Swords of the Secret Son

Chapter 22 - Vander Treyani

"Rehnnyn!" I cried.

"My - my boy, I wish I could have - could have been there for you. Kill her. For me. I'm so - so sorry," he whispered and his head fell to the ground. Dead.

"Welcome, centaurs! King Eribran, thank you for joining the right side!" Arwen's voice echoed across the battlefield and I shuddered at the sound of my mother's voice.

"The - the centaurs - the centaurs did this," I whispered. I was grateful for the protection of my enchanted shield at that moment as my hands were too shaky to slay any creature, let alone those traitorous centaurs. "The centaurs did this!" I yelled, my voice growing in confidence. All heads that weren't already on the shield looked at me. I hugged my dead father's head as tears flew down my cheeks, blurring my sight.

"No. I did!" A voice shouted. I flipped my head around after sidestepping to avoid another arrow and found the source.

"You little -" I yelled back at the boy, now twenty one years old, who had made my childhood miserable. He had grown a foot since I last saw him, along with a beard and a staff. So he had been trained to be a wizard.

"Now, now, Vander. You don't want to -" my brother began, pointing his staff in my direction. I could tell he was still an apprentice because the staff hadn't the mage's symbol at the base and the engravings were very simple.

"You don't tell me what to do, Daysen, you son of a b*tch! You killed him! You killed my father! Of course you joined Vision, you traitor," I interrupted, noticing the sign of Whitewood engraved on his chest plate. I placed Rehnnyn's head on the ground carefully, tightening , my grip around my sword.

"You're lucky we wizards are few, as that shield of yours may protect you from blades, but not from this," Daysen smirked and raised his staff, sending a spell in the form of a cold, bright, green gust of wind in my direction. I side stepped quickly, yet the clearly dark magic hit me square in the chest and sent me flying backwards. If only I had two shields, for I had to fight Daysen myself because Draakschalen was focusing on a herd of centaurs trying to get to me.

"I underestimated you," I admitted and coughed up a lump of blood once Daysen jumped on me.

"Father forced me to fight for Vision," he said quietly. "But I do not regret this." Daysen took Rehnnyn's sword, Rehnnyn's sword, from the ground (I cannot stress how much this made me hot with anger enough.) and held it high above my head.

"Screw you," I spat and kneed him where it hurts. Hard. I jumped up, smashed him in the face with the hilt of my sword, and said one final goodbye to Rehnnyn. I ran off and heard the shield zooming behind me, allowing myself one minute of rest while letting it do the work. I observed the battle scene unfold around me.

The centaurs were plucking off Resistance members one by one, trampling the occasional dwarf accidentally. The elves were perched in trees, attempting to weaken the centaurs' force to little avail. Men were fighting for both sides, with a few dwarves fighting with the Resistance or a nymph fighting with Vision. I sprinted into the fight, murdering a dwarf who was about to pierce his sword into Queen Kallianassa's heart.

"Thanks, boy," she gasped. "Remember, I still need -"

"Vision's Eye, I know. I promise," I replied quickly and bowed, helping the queen to her feet and moving on to face the next opponent. The centaurs came marching in with even stronger forces. It seemed that if one centaur fell, three more would come to take their place and kill the times the Resistence. What had Arwen offered the centaurs that made them fight so mercilessly for her? The centaurs were selfish creatures; they only did something if it was beneficial to their own well being. There wasn't a single centaur fighting along side the Resistence. That was quite odd; usually at least a small group from a species would have different views as the majority. Arwen's power surely extended farther than my knowledge.