Brave words

Aurelia

We rode hard into the town. My hair and cape trailed through the wind behind me as Scorch's hooves torn into the dirt. The last report we had from Wheton was that the town was secure and farmers were working hard to finish the harvest. That was why we choose it as our first stop. Though that had been almost a week ago.

The fields surrounding still stood tall. They should have been cut down by now. The further we went into Wheton the worse the smell got. Black birds squawked at us from the roof tops, some even went so far as to swoop down and try to peck at us. As we charged by piles of blood or body parts swarms of flies filled the air before settling again.

“Kairios, keep the main force outside the towns limits.” I said to him in the voice of the queen I had become. “Have them ready. Saira, go with him and set up a place that we can send survivors.”

They both went without a word. I jumped down from Scorch and looked at Mana. “We go street by street. Every house gets checked.” I walked over to the lines of soldiers next. “Twenty of you with me and the rest to the line outside of the town.” They moved swiftly for the most part. I saw a few people turn the wrong way and bump into the person next to them.

I wanted to take more with me but I wasn’t sure if they were ready to see what the town had in store for us. Seeing them scramble confirmed that fear. The first twenty were mostly men that came from Galorian’s crew, they had the most experience. I drew my sword; whatever this town had in store for us, I would face it like I was now, no shifting. A higher number were afraid of the fire I had wrought upon them then I would like admit.

My arm felt complete with my sword in hand. Saira had worked her magic on it and it glowed with a silver sheen. Mana stood behind me with his own sword drawn. I had not seen him with a sword in the days leading up to our departure, had Galorian sent him with one? It didn’t matter, I told myself, this town did. Finding what happened here was what I needed.

The building next to us, first in a row of randomly shaped buildings, was a home. I went in first, the door was locked but a window was smashed and I was small enough to fit through. The smell in the house was worse than that of the smells outside. There was a dead person in here somewhere. I went to the door and unlocked it for the others to get in.

The house was trashed. Furniture was turned over; drawers were open and the contents strewn across the floor. Someone had put up a fight in here. The hallway had blood drops on the floor. Slash marks from a sword scared the walls and as I walked, I found a handprint painted with blood on an open door. I knew what would lay inside, I could tell from the smell slipping through the cracks.

I lifted my hand to grab the door but a large dark hand grabbed it first. “I will go first.” Mana said as he pulled the door open and stood in front of me. But I saw them before he shielded me from the sight.

The whole family had been slain in there, not even the children were spared. I had seen all I needed to see. This was not the work of magic; this was the work of humans. I had not given it a second thought since the battle for the city. Bandits still roamed these lands. How stupid were we all to forget such a thing?

This was the cost of that carelessness. I had sent Saira to set up a healing tent. I doubted we would need it. I stormed out into the street cursing myself! I would look at each and every one of them. Every house and shop, every dead person, I would see them all.

Mana stayed close to me. The shadow of silence. I walked through it all with no expression on my face. It had taken hours and when I thought it couldn't get worse, I was proven wrong. No one had survived. Kairios came to join me after an hour of no reports. His face was grave but he bore it with square shoulders as we finished our search of the town.

We would still have to camp the night here as we planned. It would be dark soon and camping on the road was now more dangerous than we had anticipated. We ordered the camps be set up for the night. Worker began to unpack the tents, unload the supplies needed and start a few cook fires.

I gave word that a letter be written and sent back to the castle. They needed to strengthen their defenses. This town had been overwhelmed. The number of the attacking force was clearly larger than we could defend against. They also needed to know that the grains we were promised would not be coming.

Every turn we took these last weeks, brought us another hardship to deal with. I didn’t want to know how much worse it was going to get before things started to look better. How many more towns would be cut down before we had safety?

Every muscle was screaming to go to bed. My eyes burned and I had been clenching my jaw so much that my teeth started to hurt. This day would never end. I walked through the camp, making sure that everyone had meals and beds for the night.

“If we had left sooner, this would not have happened. I thought you were going to be a better queen then Adara!” A man from the crowd shouted at me. Harsh words from a mouth that was too fearful to say them to my face.

I searched the crowd meeting the eyes of some, the others looked away. Fire burned in my belly at the accusation. How dare they blame me for this!

“You’re right, whoever you are.” I would address them all. The speech I was never able to truly give.

“Had we been here sooner, we may have been able to stop them. Even save the unfortunate people who have died here. We would have shared in their bloody demise.” The truth hurt; I could see it on the faces of many of them. They knew that they were not ready for this kind of fight yet.

“We all need to wake the hell up. It's time to stop placing blame here and there. We need to learn from this and move forward. There are still others out there that can be saved. Other towns that could meet the same fate, we can spare them. If we work together, if we fight side by side.

“I will give my life to bring peace to these lands. No more hiding in castles or crowds. We face our enemies together!” I looked them over again and this time more of them were willing to look me in the eyes. “We will punish those who have ravaged these lands with impunity. They will run cursing our names in fear.” I had started to shout at them, not in anger but to emphasize my meaning.

“Will you fight with me? Will you punish evil and bring peace to our kingdom?” I waited for them to give an answer. Mana was the first to come to kneel before me. “I will bleed with you, my queen.”

Kairios came to kneel next to him, “I will bleed with you.” Then a man I didn’t know, and another and another. Waves and waves of voices reached me saying “we will bleed!”

“In the morning we march! To death or glory, I cannot say; but when they sing about us, and they will sing about us. They will say how a band of misfits and the forgotten fought and won peace!”

For the first time, I saw a real army in front of me. Their eyes burned for revenge. Kairios was the first to stand and came to my side. A queen and her general. The others rose after that and we all went back to what we were doing before.

“Let’s go. We need to sleep. Let's put this long day behind us.” I took his hand and let him lead me to our tent. Ours was larger than the other tents surrounding it. I thought it was foolish to put a target like this on our backs. Any sane person would see it and know that was where they needed to focus their attack. I would have to mention that in the morning.

Right now, my mouth had become to occupied with a heavy kiss from Kairios. My hands found their way up his armored chest to his shoulders and finally into his soft black hair. His own hands on their own journey of my back and lower. They pressed into my sides, pulling me closer into him.

We hadn't been together like this since I burnt his flesh with my anguish. I didn’t shy away from the scars that my fingers grazed. He never did with mine. We kissed as we stumbled closer to the small bed set up for us. When the backs of my legs grazed it, I pulled from the kiss. I looked deep into his green eyes.

I ran a hand down the side of his face. “It has been a while, make me yours once more.”

We didn’t speak after that. His lips crashed down onto mine. My fingers fumbled at his gear. His were steady as he pulled mine off. His lips trailed from my lips to my chin, down my neck. Across my bare shoulder. With the laces of my shirt now untied, my breasts were free and exposed for his pleasure.

I arched my back to give him better access to the trail he already started down my chest. His hands came up my sides again and his fingers grazed the bottom of my breast. Fire filled me as he took my already peeked nipple into his mouth. He nipped with his teeth, some gentle some harder, the smoothed over the small hurt with his tongue.

Suddenly his hands grabbed my hips and he threw me down on the bed. I relished in the roughness of his lead. His hands were deft as they ripped my belt open and pulled my pants off in one fluid motion. I pulled my legs up, bending them at the knee and exposed myself to him.

“Fuck.” He growled before climbing onto the bed and nestled himself between my legs. Tongue and teeth worked hard to wrangle pleasure from me. The bunch of nerves at the apex was swollen and tender. When he slipped a finger in, pure bliss and fire exploded within my core.

I tried to push him off me to return the pleasure. But his hands held me back, the look on his face was like I'd never seen before. He would have his way with me, and I would allow every single bit of it; and I would enjoy it fully.