Blinded By Her Past

Pep Talks and Horseback

AHHH! You're back! Man, I sound like a desperate girlfriend. ANYWAYS, it's story time with your favorite insane writer!

...what? I've got to be insane to write a story like this.

The night slowly started to turn to day, our horses now slowing to a trot with exhaustion pumping through them almost as quickly as blood did. The rebellion had been moved from Bar'En Rin to Che, the capital of one of the fallen kingdoms that Ky'Rein had destroyed and it would take a day for Talesin and I to get there, galloping on horses or otherwise.

My eyes darted around, staring at the empty woods as I waited for the call that told us that the army was right on our tails.

"I think that we lost them," Talesin breathed, looking around with his eyes watching every little detail of the forest with adrenaline obviously pumping through his veins.

"Don't let your guard down," I replied, the sword on my back feeling a bit heavier as the exhaustion began to set in with me. Talesin sent me a nod and asked, "How do you feel? Did they hurt you at all?"

Of course, I forgot to mention the fact that Talesin is practically an older brother that holds little power over me. The gesture is nice though so we keep this sort of thing up and going, it gave us both a sense of sanity.

"I'm fine. Just my pride," I replied, giving him a sad smile before it fell and left me with a condescending look on my face. He noticed, obviously and motioned for me to keep going. "His army has grown so much. I don't think that the rebels stand a chance against him anymore, we barely fit a challenge against him anymore."

Talesin rolled his eyes and rode up next to me, saying, "Sorry but I don't believe that you have ever been intimidated by numbers before. That doesn't seem right." I looked at my best friend and he continued, "We've been friends since...forever really. And ever since you could raise a sword, you were never intimidated by the number of people that were standing in front of you. Never have you ever lost your nerve before."

I took in a deep breath, my fingers weaving in and out of the hair in the horse's mane, putting my forehead on his neck.

"There were so many. I..." I said shakily, my hands trying not to twitch, "It was...terrifying. I've never seen something that was that huge before." I looked over at him, my lip quavering softly, "We don't stand a chance."

He pushed his horse in front of mine, forcing me to stop as his face grew hard. "That is no reason to stop. You have never done a job halfway through. You have a duty not to those people but to us, to your friends, to everything that you believe in," he said, gripping the reins of his horse so tightly, his dark knuckles were turning right, "You're giving up on everything that you've ever stood for if you crumble to something as small as a number. You don't know how strong they are until you see them fight. And when that happens we will be ready."

Talesin let out a breath he had been holding in and I blinked at him a few times, my black hair having come out of its ponytail and wisps of hair were covering my face now.

Was I really going to give up?

"You're stronger than that, Az," he finished, turning his horse and starting back down the dirt road. I closed my eyes, sitting up straight and letting the wind blow through my hair.

He was right, I was stronger than this. I was terrified of a number but I hadn't taken the time to actually realize what was going on in the valley.

Through the darkness, I started to imagine the valley full of warriors, zooming in towards their fighters. Ky'Rein had to support a country that was bigger than he could imagine, not to mention the problem that with him being the only leader he needed to take care of the agriculture and the food of the people as well as the military and the conquering that he was trying so hard to accomplish. With that many people to watch over and to pay for, the dictator was no doubt running low on resources.

That meant that his warriors wouldn't be that well trained and with a lack of money, none of them would have very good weapons, not to mention they wouldn't have good armor.

We stood a chance. I was scared of the numbers but they had the best knights in the world on the rebellion's side. They were the ones that didn't stand a chance.

"Tale!" I called, my eyes shooting open as the wind wove through my loose hair. My eyes landed on him as he was riding atop his horse not far off from where I was.

I grabbed the reins tighter and nickered, my horse shooting forwards towards where Talesin was trotting. A smile plastered itself on my face and he laughed as I rode past him and he quickly tried to match my speed only to just barely keep up with me.

My laughter echoed through the forest and we broke out onto the plains, riding towards the capital as adrenaline pushed through our veins, the exhilarating feeling of riding our horses taking over all of our senses.