Warrior (#Wattys 2016)

Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Reaching the end of their realm boarders, Lord Virote turned to his men, "From this moment forward, we will be at war. Once we cross into the Forth Realm we will stay clear of all towns and roads. However, when we come across small villages, we will take only their food and livestock.

Any man that tries to interfere will be killed. The children and elderly will not be harmed and the church is their safe haven. Anyone that disobeys my orders, will be killed."

"My Lord? What about the women?" a warrior asked.

"Do what you want with the women but leave the young girls alone." Lord Virote's tone was forceful. "Make sure everyone here understands my orders."

"Yes my Lord." the warrior hit his chest with his fist as he bowed his head.

Moving his men out, Lord Virote stayed off the beaten path which made their journey difficult and rough.

Fear started to set heavy in Kyra's eyes. She had trained for this. She was the highest swordsmen and yet she had never killed anyone.

Seeing the fear in his daughter, Adrianus rested a gentle hand on her shoulder, "I can't say that everything will be alright, you know better. Nor can I say no one will die. I can say, remember your training. Remember what I thought you and use your seeing powers to help."

"You need to remember that war doesn't care who, what or how old you are. So trust your instincts. Remember, they have orders to kill you are you have orders to kill them. So you can fight for your life or stand there and let them kill you." Gideon added.

Surprised to see one of his scouts making his way over tours them. Lord Virote grunted, "What is it?"

"My Lord." the scout showed his respect. "There is a village not to far from here." he pointed in the direction. "Just over the hill at the end of the tree line."

Pleased, "This is a great opportunity to give some of the younger warriors a taste of what they will be getting into."

Turning to Firas, "I want twenty first time warriors and seven experienced warrior to go with you and this scout to the village. We will wait for your return back at camp."

Hitting his chest, "Yes my Lord." Firas briefly bowed his head before turning to leave.

"And Firas?"

"Yes my Lord?"

"Make sure my orders were clear."

"Yes, my Lord?"

With her heart pounding in her chest, Kyra and the others ran tours the village. With her sword out, she blocked a pitch fork that was aimed at her midsection.

Not what to kill him, Kyra fought until seeing an opening. There she brought her sword up and hit the man with the end of it knocking him out.

Making her way inside a hut she started hearing scream from the village women. Feeling sick, she closed the door behind her.

Inside, Kyra quickly felt a threat. Moving out of the way just in time to see a knife being thrown at her.

"You are not going to hurt my family!" A young boy about the age of twelve shouted as he grabbed another knife and lunged himself at her.

Dodging the knife, Kyra pushed the boy to the ground. Another threat hit as she pulled her sword and quickly turned and stopped short from the mother's throat.

Seeing the fear in her eyes. Kyra lowered her sword just a bit, "I'm not going to hurt you." she tried to explain. "You and your family need to get to the church. You would be safe there."