Shadowed Battlefield

Prolog

"What's your name soldier?" A deep booming voice said from behind me. The voice belonged to a tall man with greying hair, and icy blue eyes that were so cold, it seemed they looked into your soul.

I didn't say anything, I just stared at the wall, trying not to show any fear. This man's reputation, and anger, was well known, I knew by not answering him it would make him furious, but my rebellious nature was getting the better of me and I wanted nothing more than to piss him off. The butt end of a riffle hot the side of my head.

"What is your name?" he said again. He was directly in front of me now and I could see the anger raging in his eyes as he looked at me. Good, I thought to myself maybe if he gets angry enough, he will slip up and I can escape or maybe he will just kill me. Either way I would be free from this mad man.

"Colonel JoHansen." I said through clenched teeth, the pain from being hit by the rifle was threatening to bring tears to my eyes, but I refused to show any weakness in front of this man.

"See, that wasn't so hard now was it, Colonel?" a sneer curled on his lips as he spoke. "What are you doing in Novarvia?"

I glared at him once again refusing to answer his question. He gave a heavy sigh and nodded to one of his men. Again, the butt end of a rifle hit me, this time I could taste the blood in my mouth. His goon hit me with the rifle a few more times when I still didn't answer the question.

I spit the blood out of my mouth at the man and answered him. "Being beat on by one of your apes while being held against my will." That resulted in another hit from the goon with the rifle. He leaned forward and his cold icy eyes met mine.

"You can make this easier on yourself." he said, still sneering. "Tell me what I want to know, and we can end this unpleasantness."

I glared into his cold eyes fighting the urge to shrink back in my chair to get away from him. The anger in his eyes was so intense, a braver person than I would have flinched away in fear. But I refused to show any fear or weakness to him. If he wanted to kill me out of anger, I would make sure I gave him a damn good reason for it.

I leaned forward in my chair as far as I could, bringing us a breath length apart. "I'm in Novarvia because an evil, murdering mad man is holding against me will." I whispered to him.

It took him a few seconds to process what I had said. And once he had he backhanded me so hard the chair and I went flying sideways ending me up on the floor. I could feel the blood trickling down my face where his ring had contacted my skin and making my ears ring.

"Take her to Astridsson!" he bellowed. "Maybe some time there will teach her some respect for her commanding officers." His two goons picked me up off the floor and started to drag me from the room.

"There's nothing you can do to make me tell you anything! I'd die first!" I yelled as I was dragged from the room.

"We will see about that."