Champion Revised: A Songs of War Novel

Chapter 5

Thalleous ran out of Eterden. A platoon of Mendaris was running towards the fire, carrying buckets. He followed them to the flames. Grabbing a bucket, he threw the contents onto the flames.

"Lieutenant!" yelled the platoon commander, judging Thalleous' rank by his pauldrons, "Get to the east! They're undermanned!"

"Yes, sir!" sounded back Thalleous. He dashed towards the left, finding a shop engulfed in flames. He saw troops–his troops–putting out the quickly spreading blaze, and raced over to help them.

"How's it coming?" he asked.

"It's not great, sir. The flames are spreading too fast!" His sergeant threw one of his many buckets on the fire, pulling new ones out of his satchel regularly. Thalleous grabbed a stray bucket and began to help extinguish the flames.

"Go get the rest of our battalion on this!" the lieutenant yelled. "Before it spreads to the civilian homes!" Thalleous could barely see through the smoke, and the orange-red flames licked at the trees. He prepared another bucket as the sergeant left. Suddenly, he saw a shadowy figure walking through the forest, barely distinguishable from the fire.

"Get over here!" Thalleous barked. "We need help!"

The figure turned to him. There were red marks on his skin. When the stranger saw the lieutenant, it quickly turned and ran. Thalleous drew his broadsword and pursued. He ran through the fire, leaping over stumps of trees and fallen stones. The stranger was panting...And, Thalleous could have sworn, crying.

Thalleous could swear he heard the figure sob several times throughout their chase. The lieutenant leapt over obstacles that the red-orange creature had to crawl over. Thalleous couldn't tell if its strange colorations were reflections from the fire or its own skin. Just as the shadowy figure clambered over a log, it tripped and fell on its face. Thalleous caught up to the red creature and, as it was getting up, tackled it back to the ground.

"Who are you?" he demanded. He turned the figure over and saw black features with orange outlines.

"Netheran!" He yelled. "Netheran!"

"No! Don't!" The netheran yelled. "I'm not here to hurt you!"

"We're under attack!" Thalleous yelled, ignoring the enemy soldier. "Netheran!"

The attacker suddenly rolled over, pinning Thalleous to the ground with his knees. The netheran clapped a hand over his captor's mouth. "I'm not going to kill you," he whispered. "Look!"

The Netheran unstrapped his sword from his belt. He breathed heavily. "I am Pridiral. I am not here to attack you, but my people are." He removed his hand from Thalleous' mouth. Thalleous heard Prdiral's voice and noticed he sounded quite young, only an adolescent.

Despite every cell in Thalleous' body begging him to sound the alarm, something inside him made him want to hear Pridiral out.

"A battalion from the Nether is coming here. They will strike in only a few hours."

"And why have you betrayed your dimension?"

Pridiral helped the lieutenant up. "I betray not my people, but their sins."

"And yet, that would still leave the fact that you saved us, Overworld denizens."

"Not you, Ardoni. my friend, Tygren," Pridiral whispered.

Thalleous' eyes widened. "Tygren Voltaris is a murderer. Why should I believe you are any different?"

"Tygren is no killer. He fled to the nether after Sendaris raiders captured Mount Taithus."