Nameless Thoughts of an Onlooker

3

My fears didn't come to pass - my incompetency in battle wasn't mentioned (although interacting with the captain evoked a variety of other unpleasant emotions). Instead, I was sent on a rather unanticipated assignment. 

"You think Ryder's angry we were almost given his horse?" Niles displayed his usual jutted smirk before quickly hiding it away. Nonetheless, he still had to raise his voice to be heard past the pounding hooves, and the fact that he decided to communicate such a gossiping question in the first place demonstrated how much he had lowered his guard. 

I responded after briefly scanning the three other people riding alongside us. It wasn't completely safe to relax, but this topic wasn't too explosive. 

"Who knows? He won't show it outwardly either way."

"Why not? If anyone would be forgiven for gettin' irritated, it'd be Ryder," the mouse-like guy ahead of us turned his head and joined the conversation. His light hair lit up under a weak ray of daylight, only to darken once more when a gloomy cloud covered the sun.

"He's tryin' hard for that promotion, obviously. Everyone is. With so many competitors, bein' mad with a higher-up's order could decimate 'is chances," someone else spoke up. 

"Huh, sounds troublesome." 

"I thought bein' assigned to a recon mission required an ounce of intelligence! Why're you 'ere?" 

"Shut up, Ajud! Don't you get tired of sayin' that every single day? It's been a week!" The mouse's face twisted as he barked at the rider to his left. 

Thin-faced Ajud laughed loudly, easily disregarding her meek-looking brother's complaints. The gale carried their quibbling away, and my eyes shifted to observe the lone soldier leading at the helm of our group: Tucha. His dark hood thoroughly covered his visage, further adding to the air of mystery around him. He only spoke when the topic concerned our goal, and this, along with his hidden face, seemed to repel anyone from befriending the guy. 

I was familiar with reconnaissance tasks, and after doing so many I might even dare to call them mundane. Although, this was the first time a group was divided so...strangely. It wasn't uncommon for nearly whole villages to join the Ikthar at one time, and whether by choice or by command, those who came in together tended to stick together. The two siblings demonstrated this perfectly, and Niles and I were no different - and that's usually how these things go: four people, two villages. This time, however, our team turned into five people, three villages. Most likely, odd man Tucha either joined Ikthar alone or he ended up being the last survivor of his town. Both were rare; as a matter of fact, the only person I knew who was currently just as solitary was Ryder, but that...was an ominous case. 

I squeezed the reigns tighter, my nails digging into my palms as I willed my contemplations away. Ajud was right - being sent out to do recon was usually given to those who displayed a moderate amount of wit. But, that didn't make exceptional cleverness desirable. 

We rode through the plains for hours, occasional banter supplied by the brother and sister in between long periods of windswept silence. As the day slowly ticked away, the gusts picked up, the air cooled, the sky darkened, and icy droplets of water began to fall to the earth. 

"Shouldn't we stop 'ere for the night?" Mousy Ajax called out to the front, although he didn't diminish his speed. 

"We are only three hours away from Sorong. We shall ride on." 

I felt my features morph into a harsh sneer. Ride on in the darkness? We were currently in an expansive plain, but the sharp decrease in visibility could rear its head in dangerous ways. 

Tucha's tone left no room for argument, but thankfully, Ajud thought otherwise. 

"What kinda idiotic suggestion is that? You want us all to get killed?"

The hooded man didn't react, riding on. 

"We don't need to rush. Captain said that Sorong wasn't that important for the boss's plans. We're goin' there just in case anyway, so why are we rushin'?" 

Ajax's words were ignored. 

I blinked away the pelting rain as my eyes narrowed. Freezing water steadily drenched my shoulders, a strand of drowned hair flicking to the side as I glanced at our surroundings; the horses' panting, the slowing hooves, the raging wind, and that strange, almost imperceptible current in the air - they all magnified the unsettling feeling swelling from the depths of my stomach. 

My hair stood on end, but - time had run out. 

An arrow whizzed by my head, catching the tip of my left ear as shouts filled the field. My heart immediately jumped, its shuddering only worsening as dark shapes emerged from our surroundings. Armored riders! Their figures grew by the second as hailing arrows shot towards us. Tucha abruptly twisted his horse, the animal rising on its hind legs as its rider unsheathed his saber. And, just like that, his hood flew off.

A scar..?

"One-eyed Dutch! The Sentinels are-!" Ajud's yell was cut short, the woman blocking Tucha's sudden onslaught with her own sword. And yet, she still managed to shout through her battle. "Niles, cover him! Take Ajax!" 

The fading light allowed Niles and me to exchange one last understanding glance, both of us near-simultaneously snapping our reigns. 

I unceasingly knocked on the horse's flank, whipping the reigns as I desperately urged it to run faster. I didn't look behind me as I sped left, volleys of arrows and the siblings' dismayed cries whistling past me and mixing with the thudding sound of my blood in my ears. 

Hesitating was for the dead. 

Stopping was for the dead. 

Turning back was for the dead. 

I had only one path and that was forward.

Another wave of sharp goosebumps covered my scalp as the rain crashed into me, its piercing bolts stinging my open skin; my teeth ground together when muffled commands blared at my heels. 

I squinted, but my futile effort couldn't pierce through the darkness. I could barely discern what was a few feet in front of me, so there was nothing I could do when my horse suddenly shrieked, freezing weightlessness overtaking my body as both of us plunged down a plateau's unseen edge.