Erivale: The Lost Princess

Chapter 22: Part 1

After our meeting, I promptly threw up dinner and lunch in the bushes outside of the tent. Zora sent me straight to bed to try to conserve my strength for the battle. I didn't sleep a wink, and neither did the camp.

I had never seen the ravine so full of activity. The symphony of crickets that usually swept through the ravine was masked by the sound of arrows and swords being sharpened.

After staring at the canvas interior of my sleeping tent all night, I decided to creep. Standing just outside of my tent, I looked up to the sky where dawn was just beginning to nudge the night away. Turning to head towards the meal tent, I nearly ran into the Lilitu woman that was taken prisoner in Himmelsk.

"Amberleigh, you're awake."

"Never slept," I said wearily.

A small frown pursed her lips. "I know the feeling. I've always been jittery before battle. Would you like to suit up with myself and some of the other female warriors?"

I accepted her offer and grabbed my traveling sack that was full of odds and ends of armor that Ulric and I had grabbed back at the palace. Along the way, I finally asked her name; it was Serafina.

We walked through most of the camp before we came to one of the campfire areas where a large congregation of women sat. Some wore just their underclothes, and others had various pieces of armor strapped on. The Syreni woman from yesterday in the meal tent was there as well. She offered me a broad smile as I walked into the group.

"Now, you may be a queen, but you are still a green soldier," Serafina said. "But don't you worry, I'll take you under my wing." She wrapped her arm around my shoulders and winked at her joke. A few feathers on her arm tickled my skin and got caught in my hair.

"Enough with the feather jokes, Serafina," someone called, and they all chuckled.

"Have you all known each other for a long time?"

"Far too long, I'm surprised I haven't killed any of you off for being so annoying," Seraphina joked.

"We'll die of your terrible feather jokes before that happens," another female soldier said, and they all laughed once again.

"An unruly bunch." Seraphina sent a playful glare around the group. She suddenly grew serious and said, "But they are my sisters, not by blood, but by battle. I trust them all with my life."

Seraphina sat me down on a log in between the Syreni and another Elven warrior named Alana. Just as Seraphina said, she took me under her wing, and so did the rest of the women. They helped me put on all of my armor and tighten the straps until I was firmly encased in metal and leather. I felt like somewhat of a sore thumb wearing metal when everyone else in the camp was almost exclusively wearing leather armor.

The women all gave me tips and shared stories of their first battles. The energy was quite light even though we would be walking into a death zone in mere hours. I guess if you did it all the time like they did, it was normal.

"Amberleigh, are you nervous?" Alana asked me.

"Yes," I admitted.

"That's nothing to be ashamed of," she soothed. "We all are."

"Really? Even after all these years?"

"Yes." She gave me a sad smile. "Battle is never easy. You enter into the fray, knowing that you may not come out the other side."

"How do you do it then?"

"You find something to fight for, something so strong that you would willingly die for it."