SACRIFICE TO THE MOON (Completed) #Wattys2020

CHAPTER 2

Four hours later, Waya walked out of Athena's chamber feeling worn out.
    As expected Freya was outside the door wearing her usual pitiful face.
    Usually Waya would spare some moment to let her fuzz over him but he had no patience for such at the moment.
   There was a military training in thirty minutes of which as prince he was mandated to attend. He could have easily flunked but he took his job seriously especially with war looming on the horizon.
  He had thirty minutes to sleep. Without taking as much as a glance towards Freya, Waya strode briskly through the grand corridors seeking where to sleep.
     Freya as grand commander of Athena's army had to take over training. It was a rare occurrence when the prince wasn't in charge as a dutiful subordinate she had to fill in for her superior.
    She had the army warm up with some lap running. Then she decided to have them spar each other.
    She started with the foot soldiers as usual their skills were mediocre. Things got interesting when the higher ranked members were involved.
    Riequal a tall athletic looking lady with long blond hair and incidentally,head of the blue squad archers was invited to the sparing area by grand commander Freya.
     As she disengaged from the line, her squad of blue archers bowed as she made her way to the sparing area.
   Mag was called next, she was an olive skinned brunette with a tall but slender frame. She was the leader of the red sword squad.
    Her squad of red swordsmen or more appropriately swordswomen bowed as their leader made her way to meet Riequal.
   These were two of the most dangerous fighters on the moon.
    Their golden armour gleamed in the dense atmosphere of the moon.
   Riequal discarded her bow, she retrieved the quiver hanging  across her shoulders, drew two arrows and discarded the quiver equally.
   She grasped the arrows in each hand and waited patiently for mag to get ready.
   Mag withdrew her blade from its sheath but unlike Riequal, she didn't discard the sheath.
    Freya's voice boomed from where she stood.
    "This spar isn't to injure, anyone whose back hits the ground first looses ".
    She paused for the rules to sink in.
     "Fight "
Riequal and mag circled each other, each trying to size the other up. When they felt their survey was sufficient, they lashed at each other.
    Mag swung her blade with deadly accuracy leaving Riequal to reel back.
     As Riequal reeled she watched mag's rhythm and when she did, all mag's blade met was thin air.
    Riequal got close enough to mag to use her arrows causing mag to reel equally.
   When the initial hostilities were over, Riequal and mag proceeded to have a classic contest with no foreseeable winner.
     Freya watched the fight tilt towards a draw so she decided to use the ample opportunity to test out her personal guards who escorted her daily.