Hell's War

Chapter Thirteen

After Lila had stopped crying and calmed down, she goes and lays down on her bunk, facing the wall and clearly trying to avoid telling her story. We wisely respect her wishes and, after gossiping about inane topics, we go to sleep.

I wake up slowly to the sound of marching feet. I lay on my hard bunk for a while, hoping that no-one will disturb me, and, I don't know, make me fight in a battle that seems a bit pointless. I'm starting to have second thoughts about helping anyone at all. As I'm thinking this, a plan starts to form in my mind.

'Tanya?' The voice startles me out of my reverie, and I turn to face the doorway. It is, of course, Emmaline.

'Yeah?' I ask.

'Wake your friends and go to to Athena's office.' she orders. I quickly comply.

'Wake up!' I yell once Emmaline has left. Cole and Roshni are up and alert within seconds, but Lila just rolls over and groans.

'Wake up Lila!' I yell in her ear.  She sits bolt upright, looking shocked. She looks around quickly, and, seeing us laughing, quickly realises what happened. Once I've caught my breath, I explain why I woke them up, and we all head over to Athena's office. When we get over there, we see Athena looking happier than ever. She seems to like the prospect of war.

'Tanya, I've mobilised my troops, and I just need you to create that battle field I was talking about.' she says excitedly, sounding for all the world like a teenage girl instead of a war hardened leader. I nod and start to concentrate. I create it in the no-mans-land between the two camps, with a wide tunnel leading from there to the main exit from this camp. I keep wondering when and if I'll put my plan into action, or if I'll get too scared and just do what Athena says.

'It's done. Just follow the wide path that connects to the main exit.' I say. Athena smiles. And lets just say that it's not a very nice smile. She stands and walks out of the room. We follow, not knowing what else to do. She marches to the main exit, where the army she's mustered up is waiting for her. She takes her place at the front, while we go and stand at the back, trying to be unnoticeable. After Athena's victory speech, which I didnt really listen to, we set off.

Two hours later we enter the battle field. All of the soldiers line up. Athena approaches me.

'Tanya, now I need you to get the enemy soldiers here. The sight of us and the fact that we have their leader will make sure that they fight!' she exclaims. I focus on the enemy camp, sensing where everyone is. Then I enclose them all in rock and pull them into the battle field.