The Dead war.

Chapter one: Serena

Chapter one: Serena

"You realized you hit like a girl," Nathaniel said, taunting me. I always laughed even when I hated his jokes
"What do you want me to hit like, you?" I scoffed and then laughed.
"Ok what is that supposed to mean" Nathaniel said faking being offended.
We circled each other in the ring a few times before I grabbed his arm and twisted my body until his feet were off the ground and spun my body and slammed him on the soft foam holding his arm behind his back and kneeled on his back.
"Ok fine fine! You win" he exclaimed.
"What did I tell you Nate, you can't win against me," I wiped my face with the towel "what is that 50-0 by now" I said with a grin
"Ok that's not fair! I have won a couple fights" he said wiping his face off with his towel
I walked off the foam mat, my feet landing on the cold concrete. Other knights fought grunting and cursing. It always made me laugh that this was what I was doing in my spare time no matter how much my father protested.
I spoke as I walked towards the showers "Really how many fights have you won" I said smirking. I knew he couldn't see my face but the feeling was just as satisfying because I knew how he was reacting. I already knew he had a puzzled look on his face.
"I will win you one day!" Nathaniel said.
"You wish" Thomas said, watching us fight Nathaniel was Thomas' son so to watch him tease Nate was satisfyingly hilarious. I turned to look at him and smirked and he winked at me Thomas was like a second father to me. He was a tall and very bulky and buff man. He didn't look his Age one bit. His long grey/black hair was tied back in a ponytail that hung down his back. He leaned on the wall, his arms crossed.
I laughed joyfully and cheered. Nate looked at me and smirked. I ran away laughing and Thomas chuckled as I ran to the women's showers away from Nate and spit my tongue at him. I turned on the water with a twist of the nob. The hot water ran down my skin, washing the sweat and dirt off of my body from the ring. After practice with Thomas, I placed my hands on the wall and put my head down and let the water run down my long black hair. I washed my hair twice to make sure I washed all of the dirt and grime off of my body. I was in there for what felt like an hour before I turned the water off and got dressed in my leather pants and boots and put my black tank top on and walked out of the showers back up into my fathers room. My father was watching out the window. I opened the door and jumped grabbing mh dagger that sat on my thigh.
" Father! You scared me!" I said in a jumpy tone
" Where have you been Serena?" my father said, sounding worried and angry.
" I was training with Thomas and Nate" " dad will you please stop worrying I'm fine. I know you want me to be a perfect princess but that's not who I am. Not anymore" I said, setting my stuff down and returning my dagger to my hilt. My father sighed and rubbed his face.
"I know, but why can't you respect my wishes Serena, being a knight is dangerous! You could die." My father exclaimed.
"I know, but father but being a princess, being proper, bouncing around curtsying to everyone, wearing a dress that I can't breathe out of. That's not me. I like getting dirty being in the dirt, the rain when it pours, fighting, that's what I like doing" I said and I could tell my tone was harsh and a bit whiny but I didn't care.
"I'm not some proper princess who marries a prince and unites different nations. I'm a fighter, a warrior." I said pleading with him now. "Serena, you're not listening!" My father yelled. I turned back to face him.
"No! You're not listening! I finally found out who I am. Why can't you just accept that! So I'm not a perfect princess or a proper lady but I am who I am. And that's not changing." I grabbed my stuff and my jacket and shoved my bow and arrow in my case and put it on my back. I pulled my hair into two braids on each side of my head and left the top and bottom of my hair curled. A classic hairstyle that was common for our people. It showed you were a powerful person. Once my long black hair was set in place I slammed my door and walked out. My mother stood at the window outside of my room and turned to say something. "Not now mom" I said walking away. I heard her pleading with me to stay and listen but I was already out of the door and running towards the forest Nathaniel was chasing after me. I reached the woods and stopped catching my breath. Suddenly I heard a branch snap behind me. I turned swiftly and threw my dagger at the thing coming up behind me. I heard Nathaniel yelp and drop to the ground.
"Are you trying to kill me!" He said in a huff "you snuck up on me you idiot!" I exclaimed, helping him up. " I didn't sneak up on you! I have been yelling our name for the last 10 minutes!" He said brushing himself off. I sighed and walked further away. "Serena what happened! I'm guessing he didn't take your offer well." He said, grabbing my arms. "I didn't get to ask him. He yelled at me for wanting to fight. It's the same thing with him every day." I said Turning to face him. His face softened as he looked into my eyes I rolled my eyes and walked away knowing he was gonna say something stupid like 'don't worry' or 'he'll come around'. Me and Nathaniel continued to walk as we approached a broken log. I heard voices and then a twig snapped. I grabbed Nathaniel and pulled him to the ground harder than I meant to. He groaned and I put my hand over his mouth and put my finger up to my lips. We both crouched grabbing out weapons Nathaniel had a crossbow and a gun and I had my bow and arrow.
"Who are they? No one is supposed to be out here this far away from town" I whispered while still crouching. I looked at Nathaniel and he returned the look shrugging his shoulders. I slowly moved keeping my stance low to the ground moving as quickly and quietly as possible Nathaniel following. I kept moving as I approached a camp with people gathered around talking and laughing. They didn't look like people from our town or our kingdom. We hid behind some trees enough to hide but if we moved or made a sound they would know where we were. I looked over at Nate as he watched the people and then looked over at me.
"How long do you think it will take" one voice said
A female voice spoke up next
"Days maybe, weeks we have to know their plan of attack. The queen is getting weaker by the day. And the king is getting impatient." I watched in horror as they had two women and two men tied up to a tree. I recognized the women and the men whose children were always at the party I held on Fridays. They looked horrible, their faces were bruises and bloody arms were swollen and bruises a deep purple around the rope. A tall man exited the tent he had loose pants on and a loose white V neck shirt.
"Do we really have to keep them tied up like this? Is it really necessary?" The man was strong looking and he had large muscles that filled out the sleeves in his shirt that hung perfectly around his body. He looked like he worked out at least 4 times a week, maybe more, I could see the muscles in his arms. He was tanner in complexion compared to me and Nate. His facial features were perfect. He had a sharp and chiseled jaw and chin and beard that looked more like stubble than a beard. That perfectly framed his jaw. They continued to talk while Nate grabbed my arm and I snapped back into reality. We moved away from the people and the camp and got what we thought was a good distance away before we extended our bodies. Nate took a step to stretch and landed on a branch that snapped beneath his weight. I grabbed his arm and put my finger to my lips and shushed him.
Suddenly we heard the rushing of footsteps and voices.
"Shoot!" I yelled and pushed Nate forward "Let's go! We need to run!" Nate continued to run as I chased after him. I heard footsteps getting closer. I turned to see the female catching up with me. I grabbed my bow and arrow and let an arrow fly. It hit her in her left thigh and she fell to the ground screaming in pain. I continued to run and sprinted catching up with Nate. He was slowing down. I grabbed his arm and pulled him forward. We heard an arrow whiz past our head. I pushed Nate forward and told him to go get backup. I would hold them off. "No! You're not gonna risk your life. If you get hurt your father will never let you become a knight!" He yelled back while we continued to run.
"I don't care Nate! Just go! I can handle them!" I yelled, pushing him away from me. I held out my bow firing arrow after arrow. I watched as the people around me fell, getting hit with my arrows. The female who I assumed was the leader yelled for everyone to retreat. The final 6 people along with the leader ran deeper into the forest. She turned to look at me. The fabric she wore made it so I could only see the top half of her face. I also had a fabric cloth covering my face except for my eyes. "I would leave if I were you" I said in a menacing tone. I held my bow out in front of me and stared at her. My face was stone cold showing no fear whatsoever. The man in the white V neck that I had seen earlier yelled for her to come. She looked between the two before screaming of frustration and ran in the opposite direction!
I continued to hold my bow in front of me, walking back slowly. When I knew I was Clear I turned to run and ran as fast as I could back into the walls of the kingdom 25 knights and guards waited for me. Nate ran to me and hugged me.
"Dude I was gone for 10 minutes" I said, pushing him off.
"I know but we heard screaming and arrows, everyone thought you died." He said with a worried tone. Thomas approached with a worried look on his face. "Serena what happened." He said with a hurried tone.
" I have no clue, I was going on a walk clearing my head. I heard a brand snap and then voices. I snuck around to a tree and I saw a camp filled with at least 20 of them. And they had 4 prisoners. Two females and two male. People from our town." I replied in a calm tone.  "They are from the other kingdom, their queen is weak and their king is getting impatient. I don't know why they are but that's what I heard." I continued. Thomas stood with his hand stroking his beard. "They want to know our plan of attack and how we plan to take them down. So they are sending in spies. It's a good tactic but a dangerous one. We can't trust any new people who arrive in town. I will talk to King Gabriel, maybe we can send an expedition on our own to their kingdoms." He said he looked at me and motioned for me to follow him. "Nate, take everyone back inside for now, and make sure everyone stays in their houses. We don't know if they will return but we need to be safe." Thomas said and Nate nodded and he left while the guards and knights returned to their posts and their jobs. I followed Thomas to my fathers quarter. Thomas knocked and my mother opened the door. My father was standing at the window and rushed over to Thomas when he entered. "Thomas what's all commotion about. I saw everyone gathering at the entrance." He said in a rushed and worried tone.
"Sir there were spies caught in the woods to the south of the castle beyond the wall. Your daughter came upon them with my son. She stayed behind and held them Off while Nate ran to come get us. We heard more screaming and arrows flying, luckily Serena didn't get hit." Thomas explained my father looked furious but also worried.
"Dad, I'm fine, I know what you're going to say. But I did what I needed to do to protect our people. I did my duty." I explained. My father didn't say anything, instead he just nodded "I want to lead an expedition over to Prophis, send in spies whatever just to find out what that has planned, they sent spies so I want to send spies to their kingdoms. If they are going to attack soon we need to know how and when and where." Thomas explained
"And you think this is a good idea" my father turned to me. "Yes dad, when I watched their group I learned that their queen is weak and the king is getting impatient waiting for a doctor to wander into the town, so we send spies over there with our doctor." I said before I stopped my father and Thomas urged me to go on. "So I thought what if we sent an expedition over to Prophis and took his son, the prince, and used him as leverage. We get what we want the upper hand. And when we win we hand the prince back over." I said confidently. Thomas looked over to me in surprise and in awe and with a look that showed  he was proud. My father thought about it for a moment and then my mom spoke up "Gabriel what our daughter is saying is smart. It will give us the upper hand the one thing we need to win this war and be separated from Prophis forever. We need to do this." My father nodded and then spoke To Thomas. "Alright tomorrow moring send an team out with one of the doctors, pretend you heard word that the queen is sick and you want to help her and you are there to try and heal the queen, and the other guard will be bodyguards to the doctor. and when the opportunity presents itself I want you to knock out the prince and take him out of the kingdom and get back here as soon as possible." My father explained. And Thomas began to walk out. "Thomas, I want you to sit out on this one. I want Serena to lead this expedition. And IF you succeed in bringing back the price. You can become the new Chief in command of my army." My father said, I had to keep from cheering and screaming for joy Thomas grinned at me. "Thank you father" I said as I left the room Nathaniel waited leaning on the wall.
"So how did it go?" He said impatiently. "You are looking at the leader of the new expedition." I said proudly "and if I can achieve this then I will become the new Chief of the Army with you in my second command." I said playfully, shoving him with my hips. He laughed and it made me laugh. Nathaniel had one of those laughs that even in my darkest days made me chuckle.
I walked to the bottom right wing where the king's army had a conference room. I called everyone to the room and entered while they all sat in their chairs. I took Thomas's chair pushing it aside standing, Everyone looked confused but Thomas waved them off and pointed to me.
"As most of you are aware, the Prophis people sent over 20 spies to our kingdom to find out our plans of attack. I managed to kill 14 of them with 6 still remaining that fled back into the woods. The king ordered that we arrange a team to enter into Prophis and take a doctor with us. We are to say we heard word of the queen's illness and came to help, we will be the doctors bodyguards. We will treat the queen but barely. And when the time is right we are ordered to kidnap Prince Oliver and take him back to Umbris as soon as possible. We will need to take food and water and camping gear. A week-long expedition." I explained to everyone, every man in the room nodded. Henry, Arthur, David, Oscar, Charlie and Liam all volunteered and me and Nate Also were going, Liam was our Doctor, he was a well build man with bleach blond almost white hair, he was 6"1 and very well put together, he came to us as a boy who was taught how to be a doctor at the young age of 11. He has been our doctor for 14 years. He is 25 now and he felt like a brother. I was always there getting something fixed because I wasn't the most careful when fighting.
We all split after I handed all the information over to the men. I went to the kitchen to talk to Luna and her mother, she was our youngest cook. She was only 15 working alongside her mother. "Hi Luna, Hi Marcie, how's it going?" I said as I hugged Luna "it's going alright darling what can I do for you" Marcie said "We are leaving on an expedition I am leading and I need some quick food and those canteens that filter water." I said with a grimace knowing it was a lot. "How many do you need?" she asked "just seven" I responded "can you also make a Bunch of Sandwiches" I asked again "I have enough to make 90 sandwiches" she replied looking through her supplies. "That's perfect I will bring you some more on our way back" I said and she smiled. I hugged them both and said thank you. I walked back to my room and prepared for the long Journey ahead.