3. Battleground.
Maria turned quickly toward the sound.
"What is it?" asked a voice in her head.
"There’s a child somewhere here." she responded. "I have to find whoever it is. Follow me."
She moved through the forest, trying to avoid any confrontations on her way to there. Theodore up in the treetops would let her know if he saw anyone nearby. She wasn’t here to fight them, but they didn’t know that and she suspected they wouldn’t stop long enough to let her explain. When you’re in the middle of a fight, self preservation can make you act hastily.
"I see him!" shouted theodore. "Dead... I mean straight ahead. Just past the next tree. He’s hiding in a ditch formed by the roots of the tree."
She went there and she saw what Theodore had described. A young male child was crouched down trying to hide, in the roots. He was dirty. The tear stains making his face look the worse for wear. He was wearing plain trousers and a shirt of coarse cloth. He looked like any ordinary child. What he was doing out here was the question.
She went up to him. He looked up startled and looked like he was about to cry out.
"Shhh!" She said, gently putting her fingers over his mouth. "I’m not here to harm you. I’m caught here like you. How did you end up out here?" She whispered.
He looked her up and down, and seemed to come to the conclusion that she wasn’t part of any of the warring factions.
"When the fighting started, we were all told to get to shelter further into the city, but I got lost in the crowd and I couldn’t find mama anywhere. I was near near the end of the city and thought I could find papa who is helping to fight,but then there was a lot of noise, and people, and I got scared and ran. I ended up here."
He looked like he was about to cry again.
"It’s ok." she reassured him. She wiped his face a little. "I’ll get you back to the city. I promise."
In her head she said, "Theodore get down here."
He was there. "You called?" He was still talking in thought only. He had appeared behind the boy so that he wouldn’t be startled. She kept comforting and reassuring the boy as she conversed with Theodore.
"What’s the battle like up ahead?"
"Massive and disorderly. It won’t be easy on your own let alone trying to get a child through there." he said.
"I know. I was wondering if you could get us a little closer and bypass the large part."
"No can do. I can’t make anything right now."
"Why not?" she asked. This wasn’t a good sign. Spirit animals were strong creatures. She never thought anything could interfere with them.
"There is too much magic saturating this place. That was why I jumped out where I did. There has been a lot of magic happening around here very recently. And not just one or two kinds but several. Earth, Air, Fire ,Water, all happening at once. The overflow is interfering. I can’t get you anywhere right now. The amount is staggering though. This battle isn’t the first one."
As if to emphasise what he was saying. The sky lit up with fire as someone, she wasn’t sure which side it came from, used his abilities.
"That is not what I was hoping to hear. Looks like I’ll have to fight after all." She picked up the child, and holding him in her left arm and taking her sword in her right, she started off toward the city.
The closer she got, the louder the din became. She had never been in a fight this loud or big before, and she was a little more scared than usual. She had been in a few fights. Some she had when she was a child, with some of the local bullies. And recently, after accepting this position in her mother’s household, she had been in a few fracases. One of them even resulted in the death of her opponent.
She shuddered at the recollection. she did not like to take an innocent’s life. She was there for only one person, and the others where innocents in her mind. If it came down to her life or their’s, then she would do her best to not loose. But as long as she could avoid killing anyone she would. Thank all the Gods that her aunt and mother had taught her well.
"Ok. Get ready." said Theodore. "It’s just pass the next trees. It is a mess out there, you take extra care. I don’t need your aunt hunting me down."
"Ok." she told herself. "Just get through this as quick as you can. No fancy stuff. Just knock them around and run."
She stepped out into the fray. She thought that calling it a mess was an understatement. It was less organised looking than some of the bar brawls she had witnessed.
"Or started." said Theodore.
"Shut up!"
She moved further in the battle, keeping as much of herself between the fighters and the child. There where men in the brown uniform of the same type the one who had attacked her in the woods was wearing, and the others wore a uniform of green. They looked unadorned as far as she could tell in all the movement, and she had little time to investigate further, when one of the men in brown came at her brandishing a large sword.
She grounded her left foot into the earth and brought her own sword up to block. The force of the blow was strong, but she held up against it. She then brought her right leg up and kicked out. She heard the snap as his leg bent at the knee in a way it usually shouldn’t. He cried out and hit the ground hard. He won’t be able to walk without a limp for the rest of his life, but at least he will still be alive.
She left him there and moved further into the battle. Another one, this time a green uniform, came at her. She could tell he was not used to his sword, he was off balance as he ran at her. She deftly stepped aside at the last minute and came down hard on the back of his head with the grip of her sword. he did not get up.
"That’s gonna give him a headache he’ll never forget."
"At least he fared better than the other one."
She was able to use the confusion of the battle to move a little further toward the city before she encountered her next opponent. This one was wearing brown, and was not particularly large, but he held his sword as one who has truly made it a part of himself.
"This is not going to be as easy as the others." she told herself. She braced herself and waited. He came at her aiming for her head. But looking at the position of the hand she saw the fake coming. At the last minute his sword moved down and went straight for her, supposedly, unguarded stomach. She brought her sword in to block it. He looked surprised, for a split second, then he was moving again. He tried to get to her left, but she kept moving to keep him away from the boy. He would attack and she would block, all the time she was looking for some opening or weakness. He was good and she was tiring.
Then she saw her chance. He moved at one time and he did not see that there was a body lying in the dirt right behind him. Maria took the chance before it went away. She feigned an attack. She hadn’t been aggressive at all and so he was surprised. He naturally stepped back to avoid her and tripped up on the corpses. He lost his balance and Maria struck. She slashed his right leg. Deeply but not so that it would not heal properly. He yelped.
Yelped?
He dropped his sword and clutched at his leg. He looked even more surprised then when his trick did not work at the beginning of the fight. And he looked a little frightened. His cut was smoking as well. Maria looked down at her sword. The runes that were inscribed on it were glowing. They only did that when they came into use.
The runes that were made of silver.
"That doesn’t make any sense." she thought. "Why would he be fighting...."
"No time to ponder questions right now." Theodore’s voice broke into her thoughts. "Just get the boy to safety, worry about other things later!"
She ran, leaving the other man behind. She was near the city and the fighting was thinning out.
"Just a little further." she told the boy.
Just then a green uniformed man of enormous size stepped in front of her, blocking her way to the city. He was using a large axe, and was readying it for a blow.
"Just when I thought I was home free."
"Papa?!"
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