Andra at Battle

KAEL

As soon as the threat revealed itself, something inside Kael clicked.

While a normal man might panic, Kael’s heartbeat was calm and steady. His mind was clear.

He was focused on his duty.

~Defend.~

~Protect.~

~Destroy.~

The enemy soldiers spilled from the forest and into the camp. On their armor was the crest of the Judges: a sword crossed with an olive branch.

The Judges’ men had found them.

Colmen thrust his elbow behind him, hitting the enemy soldier directly in the nose. Alik was right there next to him.

He roared as he brought his axe down with fearsome strength.

Kael needed to join his friends in the fight…but the girl.

He hopped off of his horse, who was starting to spook. The servant stared at him with wide, terrified eyes.

Making a hasty decision, he held out his hand and helped her down.

“Run!” Kael ordered.

He knew that riding the horse might be the safest place for her to be…but the servant had never ridden before, and the horse always panicked at violence.

~She’ll be safe,~ Kael told himself. ~Now get to work.~

He pulled his sword from its sheath just as a soldier charged up to him.

The soldier held a broadsword over his head with both hands, and slashed down. Kael blocked the blow, moving quickly on his feet while his opponent faltered.

Kael stabbed him in the unprotected area below his arm. The man wailed in pain as he fell to his knees.

Kael stood, surveying the desperate scene before him. There were too many of them. Too many enemies to fight off.

He dodged an arrow as he searched for his comrades in the chaos.

Alik leveled a soldier by hitting him over the head with the blunt end of his axe. Colmen was sparring with three soldiers on his own.

They were all skilled warriors, but they were outnumbered.

He had to help Colmen, and then retreat as fast as their legs could carry them.

Kael tore toward his companion. He engaged the soldier, who was fighting with a sword in each hand.

As they sparred, Kael found that his opponent was a good fighter…but not ~as~ good.

Kael stabbed low—at the man’s knee—and then at his shoulder, disorienting him.

While the soldier held both of his swords on the defensive, Kael made his move and slashed his throat.

~Perfect.~

But Kael wasn’t triumphant for long. More and more soldiers were coming, pouring out from the forest.

Kael fought, and killed, but the Freemen couldn’t gain an advantage.

In the corner of his eye, he caught Colmen and Alik hard at work.

He glanced back the way he’d come. The slave girl was lingering in the forest.

They needed to retreat. They needed to help her. But in order to escape the battle safely, Kael had to buy them some time.

He focused, harnessing the magic power that ran through his veins. With a swift movement, he got on one knee and thrust his fist onto the ground.

The earth beneath him immediately softened, shuddering like the surface of water.

Confused shouts went up around him. Kael raised his head to see his enemies sink to their knees in the liquefied ground. They struggled, but struggling only made them sink deeper.

He smirked.

Kael, Colmen, and Alik were the only ones standing on solid ground.

“That was just getting good!” Alik complained. “Why’d you have to spoil our fun?”

“No time for fun,” Kael replied gravely.

“Let’s get out of here!” Colmen cried.

With that, the three Freemen took off running across the pit of mud, past the Kingsmen, who were now submerged to their waists.

Then they made it to the tree line, and he saw the girl standing there, frozen in place.

ANDRA

Andra had intended to run. She had meant to take to the woods and go as far and fast as her legs would carry her.

But then she got worried.

The men had been kind to her. Well, Colmen and Kael had. She didn’t want them to get hurt.

Not that she could protect them, of course. Still, she paused.

And when Andra looked back at the raging battle, what she saw nearly stopped her heart.

It wasn’t the violence, though the violence was awful.

Across the clearing, through the trees of the opposite forest, Andra saw ~him~.

She would know that blond hair anywhere, and the casual, confident posture.

~Ledo.~

He was watching the battle from horseback. He wore no protection on his head—a general, not a soldier.

Andra felt sick.

Part of her didn’t believe her eyes, but another, deeper part did.

~You think you can escape your past?~ the voice inside her asked. ~You think you could ever be free?~

But then Kael punched the ground, and immediately turned the battlefield into a swamp.

The soldier on horseback sank into the muck. And Andra finally saw that he wasn’t Ledo. He was just another soldier.

~He’s dead,~ she told herself. ~He can’t hurt you anymore.~

Andra’s body relaxed, but still she could not move. She remained frozen in place, watching the magic unfold before her eyes.

The Freemen were immune to the mud, and they crossed it as solid ground.

~How did Kael do that?~ she wondered.

“Retreat!” Kael’s voice cut through Andra’s thoughts.

The rebels were sprinting toward her.

“Run!” Colmen shouted at Andra.

She watched as one of the sinking Kingsmen lunged forward and grabbed Kael’s ankle.

The soldier tried to stab him, but Kael was too fast.

Kael thrust his own sword down into the soldier’s neck. Blood spurted from the wound as the Kingsman keeled over.

Colmen reached her, and he grabbed her hand. Finally, Andra was able to run.

She found her footing as Colmen pulled her forward. She released his hand so both of them could move faster.

She turned back to see Alik following right behind her, and Kael behind him.

And behind Kael…an archer, emerging from the muck.

Andra halted, but this time, she wasn’t frozen in place.

She ran back toward Kael. She still wasn’t thinking. She was just reacting.

The arrow was all Andra saw.

Time moved in slow motion as it spiraled through the air, its lethal metal tip headed for Kael’s back.

She couldn’t let it hit him. She reached out and…

KAEL

First the girl wasn’t running at all. And then she was running ~back~ to the battle.

Kael pivoted, ready to grab her and drag her to safety if she refused to move…

But when he saw her, he froze.

The girl was staring down at her hand. She was holding an ~arrow~. A moment later, it turned to ash, the black dust floating to the forest floor.

She had just saved his life…~with magic~.

But there was no time to stop and discuss what had just occurred.

He grabbed her other hand and pulled her in front of him. The two set off running after Colmen and Alik.

Kael stayed in the back, glancing over his shoulder in case the archer wanted to try for another shot.

But the shot never came. They continued running through the woods until, finally, the Freemen had outrun their enemies.

***

When they reached a wide river, Kael announced they had lost the Kingsmen.

“How in the ~hell~ did those snakes find us?!” Alik shouted. He undid the belt that held his axes and threw it to the ground.

“Was it because of the girl? She was no help, that’s for sure. She wouldn’t run! She almost ruined the retreat!” he went on.

Kael’s blood began to boil. He charged over to his cocksure comrade, grabbing the collar of his shirt.

“Bite your tongue!” Kael demanded. “~She~ saved my life! She caught an arrow before it hit me in the back!”

Alik’s expression changed from anger to shock.

All of them turned to the girl, who stared at her hands, slowly unfurling her fists.

When Kael saw the blood, he released Alik and ran to her side.

“You didn’t tell me you were hurt,” he chastised.

Well, the girl didn’t say anything, ever, but that was beside the point.

“Not even full-blooded elves can catch an arrow with their bare hands,” Colmen said softly.

Kael reached out and held Andra’s wrist.

He closed his eyes, focusing his energy on Healing her wound.

When he opened them once more, the bloody gash had turned to a burn mark on her palm.

ANDRA

Andra’s hand was still warm from the Healing. Kael’s fingers lingered on her wrist.

She almost didn’t want him to pull away because of how nice it felt. He had taken her pain away.

“How did you do that?” he whispered.

She looked up into his eyes, wanting to ask ~him~ the same thing.

Even if she could bring herself to answer his question, she wouldn’t know what to say.

Andra had no idea how she had caught the arrow, other than that she had wanted to protect him.

His eyes were curious and persistent, and for a moment, she forgot the others were there with them.

But then Kael pulled his hand away and Andra looked at the ground.

“Impressive, half-blood,” Colmen called good-naturedly. “Thanks for saving our fearless leader.”

Kael scoffed, but Andra caught him smiling.

“Do you want to help me find the horses?” Colmen asked.

Andra nodded and followed after him, thankful for the excuse to regather herself away from the others.

They left the way they’d come, Colmen walking ahead of her.

“When we’re near enough, I’ll feel them,” he explained. “Especially my mare, Winnie. She and I know each other well. Kael’s horse has never taken a liking to me, so she’ll be the hardest.”

Colmen turned around, watching her with a lopsided grin.

“But that horse likes you alright, so we’ll be fine.”

The sentiment made Andra smile. She liked the horse as well.

The two walked in silence. Andra worried they would travel all the way back to where the Kingsmen had attacked, but Colmen angled to the right.

They headed deeper into the forest instead of toward the clearing.

“That was really something with the arrow,” Colmen said eventually. Sticks snapped under their feet. “You have some powerful magic in you.”

He turned, watching her, but she didn’t feel uncomfortable in his gaze. His words excited her.

“I can help you discover it, one elf to another,” Colmen concluded.

Andra smiled. She appreciated how he never tried to force a response from her.

He accepted her as she was. And he wanted to help her.

With ~magic~. Andra was thrilled.

They came to a stream. Winnie, Colmen’s horse, was drinking the fresh water.

“Hey there,” the kind elf whispered, and the horse approached him. Andra stood back, observing their heartfelt reunion.

Just then, she saw Kael’s brown horse through the trees across the stream. She whinnied as Andra approached.

“See, told you she likes you,” Colmen called out as Andra took the reins.

They found Alik’s horse and walked silently back to their new camp by the river, Andra leading Kael’s horse and Colmen leading the others.

A fire was already going, and Kael was roasting rabbits when they returned.

Andra sat on a log and stared into the flames.

“Hey.”

She was surprised that Alik was speaking to her, and even more surprised when he sat down at her side.

He stared at a dagger in his hands, not meeting Andra’s eye.

“I’m sorry for what I said earlier, blaming you for the ambush. It’s just that I got someone waiting for me back home, and I don’t want anything to keep me from her.”

Andra nodded, twisting the leather bracelet around her wrist. She understood how that felt.

He passed the dagger to her.

“Hold onto this, alright? You need to be able to defend yourself…just in case.”

Andra reached out and took it, but the weapon made her anxious. It was cold and smooth, and she knew she shouldn’t have it.

She understood the weight of such dangerous objects.

Andra stared at her reflection in the blade, thinking about her father.

Her father had been killed for having a weapon just like this. How far away he seemed, as if she had known him in another life.

She was far from Castigo’s manor—and the Hall of Riders.

The men around her didn’t treat her like a servant.

But Andra knew she would never be able to leave that life behind her. She would be a slave for as long as the enchanted collar was locked around her neck.

Though her life at the manor was painful, there was something she didn’t want to let go of.

~Talias.~

Would he love her, if he knew what she had done?

The pain of her mother’s death was still fresh. What would Talias think of her, if he knew she was responsible?

But maybe it didn’t matter. It seemed unlikely that Talias would be able to find her, now that she was on the run with the Freemen.

No one in the world knew where Andra was, except for the men around her.

Even though they had been young, Andra knew she had loved Talias. And she had a feeling he had loved her too.

Andra held onto the distant, fading dream.

Maybe Talias still held her in his heart.

Maybe Talias still intended to keep his promise…