How I Met Hena Chakelithp

Chapter 24. The Fight

The moment they came close enough, our army started swarming up and fighting. But there were too many opponents. Although some lay dead, injured, or unconscious on the ground, many got away and started running toward the dense forest that covered most of Hardlorn Island. Of course we followed them, but they scattered around and we soon lost track of them. Soon each group went off by itself, searching for enemies. Arvern and I went up to the cliff tops by the ocean.
Nobody was there yet. The cliffs were deserted and vacant. Most of the fighters were in the forest. There was no one there except us.
"Srarori," Arvern said, pointing to an overhang in the rock, "there's a little hollow under that ledge there. If you want, you can hide in it and I'll fight."
"No," I said. "I want to fight with you. I can take it, and I want to help my kingdom."
Arvern smiled. "All right. We can both fight together."
That's what I liked about Arvern. He saw me as me and accepted my love for adventure.
"Who should keep watch from there?" I pointed to a cliff above ours.
"I will," said Arvern. "You can go over there." He pointed to the cliff slope which receded inland to meet the forest.
"Okay," I said. I walked over to the hill and sat down on one of the boulders that made up the cliff slope. I could see that a battle was going on below me. Vechti's army was fighting my people with impressive brutality. My army was not as barbaric, but they made up for it with excellent skill. They wove in and out of the trees, dodging and swinging. One climbed up an oak, swung by his feet from a branch with his sword in hand, and chopped an opponent's head clean off. I saw boy with a spear and a dagger jump out from behind a rock and throw the spear at an adversary, penetrating the adversary's stomach. A team of four adults assembled a cage of sticks and hoisted it up on a rope. It blended in with the trees so that you probably wouldn't notice it if you walked by. When a very dangerous-looking man walked under it, they let go of the rope and it dropped on top of him so that he was trapped.
But then something caught my attention. There was a boy walking up the hill toward the place where I sat. I stood up and grabbed my axe from my belt. Planning to have the element of surprise, I ducked behind the rock I'd been sitting on.

The boy had seen. "Hey you!"
Knowing my cover was blown, I walked down cautiously. "Hey!" he said again.
"What?" I yelled back. "Are you on our side or theirs? I could fight you if I wanted to!"
"Come here!" he said.
"You come here!" I said.
"Fine!" he yelled. He started running up the hill. As he came into view, I saw that he had leather armor like mine, light brown hair, and...jet-black eyes. I shuddered. As he came close to me, he stopped in his tracks. "Oh...hey there," he said. "You're on our side. I came to fight you, but I didn't know."
For a moment I was confused. Then I realized: He was on Vechti's side and thought I was too, probably because I was wearing leather instead of dragon skin. I decided to make use of this and sneak up on him when he trusted me.

"Yeah."
"Why did General Vechti bring you?" he said.
"Because I'm strong," I declared. After all, it was true. I was very strong, at least for a thirteen-year-old girl.
"But how are you strong? How did you train? Why are you even fighting now? That's so unusual," he said.
This irked me. "I've always been strong and I've always trained. I came here because I wanted to help my country and fight for it," I said.
"You were probably asked to say that," the boy said dismissively. "I bet you wish you were safe at home. You're way too pretty to fight."
This annoyed me more. "Why do you think I want to be at home?"
The boy laughed, as if there was something to laugh at. "You're a girl. Girls like dolls and dresses and stuff, not fighting."
I was angry. "For your information, I don't in the least mind fighting."
He laughed stupidly again. "Girls don't fight. Everybody knows that. That's crazy. Go home and knit or bake cookies or whatever you want to do."
"What I want to do is fight!" At that moment, what I wanted to do was fight him.
The boy laughed yet again. "See? Girls are too scared to admit they're not supposed to, so they're definitely not brave enough to actually do it."
I dropped my axe and punched his face.

"AAAHH!" he screamed. I scratched his hand with my fingernails and took off a fair bit of skin. I didn't care about the element of surprise anymore. This boy's ideas about girls had made me more angry than when Kaliana had thrown my obsidian necklace into the pond, angrier even than when Kudika the dragon had lost control and flicked...I shuddered again. The boy raised his hand to slap me, but I dodged, at the same time aiming a blow to his side. He doubled over, at which time I took the opportunity to kick him in the back of his left knee. His knee came out of its lock, and he almost fell, but he caught himself and stood up again. He punched me in the jaw, forcing my head up so he could grab my neck with both hands. I couldn't breathe, and I knew I would pass out if he kept his hold, so I gathered my already dwindling strength and wrestled his hands away from my throat. I took a gulp of air, but a split second later, I felt a blow of immense force on my back: the boy had picked up a rock of considerable size and slammed it on me. Nearly winded, I gasped for air. He picked me right up, swung me over his shoulders, and started walking down. Within a few seconds I'd gotten my breath back. I punched his head with my knuckles to no avail. Then I started grinding them into his scalp. I'd learned about this secret weapon the hard way, after my cousin Chadi caught me reading his letters to his girlfriend. The boy winced and I felt his hold loosen. I ground harder and he stopped walking. I then employed my other fist and at last he dropped me on the ground, rubbing his head.
I crossed my arms and stood there until he looked back at me with an amazed expression.
"Hey you," I said, grabbing his shoulders. "I hope you've learned something, Girls-Can't-Fight."
I kicked him in the crotch. He screamed and ran.
I heard footsteps. Weakly, I turned to see Arvern, with a worried look on his face.
"I heard screaming?" he said.
"Yeah," I said. "This boy from Vechti's side came up to me and started giving me a ton of pritz about girls."
"What kind of pritz?" Arvern said.
"Girls can't fight, girls like dolls, girls aren't brave, pritz like that," I said.
"What a jerk," Arvern laughed. "I know girls can fight. You're certainly an example."
"Thanks--"
I heard more footsteps.

We both snapped to attention and turned to see two boys, one of whom looked husky and strong, the other being the mean boy who'd just insulted me. Arvern took his sword out of his sheath. I raised my axe. They started yelling at us. The words sounded like battle cries. I couldn't understand them. I wondered if it was in Tuashisi.
All four of us ran at each other. The strong boy cut my face with a dagger. Arvern then tried to stab him and made a hole in his armor. The mean boy dug his nails into Arvern's arm. I chopped the mean boy's leg with a crunch. He screamed in pain. I was momentarily shocked at myself: I'd never seriously wounded a human being before. Arvern hit the mean boy's head with a rock so hard that I was surprised he didn't pass out. The strong boy jumped on top of Arvern and I jumped on top of him and then we were all slashing and chopping and hitting and stabbing and everything was all blood and heat and pain and fists and arms and legs and weapons and I barely knew it when I chopped someone's skull in half...