The Chellion Days

by A.S. Morrison

back. “I believe you. The king does, and so do I.”

  “Thank you.” Kenton sighed with relief. “Now on to what’s really important. How long until those invaders get here?”

  Marvie shook his head, watching his friend pityingly. “Soon. Any day now. I wouldn’t worry too much about it, though. It took them a year or more to get into Indigo.”

  “And look what they did when they got in.”

  “We have the Great Spirit’s protection.” Marvie said matter-of-factly.

  Kenton rolled his eyes again. “I suppose.”

  “Well, I’ll leave you then—if you’re sure.”

  “I’m sure.”

  Marvie chuckled. “Remember training? Remember how I always got in trouble and y—”

  “Please.” Kenton said sharply. “I really do need some sleep.”

  Marvie chuckled again, a little embarrassed. “Yeah, you got it commander.” He quietly left the room.

  Kenton put his face in his hands and shook his head violently. “I know, I know. I won’t forget—I won’t!”

  He woke up late the next morning. He had sat on the windowsill thinking for most of the night. The night felt better than the day. He had to deal with people during the day. At night he could just relax.

  He heard shouts coming from the street. He tensed up. His mind raced back through various battles and lingered on fighting that Welgo with his brother hanging on tight.

  He dressed in a hurry and went to the end of the hall to a window that looked out past the wall. Way off in the distance a dark mass was coming their way. It was without a doubt the Welgos.

  Kenton didn’t get scared. His body relaxed as he saw the impending battle. He crossed his arms and watched as Chells raced all around trying to get ready. They knew what was coming. They should have been ready by then.

  He walked casually back to his room, thinking about his brother. He’d much rather have the invaders there than at Chellion Castle.

  “Hey!” A voice croaked from one of the rooms.

  Kenton was well past the room when the voice reached his brain. He went back and peaked his head in to see who had called.

  “Oh, it’s you.” A bedridden Rogerseen grumbled. “I heard you were on this floor.”

  Kenton nodded and continued on.

  “Wait a minute—get back here!”

  He did as he was told, hovering in the doorway.

  “What’s all the commotion about?”

  “The Welgos are here.” Kenton said plainly.

  Rogerseen swore under his breath. “We’re done for.”

  “Probably.”

  “You’ll survive.” Rogerseen said. “But me, no one’s going to care about a washed up commander with one leg.”

  “Probably not.”

  “Thank you.”

  Kenton was shocked. “For what?”

  “For having a smart horse. That thing got me back here faster than anything. It saved my life.”

  “Oh, your welcome.”

  The former commander flopped his hands around for a few seconds, nervously battling his pride. “You saw my son, didn’t you? You got that letter from him?”

  “Yes.”

  “When you see him again, tell him—well just tell him he’s alright.”

  Kenton frowned. “He’s alright?”

  “You know! Tell him he’s a good kid or something.”

  “Or something?”

  Rogerseen swelled up with rage. “Tell him he’s the best darn kid that there ever was if you want. Tell him I didn’t want him to come and fight because I needed him to run the farm one day. It doesn’t matter now, of course. But I want you to tell him that.”

  “I’ll tell him you love him.”

  “Don’t get all sappy.”

  Kenton returned to his room and tried to shake the melancholy away. It wouldn’t help a commander to be gloomy in a time like that.

  Someone came and told him the king needed him right away. Kenton put on his commander’s jacket for the first time, took a deep breath, and left his room.

  This was only the second time he’d left the house he was staying in. Earlier in the week he took a brief walk outside to show the nurses he could manage on his own. This time felt a lot different. People were running all around getting ready, most not knowing what to do.

  Kenton usually tried his hardest to stay calm through the frenetic energy before a battle, but the farther he went in the streets the more an acute feeling of anguish crept in that he couldn’t quite find meaning to. It appeared as he saw his comrades rushing about, but its origin felt distant. He brushed it off the best he could and went to get Sidestep. The horse was very happy to see him and neighed triumphantly upon being led outside.

  He rode the horse over to where he saw the king, a good way away from the wall. The king was busy calling out orders to scared looking soldiers. Kenton didn’t recognize a lot of the soldiers there that day and guessed they must have come from nearby towns that got destroyed.

  “Morzha!” The king called.

  Kenton took his time getting over to him. “Yes, sir.”

  “We’re going out to meet them. I want you to take the first group and head them off as far from here as you can.”

  “But sir, they can’t get through.” Kenton assured the king. “We’ll be fine in here.”

  Chellias shook his head and swung himself up on a horse that was brought to him. “This is the real Chell we’re protecting here, not some town somewhere. Get out there and do what you’re told.”

  Kenton gripped the sword at his side and agreed.

  He rode Sidestep over to the gate. A small part of the army stood by. All eyes were on him. He took his sword from its sheath and waved it through the air. “Open the gates.”

  The large gates opened with a creak. No one moved. Kenton took Sidestep to the front and faced the two hundred or so soldiers he had to work with. He tried to think of something heroic to say. Nothing came to mind. He shook his head angrily and turned to face the oncoming mass. They greatly outnumbered the entire Chell army, and probably every Chell left in the kingdom.

  Kenton gave Sidestep a nudge and the horse took off. The shouts of his small army were drowned out by the wind.

  It was all happening too fast. Kenton felt like he just woke up a few minutes before and there he was heading out for perhaps the last time. Two hundred soldiers followed behind their new commander, none of their names even known to him.

  He glanced down his horse’s mane as the wind whipped it around. The ground sped by far too fast. Kenton looked up and could see the Chells coming at him in slow motion. The closer they got the less he felt. Fifty feet . . . forty feet . . . Kenton glanced back. The soldiers kept up—their faces contorted with anger and fear, all mixed into looks of pure insanity.

  Twenty feet.

  The Welgo’s drew swords and bows. The whine of an arrow sliced the air only inches from Kenton’s head.

  Ten feet.

  The Welgo dead ahead raised his sword. It caught the sun and glowed white. Kenton watched as it started down. He lowered his own, aiming it carefully.

  AAAAAGGGGHHHH!!!

  Kenton’s sword ran straight through the Welgo’s neck. He pulled and it sliced clean through. He sliced wildly, sometimes hitting thick jackets, sometimes hitting skin. Sidestep maneuvered carefully around the much larger horses.

  His own jacket took the brunt of many a slice. It was very thick and could outlast all but the sharpest sword. Many that came were rather dull. A few made contact with his leg or cheek, but he didn’t seem to notice at the time.

  The king stood on the top of a lookout post on the wall and watched. Fifty archers took up posts around him.

  The majority of the invaders didn’t even pause when the small army attacked. They continued on and were now closing in on the wall.

  The king raised his hand
and then brought it down in a signal to the archers. Fifty arrows rushed down to meet their targets. Only a few made contact, and none caused significant damage. The archers continued firing, but the jackets of the Welgos repelled most hits.

  A few of the invaders held torches over their heads and hurried in at the large wooden gates of the manor region.

  An attendant pulled the king away from the edge as arrows flew up and over the wall. The king raced down from the wall and through the street as the majority of the army took their place near the gates.

  Gasps echoed through the manor region. Chellias turned to see the smoke rising from the gates.

  Kenton reached the back of the Welgo army. None waited long enough to kill him. Their main goal was always the manor region, and they ran at it without much care to the small part of the army that tried to distract them. Kenton turned to see the full scale of the invasion for the first time. In a huddled mass that stretched out half a mile were well over two thousand Welgo fighters, all crowding around the gates. Kenton quickly looked himself over and saw that he was bleeding from several areas. He didn’t pay much attention to it.

  The soldiers that had come with him were either limping along without their horses or dead on the ground. The jacket may have saved him, but it wouldn’t save the many houses and families inside. He could see the black smoke and knew it wasn’t long before Chell joined Indigo as a memory.

  Kenton breathed deep, wiped sweat and blood from his face and tried to determine what to do next. By himself he wasn’t going to be much help. The invaders didn’t seem to care about him at all. They disposed of his small army in only a couple of minutes. He looked away from the walls and for the first