by kellidir » Fri May 25, 2007 7:14 pm
It had finally started to happen, but it wasn’t what she had expected. It had seemed that Sergeant Keynes had come back from his last patrol with knowledge of some of the Blackwold plans. And so, twenty of the militia, including herself, had followed Keynes away from the safety of the village and into the dawn lit fields. She carried her bow and a full quiver of arrows and a single extra arrow already knocked on the bow ready.
There was an uneasy silence to the group as they made their way across the field, for a number of them, this would be their actual first battle, it was hers too. She knew she had shot plenty of animals and a fair number of goblins before, but she couldn’t help but think this was different. It was a battle, it would be a small one, but it would still be a battle. She couldn’t help but feel the doubt in her mind, these were people, her kind. She couldn’t help but feel deep down inside herself that this was wrong, that it was legalized murder.
Sergeant Keynes held up a hand and signaled for them to stop and hissed to them under his breath “We are almost on them, spread out and advance as I instruct” He started to point at them and point where he wanted the groups to advance.
She watched his fingers as they pointed at her and then pointed where she would start her advance. As she moved as she moved into position she started to feel her heart race. There was a sense of excitement, and under that, a more foreboding sense of fear. She wasn’t sure if she could do what was expected of her or even if she would get the chance.
Kellidir stopped and knelt, she eyed up the wall of bushes ahead and then looked to where the other groups were. Most of the groups were quiet and waiting in there given positions, only one did not appear to be ready. She looked at the group that had stayed where Keynes had stopped, and watched as the group around Keynes tied white rags around their arms. In that moment she felt the sudden shiver up her back. Something was wrong, horribly wrong.
“RETREAT!” Keynes yelled at the top of his voice.
Kellidir glared at Keynes, he was doing anything but retreating, if anything they were now stood in a line, almost battle ready. She glanced at the one of the other groups as they started to move and run back to the Sergeant, and then she noticed the brigands with their bows come up from behind the bushes, their shafts loosing and mercilessly cutting down the running men.
She heard the bushes rustle in front of her and the sounds of those by her standing to run. She stopped thinking, her instincts taking over her. Instead of starting to run like the others, she swiftly stood and leaned to the side, drawing the bowstring to her ear and staring at an unknown face and loosing in that very same moment. She heard the whistle of an arrow flying past her head, followed by the sound of her bowstring and her own arrow flying.
As the stranger was thrown backwards by the full force of the arrow; a thin torrent of blood arcing in the air from the wound in his neck. He was still falling as she had the second arrow on her bow.
“Draw and loose” her uncle Bjorn’s words echoed in the back of her mind. “Don’t aim, trust your instincts”. Bjorn had taught her to use the bow from the age of ten, and she could now use it on pure instinct alone. The fear and excitement left her mind, only the words of her uncle remained.
“Draw and loose … Draw and loose”
In what seemed to be an eternal heartbeat, the brigands in front were gone. She looked for the those that had been next to her. Her eyes settled on the body of a young boy who had been no older than fourteen. The boy hadn’t stood a chance and laid motionless and bloody on the grass.
“Eyes on tha enemy lass!” the bushy bearded man gripped his axe with ferocity “Put some shafts in em!”
Kellidir simply nodded and did as she was told, hearing the voices over and over in her head. Nothing seemed to make sense and she had almost stopped thinking for herself. All that seemed to exist were the bushy bearded man, the enemy and those three words.
“Draw and loose … Draw and loose”
And so she did, she looked to a group of desperate militiamen surrounded by the enemy and started letting the shafts fly, the first striking a man in his side, the second hit the same man in the back as the sheer force of the arrow span him. She loosed more shafts, one after another.
She heard men roaring their battle cries to her side, and started to turn toward them, but felt the bushy bearded man nudge her and point back to the group she had been firing at.
“Help ‘em lass, I ‘ave yer back” The bushy bearded man raise his axe, causing the closest brigand to raise his sword high, exposing the belly to the bushy bearded man’s fist.
Kellidir stopped watching him and set her eyes back on what was now the main struggle and loosed more arrows at the brigands, burying two or three shafts into each victim. Instinct prevailed and those words repeated over and over in her head.
“Look out lass!”
Kellidir looked around and saw the bushy bearded man reach out for her, grabbing her by the jerkin and pulling her forward. That was when she felt it, the searing burning sensation of pain as the tip of the blade just managed to slice through the jerkin and across the back of her shoulder. She cried out in pain, stumbling and falling to her knees behind the bushy bearded man as he swung the axe at the brigand.
“Surround them, and kill them!”
Kellidir, looked up at the source of the voice and saw Keynes and his men descending on them, their blades covered in blood. It was that moment Kellidir realised what happened. They were betrayed, out numbered and facing their deaths. She did what she thought was the only thing she could do … she stood and drew her short sword, holding it in her left hand, her right arm hanging by her side.