Chapter Nine:

 

“You…you guys came!” I gasp at them.

My eyes widen as I find my sword on the ground next to me. I grab it and strike down the two guards behind me by swinging my leg and tripping them over. I then get up and run to stand by Phoenix and Liam’s horse. 

“What’s the plan?” I ask them.

Everyone looks at me angrily. 

I sigh. “I know. I’m sorry I left by myself to try and defeat Erinyes.”

“How did that work out?” Liam asks sarcastically. 

I glare at him. “Can we just….okay?” I say as I gesture over the guards and my sword. 

Ares grins, forgetting that I pretty much left them. “It’s been a long time since I’ve had a nice old-fashioned duel.”

“Same here,” Phoenix complies. 

As if on cue, Ares, Phoenix, and Liam slide off their horses at the same time. Hebe and Koshin hide behind some trees, trying to protect themselves. 

We all stand by each other, our swords are drawn. Looking as intimidating as they come.

Ares and Phoenix then spring into action, one taking left, while the other takes right. Leaving me and Liam left. Having a stare-down with the guards.

My eyes drift over to him. “Well?” I say. “Are you going to go first or what?”

He rolls his eyes at me. “I was going to be polite. You know, ‘ladies first’?”

I chuckle. “Fine. I don’t mind it anyway.”

I leap into agility. Dueling the guard who Liam and I had a run-in with the other day. Liam comes in as well, taking the guard behind.

As I’m dueling the guard, I can tell he’s pretty decent with swords. But, as I’m getting a close look at his face, I find that he has red eyes. Scarlett-red irises that are almost blindly glowing.

Like the villagers…

Our swords end up clashing, interrupting my realization. I’m trying to force his sword down. He’s really strong, and, as I’m trying to strike him down, he ends up pushing me away. 

I grunt. “No…not…happening…”

I push through,  his sword fell to the ground, and I get the upper hand. The guard falls to the ground as well. Unconscious. Not being able to pick up his sword to fight me.

He has now seen my true colors. 

I leave him be and glance over at Liam, seeing he has no trouble at all fighting his former people. He has taken down maybe five. The same for Phoenix as well. Though, I think Liam has more charisma in fighting than him.

I wasn’t too worried about Ares. She’s pretty much a gladiator. She has already taken down at least ten of them in possibly fifteen seconds. I see her doing fight moves I didn’t even know existed. I guess dueling for a living really helped her out.

I then find rocks flying through the air. But, it’s quite impossible for rocks to ‘magically’ fall through the sky, even though I know that magic does exist. But, I look behind me, only to see Hebe and Koshin throwing rocks and pebbles behind their hiding spot. 

Well, everyone fights in their own way.

Then, me and Liam are back-to-back, fending off guards on both sides. As we’re dueling, he decides to make this time memorable by scolding me. 

“What the heck were you thinking, Enya?!” He rebukes. 

“I needed to take care of things myself!” I plea. “You obviously weren’t going to do anything!”

“Once again, how did that work out for you?”

I groan. “Not so good, Liam! Now, can we talk about this later?”

He laughs lightly. “Alright,”

All of us continue to fight, striking down every guard in sight. There seems to be more and more each time we comatose them. But, each time one is knocked out, about five more come. 

Someone has to be behind this. 

I look around, trying to see if they have a base, a captain, or something along those lines that could lead to them gaining more men. But, I saw nothing. That is, except more guards. 

I kept dueling more and more guards. My count was at least twenty. Then, after that, I began to struggle. I was getting weak. 

I glimpse over at the others. I see they are starting to get worn out too. Ares is no longer as gladiator-like as before. Phoenix began to sweat, his attempts at striking seemed impossible. 

And Liam…well, he was kinda struggling.

I immediately strike down my opponent and run over to him. As the guard is about to strike him, I clash my sword underneath his. And push him away from Liam. Saving his life. I then kick the opponent in the chest as he falls to the ground unconscious. 

“I thought you said you had intense training as guards?” I ask Liam after heroically defeating his foe.

“We did,” He remarks. “It’s just…been awhile.”

I chortle. “Yeah, right.”

My eyes drift over to Ares and Phoenix again. They were still having a hard time taking down their competitor. Ares is trying to fend off her opponent, while Phoenix has three ganged up against him. 

I look at Liam. “Go! Help Phoenix! I got Ares!”

He nods as he jumps into action by helping his friend. 

I sprint over to Ares, instantly knocking her prosecutor down to the ground. 

She sighs of relief. “Thanks,”

“Don’t thank me yet,” I reply as I find the guard getting up from the dry ground. 

The guard still has his sword, he is about to strike. At me. 

Ares rushes in between me and the guard. She fends off the enemy, pushing him away and then doing another fighting move I didn’t know existed. She faces me, looking as if she’s done that multiple times and had no trouble doing so. 

Ares beams. “That was the move I used when I beat Liam in the duel.”

“Not bad,” I say. “I can only imagine how mad he was when he lost against a girl.”
She snickers. “Very,”

We both turn and run toward Liam and Phoenix. We stand together once more, me and Liam back-to-back, and Ares and Phoenix. 

But then, all of a sudden, I hear another noise. Not a foghorn. A noise of an instrument that is only played if royalty is present.

Erinyes. He’s here. 

The ground begins to shake like an earthquake. More than when everyone had come to help me. I see more horses of the calvary, surrounded by a ginormous steed with a velvet-sewn saddle. On top of it was sitting the Lord of Scarlett Valley, killer of the poor, lineage of evil…

“Why, hello Enya,” Erinyes says cunningly. “It’s been a while…”