The Blood of Honour

You fight your own Wars

The early rays of the Sun put its fingers out over the woods and lit up the castle towers of Cruez.

"Will they be expecting us?" asked Ryna.

"We have to be ready for if they are," said Sera.

She climbed the nearest tree and called to the dauntless army.

"We must be ready both for surprise attack and face-on combat. I want you all to attack as I say...."

As Sera used her deep insight and perception to confidently hand out battle strategies, she glanced at Ryna standing at the foot of her tree. To her surprise, Ryna's eyes were glistening with tears. As Sera looked at her, she quickly turned away.

Confused as she felt, Sera realised she had no time to worry over such details now. Her years at the Rivera castle had taught her no emotions, nor taught her to recognise them.

She called out for a final overview of the plan and being satisfied by the replies, slipped down to take up her own position.

"You will watch my back. As they hold up the front gates, I will enter through the rust gates if they exist or I will climb the tower. Under both circumstances you leave my side immediately and join the dauntless until you get my signal from inside the castle." Sera said to Ryna, indifferent of Ryna's red eyes and shaking hands.

Climbing the rocks to the rear of the castle walls proved much easier to Sera, thanks to all her training. Without missing a beat, she went up the rocky mountains that guarded the castle. From the front streets came the cries of the fallen soldiers as the dauntless army made their way up to the castle gates.

"I just hope they won't hurt any villagers," said Ryna.

Sera shrugged. It couldn't be helped, people always died in wars, always. They made their way around the huge walls that rose forbiddingly over the steep cliff at the rear of the castle and Sera began hustling among the rocks and bricks.

"What are you doing?" asked Ryna.

Sera clicked in exasperation. From here the only sounds that came were the sound of the wind howling around the rocks and the faint boom of the waterfalls beyond the cliff. There was no way that they could perceive whether the army had taken over the front of the castle, whether the Cruez army had been prepared or taken by surprise. There was so much to chance and put to stake, the exertion of planning out an entire battle within a night and climbing the harsh rocks had clouded Sera's mind but now as she stood at the gates to her purpose, it all came back to her, crystal clear- Cederic, the vicious Lord of Cruez, the Riverian pride and...her past. As the loose rocks hurtled down the cliff, she put her foot into the crevices of the wall.

"They don't have a rust gate, I'm going into the tower, you go on and do what you have to." Sera said to Ryna.

Watching Ryna make her way shakily over to the front of the castle, Sera shook her head-Godmother Nema had always loved her more than her own child and maybe finally she would suffer for it.

Making her way up the long castle tower was tougher as there were very few crevices and ivy growing along the way. But at last she was up against the slit window. Far below in the courtyard she had heard her army fighting off the guards, so she knew that maybe there would be some people in the tower. Placing a little hollow bamboo pipe near the slit, Sera blew a dart into the room, her trained ears ready to catch any breath or movement. Five minutes into waiting, nothing, so Sera figured it'd be safe for her to venture further. She steadied herself and taking out her dagger from her belt, she gripped it and made ready to strike as soon as necessary.

As she leapt into the dimly lit tower room, rather to her surprise she found no guards. But as she took a step, her ears caught a breath, a slight movement in the shadow and in one second her dagger drew red from the throat of the hidden guard. As the man gagged and fell to the floor, Sera picked up the fire torch and rushed out of the little room.

Are things heating up too soon? Read on..
Peace
~R