Air Warrrior

The Raid

I met Daivd near the horse stable, I helped him prepare the horses and equipment. I was nervous, I couldn't stop chewing on my lip as we worked. I wasn't scared for me though, I was scared of failing, of letting everyone down. I just have gotten lost in my thoughts because a strong hand startled me, bring me back to reality.

"You okay kid? I've been calling your name." David asked, concern in his voice.

"Sorry, I was just lost in my thoughts..." I looked at him, avoiding his gaze.

"Want to talk about it?" He said as he sat on the hay bale behind him. Motioning for me to sit. "The men won't be here for another 10 minutes or so."

I reluctantly sat down... I didn't want to tell him. It was embarrassing, I felt stupid. "It's me, I'm not going to judge you kid." He said, almost reading my mind.

"It's just_ I don't know. I'm scared of failing... what if I mess up or someone gets hurt because of something I do." I stared at the ground as I spoke.

"I am going to tell you the same thing your father told me when he was training me... Everyone is going to make mistakes, but you have to trust your team to have your back when you do. There is a war coming, there will be casualties on both sides. Some might be your fault, the only thing that you can do is make sure that you fight your hardest and leave everything you have out there on the battlefield."

He paused a moment before leaning forward, resting his hands on his knees. He turned his head slightly, looking towards me. "You are going to be fine; you are a great warrior. So, just fight your hardest every time and you will do just fine kid."

I met his eyes, "Thanks David... I'm lucky to have you watching my back." I pulled him into a hug, and he wrapped his arm around me, laughing a bit. Our moment was interrupted by the Prince and the rest of the men. There were 5 men, me and the Prince going on this mission. We climbed on our horses and rode into the woods. David led, followed behind by Chris and then two men side by side behind him, me and another man rode behind them and then another brought up the end of the line. We rode for about 20 minutes until we approached the boarder. We dismounted from our horses.

David motioned towards the east, there was smoke from a fire that was visible. "Alright, David, Robert and Sky, go around that side." He pointed towards the small cliff, "Mark and John stay here and approach from head on, Samuel and I will go left. We will surround them and then make our move. Wait for my signal." We all nodded and paired off. I pulled my staff out, gripping it tight in my hand.

We climbed the small cliff and looked out towards the camp. I saw figures moving around on the other side, it must have been Samuel and Chris because David motioned towards them. We both nodded, acknowledging his signal. I looked around at the camp site. The fire was large, it lit the entire site, pouring smoke out. There were three tents set up but, I couldn't see anyone. "Somethings not right..." It came out as a whisper. David turned to me, confused. "Why would they build a fire so large this close to the boarder?" I thought out loud.

"Unless they wanted us to find it..." David finished my thought. We saw Chris getting ready to make his move. I felt the air around me, I listened to it closely. that's when I heard it, voices.

"They're close." I looked around, searching for any sign. That's when I saw it, a blade reflecting off the moons light. Before I had time to say anything, three men jumped down for the trees. We drew our weapons and fought. I could hear the grunts and clangs of swords around me. They slowly pushed us back into the camp site. I searched the night, looking for Chris as I knocked the knight the ground. He was fighting a knight; I saw them sparring and out of the corner of my eye I saw a man charging towards them. "Chris, watch out!" I stepped towards him, pushing a ball of wind towards the man, sending him flying into the tree behind him. He landed with a thud as a tree branch impaled his torso.

Chris looked at the guy, only for a second but long enough for the knight to stab his shoulder. He grunted as he kicked the knight back. "Chris!" I punched the air, sending thrust of wind at the guy, sending him flying. He landed and he drove his sword through his stomach. He turned towards me, concerned; the men rushed to meet us. One of the men checked on his shoulder.

"It's just a cut but, you're bleeding quite a bit. We should head back." Mark said as he tied a cloth around his shoulder causing him to quince in pain slightly.

"They're over here. Tell the men to surround them." I hear a faint voice yell in the distance as the wind hit my ear.

"There are more men coming... a lot more. We need to leave." I said looking around. David nodded.

"Alright, Samuel, Mark and Robert take lead, keep the Prince surrounded as you ride back." He shouted as they helped Chris onto his horse and then began to ride off. "Sky, John, I need you guys to follow them, I am going stay and try to draw them away."

We looked at one another. John shook his head slightly and motioned for me to go. I looked at David who was mounting his hose already. "I can help." He looked at me and shook his head,

"No. Head back to the castle."

"One person riding isn't going to fool them. If you want to keep them busy long enough for them to reach the castle, you're going to need my help. I can send a gust of wind west making it look like there is movement that way. Let me help." I stood my ground as David looked to John. He sighed and reached his hand out.

"You ride with me, send the guest of wind that way. John, you follow close behind."

I closed my eyes, allowing the wind to surround me. I planted my heels in the ground as I spun my staff in a circle and pushed the wind outward. The leaves rustled as the wind moved through the trees. I got on the back of David's horse, and we rode, following the wind. "Over there, they went west."

"They bought it; they're coming this way." I said as we galloped through the woods. We were moving fast; I could feel every bump as the horse ran. I heard the sound of other horses and men shouting behind us. John was beside us side by side as we rode. Suddenly, our horse whined stumbling sending us flying through the air. David fell to the ground, sliding into a tree with a groan. I tucked and rolled, letting the air bring me to ground as I landed on my feet. John slowed down and I saw the arrow sticking out of the stomach of our horse. David got to his feet, grabbing my staff and tossing it to John. "GO! NOW!" He took off into the woods.

Before I could even speak David grabbed me, "listen to me Sky. They do not know you are the Air Warrior. You cannot tell them. Don't use your powers. Do you hear me?" I looked at him with panic on my face as he yelled at me. "They are going to try to get information from us, they need us alive. Don't let them find out Skylar." I nodded as the men surrounded us. David dropped to his knees with his hands up, I did the same.

"Take them alive, the King will want to question them." The Guards tied us up and threw us on their horses as we rode to the Ash Relm castle. When we arrived, they put us in different cells in dungeon.