Before the Battle

Reckoning 11/20

--Taira--

Shira was asleep. 

His head rested on my lap and I watched his peaceful face and stroked his hair gently. It was time for him to replace me on watch, but I didn't have the heart to wake him. I could see he was tired and needed rest more than I did.

We didn't make it to the place we'd planned and camped in a small valley with a stream running through it.

Our food supplies were almost gone, which meant we would have to stop at one of the settlements the next day.

It got even colder after dark, but my cautious companion forbade us to light a fire, even after he had carefully surveyed the area.

I didn't think the mercenaries were still after us, especially since Shira was leading us through mountains away from all the main routes.

Nevertheless, he insisted on patrolling at night.

I tangled my fingers in his raven hair, thoughts of the past few hours running through my mind.

Smiling, I remembered Shira's words about our future together and wondered what kind of gift he might have for me.

I should have woken Shira an hour ago to take over the watch, but I decided to let him rest. I wouldn't have been able to sleep anyway.

In the end I was proved wrong and my good intentions backfired. I failed to stay awake and dozed off on guard duty.

*

I was awakened by a gunshot.

I opened my eyes, confused at first, not understanding what was happening.

I looked around. Shira was nowhere to be seen. I quickly grabbed my weapon and tried to find my way in the surrounding darkness.

A body lay on the ground not far from me. Fear gripped me before I recognised the face. It didn't belong to Shira, but to a bearded man.

The man's throat was slit and his head lay in a huge pool of blood. His bulging eyes stared back at me, a low croak coming from his mouth as the last glimmer of life drained from the dying man.

Another shot rang out.

I scrambled to my feet and made my way to the sound. It was hard to move in the dark forest, a branch from one of the trees struck me in the face, a thornbush caught on the leg of my trousers.

I almost tripped over another corpse, overlooking it in the pile of leaves. I averted my eyes from the head, neatly severed from the body, grateful that the darkness hid most of the gory details.

I knew without a doubt that this was Shira's work. But where was he?

I gripped the gun tighter, my eyes already adjusting to the surrounding darkness. I heard branches crackling.

Someone was coming my way.

A man unexpectedly emerged from the darkness and ran past me. He was armed, an assault rifle slung over his shoulder. He didn't notice me, looking scared to death, stumbling over tree roots, still looking back, trying to get away as fast as he could.

Even though I had no overview of the situation, I couldn't let him get away.

I shot him in the leg.

He screamed and rolled to the ground. He whimpered softly, clutching his wounded knee. I approached him cautiously.

He stared at me, frozen with fear, making no effort to reach for his gun.

Another shot was fired.

I winced as the single shot went through the man's head.