Rage and Rebellion (Histories of Havenhearth)

2.4 Gwinael

Gwinael found herself in the shade of two large rocks, along with another combattant- she had forgotten her name.
"I wonder what's happening?" She asked.
"I guess that they want to deal with some of the scouts or snipers before we move forward?"
"We all have to take cover for that?" She looked around at others huddling against walls or under rocks. "Not that I mind, it's quite comfortable over here in the shade,"
Everybody's eyes were scanning around, looking ahead, behind and up the rock walls to the sides of them, nobody was relaxed, not even those who were completely protected (from the enemy and the sun) under overhanging rock. Now that the march had ceased, A silence had descended into the pass. The kind of silence that only exists high up, away from babbling rivers, forests and any form of civilisation. Up here, it was wind and the wings of birds which made sound, and now there were neither of those. Everything was still, Not even the clouds move, nothing except for Gwinael's heart rate, which had shot up so high, it was a wonder the enemy didn't fire on her right away, just to quieten the deafening noise. It was a horrible moment for her, tense, heavy, directionless. Some combattants even tired of their places, standing up to stretch and peek around.
Then, all of a sudden the silence was filled with the twangs of one thousand arrows shooting at once from invisible bows, as if the clouds themselves were releasing rain down onto the invaders. The arrows whistled down, slamming into rocks, mostly, and some unfortunate Tainish bodies- those who had moved. Orders were yelled, and the Tainish responded with their longbows, their own arrows, arcing up towards the peaks, rather uselessly, as no enemy was in sight. As more arrows came down though, the Tainish were able to isolate some the targets, but bodies from both sides fell down hills and some ledges, rolling, bouncing, falling to their deaths if they were not already. Right next to Gwin, the girl she had sheltered with was hit, the blood spurting out of her neck as she grabbed Gwinael with pleading eyes, as if willing her to stop her death. And Gwin didn't even know her name. The world started spinning around her, and she vomited and then fainted. Right on top of another Tainish body to the other side of her. She seemed to come to almost immediately, and was sick immediately, trying to lie as close to the rocks as she could. Then everything stopped, and silence took over once more. Her training had not prepared her for this. Any of it. She didn't move until she heard Heathtree's voice, who was swearing at the horse for slipping on the loose stones. Candel seemed to have lost her helmet and had a blood stain on one arm, but seemed fine otherwise. Except that she was dragging a woman behind her on the horse. Was she taking a prisoner? Dragging her along the ground like that? Gwinael had always had the idea that any prisoners of battle were treated, not well, but at least not like this. It was never really talked about in her training. Her tunic had nearly torn off because of the dragging, and she wasn't making any noise, or moving very much. And even her eyes were closed. Dead or unconscious, Gwinael figured. Heathtree stopped, leaving her in a hump on the ground. "Savage," she said, spotting down onto her. Two combattants threw rocks. When she didn't move, they came out from their cover to take a look. One of them bent down to look at her face, calling out "she's breathing," and rather than pull her into the shade, she punched her in the face. And again. The other one laughed. Heathtree did not ask them to stop. Nobody interfered. Gwinael was sick again and turned away. "Not anymore!" Somebody called out, with a sneer. A half-hearted shout of victory went up among those who had witnessed the attack, and the two combattants slumped back under their overhang, Gwinael hoped but didn't suspect, that they realised the disgust of what they had just done. Surely this was not what Tainish protectorate did? Tainish were heroes, behaving gallantly and with respect or at least courtesy. They were the envy of all other protectorates of the world, or so she had read in storybook and been told in her training. Not what she had just witnessed. Were they?
"That's enough ladies," Heathtree finally said. "set up a pole for her. You two, over there," she jerked her head towards the supply train. They returned with a log of timber and some rope and proceeded to wrap the rope around the body, securing it to the pole. Then, they righted the pole and positioned it upright between two rocks, leaving her on display. The spirits know, was all Gwinael could think. Tainish bodies, although very few, were buried, with stones or wood acting as their grave markers. The column then resumed its march up through the pass until nightfall as if never been stopped in the first place, various troops spitting at the body on the way.

They halted, set up camp, and many combattants fell immediately asleep. Her friend, Andri Sandshield, managed to find her, sitting down at the fire she had been staring into. "You ok?" He asked. Andri and Gwinael had shared quarters on the ship from Tainland, he was the same age as she was. "I don't know. You?"
"Wasn't it exciting today? Our first action."
"You think so?" She looked at him quizzically "weren't you scared?"
"Terrified actually. And I've heard it won't be any less scary next time either."
"Or the time after that, I guess," they both stared into the fire.
"I wasn't as scared as I thought I would be though. The whole thing seemed like somehow it was far away. As if it wasn't me. I don't really know how to describe it." He lit up a pipe of lilyroot.
"I didn't feel that way at all. In fact, it was the opposite for me, as if I was experiencing what everyone else was around me." The smell of the murky smoke wafted into her nostrils. "Can't believe you like that stuff,"
"I don't really, just something to do..."
"You know what the worst part about today was?" He shook his head, trying to blow smoke rings up into the sky.
"After everything had stopped, there was an Cassioni woman." She lowered her voice. "Heathtree had brought her over, maybe to question him. I don't know. But instead, two of ours just beat her to death. No one stopped them. No one. It's just not what I expected. It seemed unTainish." He put her arm around her.
"Most of us here are new at this, right? Probably all scared. Angry at losing a friend maybe." Gwinael nodded and let her head drop on her friend's shoulder. "It's not what we've been taught at least. But Maybe we don't know what being Tainish is, you know?"
"I thought it meant showing some courtesy, chilvalry maybe, even to an enemy. But maybe not. Maybe that was naive."
"You know what the Cassioni say about all that?"
She shook her head.
"I am maybe not the best person to explain, but you know the Tainish hero is a brave one, even fearless in death if fighting for Tainland?"
"I was thinking about this exactly earlier,"
"Well, I've heard the Cassioni have exactly the same thing- their heroes fight for Cassion until the death. There's probably two just over the hills, having the same conversation we are right now. Just in a different language."
"They say something like I have lots to learn."
"I think maybe we all do." They looked into the fire as it popped a few more times.
"Bed?"
"Yeah, it'll be another long day tomorrow." She watched as her friend got to his feet and listened to the crunch of his footsteps on the ground as he returned to his bed. Then, there was just the crackle of the fire, the craggy, unfriendly peaks silhouetted against a dark and cloudy night sky and time to sleep.