Problems that can arise, will eventually happen. It was a saying I took to my heart, but I naturally couldn’t plan for all eventualities. One of these eventualities was the elven attack on our unit during the day. An arrow struck through the left door, directly in front of me. I raised an eyebrow as the light shone through the little gap between the arrow shaft and the door, but it luckily wasn’t enough to knock me out. The hands in my lap, fingers interlocked with each other, I was the calmest person on earth. I didn’t even twitch as another arrow struck the carriage roof but didn’t penetrate through the wood.
Tom on the other hand was sweating as if he ran a marathon, although he just woke up by the sudden sounds of battle around us. A bit disappointed, I looked at him, but I didn’t force him to step outside and help the knights. I was unable to do anything as well after all. I could only sit here, close my eyes and listen to the chaos around us.
“Do you think they will be able to fight them back?” Tom asked hopefully but knew as well how our chances stood. We didn’t hide our numbers at all as we rushed through elvish streets that were probable to lead us to our target. The trees around us stood high, although I was told they paled in comparison to those in the real elven forest.
“As if that would help in any way.” The elves would win at some point. And if not, they would come back with more soldiers. It would be only a matter of time until this unit lost completely.
“True.” We only had one hope which was to run faster than the news of our arrival here could reach the elves in front of us. And we were doing exactly that. The carriage tucked over the road that blended into nature so perfectly, that it even had to allow roots to pass underneath it. Each time we speeded over one of them, my butt hurt even more.
The door was knocked on three times and I closed my eyes. Markus opened it and jumped inside from the horse without stopping. After he closed the door and the pure white vanished from my sight, I opened my eyes again and saw how he was bleeding out of his shoulder. He immediately unclothed his chainmail with a pained expression and threw it on the ground.
“Shit.” He said while I noticed a broken arrow shaft sticking out of the wound.
“How many causalities?” I asked without apparent concern for his well-being.
“Six this time and three heavily wounded, we need to take a break immediately.” He pulled on the arrow and screamed as it didn’t want to get out of his wound. After a few times of trying, he pushed the arrowhead deeper inside and out of his back.
“Unfortunate.” I reached downwards and ripped off the lower part of my dress. It became dangerously short this way, but the life of Markus was more important at this time. With a grim expression, he took the cloth and bandaged himself quickly.
“I said we need a break.” He complained as soon as he could apply pressure to the wound on both sides and stopped the bleeding this way.
“And I said that’s unfortunate. Get the wounded soldiers inside, you will take care of them. Tom, go to the coachman and sit next to him, we need the space.” Nobody was happy with my orders, but at least they complied reluctantly.
Soon we stopped for a few seconds to let the heavily wounded inside, but otherwise didn’t rest. The soldiers were still out of breath as they entered or were carried into the carriage that already smelled sweetly. One arrow stuck through a belly, one through a lung and one through a thigh, each at a different soldier. Two death sentences and one useless baggage that immediately started to complain once he laid down and Markus took care of his wound. Markus knew perfectly well he couldn’t save the others and thus didn’t even try.
“Miss, we need to turn around. We are only around fifty knights left and we are nearing our limit. We already rode for the whole day, even warhorses have their limit!” He said while Arthur bandaged him with the arm part of my dress.
“You will not stop until nightfall.” I said and made all three knights pale. Well, I didn’t really know if the one that survived so far with the arrow in his belly paled due to my comments, but he did indeed pale, possibly due to death as he stopped breathing.
“That’s insane! We cannot do that!” Exclaimed the one who felt slightly better due to his treatment.
“Did I ever ask if you can do it? Going back isn’t an option now.” I said while watching the second one die in front of my feet.
“Is this a suicide mission?” Asked Markus, proving once and for all that he was completely unable to understand me. I pointed towards me and tilted my head questioningly.
“Would I take part if this were the case?” I asked and made Markus close his eyes in realization. “Can he ride again?”
“In pain.”
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“Alright, halt the carriage and discard the corpses. Tom should stay outside, a bit of sun will do him good.” Markus followed my command once more and the injured soldier saddled his horse again, although he yelped during the process. After they hid the bodies at the side of the road, the unit continued its race against the elves.
“They call you the ice princess.” Said Markus who apparently intended to stay inside the carriage for at least a little while.
“Hmm?”
“You demand of everyone to die while not lifting a single finger and without giving a damn about their lives. I know it´s hard for you to do anything right now, but it is still fitting, don’t you think?” He left without waiting for my answer, not that I intended to give him any.
True, I didn’t care about their lives at all. It didn’t matter to me if they died or not, but I did care about the success of this mission. It was vital for my standing in this world and my survival in it. So in a sense, I was still frustrated about each and every death because it reduced the chances of success. Angry, I kicked the arrowhead that was still stuck inside the wooden door and broke it into pieces. Even more light entered the carriage, but I quickly solved that problem by ripping off the other arm of my dress and stuffing the fabric into the hole.
Time went by excruciatingly slow as we sped through the elven territory, but at least the elven guards became less and less as we advanced further into their territory and distanced ourselves from the human army.
We were still attacked four times in total, but each time, we managed to break through their lines and sped past them, naturally not without causalities. Emotionless, I stepped out of the carriage in front of forty-two knights and a few more horses. All of them, from the animals to the knights were panting like crazy. They should applaud themselves for the feat they were able to achieve, but I naturally didn’t say anything like that.
“Good work.” Disbelief was written across their faces and some even sank to the ground, completely tired and spent.
“And what now?” asked Markus, equally shocked by my attitude. He even had his hand at the knob of his sword but didn’t go further than this. Tom and I haven´t told anyone what we intended to do for good reasons. They were questioning our motives like this, but it was way better than if they knew what we intended to do.
“You will follow Tom´s orders. Understood?”
“Miss, it is already hard enough to follow your orders, but you cannot expect us to listen to this good for nothing.”
“Markus?” I asked. If he would follow my command, so would the others.
“Is this the only way?” Well, technically yes, but honestly no.
“Oh, no. You can do whatever you want, but if you want to survive, you need to listen to him.”
“What are our orders?” asked Markus finally and relented to my wishes.
“Find high ground as fast as possible and defend it till death and pray to the gods.” Said Tom and seemingly asked for the impossible. The knights didn’t react as much as I anticipated, but I still heard a few groans here and there.
“Which way?” I turned to Tom who still sat near the coachmen, only to see him looking at the stars, then pointing in one direction.
I ran. I ran as if my life depended on it to reach my destination as fast as possible. With the sword in my hand, I sprinted through the forest, always orienting myself with the help of the moon and soon left the now utterly useless unit behind me. This was the sole reason they were accompanying me. They needed to bring me as close as possible towards my destination during the day so I could cover the rest of the distance during the night. This trip was impossible otherwise, no matter how fast I ran.