Aragorn and the Phoenix of Caspian (ENGLISH)

Chapter 38

CHAPTER 38

Sphyra woke up with a smile the next day. She had a great day yesterday after she had fun with Aragorn and his other comrades. They treated her not as a phoenix but someone whom they treasure of. She never had a friend back then and had a day where she can enjoy it with them.

She went out of the cave and enjoyed her morning outside. She breathes fresh air and her skin absorbs the sunlight. She touched and played with the daffodils she saw. This forest is the only place she owns and no other person can own it. It was her home and sanity.

She heard footsteps and leaves cracking, an indication that someone’s coming. It could be Aragorn or someone from his group! She smiled and roamed her eyes around. It turned around when a group of unfamiliar guys surrounding her.

Aragorn help, she thought.

Aragorn had a duty to do as the king had ordered but he said he’ll return later. Leo wasn’t at the hut again because the palace next to Caspian is planning to start a war against the Caspian. The palace of Caspian has a lot of troops to deploy but they didn’t want to sacrifice a lot for the war. They thought the other palace should calm themselves down and not start anything without thinking.

Azrael, Hideo, Zonia, and Yosef were all left in the hut. In the morning, Azrael leads an exercise. Sometimes Zonia joins them, but most of the time she’s busy with the chores. In the afternoon, Hideo leads the training for the usage of swords and other weapons. They even had a duel last time.

Hideo glanced at the sky. It was too bright as if it’s celebrating something. It was too bright but wasn’t that hot. He sensed something different. He sensed something was off.

“Azrael,” he called. Azrael came out from the hut, biting an apple.

“Why, Hideo?” he asked back.

“I’ll check on Sphyra. I sense something is off.”

Azrael glanced at the sky. He thought it looked happy. “The sky’s good why are you feeling that something’s not good.”

“It was too happy and I just thought of checking on Sphyra. Prince Aragorn wanted everything for her to be protected and I don’t want to break that promise on him. We promised Prince Aragorn and Sphyra that we are going to protect them.”

“Let us join you. We also wanted to check that cute doggy that she owns.”

“Sure. Call the others.”

Azrael came back inside the hut. When he came back, Yosef and Zonia were with him. They were bringing their weapons in case they face a wild animal or something worse. Zonia had learned to use some weapons by joining their training in the afternoon. She had nothing to do and it bored her. She thought she can join them so she can protect herself when danger comes.

They marched to the forest. Hideo was their lead. It was strange that the forest was silent where it was never that way before. They continued on their track until they saw Burn in front of them. The dog was barking and crying. It looked like it was crying out for help.

Hideo and his comrades as the dog ran away as if it’s going to bring them to where Sphyra was. Burn didn’t stop barking until they reached their destination. They saw Sphyra being captured by eight rebels.

“Let me go! I don’t know you!” she shouted. They didn’t show themselves and they kept on listening to their conversation.

“We need you so just go with us or you won’t get hurt,” said one of the rebels.

“What do you want from me?”

“We need you to die. Our master wants to face the phoenix of Caspian. I didn’t know that the phoenix of Caspian has a beautiful feature.”

“Come with us, phoenix.” One of the guys pulled Sphyra but Hideo showed himself out.

“Don’t hurt her. This is an order from the crowned prince of Caspian,” he said in an authoritative voice.

One of the rebels chuckled. “Don’t you dare to fool us, young boy. We had faced the prince of Caspian and I know that you’re the one who’s with him when we faced you on your way. If Leo hadn’t shown himself that time, the two of you might have been dead right now.”

Azrael also showed up. “Don’t you dare to touch the phoenix of Caspian?”

“Right!” said Zonia and Yosef as they appeared behind the two men.

“So, the four comrades of the prince are here. Where’s the prince? Is he hiding because of fear?”

“He has an important matter to do and he said we should do anything to protect Sphyra,” said Yosef, grasping on his sword.

The rebels laughed. “Protect? As far as I know, he promised to kill this woman, but he’s going to protect her? If that’s the case, he’s not siding on his father. He’s siding on himself. The villagers are right about him. He’s a weak coward.”

“The prince doesn’t care for the entitlement he receives from the villagers or even from the rebels. All he wanted is to ensure the safety of Sphyra. Let her go or blood will drip from your body. I know you don’t want that to happen with your troops.” Hideo smirked.

“There’s only four of you to fight me and one of them was a weak woman. How can you fight the eight of us? You’re just warriors that trained under the training ground and Leo. Kids, don’t dare to fight stronger men like us.”

Zonia hid from their back. She used the bow and arrow to hit one of the rebels with it. The arrow pierced through his arms and he dropped to the ground.

“I’m a woman but I’m not just a woman,” she said. “Hideo, Azrael, Yosef, we promised the prince and we’ll do anything to protect the phoenix of Caspian.”

“So, the four of you decided to die,” said the one who was shot by an arrow. “Men, attack!”

The four attack the remaining men including Zonia. She wasn’t afraid to fight or die. The prince was the one who helped her through her most difficult time. He was the one who frees her with the hands of her husband.

Hideo faced three men. He spun around with his sword pointing toward them. He won’t let himself die at that moment. But he’ll do anything to protect Sphyra.

Yosef and Azrael stick on their backs. Four men surrounded them with swords ready to eat them. No, they won’t run away. They won’t die. They’ll face these men and protect Sphyra.

Zonia saw that the man shot by her arrow was taking Sphyra away. No, that man can’t do that. She followed them with only a bow and arrow in her hand.

Hideo plunged the sword on of the men and it caused a scar on its arms. The three men tried to attack him but he dodged it without ease. He smiled when he escaped the small circle that the three men did.

Swords slacked as he attacked again but was stopped by the other swords. One of the men slid the sword on his cheeks causing a cut. That hurts like hell so he kicked that man to the ground with all his force. These guys wanted something like a game, he’s willing to give them that.

When the three men were approaching, he jumped and rotated his legs around, kicking the three men back to the ground. He was about to attack one of them with his sword when they ran away.

Azrael and Yosef were struggling with how to attack the four men surrounding them. They were on a defense mode since the four men kept on trying the sword hit their skin. The metals kept on tuning as if it was creating a song.

Azrael dropped to the ground and used his legs to slide the feet of the two men on his right. On the other hand, Yosef continuously attacked them with his sword so they stopped attacking them.

Azrael was about to hit his sword on the two men that dropped on the ground when they ran away. But before the two disappeared, one of them hit him with a small stone on his face. He gritted his teeth and he wanted to kill that rebel who hit him with a stone.

The same experience happened to Yosef. The rebels ran away just before he was going to make a scar on them. Such weak men, he thought.

Zonia used her bow and arrow again to hit the man’s other shoulder, but he had avoided it while running. “Let go of Sphyra now or you won’t get hurt,” she thought she wouldn’t dare to say it to anyone but she had said it to this rebel. She never thought she’ll be this brave to face rebels.

The rebel didn’t mind her and continued to run away but Sphyra kicked his waist and she ran away. Zonia used her bow and arrow again and hit the man’s hips. Some of the rebels who ran earlier ran towards him and help. They assisted him and they ran away.

“Losers!” Sphyra shouted. She ran to Zonia and have her a hug. “Are you okay?”

Zonia nodded and smiled. “Yes. Are you hurt?”

“I’m not and I’m doing good. Thank you for your help. If you didn’t help me, they could’ve brought me to a strange place.”

“You also did great.”

They walked back to their friends. When they saw each other, they smiled. They accomplished protecting Sphyra and they made those rebels ran away from them.

“Those rebels were afraid of my handsomeness. They should’ve fought more.”

“Azrael, you’re being too proud of yourself. You even got a bruise on your forehead. Let me check on it.” Zonia leaned to Azrael and touched the bruise on Azrael’s forehead. “Not that bad. What happened to his?”

“He was hit by a stone,” Yosef answered. “But Hideo’s was the worst. He has a cut on his cheeks.”

“This is not that bad. This is just a cut. I’ll treat it back to the hut.”

“Let me help you later, Hideo,” Zonia offered.

“No need,” he said and smiled. “The problem is we can’t let Sphyra stay here in the forest. Those rebels will surely come back for her. Sphyra can only protect herself at night with her fire.”

“Hideo’s right. As much as I wanted to stay here, I can’t because of those rebels. I don’t have anywhere to go and I can’t stay in Leo’s hut.”

“We should wait for Aragorn to decide. He’s the best at making decisions,” Yosef commented. “For now, let’s go to the hut since Leo won’t be going back for the moment.”

They did and they went back to the hut. Zonia offered to help Hideo on putting special spices on his cut but he said he can do it. She headed to Azrael and he didn’t dare to reject the help she offered. But he screamed as she applied a small amount of spices on his bruise.

Just then, Aragorn arrived. He looked tired and exhausted with sweat all over his body.

Sphyra can’t help but stand up from her seat and wrap her hands around him. He’s here. Her protector is here.

“Sphyra? Why are you here?”

Yosef explained what happened in the forest that made his forehead crease. What he didn’t expect to happen. What about the other day? Was Sphyra still safe in the forest?

“Are you all okay?” he asked and roamed his eyes around. There’s a cut on Hideo’s cheek and a bruise on Azrael’s forehead. Aside from that, there was nothing worse.

“Yes,” Sphyra answered.

“Sphyra cannot stay more in the forest. We don’t know where we could bring her to stay,” Hideo said.

Aragorn stopped for a moment. He thought of places where she could bring Sphyra. Of course, he can’t bring her to any village if he didn’t want her to be caught. There’s a place where she can stay, but no, that would be his last choice. But that place was the safest and he can easily ask her mother to help her. Was he sure about that place?

“I think of somewhere?”

“Where?” Sphyra thought it would be a better place than the forest so she smiled.

“The royal palace of Caspian.”

When Aragorn said it, her jaw dropped.