"Battle" by Donna s. habinck

Armelia paced around her tent. “Oh, sit down, Armelia,” her foster-sister Anisha said irritably. “You making me tired just watching you.” Anisha was stretched out with a cup of ale in her hand.

“I’m just a little nervous. They should have been here already,” Armelia said. She sighed and then sat back down. “You know, you really shouldn’t drink, Anisha.” She started to reread the letter the messenger had given her.

“Darling, I’m a Charrian. Drinking and fighting are our cultural pastimes. You know that,” she said smiling. “And you already know what the letter says. You’re only going to wear it out if you keep reading it.”

Rollin grinned. “Besides what’s wrong with a drink every once in a while?” He too held mug of ale.

Armelia shook her head and looked around at her friends, allies, and advisors. Almost every single one of them was drinking. She sighed and said, “I give up.”

At the moment, a servant respectfully said, ”Excuse me your Majesty, but several… people are here.” He sounded unsure if people was the right word.

“Send them in,” she said with a large grin.

“Right away, my Lady,” the servant said. He came back several minutes later leading some very strange looking persons. She stood up and approached the tall female who stood in front of the others.

“Dear, dear, Armelia, how you’ve grown!” Ali-it said smiling. Her skin was pale ebony. Her rich lustrous hair was bound up in tight braids, the ends of which sprung into tight little curls. She wore a necklace made out of a strange metallic material that was looped around her neck several times. She had a matching bracelet and anklet. She was the only one who wore such adornment.

“Greetings, dear Ali-it,” Armelia said and embraced the woman. Ali-it smiled and her long feathered arms quivered slightly. Her large wings fluttered slightly.

“Please forgive how long it took,” Ali-it’s companion said. “I am Cli-I,” He said softly.

Armelia smiled and nodded her head slightly at Cli-I’s self-introduction. She turned and said, “This is Ali-it, leader of the Kani.”

“The Kani are real?” Aquika said startled. “We’ve always been told you were only a legend.”

‘It is encouraged to think of us as only a legend,” Cli-I said. “The only reason we are here now is to aid Armelia by command of High Priestess.”

Armelia returned to her seat and Ali-it sat down at the empty spot at the table. Cli-I remained standing behind her. “Okay, down to business,” she said. Anisha and the others sat up and looked at her. “Food supplies,” she said.

Merrick replied, ”We have enough to last 45 more days with our current

placement and the number of recruits we have.”

Ali-it nodded her head slightly. “If I may interrupt,” Cli-I said softly. “We have brought supplications with us.” He and Merrick began discussing the amounts. Merrick adjusted his assessment and said, ”Thank you Lady, Ali-it.”

She asked several more questions and wrote down all the answers. Rollin looked at her and said, ”We need to discuss our plan, my Lady.” Everyone started to shout their ideas.

Armelia nodded as she listened to the plan. “That sounds good.” The others all nodded their agreement.

“It’s decided. We attack at dawn. Oh, and one other thing. I shall be leading.” With that simple statement, the ten erupted into chaos.

‘My lady, you can’t,” Rollin said aghast.

“Oh but I can and I will,” she said. “And I’m going to kill Orelion,” she said. All the others, except Rollin, stared at her in surprise. Rollin knew that had been her plan since the beginning.

Orelion sat with the members of his war council trying to decide what to do about the rebels, especially their leader, Armelia. He was the only one of his councilors who knew the true identity of who and what she was.

The council members were all elderly men with gray or white hair. All except Orelion. He was young and tall. He had broad shoulders. He looked just lie the youths in his army except for a few things that separated him from everyone else.

Orelion was an albino, but instead of red eyes, he had jade colored eyes. His eyes were cold and calculating. His face never changed. Except at the mention of anyone associated with King Bain. Then his eyes would fill with hatred and he would be even crueler than his norm.

“Sire?” a voice timidly asked.

“Yes?’ he said in a polite tone. He inwardly fumed at this interruption. The councilors all stared at the slave in surprise. Surely, he knew better than to interrupt the King.

“General Erilloc wants y-you…”

“Well spit it out!” Orelion snapped with no pretense of civility.

“There’s something he thinks you should see, Sire,” he said in one breath.

“Oh very well.” Turning to the men, he said, “I shall return one I deal with this….strange problem. If I find out any of you as much as move,” he didn’t have to finish the sentence since they all knew what would happen.

Orelion followed the slave to the edge of the camp where General Erilloc stood gazing at something at the top of the hill. Erilloc bowed at the approach of his king and said, “He’s been there for ten minutes. Not even moving. Just staring down at us.” Orelion looked and saw at the top of the hill a single rider silhouetted against the rising sun.

The rider let out a blood-curdling war yell and charged down the hill. A wave of black and gold blocked the first light of the sun. It took Orelion a moment to realize it was an army surging down the hill towards his base. He yelled for his army to bear arms in coarser language than any one expected from the urbane King.

The blade was dull with the blood of the countless she had slain. She cut them down with a calm methodicalness that was more frightening to her opponents than pure savagery could even come close to being. It was if she didn’t even see them.

She blinked several times. “Rollin?“ she whispered. The sword slipped out of her grasp and fell to the ground with a loud clatter.

“Where is he?’ Armelia screamed and then to Rollin’s surprise, she flung herself at him sobbing wildly. She clung to him crying into his shoulder. Rollin just stood there for a few seconds before slowly putting his arms around the young woman.

“Shh, it’s okay, Armelia,” he said, trying to comfort her.

“I killed them, Rollin. I killed them and I didn’t even think of them as my opponents. They were merely obstacles between me and Him,” she said, self-disgust evident in her voice. She stared blankly at the ground.

“Armelia, they were fighting for him. That made them your enemy,” he said. “Look at me,” he said. She looked up and he continued, ”We’re fighting a war, Armelia. People are going to die.”

She nodded and said, ”I know, Rollin. I know.” Then she started crying again. Rollin stood there and let her cry.

She calmed down and let go of him slowly. “Please forgive me, Rollin,” she said as she backed away from him.

“For what, Majesty?” he asked, genuinely surprised. She merely smiled at him in return. “Wouldn’t it be prudent to tell the soldiers fighting outside that there is no longer any cause to fight since…” he trailed off not wanting to say the name of her greatest enemy.

“Since Orelion has fled from the battle,” she finished softly. She wiped her face and asked,” Do I look okay?”

Rollin looked at her and said, “Aside from the blood and gore, you look very regal, my Lady.” Then he looked at her again and said in a concerned voice, “Are you injured? There is much blood on you.”

All of the fighting had ceased when Armelia’s scream had rang out. His soldiers stood frozen in shock. Those of Orelion’s army knelt down in surrender when she exited the tent. She walked over and mounted her horse. She looked around and said, in a loud ringing voice, “The murderous, deceitful play-King of Aceade has fled. But did he take any of his faithful soldiers with him?”

The soldiers of his army yelled, ”No! He did not!”

“Did he take any of you who were facing death with him to safety? Did he ask any of you to go with you? Did any one here know he was leaving?“

Again, the soldiers roared, “No!“

She looked at them with wearied eyes. “I would never do such a thing to my soldiers,” she said and rode past them. Those in her army turned and began the long trudge back to camp. Armelia paused at the edge of the camp and looked back. “Any one here is welcome to join my army.” Every single soldier left alive out of Orelion’s army followed them slowly and unsurely. Many of them helped along a fellow soldier, regardless of the armor.

He hurriedly finished readying his horse and quickly mounted. In the fury of the battle, none noticed the fleeing tyrant.

Armelia stood there for a moment and then dismounted from her horse. She swayed when she touched the ground. She stared blankly and uncomprehendingly at the people around her. A young boy approached and gently pried the reins from her fingers.

Rollin dismounted and said, ”Majesty, are you alright?” She didn’t answer him. Rollin gently took a hold of her arm and led her to the medic’s tent.

“None that I know of. I think she’s just exhausted.” The assistant nodded and continued to wash off the blood.

“I don’t believe she has any injuries. Why don’t you lead her to her tent? She’ll be fine after she gets some rest.” Rollin smiled and gently helped Armelia to her feet. She followed his directions with the trust of a small child.

Rollin nodded and said, “Good night, my ladies.” Anisha led her into the tent where she helped Armelia out of her armor.

Rollin wandered through the camp. He was pulled aside by Merrick who said quietly, “We should post guards.” Rollin looked at him questioningly. “We do not know the new soldiers’ loyalty.” Rollin nodded and sent orders for sentries to be posted.