A Tale Of Time

One

                                                                                                                                                            Age of Ayznver

                                                                                                                                                            Year 750B

                                                                                        ARIANA

THE FIRE was calming.

Rook sat beside me, picking at the remaining strips of flesh from the pathetic bone of the thin animal we'd captured earlier that evening. It was the only thing we could find. Funny that even the animals knew that this was a place of death. We'd managed to scrape by the Rebel's attacks and push them back into the Capital city, Adian, but they still had the advantage.

Well, for now.

Edgar and his goons passed by us and sneered. I rolled my eyes at his juvenile attempt to make me feel more uncomfortable than his presence normally made me. He was an old man, old compared to the young ones that populated the forest clearing we'd made our temporary base of operations. He'd been an old war chief when my father was alive. Not that he knew that Edward III of Ayznver was my father. It was a carefully guarded secret that only few knew. Few being Rook- the Commander of the Aynznver Retrieval forces that had been fighting for the past eighteen years to retake our kingdom-, Vanessa who was playing the role of the princess and I, the actual princess.

My eyes found the place where Vanessa sat, regaling the young bucks with tales of her "memories" at the palace. It was convenient that they were dumb because the princess was said to have been removed from the castle on her first birthday. Not much you can remember when you're one and orphaned.

Believe me, I know.

I've been there.

Rook touched my shoulder, "You okay?"

I wasn't. But one thing about being a princess was that you had to be okay for your people. You had no choice. The job of a royal was to bear the burden.

So I smiled and kissed his cheek, "I'm fine."

Edgar coughed from his gathering of idiots at the far end of the clearing. Rook mumbled a curse under his breath before throwing his bone into the flames. The orange-red light flickered briefly before returning to its calm blaze. 

"He'll be shocked when he finds out who you are."

I laughed, "He'll finally give in to his old age and die."

Rook snorted and sucked on his finger, "Good meat. But better meat will come when we take Ayznver back."

I nodded but reverted my gaze to the glare of the fire.

If we got back Ayznver.

The next morning.....

I HATED leaving things to chance because they almost never came through. The camp woke up uneasy. This was, so to speak, the final showdown. We'd done well so far because Rook was a genius tactician and he'd been trained from a young age to make do with what he had. We'd used stealth and trickery to take advantage of our small numbers so as to have a fighting a chance and keep this flickering hope alive. But now that we'd gotten to Adian and the Rebels were at their full might and numbers and they knew we were coming we'd had to resort to calling in on an age old favor.

The Helirean Beserkers were our only hope.

Rook had been convening with the Commander of the Helirean Army, as conversation with the Tahjan was near impossible. Their responses weren't as positive as we wished but the last message was that the Tahjan was considering aiding us but nothing was set in stone. My father had made a deal with the previous Tahjan to supply their barren country (since it was a neighbor to ours) with agricultural produce while they gave us protection. But the new Tahjan- his son- was apperently not on board with it.

We weren't able to fulfil our side of the bargain, he'd said.

The annoying thing about that was that we needed him to agree. That's why we'd offered him the most precious thing...

Someone tapped my back as I attended to a horse that was tied to a tree. I turned to see Garreth. Garreth was our Beta Commander and a close friend of mine. "Hi, how you feeling?"

"Great. Just nervous." I said, not looking at him.

He scratched the back of his brown hair, "Have you seen Rook this morning?"

He just like many others thought that I was Rook's w***e. He, unlike others, still treated me like a person. Lying to him hurt most days but we just couldn't risk anyone knowing about me. 

"No."

He frowned as though expecting me to say more. But I didn't.

There was nothing I could say to him while my nerves were on fire and my chest was beating like a Helirean war drum.

He walked away and joined some of the other soldiers that were sharpening their swords. They looked up and welcomed him with hero worship, like he was their god. 

If Rook was the unshakeable commander, then Garreth was the mobilizer of forces. He was the people person, the one whose war charge energized the weary soldiers. The army would've been lost without him.

I felt large hands grab my waist and I jerked back in shock, turning to come face-to face with Edgar. He looked proud as a peacock, buried up to his chest in too heavy armor with his salt and pepper hair slicked back with lots of gel.

He looked like a clown.

Ridiculous.

"What do you want, Edgar?" I said, turning my attention back to the horse. It was pretty, charcoal colored stallion. He and I had grown close over the past year after he'd been gravely injured in battle and became 'useless.'

I felt like that sometimes too.

"Your lover has gone to sacrifice his catch to the war gods." He began, his tone teasing, "You should've gone with him."

"Why?"

What was Edgar pulling at?

He leaned closer and whispered in my ear, "They like w****s to dance for them while the smoke ascends-"

I slapped him.

Edgar had pushed my buttons a lot over the years and I could usually ignore him. But I was his princess and I was a woman who had dignity. I didn't have to take his insults, not when we were so close to victory or death.

His face turned red as the camp began to look over at us. They disliked me because I never fought with them. My only job was to 'spread my legs' while they went to their deaths. And I wouldn't do it for them.

Edgar was my most persistent suitor.

"You dare slap a general?!" He huffed like an angry cloud, "I will teach you your place."

He raised his hand to hit me but I moved out of the way. My place was above him. If I was unsure of anything, that wasn't it.

He tried to reach for me again but I ducked and while rising, I pushed him back. His armor did the work for me, dragging him down to the floor like a heap of man. His cheeks blazed with anger as he tried in vain to stand.

I crouched before him, "Where was my place?"

He blushed and glared like he would kill me if he could. He couldn't. Not because he wasn't strong but because I wasn't on his level. I'd been training for combat since my adopted parents were slaughtered.

I rose and got away from him before memories assailed me. Memories of when I was a simple girl, living in a cottage by the forest with a family she didn't know wasn't hers.

Some days I wanted that life back.

THE BESERKERS hadn't arrived three hours after dawn.

Rook was pacing in our tent, biting his nails and murmuring curses. He'd been doing so since he'd returned from his sacrifice, "The Tahjan promised. And we can't keep delaying our attack. The longer we wait, the faster they'll encroach on us."

He turned to me, panic in his green eyes, "What do I do? I've failed them. I've failed my father."

I cupped his cheek and made him focus on me. He was my best friend, my tether to the world when I wanted to fly away. And I was his too.

"We don't need them. We have the cannisters with the explosives-"

"They won't do us much good."

"You can motivate them-"

"They're expecting the Beserkers and letting them down would kill their morale. Morale is our one weapon now. Without it..."

The war was over.

We were all dead.

Stupid Tahjan.

"He's foolish!" I cried in anger, "How dare he? What does he think he is?"

"The most powerful king on our continent."

True. But I hated it regardless.

I stormed out of the tent where the soldiers stood guiltily at the entrance. They'd been listening in.

Rook cursed behind me.

Someone cried out from behind, "Are we alone? We're going to die after all this?"

Murmurs broke through their ranks like wildfire, fear growing like poison till everyone was restive and argumentative. Vanessa was trying to motivate others over the crowd but it was useless.

It was over.

Because of HIM.

As if on cue, war drums began to beat in a scary rhythm, as though all in their way should die.

Relief and anger burst through me. Relief that we had a chance and anger that they'd taken their time.

Rook broke out of his shocked stupor first and began to run through the forest. I followed him immediately At the other side of the Ayznverean forest- the great forest that surrounded the kingdom- was the valley of Helirix. The soldiers, if they were the Beserkers, would have to stop at the bottom of the slope to alert us of their presence, before rejoining us on level ground at the other end of the forest. At Adian's gates.

Rook and I knew the way through the forest like the back of our hands. But I knew it better. I'd loved this forest longer, after all. So I overtook him, cutting through a simple path, past a very familiar marked tree and burst out through the thicket of green. The morning sky was bright and the air sweet and cool. It was the perfect day to die.

It was the perfect day to live.

I looked down as soon as Rook and the others caught up.

Holding golden banners of four swords crisscrossed to form a circle were hundreds of soldiers. They were strong looking and inspired great fear with their single minded focus and discipline. At their fore, on a black beast of a horse, sat a red-haired man with a long roll of brown paper held open in one hand.

"The Tahjan sends his greetings, princess."

He was looking at me. He knew it was me.

I nodded slightly much to his amusement. And then turned his horse around to face his soldiers saying, "FOR THE TAHARA!"

They broke into a scary chant that sounded like even the earth should hear them and be warned that they were coming.

The Beserkers had finally arrived.