DARKNESS

DARKNESS | Chapter 34

CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR

"Aaron, I need you to lead a group up the left side of the castle and break through the side door," Marcus commands the Rebel I briefly remember meeting in the forest one time. "Take whoever you can find- the front doors are impenetrable."

"Yes Sir," Aaron commands, removing his sword from its sheath as he quickly rushes off to recruit some fellow soldiers.

"Morgan, I need you to take a group to the back of the castle and attack from behind- we need to try catch them off-guard if we want to secure a victory. I don't want you to march straight around- sneak through the bushes for as long as you can, got it?"

"Yes Sir." And then he's off, in the same manner and fashion that Aaron had been.

"Dad," Brayden says, "if that's all, I'm going to join the fight."

"No- you need to help me with strategy, son."

"That's just your excuse to keep me safe. I won't stand here while the rest of everyone I know are over there-" he points to the battlefield. We currently stand a little bit away from all that, atop a small hill under the cover of the tree. "- fighting. I want to join them. I want to help."

"Son-"

"You don't understand!" Brayden's frustration only grows by the second. "This is the first time we've not concealed ourselves. The first time we haven't hid with baited breath or fled in fear as the Shadows encroached. I'm going to be a part of this."

The pained surrender is visible in Marcus' eyes even before the words leave his mouth. "Okay. Just... Come back to me, got it?"

Marcus envelopes Brayden in a hug, slapping him on the back a few times in an affectionate manner. Then Brayden turns to me, encompassing me in a hug.

"What, no goodbyes?" He jokes when I, for once, remain quiet.

"This isn't goodbye, Brayden," I tell him easily, "I'll see you at the end of all this."

"Harper, don't let Ash's words get to you, okay?" He ducks his head slightly to look directly into my eyes with his own green ones. "You are all kinds of amazing, and you're the Saviour. If anyone, you'll be the one to come out alive at the end of this."

"Don't say that."

"I'm being entirely honest with you. When people see you, you give them courage and strength; they will follow you no matter what. I think you are yet to realise how entirely important and influential you are."

I offer him a small smile, turning his words over in my mind as he and Kale engage in a man-hug.

And then with one last look at the three of us, and without another word, Brayden runs down onto the battlefield.

"Marcus, we need to do something," I tell him pointedly, a few moments later. "Let us help."

"I cannot allow that. The both of you are high priority right now."

"Look, we are not not under your command," Kale steps in. "But we are here to help. And, don't you think that I, if anyone, would know how to do just that?"

Marcus takes a step forward, staring him dead in the eyes. It doesn't serve to make him look intimidating, only angry. "You know what I think? I think if I send you out there, you won't be able to participate because you know the Shadows. It's simple, really- I don't think you'd have the heart to kill them."

I retrieve my bow from a nearby tree and pull an arrow from my back, loading it loosely in. My feet begin to carry me towards the battlefield before Marcus can object. I don't take orders from him, or anyone for that matter. I don't even belong to a select army. I'm my one-man troupe, but maybe that's all I can ever be as the Saviour.