The Distraction

Her POV

I was running out of food when we heard the shouting. A horn blew in the distance and I knew the camp was under attack.  I closed my eyes and just listened to my salvation. The sound of battle rang around me and nothing had ever sounded so beautiful. Men were screaming and dying, horns were blasting and chaos was all around us. I couldn’t help the single tear that slid down my face, the distraction I so desperately craved had arrived.

Sir Duggar was cussing and frantically running around the room attaching armor and weapons to his body.

A man barged into the tent, “Sir! We are under attack!”

“Well that is kind of obvious,” Sir Duggar snarled. “Who Wesley, who is attacking us?”

“I think ‘tis the Bravousians, some were seeing green flags but tis dark Sir.”

“Let us hope not, come help get this armor on.”

It seemed like the battle raging outside caused Sir Duggar to forget about me. I sat as quietly as possible in my chair hoping to avoid any attention or remind him that I existed. The last thing I wanted was to be tied up if someone else came into the tent.

To my luck and astonishment, both men left without giving me a second glance. I knew I wouldn’t get far in this dress or without any weapons so I quickly ransacked Sir Duggar’s things. I found what seemed like thick tights and a shirt that was large enough to cover my ass in a chest, a small leather bag by the door, and a belt on a dresser.

I tried to dress as quickly as possible but adrenaline was pumping through my system and my hands were shaking. I was fumbling with my boots when I was grabbed from behind.

I swung my elbow up and hit him as hard as I could in the face. He dropped me and I grabbed the bottle of liquor off the table and broke it. It was such a cliché move, but I needed a weapon and it worked. The man lunged for me again but I dogged him and sliced at his face with the shattered bottle neck. I missed my target, but hit his neck. Unintentionally, I had cut along his Adam’s apple and blood was spewing out. He grasped at his neck with wide eyes as his life drained out of him.

If one man had entered the tent, it wouldn’t be long before more did. I finished with my boots, through the bag over my shoulder and started looking for a weapon. I ran to the desk and started ripping open the drawers. People always stashed a knife or gun in the desk in movies. Did they even have guns here yet?

I didn’t find anything sharp, but I pinch a bag of coins and a hideous ring. I had no idea how much money was in the pouch or how to count the money here, but at least I had some. I shuffled through some of the papers and found a few scrolls with Sir Duggar’s signature. I stuffed those in my bag along with a map I found under them.

I quickly looked around the tent to see if there was anything else that would be useful. I noticed a small table with a drawer next to the bed and opened it. Inside were two daggers and a pile of letters. The letters were added to my collection and I took a dagger in each hand. My weapons were lame and my chance of surviving the raging battle outside were low, but I knew this was going to be my best and likely only chance of escape.

***

From inside the tent, I had described this battle as chaos but that word did not describe what I was seeing. The camp had become a slaughter house, Sir Duggar’s men were the cattle, and well-armed knights with green tunics were the butchers.

I moved from tent to tent doing my best to hide in the shadows. The Bravousians were duteous with their massacre. Every man they came across was killed without mercy and without hesitation. My luck must have been turning around because I could see the entrance and I had only encountered two skirmishes. One man had charged me with his sword out like a skewer. I spun out of his way and stabbed him in the back as he ran past. The second man tried to shove me into a tent so I kicked him in the nuts.

I stopped in the shadow of the last tent and eyed the expanse of land between me and my destination. Most of the men had moved toward the center of the camp and this area seemed to be mostly deserted. Five Bravousians stood guard, my guess to prevent any form of retreat.

I looked at the fallen soldiers around me. I could try and steal a tunic but there was no way I could get it off a dead body quickly or discreetly. I looked back the way I came wondering if I could find another exit or just hide out until the army left. In the dark, I saw a dull glow from the center of the tent and rising above it, a stream of dark smoke. The Bravousians were setting the tents on fire as they marched back to the exit.

I would have nowhere to hide if they were burning the tents and even if I tried to hide hear the ditch, the smoke would likely suffocate me. The army was marching toward me and I needed to get through the exit soon if I was going to have any chance of getting away from this horrible place.

“Guards to me!” A voice shouted from a few tents over, “Help burn these tents.”

I watched in fascination as all 5 guards moved from the exit to the man’s voice. I had never been a lucky person, but now was not the time to question it. I bolted for the exit running through the expanse of empty land as fast as I could. I was halfway to the woods when I heard the drums. The problem was, they weren’t coming from behind but from the woods. I halted and looked behind me. The army was progressing faster than I would have thought and a few men on horseback were reaching the exit.

While my back was turned, men had started moving out of the tree line. They were in neatly formed rows and there had to be at least a few hundred. I was trapped between two armies.