With the dawn, breaking over the hillsides of the field, came the first stirrings of the stench of metal and the sounds of war’s past day. Cyrus woke up to see Agnes marching towards the battlefield like a woman possessed a frown etched on her face. "Agnes, wait!" Cyrus called out to her again, but she acted as if she didn’t hear him. She acted like a woman with a mission and she had a look of wrath in her eyes that could strike a frost on his spine. “You won’t get away with this Agnes,” Cyrus warned but the woman merely glared at him and shook her head. "This ends today." Cyrus put out his hand to touch her arm, but she jerked herself free from him, a force he did not expect from her. He understood she wanted to kill him, her grief had been replaced by the lust for his blood. It was now impossible to persuade her to do a particular thing. ---In the field, Agnes was as harsh a woman as any soldier could ask for. She attacked with the rage of a warrior who had nothing left to lose
*Theophilus's POV*The air almost touched me, almost embraced me with an electric charge of expectancy that came with the fighting that still was going on in the background. The sight and sound of swords meeting swords, and loud voices of pain and a guide from all ends filled the town. Every strike caused my heart to pound. I was striding around the camp area, ensuring that all was well with the wounded soldiers who were brought in, concern growing with every passing step, my boots grinding the dry ground.What if the enemy was able to advance into the Capital?Each second seemed to be a lifetime, and I wished I could climb into Moana’s arms, hug my unborn child, and wish for better days for all of us. Memories of my wife and our unborn child were with me; I saw them imperiled for their lives. Desperation struggled against responsibility in me; my heart tightened with each passing second.‘I can’t stay here,’ I thought to myself, growing impatient. But I couldn’t go; I had responsibil
Daylight crept in gradually, running her easy fingers along the walls, and flickering mysteriously at the windows. Philemona woke first, a slight frown on her face as she yawned and looked around the room. Something seemed strange and different. Her heart skipped a beat as she realized there was no sign of Tina. "Where's Tina?" she questioned, her voice trembling slightly as she looked at the other persons asking them worriedly.“I don’t know,” Moana muttered, yawned, and tried to clear the fuzz that had descended on her brain. "She was here when we went to sleep, yes?”"Maybe she is with the twins. They were quite ill last night they slept most of the time." Hannah murmured.“I will check,” she said further standing from the bed. She left the room and went to the twins room. In less than fifteen minutes she returned and there was a clear look of alarm on her face. "She's not there. I did not find her elsewhere too.”Horror crept up over them. It scared two of them out of their beds
The war room was a cauldron and the atmosphere was quite suffocating as the stench of sweat and ink filled the atmosphere. Drusus lay his arms on the table, and they both were in the dim light of candles. A plan of the battlefield lay on the table as a rough sketch, with several maps strewn around. Theo tapping the borders of the map let his eyes run over them, scanning every route and then using a pen to mark certain spots where the south had dominated. "We need to encircle them."Drusus raised an eyebrow, his face a mere few inches away from his own, his eyes narrowed in thought, working out the strategic details of the conflict. "We have had our archers fixed on the mountainside to shower arrows upon them. They are restrategizing to escape our attacks. If we can take away their escape and attack from the front we'll pin them."Theo flitted his eyes towards the rays of success, his jaws clenched, ready for a battle. "In this case, we have to put our fastest ones on the sides. They'
Cyrus POVThe war was still raging outside wildly. The South had been very unprepared for the attack and the new strategy they had had faltered due to our strategy. It was getting quite obvious that we would be victorious in the war. It was getting late and after several hours of fighting, I decided to go back to the war camp. A general was going to take over my place, and the men who had fought from morning till night were to retreat and those that would fight from night till morning were going to replace them. I rode my horse away, exchanging positions in an orderly manner so that despite the switch, we would still be able to attack the enemy effectively. As I neared the war tents, I slowed down a bit and then pulled on the reins of my horse to make it come to a halt. I swung down from it, breathing heavily, and made my way to the entrance of the tent where Agnes was kept. "Is she awake?" I asked the guards who stood in the front."Not yet Your Majesty," they responded in unison
I stormed into Lord Xeik’s tent with fire and brimstone visibly burning in my heart for having been deceived. The material of the canvas tore again and brought me to the sight I almost stopped breathing. The interior stank of sweat and the desperation before death hung in the thick gloom.There was a woman dressed in black standing still before me; she was fixing a thin black veil to Lord Xeik’s wrist. The material made his arm disappear as if it were a black cloak that was destined to bring in his evil end. He clung there at the top of his tent with all his strength; his face red and sweating with fear and agony.His eyes popped out wide open as beads of perspiration glistened on his skin, his curled lips looked like a scream kept inside. His tendons flexed at his neck and the rest of his body followed the muscular attempt of him to escape.Looking up from my chair, I saw the woman turn toward the door the moment I walked in, her eyes clearly focusing on me. Then I was startled becau
Anger was gone, leaving the sadistic smile on Agnes’s lips as a cold, shocking feeling enveloped her heart and squeezed the life out of it. She felt her heart racing and her body stiffening, The fear seeping into her and then choking her as it surrounded her chest. His breath momentarily hitched and she remembered the danger she had led Cyrus into. The burden of the mistake almost suffocated her as it pressed against her chest ready to overpower her.Fear kicked in making her drive like a woman possessed. She hurried out of the tent, forgetting the pain it the wound inflicted on her by Xeik. The sound of her bare feet striking the sound like that of a death rattle. She kicked up sand as she went moving about madly. Each tent looked like it was a never-ending maze; after a few moments, she glanced around searching for a figure as distinctive as Theo’s.The silence gave her a feeling that the atmosphere was suffocating on her. Agnes stepped into the armory tent enraged and with determin
It was at this that Theo looked around himself, taking in the decimating war that had claimed the lives of so many people. The dead bodies were crying in his head, and the sound of swords clashing still rang in his ears. Death had its particular smell, a nauseating odor that seemed to penetrate even the spaces between his fingers. The battlefield was a grotesque tableau of shattered lives and broken dreams, with the bodies of fallen warriors lying in grotesque contortions, their lifeless eyes staring blankly at the darkening sky.The air was thick with the metallic scent of blood and the acrid tang of smoke, mingling with the earthy smell of freshly churned soil. Flies buzzed around the corpses, their droning hum adding to the eerie stillness that had settled over the camp. The once vibrant grass was now matted with gore, a grim reminder of the fierce battle that had raged here.After an hour of searching, the exhausted victors watched as the dying light stretched the shadows of the f