While the commanders sat in the big tent and enjoyed their dinner, Aurelie went out again to look for Kirin. It had been days since they caught Karah and though Aurelie liked to think that she had come to terms with the truth because Kirin was absolutely nowhere and neither was the general, she looked for him day and night.
The edge of the camp approached her. Beyond it, there was only darkness. She stopped and sighed, wrapping her arms around herself. She heard a horse gallop from a distance and turned to the sound. At first, she saw nothing in the darkness, then once the horse came closer she saw its silhouette and something dangling around its neck. Aurelie narrowed her eyes, attempting to focus on the thing that swung back and forth.
The horse's chest was clad in Redayrah's green and gold, so she did not worry about it being an intruder, but something about the way it galloped made Aurelie nervous. The horse had no apparent direction and galloped much too fast to be controlled by a lucid rider who was aware that he had reached camp.
Aurelie gasped once the dangling object was illuminated by the camp's light. It was the rider's head. Aurelie only saw it once the horse was near enough to knock her off her feet. She stood frozen, with her lips slightly parted, and watched the horse gallop past her to the camp.
"Hey! What are you doing there?" she heard Revin's voice call out.
Aurelie turned to find him standing among twenty or so men. All had red markings on their faces, some only specks and other full lines from the top of their heads, down to their chins.
"Aurelie?"
"The Redayran Commander wanted to send them a message," she said, still in shock, but somehow calm enough to articulate. "That was our messenger returning."
"Do you want to move away from there?" Revin asked.
She had not seen them march with the men. They must have just arrived, but they certainly did not look like they had been worn by the road.
Aurelie looked back to where the horse had come from and then walked slowly to Revin.
"I told them not to send anyone," she said.
She heard the whoosh of an arrow, and the thump of it piercing a nearby tree. Aurelie dipped and saw the shamans do the same. Revin waved his hand forward, gesturing for her to move faster, his own head lowered almost into his shoulder.
"Get up!" he shouted. "Get up."
The camp came alive in a matter of seconds. Slowly at first, and then the cling of metal reverberated throughout the entire camp as the men rushed to put on their armor.
"Over there." Aurelie pointed as they ran. "The commanders."
They had already started to come out when Aurelie and Revin ran up to them. Five arrows cut through the tent, and one whooshed right past them. Aurelie fell to her knees, and crawled in behind one of the tents, getting a better look at the dark field behind them.
She placed her hand onto the stomped grass, and set it alight. The flame rose and she sent it out to where the arrows came from. The flame rose higher as it moved away from their camp and onto enemy territory.
Aurelie peeked out from behind the tent, trying to see what the flame revealed. Her hand rose, and with it, the fire spread.
From the darkness, a man stepped out and held his hand toward her flame. The flame flickered wildly as if disturbed. It revealing a whole line of men in silver armor, holding blue Icelands flags. Aurelie doubled back, they were so close and there had been so many archers at the front readying their arrows.
Aurelie made first and brought them together. Her fire moved to gather in one place, like a campfire. She spread her hands for the fire to move outward and reveal how far the army had spread around them, but the fire remained still.
The man that had walked out toward the fire, came even closer and Aurelie recognized the long white beard of her grandfather. He held his hand above the flame, and the fire obediently crept into his hand like sailing snake, extinguishing.
Aurelie gasped and felt suddenly a tiny bit weakened. It felt as if she opened a vein and blood spilled out, only this did not hurt, and she could not physically see the magic that he had taken from her, she merely felt herself grow a little weaker.
Valice gave a piercing shriek, and the grounds set alight from above. The dragon flew toward the army, breathing fire every chance she got. Aurelie backed away on her hands and knees, finally able to see that Lucas' army had the entire clearing surrounded, all the way up to the mountain and as west as she could see.
Something grabbed her arm, and she felt herself rise without her own efforts. Suddenly she lay on her stomach atop a horse, riding away from the battle, and toward her army. The men stood in a long line, their shields raised highâsome already pierced with arrowsâand parted to let the horse pass.
"For the queen!" she heard someone shout from the front line. Twenty thousand voices echoed back. She had never truly felt so alive and so dead at the same time. Their voices were louder than thunder. They echoed through her soul, and she felt the eyes of God fall upon her and his ears open to their prayers.
They ran forward, swords beating against shields. The ground shook as if from an earthquake, and the person who held her firmly on the horse still moved away from them.
The horse kept moving away from the battle.
"Where are you taking me?" she said and turned her head. The horse's galloping was making it hard for her to get a proper look. Her head rocked back and forth.
The man was dressed in black and wore a cape that cast a shadow over his face.
"Hey!" she shouted. "Are you deaf? I asked you a question."
The archers were at the very back and the horse passed them too, stopping in front of a group of men Aurelie recognized as the council, who all the while she thought were still there where she was picked up by the horse. She slipped off the horse and before she could look up to see who it was that had taken her, Kaiden distracted her.
"Good God, Aurelie!" Kaiden echoed everyone's exasperated statements. "Have you lost your mind?"
Kaiden withdrew his blade and swung it around in his hand. "Can't remember the last time I held this."
"Why are you all here?" she asked. Looking into the darkness, and listening to the sound of clashing steel. "We should be with the men."
Someone laughed.
Aurelie looked around to see who it was and noticed that half of them had been smiling. The hooded man didn't stay to chat before she could ask for his name, he galloped away.
"You're the queen now, Aurelie," Kaiden said sheepishly. "You don't fight."
Valice lit the battleground up, and all of them turned for a second to watch the light die down again.
"Like hell," she said. "I won't send them out to die, and then stand here with the rest of your strategists hoping that it all works out for the best."
"No, you don't understand. The rest of us are going, and you areâ" Kaiden sighed. "Let her go. She'll get her way anyway. Just makes sure she puts on some armor."
Aurelie scoffed and kept her eyes on the horse. It was moving toward the battle. There was something familiar about -
The man turned around and everything inside Aurelie went cold.
You bastard! she thought as Kirin galloped away from her.
*****
The men stampeded down hilltop with an agonizing shriek that made the enemy stand at the ready, and their horses uneasy. It wasn't long before their arrows whiffed into the sky like little suns dropping down upon the earth.
Aurelie stood back, clad in silver armor, with a helm that would hold back even a needle from penetration the holes in the iron that protected her eyes. They refused to let her leave without putting it on, and she listened for once before mindlessly running after Kirin, and putting everyone in danger as they run after her for protection.
Her back arched, and head turned right and left to crack her neck. The blade of her dagger, clean of any battle scars, shone as the moonlight hit it as if in blessing.
The shrieks coming from the field were only of her men. Their blades met metal and flesh, but never once received an answer of its potency. The enemy seemed to be trained not to scream, or make any noise other than an involuntary grunt and puff of death. Which made the battle all the more uneasy.
Now that everyone had chosen a partner, swords singing and shields drumming them away, Aurelie held onto the saddle of her horse and swung her own leg over the horse, finding the ground beneath her feet. Michael's sword beat against his shield as he prepared his soul and mind for the wild dealings of war, and a growl escaped his lipsâloud and vile like the sound one fears hearing when they ponder their death.
He rushed down, armor rising and falling against his neck as his hips pushed the iron. The smell of iron, made prominent by the heat of the metal and spilled blood, filled the field the closer he got to his men. King Lukas was nowhere to be seen, a coward like always, only able to fight his battles through the disposable bodies of his men.
Sweat drops sprinkled across the field like light summer rain, falling off the locks of damp hair, and clinging onto a new host. Finding a targetâone that had just kicked down one of his guards and held his long blade up high before bringing it down into the soft of his neckâMichael crouched and with footsteps soft as a hunting lion's approached him from behind, his sword swinging long before he had even come close to meet the soft of the plate mail that protected his neck. The neck indented to the blow and Michael met the snap with a smile.
The next one came to him. Two heads taller, and with wide shoulders attached to arms that truly didn't need a sword to kill you with one swing. Michael ducked, dodging his blow, and took a ready stance waiting for the next to follow.
With a sidestep and the swing of his sword downward, he was able to beat off another blow. Michael swung up at once and was parried. The counterattack was strong, and Aurelie almost felt the remains of it still tremble through her bones. Michael stood on the offensive and met his sword each time. The blades connected and pushed against each other for a good fifteen seconds before his enemy tensed his shoulders and used all their force for push back against Michael.
His feet rushed back, fast and awkward, attempting to find balance again, but crashed into a barrier of sorts. His knees bent, and arms swung attempting to come back to a straightened stanched. A leg swung out, bent and found its way to his chest, where it rested for a split second before helping the ground to claim him.
The enemy's sword gleamed silver and red as he held it above Michael's chest.
Aurelie ran down to them, all the while setting fire to the ground beneath Michael's attacker's feet. He looked down as the fire heated his armor and stomped down once, twice, but the fire burned even stronger and climbed up his iron armor.
Michael's leg swung out and met the man's ankles. He toppled down, and before Michael could swing his sword, Aurelie jumped atop him and buried her dagger into his throat.
The man's eyes widened, he opened his mouth to take a breath and swallowed bubbling blood instead.
"All who serve the queen," Aurelie heard Revin's furious voice, "do not bleed! Do not let them make you bleed!"
She narrowed her eyes at his odd request and then remembered that they were not the only army with blood shamans on their side, and all the spilled blood only made their job easier.
Aurelie took hold of Michael's elbow and pulled at it until the battle frenzy slowly left his features and he was able to look at her with clarity. "Did you hear him, Michael?"
He looked around, face creased with confusion.
Aurelie pulled at his elbow again. "Careful where you spill your blood."
"I hope not to bleed at all."
Just as he said that a piercing shriek sounded right beside them. It came from an Icelands' guard. The man who had been fighting his took a few steps back and the man in blue held onto his head. He screamed again and stuck his hands out in front of him, then removed his helmet and chucked it onto the ground. Blood ran from his eyes and ears. Behind him, Aurelie saw one of the shamans, hands red with the man's blood, chanting. The man took his own sword and slashed across his neck, and the shaman moved back into the darkness, searching for a new target.