17 - Arrows

Baba Mbari helped Lily decorate her mask. The new commander busied herself with sharpening her arrows, trying to ensure all the edges were pointy enough to annihilate their enemies. They had to be prepared for whatever was to come. Today, they were finally going to put a stop to the bear shifters.
Leading the soldiers to war was her first duty as commander. Usually, after the feast, the new commander was to go into every cave seeking for the people's blessings. It was believed that she was legitimately ordained by the people and their blessings meant a blissful reign.
Lily couldn't wrap her head around the fast that she had to lead the war all by herself. Everytime she joined them at war, it was being allied to another kingdom and their protection was guaranteed. This was the first time she was ever hearing the Kayaans were at war.
The commander stood from her stool, making her way to where her guardian was seated. Baba Mbari decorating her mask brought back memories. She always remembered the old man decorating her mask when she was much younger. The old man had dedicated half of his life training her and she was grateful. Although she wanted to know her roots, she was content with Baba Mbari.
He had made her learn to get comfortable with her imperfections. He always made known to her she was pretty despite the huge scar that disfigured her face. He was the first to disapprove of the mask she chose to wear to conceal her face but the commander was just too stubborn.
"My child," Baba Mbari started, "it's time for you to be the leader you have trained all your life to become." Lily nodded.
"I've watched you grow from an infant to the commander you are. I am proud to be called your guardian." He held her hand and pulled her down, causing her to crouch down. He placed his palms on her head. "I pronounce upon you the blessings of a bat. Be invincible and bring glory to our kingdom. You are strengthened."
"Commander!" A soldier barged in.
Quickly, Lily took her mask and put it on her face then turned to him.
"Five dead bodies were found flowing in the river. The river is flowing with blood." The soldier announced. His face was marked with chalk and armor attached to his body. He had an arrow in one hand and a sword in the other.
The commander simply nodded and dismissed him.
"I feel so helpless." Lily sobbed. Over a hundred people had lost their lives from the attack. The bear shifters were at the borders trying to get their way in. The Kayaans had to flee from the kingdom; only a few wanted to stay to fight in the war.
The Kayaans had started to murmur and protest at the insecurity of the kingdom. Some had even confronted their leader calling her a failure and expressing their regrets having to be stuck with a horrible leader. They had said she was jinxed and her leadership brought problems to the kingdom. The commander had cried hearing her people say those words to her. It was like a sword had passed through her chest.
Baba Mbari and Lily made their way to the secret room. The commander had with her her weapons , she dropped them at the door and joined the elders, sitting next to Sarandi and Baba Mbari, setting for the only vacant seat next to the priestess.
"King Alok is very persistent."
"I'm aware." Lily retorted, causing the priestess to scowl. It was something he knew. Everyday since he started to attack, he would alway get someone killed. Each death, worse than the other. They had tried to fight back. Lily had sent the soldiers all on their own to defend the kingdom but the bear shifters gruesomely killed and injured them.
"Our people are dying." Achio stated.
"King Alok will pay for this. I swear on my last breath." Lily didn't have a plan. King Alok and his warriors must have put a lot into their comeback, taking out time to execute each of their plans. It was obvious the bear kingdom had taken out time to plan how they were going to wipe out the entire Kayaan kingdom and Lily knew her people weren't prepared for war. According to their history, the last war was 200 years ago and it wasn't even against the Kayaan kingdom. They were allied to the fairies helping them in their war against the Werewolf kingdom.
The elders pronounced the bat's blessings upon her again and prayed that their leader will lead her soldiers to glory. It didn't take long before Lily returned outside to address her warriors. They were impatient. A few of them had lost their relatives and this was their only way to get revenge. Silver armors were attached to the warriors and each warrior held an arrow and a sword.The Kayaans were more comfortable throwing blows and restricting the flow of air of their enemies with their bare hands but they needed better materials to defend their kingdom.
"Aayiiii!" The commander yelled, raising her arrow up. The warriors followed suit. She stomped her feet on the floor making dust fill the air. "We go in peace and come in peace."
"Aayiiii!!" The soldiers yelled, raising up their weapons and stomping their feet on the ground.
In a loud authoritative voice, Lily brought out, "we save the kingdom at all cost. Soldiers never go down." They nodded. "We move!"
"Aayiiii!!" They all yelled and ran towards the border like animals let loose from captivity.
Lily was balanced on the shoulders of two warriors,they held her by the thigh and ran with the others to the kingdom's borders. When they arrived, she was placed in the ground, the other coming together to form a circle to hear what the commander had to say.
"We are surrounded by the bear shifters. All they need is to get one of their own in our kingdom and they have an upper hand against us. And we don't want that." The warriors nodded. "Half of us will guard the kingdom and the borders. The older half will go out with me to this battle. If we need backup, we'll get across to you. So,all soldiers should be on standby!"
"Aayiiiii!!"
The commander moved towards the gate fully dressed in her armor and her weapons in each hand. They all got out and stood before the gate and before them were the bear shifters in their numbers, their faces cold and their builder bodies towering over the Kayaans warrior from a distance.
One of the warriors from the Kayaans fell to his knees as an arrow was fired to his head coming out from the back of his head and his right eye falling from its socket. After this, the bear shifters started to run towards the Kayaans and they did the same.
One of the bear shifters had a blow to Lily on her cheek. She tried to return the blow to his chest but he held her fist. He twisted her hands in the wrong direction making her get behind him, she held her arrow and pointed it at his throat. He gulped nervously and she put the arrow in his throat. He fell down dead and she pulled out her arrow.
She made her way to one of the Kayaan soldiers who was fighting three bear shifters all alone. She got on one of them, the biggest amongst them and covered his eyes with her hands pushing back his eyeballs. The giant staggered trying to find his way but he was without sight. When Lily saw one of her enemies was approaching her, she snapped his neck and jumped off the big guy just before his body met the ground.
A female bear shifter used her sword to behead one of Lily's warriors causing blood to splash on everyone. Angrily, Lily threw an arrow at the bear shifter but it didn't hit the target. She had transformed into a bear and was hitting everyone with her forehead, throwing them out of her way.
Lily fell to the floor after a mighty push from behind. Just as she was about to turn around to get a glimpse of who pushed her, she was given a blow on her head making her let out a loud shout. She turned to her side to see a high bear covered in very dark fur. Her eyes made contact with the bear's red ones. The bear parted open his jaw ready to attack but someone attacked it giving it a kick on the face and an arrow hitting the side. It gave a roar taking a look at Mbazi who attacked it and ran off.
"Thank you." Lily said. He stretched a hand out for her to hold and pulled her up. "Let's save our kingdom." He told her before running off.
Lily moved to one of the bear shifters who was about to throw an arrow and put her sword through his back.
She made her way around helping her warriors while also trying to get a glimpse of King Alok. It was odd he wasn't anywhere in sight and she had heard some of his warriors speak about him being in the battlefield but she just couldn't point out who he was. Her eyes skimmed through trying to get someone who looked the way Baba Mbari had described.
She picked an arrow stuck in the gut of a bear and threw it over to one of her warriors who was at the mercy of a bear shifter. The Kayaan caught the arrow and drove the arrow into his opponent's temple.
From a distance, Lily saw someone move towards the gate. The figure made his way hurriedly towards the gate taking stealth looks around. Her forehead wrinkled when she realized the individual wasn't familiar.
She ran towards the gates but she was blocked by a bear that hit her throwing her far away. Lily coughed out blood from her mouth. The commander struggled to breath and get off from the ground. One of the warriors saw her and hurried to help her up. She mouthed a thank you and made her way to the gates again.
At the gates, she was pulled back by a bear shifter. The bear shifter striked with her sword, fortunately Lily was able to dodge the strike. One of her warriors threw an arrow to her which she used to fight back. She grabbed the bear shifter by the neck and strangled her then made her way into the borders. The soldiers let her in, seeing it was their commander.
"Who went in?"
The soldiers were confused. The gates had been locked and no one had made their way in. Hurriedly, she made her way toward the palace. On getting there, she gave a confused frown. There was no one there. Or had her eyes deceived her? She walked in and started to hear voices from the secret room.
Standing behind the door,she got a glimpse of the fellow. The elders were on the floor.
"Don't we meet again, Mbari." The fellow laughed.
"Why are you here, Alok?" Baba Mbari questioned, standing before him unafraid.
Lily gasped seeing that the fellow who walked in was King Alok. She threw punches at him being on top but he rolled her over and was now above , having the commander pinned beneath. He gave her a few blows, still blood started to drip from her nose. Angrily, he took her head and threw it at the wall.
"Lily!" Baba Mbari yelled.
She spat out blood at the bear king's face then with all her might pushed him off of her.
Lily got up, holding her head. Her sight was almost gone. All she could see was a blurry figure of King Alok standing before her. She threw a blow but it only hit his shoulders. When he had wiped off the blood in his eyes, he took her by the neck and held her up.
"You bastard!" He used his other hand to throw a blow at her. Commander Lily fell to the floor again. He picked an arrow from the stash next to him and pointed it at the commander lying almost lifeless on the floor.
The elders gasped watching before them how the bear King was going to take out their new commander. And then with all his strength, Baba Mbari took his stool and threw it at King Alok. The king fell to the floor out cold but he was still breathing.