Army of Death

Chapter 1

Astrid stared into the eyes of the man who was going to kill her. They were dark, almost black, but had a glint of auburn shining through. He didn't stare at her with hate or disgust like those around her. In fact, what caught her attention was that his eyes were guarded, too guarded. The eyes of a man with many secrets.

The curious part of her wondered what exactly he was hiding under his well-built mask. He looked straight forward to the two men walking towards us. He bowed at them and she looked up, jolting when she saw who was in front of her. It wasn't the Commander that startled her, she knew he was going to be here, but the boy next to him; with the white-blond hair and the dazzling blue eyes.

"Hello sister," Daniel said and her stomach dropped, "I must say, you have seen better days".

She was frozen. She thought she was numb to surprises and betrayals, but all she can think about was him holding her in his arms after another one of their father's bursts, "don't worry," he used to whisper to her, "I love you Astrid, I will protect you". But he couldn't protect her, and now he looked so much like him. She was back to being that little girl again, small and afraid.

"Have something to say?" He chuckled.

"Nothing" she replied solemn, "only you seem to take so much after our father".

His wince was barely noticeable, "My father," he spat, "I'm not half-mutt like you". He laughed, "Disgusting," and spat at her feet.

Her temper flared and she jolted up, but she was stopped by the Commander's voice, "enough" he said, "the Court is ready for you".

"Oh this is rich," she chuckled.

"Your future is funny to you?" The Commander asked.

"Only the thought that any Herrmate will allow me to live," she replied.

"The Court is the Herrmate way," the Commander said, careful not to include her. Not our way, but the Herrmate.

She found herself wishing she is half-human, but not for the first time. It was always a bit of a scandal if a Herrmate shacked up with a human, more so if he or she was a royal, but they are mostly left alone. "Come," the Commander interrupts her thoughts with his infamous one syllable orders. She got up and did her best not to limp across the hall.

She took a mental count of her injuries. Two broken wrists from her previous escape attempt, fractured knee, and probably two broken ribs. She's been through worse. Maybe if she... She was pushed from the back by Brown Eyes holding her cuffs. Not that they are necessary. To brake hold of the spells themselves was impossible.

Being half-Herrmate meant that she could do some spells, as well as some elements, but she favored her shifter side. Fast healing, swift movement, better senses, and of course shifting. The court door opens and she was stunned. The room was flawless, golden, and threatening.

The walls dripped history with murals of myths glistening on the sides and all to draw attention to the glass roof that streams in sunlight and was a work of art itself.

She was not here to admire, and she was directed to the stand. The Commander took his place at the stand, higher than the army of people staring down at her. "Astrid Camellia Azar", The Commander chocked out her last name with nothing to replace it by. "You are hereby accused of theft of the Great Treasury, assault of The Guard, destruction and arsenic of two Capital buildings, resisting multiple attempts of arrest, use of two illegal spells, Caprisus and Vestuli Merada, and being of mixed bloods of a shifter. How do you plead?"

The room was void of any noise while she tried to keep her shoulders up as if it doesn't cause her enormous pain. The Herrmate stared. Of course they knew the rumors about her, but they just were confirmed by the very people who probably tried to quite them.

They expected a monster, like the ones they tell their kids, not a young girl of seventeen. Brown Eyes next to me looks surprised, his brows slightly lifted, showing the most emotion she's yet to see from him. She looked the Commander straight in the eye, "If I admit to the crimes listed, am I allowed to list the crimes the Court committed against me?" She said with a smirk on her face.

Gasps echo the domed room and murmurs of the "Devil's Child" spread about like wildfire. I blocked out the frantic whispers and look straight forward as the Commander calls for order. "Do you.." he draws out like he is speaking to a disobedient child, "plead guilty?" she looks him in the eye and musters her courage. She hoped he saw her hate and disgust as she said "yes" without hesitation, in a steady tone.

He smiled, "Well if that is settled the court.." "If I may sir," interrupted the voice next to me. "Yes Captain Graywell?" The Commander responded hesitantly. Now her brows went up. She saw he was high rank, but to control and lead the entire guard and army was surprising at such a young age. Although she's not really in a position to know court gossip.

"I think killing her off is a waste sir, if I may, it would be poetic if we put her in the army as a First Fleet member in the battle against the shifters," he proclaimed as her stomach dropped.

"Interesting," the Commander murmured, "To a vote then, all in favor?" he asked.

She barely heard anything. All the voices around her turns to white noise as she is shocked into a petrified still. The vote passed, she understood from the Herrmate around her. Some clapped as others are saddened that there will not be an execution. She is to be sent to the First Fleet. The biggest insult anyone can get.

Murders and rapists fairs better. The fleet was made up of the worst criminals of the Herrmate or the rare humans that get wrapped up in this world. They were the first to battle and handled the hardest of the labor. The expected time to survive is two weeks, if she was lucky. Or not lucky at all she thought. She was right before, she thought, as she looked over to Graywell. He was going to kill her.