There's Crows In The Garden | 3rd Life AU

.: The First Conflict :.

TWs: fighting, mentions of war, blood

***

It was during the second day of marching, while we were passing through the very edge of Baron Joel's territory, that an arrow whizzed over my head and thunked into a nearby tree. 

"What was that?" asked Ren, who had been looking back at the army when the arrow flew over me. As if I needed an explanation, he added, "I heard a strange noise."

"Arrow." I lowered my voice. "Someone's got eyes on us."

"Hmm," said Ren. He called the army to a stop, and while we waited for the other leaders to get to our position at the front of the group, he murmured to me, "Do you think it's Joel? We're in his territory, and not far from his manor."

I shrugged. "Could be."

"What's going on?" asked Skizz, popping up next to us. "Is everything alright?"

As if to answer him, an arrow landed frighteningly close to his feet. He took a step back, away from the arrow sticking out of the dirt.

"That's what's going on," I told him after he'd stood there in shocked silence for a moment. 

"Jeez," he whispered, "that could've hit me!"

"I think that was the point," I muttered to myself. Ren must've heard me because he snorted out a laugh. Skizz gave us a questioning look but, thankfully, didn't press for an explanation.

Before long, the rest of the leaders joined us up at the front of the army. Ren was saved from having to explain anything by another arrow striking a nearby tree. 

"That's from the Baron's," BigB said immediately. "He sees us from his roof, I bet."

"Should we go confront him?" asked Ren. "We have an army . . . not many bowmen, though."

Impulse frowned. "What if there's others up there with him? I think we could out-shoot him, but if he has a big group with him, we won't have a chance."

"I'll scout it out." Before anyone could object, Etho had slipped into the woods and out of sight.

Unable to do much else, we all waited anxiously for Etho's return. I looked up at the sky, meaning to try to figure out about what time it was, but was side-tracked by a crow circling lazily above the trees. Ren followed my gaze and announced, "Look, a raven!" to the other leaders. Thankfully, if anyone else knew it was a crow instead, they didn't say so.  

"Scott, Scott's guard, and Cleo are all up there with him," Etho reported upon his return. "It was hard to tell from my angle, but I think they were watching you."

"Only those four?" Ren scoffed. "We can beat them, easy."

"Should I gather the archers?" asked Skizz. 

Ren shook his head, a confident smile worming its way onto his face. "No, let's just go up ourselves. We outnumber them, six to four."

"My King, they have the high ground," I reminded him, but he couldn't be shaken.

"I only want to talk. If they start shooting and it's looking bad, we can retreat."

I didn't agree with Ren's decision, but he was the King and I was the Hand, and no matter how close we were, I would never dare argue with something he'd said with such finality. In the end, he was the one who made the choices, not I.

And so, Ren told the soldiers they could rest for a little while (to which they all cheered), and the five leaders and I made our way through the woods to Joel's manor. As soon as we arrived in the clearing, we had four nocked arrows pointed at our faces from above.