Daughter Of The Dragon / PUBLISHED

Chapter 24 - Marching

With Eron here, we adjusted our path for a more direct route. Our next step was to collect weapons. They had bows and arrows, a few spears for hunting, but not much else, especially for defense. We didn't want to start a fight, but with Magnus' track record it was pretty much a given that we would have one.

James had been quieter than usual, but he still joined the discussions. I knew this would be hard for him to recover from.

"M'lady!" Cherry yelled as she swung down a ladder from a small treehouse built in the canopy. I smiled and greeted her with a hug, we had grown close since our hunting trip, and it was nice to have a girl my age around for once.

"How goes it, handmaiden?" I asked with mock indifference. She giggled and took a seat at the table.

"Well, my Liege, still, none of Magnus' soldiers dare to patrol beyond the upper towns by the citadel. We still have our spies in the lower towns active, and all are now informed of your arrival," she ticked off things on her fingers. Then, she hesitated.

"Whats the bad news?" I asked. She sighed and rubbed a hand across her face.

"Magnus has not been seen outside of the castle since you arrived, but more and more of his staff are being dismissed or killed everyday."

"He must be up to something," Dominic said, swinging on his chair "he usually loves to make his presence known."

"Do we have an informant in the castle?" I asked, my heart sinking as Cherry shook her head.

"The closest we have is a gatekeeper, no one on the inside."

I groaned and slumped back in my chair. It felt like every two steps we took forward, the threat of Magnus forced us three steps back.

"Maybe he's dead," James grumbled as he lay his head on the table.

"Eron, can't you be a little nosey for us?" I asked.

"As powerful as I am, I am still young, my powers are not yet strong enough to reach that far. And I'd rather not risk my life more than once," he replied dryly.

"Some help you are," I muttered.

"Maybe this is the chance we're looking for," Aiden said as he arrived with fruit. I reached for an apple and chewed happily, the fresh juice and loud crunch satisifying to my frayed nerves.

"Are we really ready to take that risk?" I asked, wiping my mouth on the back of my sleeve.

"Do we have any other choice?" Dominic asked "our weapons are on their way from a small village not too far from here. They say they're only visited twice a year and not relied upon for anything but taxes. Once those arrive we'll be as ready as we can ever be."

I nodded, he had a good point. Hell, they all had good points. I took another bite of my apple as we pondered our choices in silence.

"Lets do it," I said "lets train."

*****

The bandits, as I now called them, were already a fit bunch besides those who were too old to fight. Every one of these people had fought tooth and nail to survive Magnus' war and now they were willing to risk it all to see the end of his reign.

I sat with a group of younger kids, joking and tickling them as we made more arrows. Most of them had picked up the skill quickly while others moved on to easier tasks.

Just then, Eron came crashing through the trees. He dumped a handful of long metal objects on the floor and stepped back, bowing dramatically.

"Swords?" I asked as I walked over to his pile. Swords of different lengths and weights were in the pile, about a dozen of them in total.

"Yes, do not ask where I got them. I just thought you might need some extras," he said, shuffling a little awkwardly. I grinned and threw my arms as far as I could around him in a hug.

"I didn't know you cared!" I cried with a mock sob. He grumbled but accepted the thanks and retured to his makeshift nest further in the forest.

"Oo, presents!" Cherry said, sorting carefully through the swords for one that felt right.

"Compliments of the dragon, I assume," Dominic said as he joined Cherry.

"They all have the same hilt, the royal crest of Magnus," Dominic said with a grin "he hunted a patrol."

There were some whoops and cheers as people realised just who Eron had vandalised to get the weapons. I smiled but my stomach turned at the thought of actually killing other people. Do what you have to do to survive, a small part of my mind whispered. I pushed the thoughts aside for now and continued with making my arrows.

A few others had begun a mock sword fight, hitting each other with the flat side of the sword. The crowd gathered round and picked their side to cheer for.

I turned just in time to see 4 scrawny young boys crash through the bushes towards me. I caught one boy and steadied him, his breathing ragged.

"Hey, what happened, slow down!" I sais as he caught his breath. His friends were in no better condition, slumped against trees and gasping for air.

"We were going to meet the village folk half way out," the boy said to me.

"Did you see them?" I asked. He shook his head and looked up at me, fear etched into his face.

"There were no survivors, the village is gone."

I felt my legs turn to jelly and my head spin. All those people and all those weapons. We were losing allies and support, each blow weakening us further.

"It has to have been Magnus' men," Dominic said, standing besides me, a frown line forming across his forehead.

"If it was them, they cant be too far off, we need to get moving soon," Aiden said "these weapons will have to do."

"Its not enough," I said quietly. One dragon and a handful of swords wouldnt even get us past the upper towns let alone to the citadel.

"It has to be." Dominic said grimly.

"We leave tonight under the cover of darkness," he said loudly, the now quiet bandits tense and unmoving "lets get packed up."

I felt my heart thundering in my chest as people immediately began putting things in sacks and taking down tents. I was not ready to face Magnus just yet.

Hey, sorry this chapter was a little late and is kind of slow, was having some trouble transitioning though the scenes.

There will probably be another Taurus POV coming up next.

See you soon,

Orange

XxXx