by Amanda Daul
ARISSA’S DESTINY
REDEMPTION TRILOGY – Book 2
By Amanda Daul
Copyright ©2014 Amanda Daul.
All rights reserved.
©Cover Design: Sam Byrns
This is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to actual persons living or dead, businesses, events, or locales is purely coincidental or is used fictitiously. Reproduction in whole or part of this publication without express written consent is strictly prohibited. Do not upload or distribute anywhere.
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For Kylie. Your unwavering support and enthusiasm kept me going throughout this book and every other day. Thank you for everything.
Chapter One
Normally, on a morning like this, the crisp air would be still as death. A single bird’s chirp would be able to be heard from miles away through the valley of silent and lifeless trees, but not today.
“I don’t understand how any of you expect us to survive if no one around here is keeping up with your training! We have been at this for three weeks now, and I would not trust a single one of you to watch my back in a fight!” The raging words were yelled across the countryside to the worried faces of over a hundred men. They all wore similar clothing, which coordinated with the forest around them with dark, blending earth tones. Most of the clothing was mixed and matched from what had been salvaged from cities and factories in the desolate area, but it worked.
Frustrated and completely overwhelmed with dissatisfaction, their leader heaved an aggravated sigh and in the next instant, had whipped out a silver dagger from a back sling and sent it spinning through the air, all in the matter of half a second.
Most of the men ducked or gasped, until it stuck in a tree that had three narrow rings carved into the bark as a target, only a few feet from the group. The blade was sunken in the exact centre, several inches deep and nowhere near the rest of the pathetic scratches from previous knives that hardly even touched the target.
They all stared back, petrified.
“Nobody is allowed to talk to me until you can do that. Now go! Get out of here!”
Feeling anxious and incredibly irritable, Arissa glared at the backs of the scattering men, as they rushed to the different stations in the practice area and immediately began taking action with something. Some dared to steal a glance back to her, but when they saw she was still watching, they hurriedly turned back and focused all their attention on either knife-wielding, swordplay or target practice.
Arissa flinched her right shoulder slightly, feeling an uncomfortable twinge flash through her muscles. She gasped sharply, immediately cradling her arm, hoping to relieve some of the throbbing pain. Throwing the knife definitely did not do any good.
She turned away from the sight of the struggling soldiers and quickly retreated back to the large, solid shelters that had been strategically stationed as to form a sort of wall on their own. There were several people she needed to talk to, but all she could think about was how much she was looking forward to going home. It had been a long week at the training camp, but she was finally starting to see some improvement in the soldiers. They no longer infuriated her by shying away at the rise of a sword or dropping their rifles whenever they fired. Knowing it wasn’t fair to be mad at them for something they didn’t know, Arissa had done her best to be patient and be as clear as possible while teaching them, but she needed a break from them.
When she entered the largest, wooden building, she saw the three men she needed to see, huddled around a table, studying a large flat of paper. For a moment, she wanted to just watch them, actually getting along for once. It took a while for the three most crucial men in her life to actually learn to get along and work together. Given, at times, Arissa used to get so fed up with hearing them bicker that she would intervene, giving all three of them an earful of her most honest opinions that nobody ever welcomed. It was probably her increased temper that finally urged them to agree on a friendship between them all, or so she liked to think.
At best, she tolerated the man on the left. He was tall and rugged, with choppy dark hair and skin that was darkened and rough from relentless exposure to the sun. He had pretty features that made him stand out from everyone, but it was his brash attitude that Arissa could hardly stand. He was a relentless flirt, always trying to get under her skin and Arissa was constantly reminding herself that as much as she didn’t care for the man, he was essential to their group. Not only had he formed it alone, before news broke of the General’s public betrayal, but he was one of the best fighters Arissa had ever known. As much as she hated to admit it.
He leaned heavily on his hands over what appeared to be a map, speaking in an attractive voice that was laced with a distinct accent. Since Trax had left the General’s army, he didn’t have to worry about hiding it any longer, except on the days he had to return to the base camp for the soldiers who were still under the government’s dictation.
Beside him was the person that Arissa had known the longest, the man who had adopted her as a sister when she had still been just a child. Landon was probably standing in the middle for a reason, given that Trax and Arissa’s husband weren’t the best of friends. Since they had met, she had rarely seen them in the same space as each other without them arguing about something trivial. Trax was one of the most influential people in their small group that made up the camp, even after Arissa had been announced as their leader and was respected for it. After that, he and Cayl always had different opinions about everything until she interfered.
Trax must have seen her standing in the doorway, because he suddenly turned to face her and immediately lit up with a welcoming greeting. “Arissa! I hear you gave the soldiers quite the lecture this morning.”
The other men turned to meet her, as well. Cayl offered a crooked grin, obviously amused by her way of encouraging the apprentice soldiers.
“Have you seen them fight? They’re pathetic! I know most of them have never had to know any of this stuff before now, but come on! I can only pretend to not kill a man so many times.”
Cayl stepped closer to her and reached out to hook her arm. “You’re doing just fine, Arissa.”
She mentally shook her head, feeling tired. She had barely slept the night before, thinking long and hard about the last few weeks and where they were able to progress.
“Check out this map that I came up with. I would say ‘we’ but that would be untruthful.” Trax invited her over to the table, a look of smug satisfaction in his eyes when she ground her teeth and stepped beside him. There lay a large piece of crinkled paper, with a rather detailed map drawn onto it. She immediately recognized the cities and different routes through the forests and canyons, but there were random red marks all across the map. Intrigued, Arissa turned her head slightly and studied them, trying to find a pattern, but it was unclear to her.
“What do the red marks mean?” she wondered, aloud.
“It’s where we plan to have undercover soldiers stationed among the General’s army. As you can see, there will be at least one or two in nearly every section, except of course, the edges of the Outlands. That’s where our territory, and the General’s, stops. Beyond that is wasteland left from the wars, and beyond that, eventually, is the rest of the people in the world. I nearly wish I was one of them, but who could pass up this adventure,” Trax added on.
Arissa rolled her eyes and clenched her jaw tighter. She kept studying the marks, surprised to see so many, now that she knew what they mea
nt. When she had first met Trax and his undercover group of rogue soldiers while escaping her own death sentence, there couldn’t have been more than forty men who had decided to rebel with them against the General. Now, as she stared at the map, there must have been over two hundred, including the ones in training here in the camp.
Reading her thoughts that must have been obvious, Landon stepped in to contribute, “Ever since your escape in Daer, people were more than convinced that you were innocent of murdering the Governor. Especially after the General and the Lieutenant both happen to disappear after your botched sentence, it’s never been clearer to everyone that they are both involved in setting you up with the murder and treason charges. After that, recruiting soldiers for our cause was pretty easy. Everyone has to be careful, though, and return for the militia gatherings in Vailwood every week, so nobody gets suspicious. The majority of the General’s army is still loyal to him, but it’s not difficult to find the ones who want to exact their revenge on him just as much as we do.”
Arissa continued gritting her teeth together, frustrated. She was appreciative to have so many people willing to fight with them against their corrupt government, but she couldn’t help but feel slightly discouraged. She knew the General better than perhaps anyone else. He never stepped aside to let somebody else get ahead. Ever. Since his disappearance, she and their group had been working long and hard to put together a team that could once and for all, take down the government that had destroyed the lives of so many people. But no matter how much everyone else seemed to want to believe that he had retreated, even temporarily, Arissa knew that he would be working on his own plan to become stronger than anybody who tried to rise against him. And with his influence over society, he would come out the victor, no doubt.
It’s why she spent so much time thinking and plotting and lying awake at night trying to think of a way to throw them off, to pull something amazing that they wouldn’t expect. She had a good part of his army by her side, and that was definitely something he wouldn’t be expecting. However, she needed something more.
On the map, there were also small, blue x’s on various parts. She asked about these as well, and Trax elucidated, “They are places where we know the General is not. He wouldn’t leave the territory, but we’re trying to find out exactly where he and the Lieutenant are hiding. Every week, the militias are required to meet in Vailwood with the General and other leaders, but for the last few weeks, he’s been absent. Since Captain Lovett’s untimely death, they’ve already appointed a new Captain, and he’s been the one handling the missions and meetings with the soldiers.”
“Who is the new Captain?”
Regardless of his ruthless ego, Trax had become somewhat known for his bright smile and upbeat personality. He almost always had something positive to share daily, if nothing else, simply encouraging everybody. Upon meeting him, Arissa had felt a sudden feeling of mistrust, but not because of his background. She was the last person to judge someone’s past.
What made her so wary of the man wasn’t his personality or his over-eagerness to assist. There was something else that Arissa could sense, but hadn’t had the time to even think about trying to figure it out.
Apart from his somewhat distasteful wit, he was useful to have on their side. He had been the one to come up with the plan to slowly gather soldiers who were willing to take their side and had already accumulated a large group before Arissa had even known about it.
He flashed a vivid smile, lighting up his blue eyes and looked Arissa in the eye with anticipation as he spoke. “Well, that’s where it gets interesting. The new Captain is Travis Sayer, a lad I’ve known for years. We’ve served together in the past, and I like to think we’ve bonded well. I believe that with a little time and finesse, I will be able to acquire him for our forces.”
“Just because you know him, doesn’t mean he can be trusted,” Cayl intervened, not convinced. “He got promoted to Captain awfully quick, that means he has not only swore his loyalty, but he has done something to prove it to the General, as well. For all we know, he may have been a part of my kidnapping or Arissa’s execution attempt.”
“Oh, I assure you, he was. However, so were most of our soldiers and so was I. We’re still under the General’s command, and we must follow his orders in order to keep all of this under tight wraps. If we refuse orders, it will not only raise suspicions, but we’ll be executed as well. Believe me, Sayer is a good man, and it will be a huge advantage to us if we could get a military official on our side.”
Arissa could see that Cayl was about to fire back another objection to Trax’s plan, but she stepped in before he could speak. She turned to Trax and agreed, “Go for it. Try to recruit him, but if he is still loyal to the General, just back off. We can’t tip him off.”
Trax nodded, and immediately excused himself from the table, saying he was going to supervise the training in the clearing. As he passed her, he paused, leaning annoyingly close to her face. A crooked, cocky smile was fixed in place as he whispered to her, “If you get bored of talking in circles with those two, you know where to find me.”
With that, he was gone and left Arissa alone with Landon and Cayl. Neither of them offered any conversation for a moment, tension still hanging in the air around them.
Arissa studied the map again, then motioned for Landon that she was finished. He folded it neatly and rolled it to fit into a tiny tube that concealed the map. He tucked it away in his pocket, for no one besides the four of them were allowed to see the map.
The building they were in was used mostly as an office, storing all the information they had on each soldier in their ranks, and it housed most of their weapons. When Trax had first started gathering soldiers by himself, he only chose the men he knew he could absolutely trust with his life, but Arissa was wary of them. After all, they were still military, and for as long as she had been associated with them, nobody that served the General had ever been her friend. She had to work to force herself to even attempt to trust Trax, but she knew that as much as she wanted to, she couldn’t. Regardless, his plan was the only one they had and she had to follow it through to wherever it ended up taking them.
The sun was sunken halfway through the sky when Arissa finally had enough after demonstrating the same techniques with a bow for the umpteenth time. Finally, she turned over control to Trax and she and Cayl left.
The only thing on her mind during the ride home was how much she was looking forward to seeing her home again.
Chapter Two
Arissa was sure that the first time she had smiled all week was when she had walked into the nursery of her expansive home in Daer and seen her baby daughter smiling and laughing. Completely unaware of the disastrous world outside of her home, Janelle playfully reached up to the glittering mobile above her. The ornaments suspended from the decoration were made of a glistening crystal that threw rainbows around the room whenever the sunlight touched it. There were a variety of beautiful, magical creatures, including fairies, unicorns and a mermaid.
It was late before Arissa could finally force herself to leave the nursery, after watching Janelle sleeping for over half an hour. The girl’s bouncy black hair framed her soft face, and suddenly it was unbearable for Arissa to realize how much of herself she saw in her daughter.
She never wanted Janelle to take after her. There was nothing to be proud of her in her life, except her daughter and for that reason, Arissa had always hoped she would be more like her father. Cayl was so much better than she was and he wasn’t one of the most elusive criminals of their era.
Arissa left her sleeping baby, a flicker of a smile touching the corner of her mouth as she gently pulled the door shut behind her. She breathed a heavy sigh, pausing for only a moment. Tired and distracted, Arissa couldn’t seem to keep her mind on only one subject, but it kept jumping back to the camp and Trax and what they should or should not be doing. She had never led a group of anything before, let alone rogue militia soldiers. Everyone seemed
to trust her judgement when she made the calls, but the whole time she doubted herself and every move she made.
The long, white gown that Arissa wore was made of lace and silk, sweeping the floor and falling around her thin figure attractively. When she walked through the hall of her home, it billowed out behind her in a white, fluttering cloud.
Her bare feet were completely silent on the red carpet with golden scrolling that reached from one end of the extensive hall to the other. The maids and footmen were retired for the night, in the servants’ quarters, which left the mansion empty except for Arissa. Cayl was already in the bedroom, waiting for her return, but as she passed the head of the wide, straight staircase, she couldn’t help but pause and think back to a few weeks ago. It was the day the General had vanished, the same day she had been seconds away from execution and the same day she had found out about Trax and his secret organization that was built to help her.
Arissa’s dark eyes glared down the stairs, falling on a particular tile on the glistening ground floor below. For a second, she could feel the cold barrel of a gun being pressed to the forehead again as if it were real. She hadn’t been able to accept her impending death because in the next moment, the General had decided to extend his game and make her execution public. He would have been better off killing her then, in the exact place Arissa was standing now. His decision had not only cost him his reputation, but it turned a good deal of his own men against him and cleared Arissa’s blackened name at the same time. She had heard several rumours that some people thought he had actually fled the territory, but Arissa knew better. He wouldn’t ever let this go, even if it meant sacrificing everyone’s life, even his own. He would never let go of the hatred he held for Arissa and would stop at literally nothing to end her life, even if that meant letting his country fall to ruins again.
