the mud had seeped into his boots and his face was wet from the rain falling on it, but other then that his cloak kept most of the water out.

It was the boys he was worried about. The water had soaked right through any protection they had on and both children were covered in mud. Raven was worse off though. If the boy couldn’t even survive one day of marching then how-

“SPEED IT UP, YOU LAZY PIECES OF FROGSPAWN! WE ALL HAVE TO MARCH IN IT! STOP DRAGING YOUR FEET! LOOK LIVELY!”

A bulky man was headed down the line, sloshing through the mud with precision and speed. Unlike the other soldiers, who looked just as miserable as the people they were guarding, this one was still full of vigor. He cracked his whip over the heads of the prisoners, the sound of it echoed by the crack of lightning and thunder above them. Many flinched at the sound and tried to shuffle a bit faster, wanting to move past the man. He surveyed the lines with a mean look, causing Varen to quickly avert his eyes. It was not good to get signaled out so early in a march and he wanted to avoid confrontation.

The man narrowed his eyes at this and cracked his whip just behind Varen, narrowly missing his back. It did, however, manage to get caught on the chains that connected the older man to Dirk. As the soldier moved to yank back, he pulled the chains tight, causing Dirk be tugged forwards with a yelp. The boy landed face first in the mud, causing a startled Raven to land on top of him and push him down further into the sloppy mess of dirt.

Raven struggled to stand straight and help Dirk up as the man freed his whip, cursing at the boys. “I’ll teach you a lesson for that!”

The soldier moved to bring the whip back down on Dirk’s back, a grin etched across his face at the thought of the pain he was going to cause. Dirk looked up just in time to see the cruel weapon lashing down at him, purple eyes going wide in shock as he flinched back.

The whip wrapped around the leather clad arm that had been thrust over the boy several times, causing it to get stuck. Both Dirk and the man blinked at this, the little boy’s eyes traveling along the arm to it’s owner. Varen hadn’t even flinched as the whip had wrapped around his arm and still didn’t flinch as the man swore again and tugged on the whip. “You… get off!! I’ll tan your hide so bad for this that you-“

“Lt. Raken!” the loud voice rang out over the now halted line, causing said Lt. to flinch and snap to attention, still holding to the whip that was wrapped around Varen’s arm.

“Yes sir?”

“What have I told you about harassing the prisoners?” The owner of the voice came into the line of vision. A tall, proud looking man, haggard by many years of war, strode up to the, looking Raken over through the rain.

“Sir, I was just-!”

“I know what you were doing, Lt.. Now hand over your whip.” The man’s face was hard as Raken moved his mouth angrily, then moved to yank the whip off Varen’s arm. Varen let the offending weapon slide off easily, making sure to stay in front of the boys just in case he tried to get another hit in.

Taken hesitantly handed over the leathery appendage, glaring at his superior. “You will get this back when you learn to respect the prisoners.” The coronal wrapped the whip up and looked over to the line. The people there stared at him, shocked at this kind gesture. The man turned away after a moment, “There will be no unjust torment.”

The lt. growled and stomped off through the mud, cursing the coronal under his breath. One day… one day…

The line began to shuffle forwards again and Varen turned, looking at the boys, “Are you two alright?” Varen smiled a bit as one, then the other boy nodded, moving to help them both stand straight again.

“Thank you…” The old man waved it off, “Couldn’t have you getting hurt now, could I?” The man smiled at this and turned to shuffle forward through the rain as the soldiers began to call out directions.

“Line C, to the left!”

“B Squad, onwards through the path!”

“Continue straight till you get to the other side of the clearing!”

“Break out the tents! Unchain the prisoners!”

Dirk looked back at the shivering Raven, “You hear that? We’re stopping!”

The shaking boy smiled a bit and nodded, the sound of his teeth chattering having reached a new pitch. Dirks’ smile fell as he looked him over. He looked… paler…

“Don’t worry… when we get there we’ll dry off and get you warm…”

Raven didn’t answer, forcing his frozen fingers to cling to the slippery fabric… Wherever there was, it would have to wait… Right now the darkness that had been slowly clouding his vision was moving over Dirk’s face. He’d get there… later…

His body went limp as Dirk made the noise of distress, causing Varen to turn around and curse. That was not suppose to happen.