24 Hours

Anger

Before I entered my tent, I turned toward the soldiers, “Tell everyone that a traitor will be punished at noon tomorrow. Anyone who wants to witness will meet at the whipping post.”

“Ma’am,” They both stood at attention. Only after I entered my tent did they go to spread the news.

“Shadow,” I softly start rubbing behind her ear, “You’re safe now. I will make those people pay for what they did to you.”

Shadow didn’t wake up as I spoke softly to her. She did, however, grab my hand in her paws and nuzzle into it. I think she was comforted by being in my presence again. Because she was awake the entire time, it was harder for her to be away from me. 

After sitting with Shadow for a little bit, I gently pulled my arm away and stood up. I wanted to practice my sword for a little bit before going to the training field. I changed out of my uniform pants. Someone had put them on me while I was asleep, and put on my uniform skirt. Walking out of the tent, I saw that more guards had gathered and were blocking all pathways to my tent. It looked like they were trying to protect me.

“General?” A timid voice sound from beside me. I turned and saw Rebeka standing with her hands clasped up at her chest.

“Rebeka, it’s good to see you again. How was your first battle?” I turn away from her and continue observing the soldiers.

“Is it true that Mr. James is a traitor?” I didn’t mind that she ignored my question. Most battles were brutal even if you’re just a healer, but the first one was incredibly hard. 

I stiffened at her question, “Yes, he is a traitor to the human army and will be punished. Don’t worry, though. You will still be trained here in camp, and eventually, you will become my personal healer just as James was.”

Rebeka shook her head, “Shouldn’t someone else be your personal healer? I don’t have that much experience.”

I turn and put a hand on her shoulder, “I trust you. I don’t say that often, but I trust you. Besides, you have to train a little more before you can become my personal healer. I can handle my wounds until you are ready.”

Rebeka bit her lip and stayed silent. It looked like she wanted to say something but was reluctant to do so.

“It’s alright Rebeka, you can speak freely with me.” I smile encouragingly.

“What did James do to become a traitor? No one will tell me. He was my trainer, and I feel like I have a right to know what he did wrong so that I won’t follow in his footsteps.”

I take my hand off her shoulder and ball it into a fist, “He tried killing Shadow and I on the orders of a vampire. He shamed not only the army but me as well. I was engaged to a traitor. I will never forgive what he did, and I won’t forget.”

Rebeka looked down, “I’m ashamed of having trained under him. Even if it was only for a few days, I was still trained by him.”

“Don’t be ashamed. He’s getting what he deserves now.” I drew my sword and walked a little way away from Rebeka, “Now if there isn’t anything else, I will be practicing. You should go back to the medical tents and learn from Lily. She’s the best healer left.”

“Yes, ma’am!” Rebeka excitedly ran away.

I take a moment to breathe and center myself. Whenever I train by myself, I imagine all my enemies trying to defeat me. I fight imaginary battles, so centering myself was one of the ways I stay sane. After a few moments, I close my eyes to visualize better. 

I start swinging my sword as my enemies come at me. Some fights were easy to win, while others were harder. I saw the Vampire King more than once, and I fell to him more than once. That only motivated me to fight harder and better. After a while, all my enemies turned into James. Every single person I fought was James. It brought tears to my eyes because I loved him, and now I’m fighting him. I trusted him, and he tried to kill me. I hated our situation now.

Just before I dealt a killing blow to the imaginary James, a yowl came from my tent. I knew immediately that it was Shadow, so I dropped my sword and ran back to my tent. When I entered, I saw Shadow pacing around, looking for me. She was using the yowl to call out to me. My heart melted because I never knew she needed me like this.

“Shadow, I’m here.” I didn’t get a chance to walk up to her because she raced over to me and sought comfort from me. She mewled at me sadly and rubbed against my leg. “Hey girl, you’re fine now,” I kneel and scratch behind her ears with both hands, “They won’t ever separate us ever again. Do you want to go punish those bad people?” 

Shadow growled, and I could tell that she wanted to because of our bond. She walks past me and out of the tent without waiting for me. When I got out, I saw she had sat down next to my sword to wait for me.

“Let’s go Shadow,” I grab my sword and start walking towards the training field.