Prisoner

Chapter 23

John Hansson

Whoever it was that said war was heroic and exhillerating was an idiot.

The battle, or rather slaughter, that was going on around me made every battle in every action or adventure movie I'd ever seen, except a select few especially brutal ones, look like child's play. It took seconds for the massive Westerburn arm to storm the camp on horseback, slicing down unarmed young men as they went.

At first, all I could do was stand in shock, watching them come. I had no weapon and no protection. Adaryn was pulling my arm, yelling hoarsely for me to run. It wasn't until the soldiers were less than one hundred yards from where I was frozen that reality, in this case Adaryn, slapped me in the face and I began to run.

Faces around me were a blur, and I could hear the soldiers gaining ground behind me. My legs moving on their own, pumped with adrenaline, I sprinted as hard as I could, running faster and harder than I ever had in my life, and swerved off to the right, towards the lake, which had a couple trees near it, thinking I could climb one to attempt to avoid the fighting.

As I ran, I looked side to side, seeing that I had lost Adaryn somewhere along the way. One other thing I saw, however, scared me to the point that I stumbled and almost fell. One soldier wearing dark gold armor, proper protection, and carrying a club, had spotted me and spurred his horse in my direction.

Looking ahead, I saw that the tree I was aiming for was still at least a hundred yards away. With the horseman gaining steadily, I knew that I would not make it. In my mind I thought one more time of my family and of how much I missed them. I heard the soldier directly behind me and suddenly felt a sharp, stabbing pain in the center of my back. I screamed and fell to the ground.

I fell quickly into unconsciousness listening to the screams of the dying.

* * *

Consciousness returned slowly, and with it pain. I was laying on my stomach. I tried opening my heavy lids, but could barely do so. They were weighed down by some unseen force. My limbs were, as well. No matter how I tried, I could not move. A high-pitched ringing lingered in my ears.

When I was finally able to open my eyes, after about fifteen minutes of consciousness, I saw that the battle was over.

The humble tents in the distance were roaring ablaze with flames so large that I could feel the heat from where I was. Bodies covered almost every foot of the ground between where I was and the camp. No more soldiers on horseback could be seen.

Very slowly, I braced the palms of my hands against the brown grass and began to push myself into a sitting position, pulling my knees under me. About halfway up, the pain in my mid-back returned, and I stopped moving until it subsided.

Now on my knees, I scanned the battlefield, seeing the same grim sight as before. Except for one thing.

Now that I was up, I saw a soldier on horseback standing still near the bank of the lake, staring directly at me. He was not dressed in Westerburn armor, but rather in black guard armor and a crimson cape. His dark colored horse was not in the slightest spooked by the bodies and fire in the proximity. Slowly, the soldier reached up, removed his helmet, and tucked it under his arm. As his dark hair fell loose, my heart began to pound it my chest.

It was Adonis. The traitor. The killer.

My first instinct was to lay back down and play dead, but I knew that he had already seen me. We stared at each other for what felt like hours before he lifted one hand and pointed to my right. Hestitantly, I looked.

A tree, one of few that were scattered around the lakeside, stood alone. It was not the one I had tried to climb, but now I saw that someone had.

A man was slumped against the trunk, unmoving. Confused, I looked back to Adonis, but he was nowhere to be seen. Though I knew that Adonis was not one to be trusted, I slowly began to stand, grunting in pain, and making my way towards the indicated tree. Adonis had done quite a bit of good. Leading our party, saving us from the cannibals where Jarve had lost his life, helping Clev and me get Adaryn help in the town inn when he collapsed.