Transcending Fire

Chapter 1 / Part 1: This is the End

Thank you for taking the time to read Chapter 1 Part 1 of Transcending Fire. I do hope you enjoy and am very open/excited to receiving your feedback. 

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Alex was blinded by a flood of tears that blurred her vision and dampened her lightly freckled cheeks. She clapped one hand over her mouth to stifle a sob and tilted her face down into the dirt to hide her quivering chin. Letting her men witness her uncertainty manifest itself was not an option. She had to focus, to think of the good that would come of this sacrifice. Finally, the war that had been waged between two grieving families for over a hundred years would end.

There was a great war camp just over the top of the hill that she and fifty of her men were splayed across. The sounds of legionnaires rousing themselves in the early morning sun made them all nervous. They would be spotted if just one stepped too close to the edge of that hill to take a piss, but this was still the best vantage point. After a deep breath meant to abate the swell of bile in her throat, she lifted her head just over the tops of the long, green grass soon to be painted red to get a better look at their demise.

It was a strange sight to behold. Most Luxorian war camps she had encountered were the epitome of order and efficiency. All she saw before her, however, were unorganized rows of tents, many with gear strewn about on the ground in front of them in heaps. No wooden walls fortified this camp and no apparent moats had been dug. It was a glaring flaw in their normally impervious armor and it made her nervous to think of the artifacts they must have at their disposal to make them feel so safe.

"Do you have your target?" she dared to whisper. Her eyes shifted from the camp to glance at a grizzled archer kneeling a short distance away from her. Her heart would have liked to stop when he propped himself up over the grassline.

"Yes. I have three," he replied in a gruff murmur, his arrow drawn back at the ready.

Looking out through the grass, Alex spotted the three legionnaires he was speaking of. Light cavalry placed on the edge of the camp to serve as lookouts. All three were sitting, or dozing rather, on their imperial stallions with warhorns looped around their saddle horns and short bows loosely held in their hands.

"Good, but we need to get closer. Kaden, grab a horse for me when those men hit the ground," she quietly commanded the massive, red-headed giant whose hands she knew to be the gentlest of bear paws. He was having the hardest time of them all keeping himself crouched far below the tops of the tall grass, a comical look that normally would have had Alex snickering.

He nodded, "Your last great conquest and all you ask of me is to go wrangle some beasts?" he asked with a roll of his big brown eyes and a hefty sigh.

"It's important," she insisted. Her eyes locked on the flighty beasts of burden. "If those horses get spooked, they'll run off with our chance for a surprise attack and give the Luxorians all the time they need to assemble. So, can you do it?" Alex asked, not even a little glint of her usual humor left in her harrowed face.

"Easily enough," he assured her with a stiff nod. He shifted his weight a bit before letting loose a whistle that carried through the valley. There were already a few early birds up and eager to catch their breakfast, so his song blended in fine with nature for those not right on top of him.

Her throat seized when the scared faces of her most loyal men began to pass hers one by one. These men had been with her from the beginning and they had trusted her to someday lead them to victory. She closed her eyes to strengthen her resolve. This was for the best.