Heir of the Sword

39 | Proditio (I)

Proditio {Betrayal} 

The war was not going well. The number of dead kept increasing for the Kalvarian Army and it seemed as though Lady Zelie, Prince Zander, and Sir Samuel were running out of ideas on what to do. The Kalvarian Army was being pushed back and the knights were quickly loosing hope.

It was barely day three of the battle but Arya was exhausted. She narrowly dogged another arrow that was thrown her way before stabbing her sword in the nearest enemy. Arya despised to admit it, but killing had become much easier in the last few days. It seemed as though her mind and become accustomed to it and when she killed, the bodies no longer haunted her. Instead, her brain seemed to shut down while she let her hands do the work. A part of Arya was terrified that the guilt was no longer as high as it had once been.

An onslaught of arrows rained towards the knights and Arya swore loudly. Lord Jagmior was accustomed to long distance battle and he had been keeping the Kalvarian Army from getting closer to the Haxovolian Army by throwing arrows. As much as Arya hated to admit it, Lord Jagmior was exceptional with the bow and arrow and he knew exactly where to hit the Kalvarian Army to do the most damage. He was a tactician that currently held the upper hand.

"Shield's up!" Arya shouted at the knights near her and they took cover under their shields hoping that the arrows would not pierce their bodies.

Once the barrage of arrows stopped the knights stood up once again and ran towards the opposition. Arya took Anaz and sliced down as many enemies as she could. Her body wasn't as small, but she had trained to be quick which is why she was able to maneuver through the crowd and find the enemies.

Arya had taken down an entire line of soldiers and she was about to collapse from exhaustion. She had planted Anaz into the ground and that was what was helping her stay up. Arya bend down to her knees to retrieve the knives she hidden there. While she was catching her breath, she was still able to throw items like knives.

She took aim and released them at the Haxovolian soldiers. Many of them missed but Arya was satisfied that she had been able to get at least three solid hits. Throwing knives was not her speciality but she'd done better than expected.

She glanced around the battlefield hoping the get a glimpse of one her friends but she couldn't see anyone. They had all been separated. Arya watched as Lord Jagmior released an arrow from on top his horse. It landed with a solid thud and Arya knew it had hit a knight. She watched as the ones near the injured knight carried him back to the healers.

Arya watched Lord Jagmior's movements once again but there was something different about it now. She watched him dip the arrow in a substance before lighting it. Dread filled Arya's body as she realized what was about to happen.

She raced back trying to figure out the arrow's trajectory and began shouting at the knights near the area, "Step back! It's going to exp-" the words barely left her lips before the arrows fell into a nearby barrel containing oil. 

The ground exploded and a wall of fire erupted. There was shouts of pain as Arya tried yelling over the noise, "Bring pales of water from the camp or a nearby stream," she shouted.

Other knights had gathered to help if they could and Arya spotted Aaron. She walked over to him checking for injuries but she saw none.

"What happened?" he asked her.

"They lit the arrow with fire before throwing it," she explained.

Aaron shook his head. "It's insane."