by Thomas Green
The warriors built her tent while she organized whatever fortifications they scrambled. The scout broke the news of half of the army of Kaeby camping on the plain between the forest and the city while they failed to find the other half. Zerae reasoned they sent it to reinforce the other two fortresses or back to town and retreated to her tent, utterly spent.
Once there, she sagged into the chair by the table they had brought her and rolled out the maps she had, planning the advance for the next day.
***
Later in the night, when the moon reached the summit of the sky, Astril’s arms wrapped around Zerae from behind. “You need to take a break too.”
The reassuring strength that radiated from Astril intoxicated her, making her relax, allowing Astril to raise her from the chair and carry her to the cot.
Astril gave her a long kiss that filled Zerae’s insides with heat, leaving her craving for more. “Have you had your wounds checked?”
“I don’t have any.”
Astril unbuttoned Zerae’s coat, unlaced her armor and pointed at the gash at Zerae’s side. “How about this one?”
“That’s nothing.”
Astril slid her finger to the steel collar that gripped Zerae’s neck, tracing the frame of a scar by its edge. “And this one?”
Zerae’s face twisted to an awkward smile.
The opening of their tent rustled and Patricia entered, holding a steaming pot. “Sorry.”
Zerae glared at her. “What the hell are you doing here?”
“I brought you tea.”
The rage bursting through Zerae washed away her tiredness. “I meant on this campaign! You were supposed to stay at the main camp.”
Patricia shrugged. “You told me that, but I saw how seriously everyone took this, so I figured it was important and came, anyway.”
Zerae ran her hand through her hair. “You aren’t a warrior, Patricia. This is more than too dangerous for you.”
“It’s also more than too important for you, War Leader, so I have no better place to be.”
“Thank you,” Astril said with a pleasant smile.
Patricia put the pot of boiling tea by the bed and skittered away.
Zerae sighed. “Why does everyone keep lying?”
Astril raised her chin. “I don’t lie to you!”
“You have lied the most, Astril. Today you faked your death to make me apologize and survived a spell you weren’t supposed to.”
“Omitting details isn’t lying.”
Zerae forced out a smile. “They aren’t unimportant. For decades, you made me believe you were just a touch better than a regular warrior. You are not. You merely pretend to be like others while you are everything but. And that’s not counting all the times you told me you would stop cheating on me.”
Astril shrugged. “I can’t help myself sometimes, sorry.”
Zerae shook her head. “I don’t care about that now. Tomorrow, we have to win.”
“We will.”
“Seriously, Astril, tomorrow we must crush their army and conquer the city or the Matron will make me give up my name and exile me.”
Astril smiled and stroked her hair. “It will be fine, so stop worrying about it.”
The relaxation of her muscles seeped into her mind, making her utter words she never thought she would. “I promise I won’t hold against you or investigate anything I see you do. I know you are hiding more from me, lots of things. Sure, I am angry about it, but in this battle, I will give you the slip. So please, do your best to win.”
Astril narrowed her eyes. “Are you sure you won’t be mad if I go a little wild?”
“Go as wild as you can. I won’t mind at all.”
Astril kissed her gently, reawakening the desire within Zerae. “You know, things would be a lot easier for you if you dropped that collar.”
Zerae sighed. “I can’t stop wearing it since I have to keep the curse in check.”
“That’s what Mathilde says, isn’t it?”
“That’s what I say. I have no way to control the cursed flame. Remember the last time it burst out? How I slaughtered my entire classroom?” The memory struck tears to Zerae’s eyes.
Astril shook her head. “You were six years old. You would manage now.”
“And what if I wouldn’t? I killed my sister because she didn’t want to borrow me a crayon. The flame is too dangerous… I am too dangerous, so I can’t let it leave my body ever again. Plus, I don’t need it. I have you. You are all the power I will ever need.”
Zerae saw how her words melted Astril down. Yet Astril turned sad and her gaze dead. “I might not be around forever.”
Zerae’s eyes widened as fear gripped her heart. “What do you mean?”
“I fight a lot, more than others. There are many powerful people in the world, some of whom are seriously strong. One day, my luck will run out, and I will get into a fight I can’t win. I’m fine with that since I’m not important, but you are. You are the one our people need to lead them, so you must survive even if I cannot.”
Zerae tightened her grip over Astril’s body. “Don’t say that. I can’t do this without you… I, I can’t do anything by myself.”
Astril grabbed her head for a kiss. “You don’t have to do things by yourself. We are all here for you.”
The words broke Zerae’s mask. She had enough of lying. For all these years, all this time, she kept demanding others to speak truth to her without ever doing so herself. “I… I don’t deserve this. I’m a failure.”
“No, you’re not. I wouldn’t be here if you were.”
The words did not raise Zerae’s spirits. Instead, her eyes stung, tears drenching her face at the memory that returned to her mind. “I killed my sister. For all my life, I have lived with that, lived with the anger and hatred of my mother and sister and everyone who cares about them. I have lived with it because I had hoped I could overcome it. I believed if I could bring life out of myself, I could make up for it. For that I wanted to depart for ten years, to get pregnant and raise the child, to replace the life I had taken, to redeem myself in front of my family.”
Zerae’s voice broke into a stutter as she continued. “But I couldn’t do it. No matter with whom I tried, how much I tried, what elixirs, spells, balms, and medicine I used, I couldn’t conceive. I’m infertile. So infertile no aether manifestation or medicine can help me. I’m worthless.”
Astril smiled. “No, you’re not. You haven’t met the right man.”
“That’s not how it works, Astril, I’ve tried with so many men… so, so, so many men… there is no knight in shining armor for me, no family, no children, no future. All I had was my position. But… that’s now a mere memory.”
Astril’s cheerful smile did not disappear from her face. “You have me. And you will have your knight in shining armor, eventually. He just isn’t here yet.”
“Thank you. I can’t express how much this means to me.” Zerae exhaled, calming down. “But it’s all right. I have made peace with it. I’m a worthless waste of a life, and that’s how I will always be. So many times, I wanted to kill myself, but I never managed to do it. I am… nothing.”
The ringing of the alarm bell thundered through the camp.
Astril wiped Zerae’s tears from her face. “You aren’t nothing to me.” She rose and dressed while Zerae forced back her doubts, her sadness, and despair, conjuring whatever resolve she managed to fish out of herself.
Chloe burst into their tent a second later. “We are surrounded!”
Zerae turned to her. “Form a defense line and get Leena to shield off arrows. I will be there in a minute. Any word from the advance camp?”
“Nothing. Do you think they were attacked?”
“I will see, now go!” Zerae commanded.
Astril raised her hand to stop her. “Tell Leena I’m using the mask. She will know what to do.”
Chloe left.
Zerae stared at Astril as she pulled the wooden mast from within her a
rmor and strapped it around her face. “Astril, can you make it to the advance camp?”
Astril unwrapped the heavy spear from the leathers and put it over her shoulder. “Sure.”
“Make sure they survive. We will hold here. If they didn’t find the camp, then the attack from behind will save us. If they did, they only started fighting now, and it doesn’t matter where you fight… it probably doesn’t matter anyway,” Zerae’s voice broke as the reality hit her. My plan had failed. This is a hopeless situation no matter how I look at it, a true zero out of ten.
Astril’s hug woke her up from her thoughts. “Don’t worry. It will be fine,” she whispered into her ear before she detached and disappeared.
Zerae threw her coat over herself, grabbed her sword and headed out.
28
Zerae
Zerae dashed out of the tent. Their camp was surrounded as perfectly formed units of heavily armored soldiers that rimmed the edge of the forest, advancing. The fortifications Zerae’s warriors had built looked like a joke next to the attacking army.
“All gather at the center!” Zerae thundered and dashed to Leena, who swallowed as she approached, holding a smoked lamb leg behind her robes.
Zerae grabbed Leena by the shoulders. “Listen! I don’t care what you and Astril are hiding from me. She put on the mask and left to save the second camp, so right now, I need you to break their ranks to give us a fighting chance. Can you do it?”
Leena nodded. “Give me space.”
Zerae stepped back and searched for Hilmeria and Chloe.
Leena dropped the lamb leg, planted her staff into the ground and spread her arms. A pillar of gray flame shot out from her, bursting into the sky. The flame coiled and covered the heavens. It contracted, reforming into cubes, and solidified into stone.
Hundreds of stone cubes fell around the encampment and onto the forest. Zerae stared at the destruction she could never imagine as the cubes broke trees and squashed men. The bombardment filled the air with screams, dust, and splinters.
The soldiers of Kaeby tried to avoid the descending doom, breaking their ranks in the process and still losing hundreds.
Zerae tore her eyes away from Leena, who looked like she lost a third of her weight within this minute, and dashed to Hilmeria. “Take Leena, your girls, break through to the east, and try to circle around them to reach their headquarters, which is about a mile north.”
Hilmeria’s eyes widened. “How do you know?”
“By the maps, it’s the only spot that makes sense. Now go!”
Hilmeria nodded.
Zerae blitzed to Chloe, who stood braced against her spear. “Gather your girls. We are breaking out to the west and then circling north!”
Chloe smiled. “We are gathered.”
“Good. Then follow me!” Zerae dashed forward, ignoring the pain from the wound by her side that reminded her of its existence with every step.
The soldiers of Kaeby didn’t panic and were already reforming their ranks as the cubes of stone turned to dust. Zerae yelled a battle cry and motioned her warriors to charge. She wished she could take the front, but her aether had barely regenerated, and she may have needed her one good swing later.
“Don’t stop for anything!” Zerae shouted and pushed others forward, swinging in mighty arcs to make space around herself as her warriors blended with the enemy soldiers. The area in front of her was but a blend of bodies and steel. But she knew they had to advance. She didn’t know how long it took, but they eventually made it to the forest and then deeper, leaving the Kaeby soldiers behind them.
At her heels arrived Chloe with her warriors. Zerae turned to Chloe, panting. “Stay here and form a rear guard. I will go help the rest.” She motioned the ten closest warriors to follow her and looked for the least wounded ones.
They obeyed without questions. Zerae ran to sink back into the fray, slashing left and right, searching for any of the warriors who didn’t make it, helping one after another to reach Chloe. She glimpsed a girl crawling from beneath a corpse of a soldier.
Zerae kicked the body away, gazing down at Patricia. “What did I tell you?” As the ten warriors who followed her fended off the soldiers, she reached down to grab Patricia’s hand to pull her to her feet.
Patricia spat the mud out of her mouth but appeared okay. “Thank you.”
Zerae grabbed her by the shoulder to push her forward. “Move!”
The soldiers started closing around them, so Zerae dashed past Patricia to cleave the path back. When she saw Chloe, her breath was heavy, muscles burning and body sore. She was sure the gash on her side was already bleeding but saw little she could do.
Chloe and her warriors absorbed them, shielding off the soldiers.
Zerae pushed to the front. “Follow me!” She dashed forward, and the four hundred warriors followed. Her legs felt heavy, her arms burned and her heart kept pumping at its fullest. Zerae powered through the tiredness to keep running. If my estimation is correct, the advance-camp forces will soon hit the army pursuing us, buying us time. They will expect us to continue heading west and send two detachments to hunt us down.
She turned north, mud splashing beneath her boots while branches slashed her face. Zerae stopped by a tree to wait for everyone to gather, gazing at the forest behind them. Since she saw no signs of movement of pursuing troops, she reasoned her line of thought was correct.
When they regrouped, she raised her sword and motioned forward before bolting in the direction. And the unit they sent to cut us off will be straight ahead.
She sprinted between the trees, and a side of a marching unit opened before her. With a vicious smirk, Zerae dove into the unprepared soldiers, slashing left and right. This fight was a massacre since the soldiers never created a formation, turning the flanking ambush into a slaughter.
Once the enemies broke and scrambled, Zerae used her tip-less sword to help herself stand, panting, feeling like she would collapse at any second.
Chloe came to her side.
Zerae forced out a faint smile. “There’s a forest path to the northeast. Take three hundred and go block it.”
Chloe nodded and went to organize the warriors.
Once she left, Zerae turned to the remaining hundred. “We will attack the enemy headquarters. Follow me and don’t stop for anything!”
A thunderous cheer was her answer. Zerae spun on her heel and blasted into the forest, shielding her face with her arm to fend off the ever-present branches waiting to lash her face. They succeeded despite her efforts, leaving her with more than a few stinging scratches.
A clearing soon opened before them. On the small hill elevating in its midst stood a tent surrounded by a barricade manned by the soldiers in armor the color of gold and blue.
Zerae sped up, charging the barricade to not give them time to regroup. Now, we need to pierce through and kill the lord to end the battle.
She swung wide, shattering the shield of the soldier ahead and grabbed the wooden barrier to leap over it. She landed among the soldiers and whirled, severing the head of the nearest man to push forward.
Over her shoulder, she glimpsed three warriors and Patricia followed her while the Kaeby soldiers stopped the rest.
Can’t change my mind now. Zerae scaled the hill, arriving at the tent. Inside, Lord Bellarm of Kaeby stood in a gloriously decorated, gold-blue full plate armor while around him were two men in robes and two knights in plates.
The Lord smiled and closed his visor, covering his mustache. Zerae leapt onto the table, whirled away from the knight’s swords, filled her sword and body with aether and slashed at the lord, her blade but a blur. He parried the strike with ease and slashed her side, cutting her coat and armor, opening a gaping wound before he slammed his shoulder into her, throwing her across the tent with a shout of pain.
Zerae’s vision blurred as she clawed up to her feet. While her warriors faced the knights, the lord grabbed a javelin and launched it at her.
Zerae tried t
o dodge, but her legs wouldn’t listen. Hands pushed her from the side, sending her to the ground. She looked up and saw Patricia standing where she was a second ago, javelin piercing her chest.
With a faint smile marred by blood spilling from her mouth, Patricia collapsed. Zerae roared, forced herself to her feet and charged the nearest knight. He sidestepped her swing, skewered the warrior by his side and slammed his shield into Zerae’s face, sending her to the ground while knocking her sword from her hands. With her aether spent, she was no match for any of them.
Zerae hauled herself to her feet while the man in brown robes stretched out his hands, tracing symbols into the air. A green liquid blasted toward her. With her exhaustion foiling her attempt to evade, Zerae crossed her arms before her face. The acid melted through her clothes, burning her skin and muscle beneath, making her scream with pain.
The knight swung his sword at Zerae’s neck. She couldn’t dodge. His blade hit her collar, bouncing off while forcing her to her knees.
She saw the four Sil Haen warriors lay dead on the ground while the lord stood unharmed. Zerae tried to rise, but couldn’t. She tried to speak but failed. All she could do was remain on her knees and await the end, watching Patricia lying dead in front of her. I’m sorry.
A massive explosion echoed through the air and shockwave shook the tent. Everyone turned to the side. Astril appeared behind the man in robes, swinging down her spear in a full arc. She severed him in two, soulstepped to the second man in robes and ran her spear through his chest before the upper half of the first man’s body hit the ground.
The Lord grabbed his shield while the knight behind Zerae raised his sword to finish her. Astril disappeared from Zerae’s sight, and the head of the knight fell into Zerae’s lap. She glimpsed over her shoulder to see Astril towering behind her, drenched in blood that wasn’t hers.
Astril soulstepped to the second knight, ran her spear through his chest, parried the strike of Lord Bellarm and swung at his side. He blocked her swing with his shield. The shield shattered together with his arm, making him wobble.
