“Not a word,” Valen hissed at Elena and I from up front and with good reason. Up ahead, just down the hill, was a camp of soldiers. Rows and columns of tents lined the clearing. There were at least two, maybe three hundred soldiers. At the far corner of the camp was a corral, made from makeshift posts. There were at least a dozen or so horses. To make matters worse, the color of their allegiance could be very easily seen. It was a red patch, with a single, white stripe that covered the upper portion of the insignia. “Andoan Regime.”
“If they’re here, why don’t they go help Crossroads?” I asked, keeping the volume of my voice down to a whisper. The Andoans looked like they had enough manpower to quell the riots and put the town back in order by the end of the day if they wanted to. But I couldn’t understand why they were just sitting about while townspeople and neighbors killed each other and burned their own homes down. “They could restore order by the end of the night.”
“That’s the idea, runt,” Valen said, his voice still low. I disregarded the name-calling while he was explaining this to me. “They’re waiting for the town to bleed itself dry. Up until the point where they don’t have the ability to choose who saves them.”
“That’s just immoral,” Elena said with much disgust in her voice. It was despicable. My town, my home, was burning to bits, my neighbors dead or dying, and here they were, waiting until Crossroads was just ripe for the taking. “Strategic or not, this is just wrong. Something needs to be done.”
“You have any plans, girl?” Valen asked sarcastically. “ ‘Cause I’m not exactly on friendly terms with these guys and the folks back up the river aren’t necessarily fond of us either. But if you have any plans that would ensure our safety and your town being saved, I’m all ears.”
“You’re a real jerk, you know that, Valen?” I said. I was getting fed up with him. He was supposed to be our guide and protector. The time for being a jerk would be later, not when there were too many lives at stake. “We just wanted someone to do the right thing for Crossroads.”
“Yeah, and look what that got him,” Valen said under his breath. I didn’t even think about anything when I snapped and lunged at him. I got up on his back and started hitting him in the back of the head. But like before, I wasn’t a physical equal for the veteran ranger. He flung me off, throwing me to the ground. The air was knocked out of me, but he didn’t return the punches, but for some reason, Elena was yelling at us.
“Stop!” she yelled. I put my arms down from where I laid on the ground. I wasn’t sure if it was just some trick that Valen was pulling on me, so I was still trying to anticipate some kind of attack. The next moment, Thomas was running over.
“What’s going on?” the next of the Daunderfell kin asked. “What happened?”
“Noting,” I said, getting up. Elena tried helping me up, but I felt my pride damaged, so I rejected the help. She looked sad for trying, but I was furious. I looked around. Valen was gone. But that didn’t mean the Andoans were going anywhere. “Valen decided to abandon us.”
Elena shot me a look.
“But- ” Thomas was about to say. For the first time in his rich, little life, he was going to have to fend for himself. I knew what that was like. I lived it for the past 12 years. Thomas, on the other hand, had just about everything provided for him. He never knew what it was like to starve or to be cold at night. I was surprised he hadn’t begun complaining about the cruelness of the outdoors already. “What do we do? Where do we go?”
What? Now a destination was supposed to be provided for him as well? I was not taking the role of leader, whether Valen really had left or not. There was still Howard...
