The Heart of Trelyssia

by Lisa Chitty

  Locked in stasis, Abi saw the other signals from round the city walls, and heard the explosions from within the city. Then, from her vantage point above the action, she watched, as if in slow motion, the walls of the Citadel slowly crumble and begin to fall. As they went down, flames began springing up around the city, leaving only one clear path from the Citadel to the main gates in the city walls. The army waiting outside seemed to tense, and as Abi saw people fleeing from the Citadel to what they thought was safety, she could see the army outside gearing itself up to attack. The gates were flung open and the Baron’s army poured out. Abi could almost sense their astonishment as they saw the army waiting outside.

  For a single moment there seemed to be no movement, or sound as the two sides regarded one another. Then, there was an explosion of noise as the attack command was given and the rebel force surged forward as one, driving the Baron and his army up against the walls. From where Abi sat, it looked like it was all going to be over very quickly.

  * * *

  Steve had leapt forward as the command to attack had been given and sprang into action, leaving behind Randall and James. He was eager to put his skills to the test, and as Marldon had placed the three of them a few rows back he knew that he would have to push his way through to get anywhere near the enemy. He held his sword carefully, so as not to harm those around him, as at the moment he was still surrounded by those on the same side as him. Everyone was so tightly packed round him, he was beginning to feel frustrated. He wasn’t as muscular as the other fighters and he was finding it hard to push others aside to get to the front. But he could use his wiry stature to his advantage.

  In front of him, two people parted slightly and he took this opportunity to duck under and squeeze between them. He got through and excitement began to surge again, as he could see that he was closer to the action. He just needed to duck through another couple of rows and he’d be right in the thick of things.

  As he pushed and ducked under swinging arms, Steve was getting further and further from his two friends. He could just vaguely hear Randall calling his name, but he was now so caught up in his goal of getting to the front and fighting, it was barely registering on his consciousness that Randall wanted him to come back.

  He ducked between another two people and then suddenly found himself in a space and only a few feet away was the opposing army. A huge grin crossed his face as he realised he was now exactly where he wanted to be, but before he could take stock of his surroundings he felt a blow to his left hand side. Whirling around, he saw a man wearing armour and wielding a broad sword. The sword was raised and swinging round to take another blow at Steve. Reacting instinctively and with no time to think, he raised his shield, and instead of the sword connecting with him, it bounced off the shield. Steve staggered slightly under the force of the blow. He hadn’t been properly prepared for it, but as he saw his opponent taking another swing at him, the lessons that he had learnt in the training grounds came back to him. He adjusted his stance so that as the broad sword once more hit his shield, it wasn’t a direct hit and the blow just glanced off. Steve had been waiting for the sword to bounce off his shield, and as it did so he dropped his shield arm slightly, twisted and brought his own sword round, fast and low, trying to get under his attackers defence. It worked, and Steve’s sword hit the enemy with full force across his side. The man staggered back, surprised by the impact and Steve took advantage of this to aim another blow. His opponent, caught off guard, raised his sword to defend himself, as he had no shield a fraction too late and once again Steve’s aim hit home. His confidence rose as he realised he could take this man.

  The next few blows all came from Steve. He was gradually driving the man back, pushing him up against other battling couples, and giving him no space to run. Not all of his strikes hit home, but he was on the attack and the armoured man was having to defend himself with as much skill as he could muster. Steve’s opponent was unused to having anyone fight back, so his defence was woefully lacking in expertise, and Steve was finding that his blows were striking more and more frequently. Steve sensed the man was tiring, and pressed forward his advantage with a series of vicious strikes. He drove his adversary back and as he did the man stumbled and Steve saw his opening. With all his strength he swung his sword and aimed at the other man’s head. Steve’s sword connected with the unprotected skull of his attacker and as it did, the man crumpled in a heap before Steve. For a moment the man stared up at Steve who was unable to move. Surprise seemed to register in the man’s eyes, but surprise at what no one would ever know, for as Steve stood over his conquered rival, the light faded from the man’s eyes, his facial muscles slackened and his head dropped to one side as the last breath left the man’s body.

  The adrenalin surge that had been driving Steve on lessened, as he simply stood there, sword and shield hanging limply from his hands. He just stared in disbelief at the dead man. He, Steve, had just killed another human being. Suddenly he felt like he wanted no more part of this. He had always known that people would die today, but he had never realised that he would be responsible for any of those deaths. He had thought that he might injure a few people, but kill? Steve shook his head. No, he had not reckoned on that at all. He felt sick at what he had just done, but before he could do anything, out of the corner of his eye, he saw someone rushing towards him, weapon raised. Again, instinct took over, and the sick feeling disappeared. Adrenalin once more coursed through his veins, and he spun to meet this second attacker, and fend them off. The dead man was forgotten as once again Steve fought to defend himself. He would do everything in his power to not be killed, and if meant that he would have to kill someone else, then so be it. He would have to deal with the consequences later.

  * * *

  When the command had been given to attack, James hadn’t moved. He had watched Steve dive forward and seen his eagerness but James was rooted to the spot. It wasn’t because he didn’t want to join in the fight, like Steve. It was just that he had another goal. From the moment the Baron had ridden through the front gates of the city, James had been transfixed by him. It was hard to tell what he was really like as he was mounted on a horse and wearing chain mail. His head however wasn’t protected and James could see a cruel sneer on the face of the Baron. His dislike for the man intensified and he took a tighter grip on his sword. He continued staring at the Baron trying to work out how he was going to get closer to him and carry out his plan. The army of the Baron knew their job well, and their cavalry had surrounded him, fighting off all attackers.

  As James watched, the Baron’s face changed from the sneer to a supercilious expression and a smug grin began to cross his face. James looked around him to see what had caused the change in the Baron. The battle didn’t seem to be going too badly. Already there were people lying on the battle ground. Whether they were dead or dying, or just wounded James didn’t know, but it didn’t appear that there were more of his side lying there than the Baron’s.

  As James continued to stand and watch, trying to make up his mind what course of action to take, the Baron swung his gaze round and for a brief moment his cold blue eyes met James‘s soft brown ones. Then he turned away, clearly dismissing him, regarding him as unimportant, just like he had with the rest of the rebel army.

  James felt his anger towards the Baron rise in him and he started forward, intent on getting into a position where he could attack the Baron. The thought running through his mind was that this was the man ultimately responsible for putting him through hell. If it wasn’t for the Baron, Abi would be here with him now, by his side. Unbidden, an image of her smiling face sprang up in his mind. The thought of her slowed him in his tracks as a lump came to his throat. He wanted to exact his revenge on the Baron, but as he thought of Abi, instead of a deeper resolve welling up inside him like it had over the last few days and when he had made his promise to her, it just brought sadness.

  James loosened his grip on his sword and began to back away to the edge of the
army. He knew that he wasn’t a fighting man and the more he thought of Abi, the more he realised that this wasn’t what she would have wanted. She had known him as a gentle person, prepared to help out his friends, but not to the extent where someone would get injured. Over the last few days he had gradually turned into another being. James bowed his head in shame. If Abi could see him now, he thought, she’d probably be disgusted. He was no longer the man she had fallen in love with. He had turned into some unfeeling monster.

  As he stood towards the rear of the army, the deafening cries of attack going on around him, he was secluded away from it all, in his own world, where the only things that existed where him and Abi. All the moments that they had shared were filling his head, and he finally began to realise why their relationship had worked so well. She had been the strong, fiery, temperamental one, whilst he had been the gentle, more caring one, putting the brakes on her when she got out of hand, but never restricting her to the point where she was smothered by him. They were opposites, but they had also complimented one another perfectly, giving freely of themselves, what the other had lacked. They were strong individually in their own ways, but as a pair they had had more than double the strength.

  James straightened up and looked around him, his earlier goal now forgotten. He was going to do what Abi would have expected of him. He would locate Randall and Steve amongst the other fighters and help them in any way he could. He gazed about himself trying to find them. Randall was off to his right, but like James he wasn’t fighting. He was standing back watching the scene play out before him. James turned his attention to finding Steve. As James was slightly up the slope, it wasn’t too hard to spot Steve, but when he did, a feeling of horror ran through him. Steve was right in the thick of it all, and it looked like he was being attacked from all sides. James took a stronger grip on his sword and shield, and keeping his eyes firmly on the spot where Steve was, he started forward.

  However, reaching Steve wasn’t that simple. To start with, most of the people around him were engaged in their own battles, so he had been able to get some way forward fairly quickly. Now that he was more or less in the centre of things though, he was finding it much harder to go the way that he wanted to. He knew that his fighting skills weren’t brilliant, so he was trying to dodge out of the way of most of the people round him, but he realised that he was being taken further from where he wanted to be. He reached a small clear patch in the middle of the raging battle and took stock of where he was. Now that he was on the level, he could no longer look over everyone and see where Steve was. James growled in frustration. He would just have to take an approximate guess of where Steve was and head that way.

  As he moved forward again, one of the Baron’s men noticed that James was on his own, not fighting anyone. Thinking that James would be any easy target, the man ran towards James his sword raised. At the last moment James saw him coming and tried to get out of the way but his attacker was having none of it. The man was young and full of energy and eager to dispatch of James and then find another target. James however, was not going to let him have it all his own way. Whilst he had learned to attack, James felt his better option was to go on the defensive, and maybe his adversary would weary of him.

  James very carefully orchestrated his defence. Letting the man get an occasional blow, but being careful of where and how hard he would allow him to hit. Every now and then, he would back off a little. Unfortunately, James’s tactics didn’t seem to be working as the young man just tried to attack more and more, determined to win this battle. James’s attention was solely on his attacker, he didn’t dare take his eyes off him in case he got a lucky hit. So it came as a complete surprise when, as he was backing off, his retreat was suddenly halted by a solid obstacle.

  Even though it would leave his back vulnerable, he turned round to see what he had backed into. James stared in puzzlement for a moment as he was confronted by something dark brown in colour and covered in hair. He was so close to whatever it was that he couldn’t make it out, so he raised his eyes and looked upwards and as he did so, he realised that he had backed into a horse.

  Every moment he stared he expected to feel a blow to his back, but none was forthcoming. As James’s gaze travelled on, to take in the horse’s rider, he suddenly realised why the young man had stopped his attack. The man sat astride the horse was the Baron.

  For a moment James gazed directly into the cold, pale blue eyes of the man who was responsible for this battle. As James stood there, transfixed by the Baron’s gaze a look of relish came over the face of the Baron. This was the last thing that James saw, as the Baron, sword already in his hand, swung it round quickly in a graceful arc. The Baron put all of his strength behind the sword, determined to wipe out this rebel in a single blow, and as the mighty blade connected with James’s body the Baron knew that his aim had been true. James crumpled into a heap beside the feet of the Baron’s horse and lay there unmoving. The Baron smiled at his success and then moved on, James already forgotten as he selected his next target.

  Chapter 18

  Randall was afraid. As the leaders had urged everyone forward to attack Randall, had tried not to go with them. He had seen Steve leap forward brandishing his sword and called after him to come back, but his cries appeared to fall on deaf ears. He had also seen that James was standing still and tried to do the same. Despite Randall’s size though, those who were surrounding him were so eager to join in the affray that Randall got swept along with them. He was now separated from his friends, and on his own trying to defend himself. He knew that his sword skills were not that good and the last thing that he actually wanted to do was test how bad they were. The one thought that was currently uppermost in his mind was that he didn’t want to die.

  He tried his hardest to remain amongst his own army. He figured that if he stayed surrounded by those on his own side, then he wouldn’t get attacked and then have to put his sword skills to the test. To start with, this plan worked well. He was able to stay backed off from the main fighting, and he wasn’t having to do anything. As the battle progressed though, everyone round him began to spread out and despite his best efforts Randall found himself alone and vulnerable.

  As he looked a round him, he saw that everyone appeared to be engaged in fighting, meaning that he could carefully get away and find somewhere safer to be. He slowly began to back away, aiming to get back up the slope, all the time trying to locate James and Steve amongst the crowds.

  ‘Going somewhere?’ a voice came from Randall’s left.

  He swung round to see who had spoken and felt alarm spread through him as he was confronted by the speaker. A large, muscular man stood in front of him, holding an axe, ready to swing it. The man’s features were coarse, and he was unshaven. As the man grinned at Randall he revealed very few teeth in his mouth, and those that were left were rotten. As Randall regarded him he was reminded of images of Neanderthal man. Randall almost expected him to grunt rather than talk.

  Randall continued backing off, loath to get involved with this evil looking person. He was fairly certain that if he were to engage in a fight with him, he would come off the worst. The battle hardy man however, clearly wanted to add Randall to his list of conquests and as Randall backed off, he followed.

  ‘Don’t run away,’ the ugly man coaxed in a poor approximation of a light, encouraging voice. ‘You and I need to settle things between us.’

  ‘I don’t think so,’ Randall replied, hoping to stall him with conversation. ‘You see, I don’t know you, we’ve never met. I definitely would remember a face like yours!’

  ‘We don’t need to have met. I know that you’re the enemy and that’s enough for me.’ Bored with the conversation, the man raised his axe higher and charged towards Randall.

  Randall barely had time to think, but distantly he heard Marldon’s voice in his head, reminding him of everything he had learned back at the caves. He settled himself into a position in which he would be able to take the force of the
blow the axe wielder was about to deliver, and at the same time he readied himself to strike back. As the axe bounced off his shield, Randall swung his sword and grinned to himself as the blow connected with his attacker. His success was short lived though, as Randall’s attack had just bounced off his opponent and not slowed him at all. Before Randall could react the axe was swung round at him again, and this time Randall was ill prepared and it him in the midriff, winding him.

  As Randall went down on one knee, trying to recover his breath, one thought was going through his mind. This is it. This is how I’m going to die. Randall prepared himself for the blow that would end his life, but at the last moment, instead of cowering, he decided he would look up and confront whatever was coming.

  He raised his eyes and saw the axe man preparing for his final blow, a look of triumph on his face. But as Randall watched, the expression changed to one of shock, and his grip on the axe relaxed causing it to drop to the ground. Randall watched, stunned, as in slow motion, the large man fell face forwards, narrowly missing Randall as he landed with a thud. The reason for the man’s fall was immediately apparent. Protruding from between his shoulder blades was a knife, which had struck a killing blow.

  Still in shock, Randall watched as someone came over and pulled the knife out from the back of the fallen man and carefully wiped it clean on the grass.

  ‘That was a close one, you need to be more careful!’ Sasket grinned down at Randall and then offered him a hand to help him up. ‘Perhaps you’ll be better off out of the main action,’ Sasket tactfully suggested.