Aela (19 page)

‘Sound the alarm! We are being attacked! Officers, marshal your men instantly!'

All the time Juno was buckling his sword around his waist and his servants were placing his golden armour on his chest, legs and arms. Then a blood curdling sound came from the bushes and out leapt a number of armed men, who ran straight towards the camp, letting out ferocious cries of, ‘Death to the enemy! Victory is ours!'

Some of these men kept on yelling incoherently, as they rushed to kill their enemy. There was a general skirmish of blades hitting their target and shrieks of agony as the weapons penetrated soft flesh, with many men falling to the ground silently or groaning due to newly inflicted wounds. The whole skirmish was over in a matter of moments and Juno was taken prisoner with a number of his officers.

Then in strode Brude triumphantly and with mock gallantry, he unsheathed Juno's sword from his scabbard and pointed it directly at Juno's throat. Juno had been forced to kneel in front of him, without flinching his eyes, Juno looked steadily at Brude.

‘Drive the sword into my throat now!' he mocked, glaring all the time at Brude.

For an instant, Brude's eyes lit up with the thought of ending Juno's life then and there, but something prevented him from actually carrying out the execution, much to his own surprise.

Juno barked out, ‘Why did you hesitate? Are you squeamish about drawing blood and killing me?'

Brude replied, ‘I have another reason for keeping you alive for the time being. I now have time to win over your people and then I can execute you at my leisure. Guards, take this man away! Truss him up and guard him well.' Looking around at the dead and dying, Brude shouted at his men, ‘Clean up this mess now. It is offending my finer senses.'

The order was carried out immediately, everyone was busy either carrying away the dead or attending to the wounded.

Watching this whole process, was Eena as she and her army had camped a distance from Juno's men, because she did not trust Juno to pounce on her and her army, then treacherously killing everyone. Brude stood amidst the dead and dying, glorying in his victory over his arch enemy Juno and he felt triumphant over the success of his plan of ambushing Juno and his army. He was not the least bit concerned over his treacherous behaviour as he always believed that any tactic was justifiable, the main thing in combat was to be the winner.

Lost in his thoughts and emotions, he did not notice a slight feminine figure standing near him, until he raised his eyes when he noticed Eena in front of him.

‘You are a magnificent fighter. Congratulations on your victory over Juno and his army. I always admire a man who can grab power and glory, no matter what tactics they use at the time.'

Brude, still pumped up with blood lust, gripped his sword, pointing it straight at Eena's heart. ‘How do you know that I won't kill you this instant and then absorb your army into mine?' demanded Brude.

Eena replied coolly, ‘You may have the upper hand, but there is a subtle layer of loyalty that my men have towards me. If you kill me, my archers will thrust their arrows into your chest and body, as I fall dead to the ground.'

Brude was flabbergasted with this reply. He began to laugh uncontrollably and hysterically. ‘You are absolutely right. Loyalty is the only wild element in the equation and that is something that I have not been able to control and overcome, even amongst my own men.' He caught his breath and sighed deeply, looking squarely at Eena. ‘What bargain are you going to parley with me? There is always a sting in the tail of any wild filly or stallion.'

Without batting an eyelid Eena replied, ‘I know where the Sacred Sword has been hidden, even though you don't believe me. Without the Sword, Juno's people won't listen to you, so your victory will be empty. They will turn on you and your people, until they have killed every last man, woman and child of your tribe.'

‘I don't believe you have the Sacred Sword. According to Aela, Rom has it. So what woman am I to believe. You or Aela?'

‘Have it your own way, it is up to you to decide which of us is speaking the truth, Aela or myself. We are two women who have nothing to lose one way or another,' Eena replied as she swung around on her heels and walked back to her camp, leaving Brude pondering his dilemma of who to believe.

He gave up this battle and realised he was feeling extremely tired after the excitement and physical exertion of fighting, so he decided to go back to his camp to relax himself with wine and sleep. But before he did, he ordered that Eena's army was to be surrounded by a group of his guards to make sure that they did not escape. He stormed off, back to his camp to ponder his next move.

Then he had a sudden thought, ‘Who was guarding Aela during the fracas?' So he ordered a couple of the guards to rush back to his camp, to see whether Aela was still there or not.

Not to be outdone whilst the battle was raging on at a distance from her, Aela took the opportunity to slip her bound hands by moving them down her legs and took out her dagger that was attached to one of her legs. She cut the ropes from her hands and feet and when the guard was distracted by all the noise of the battle, she slipped into the forest and ran for her life, hardly daring to breathe until she felt she was a safe distance from her captors.

Eventually she sat by a stream to thirstily drink water, as she was completely parched and physically spent. She looked at her reflection in the water and was surprised to see the reflection of a young woman with large blue eyes, whilst her face was surrounded with straggling blonde hair. She looked as though she was the wild woman of the forest. She lay down, hiding in some bushes and rested her weary body on the soft ground of moss and fell into a deep sleep.

Time passed, and the rays of the sun were starting to slant at a gentle angle indicating that evening would soon be spreading over the forest for another night of darkness. She slowly woke, cautiously stretching her arms and legs.

Aela realised that even though she was free, she must somehow find Rom, as well as food and shelter very quickly, otherwise she would perish alone in the forest. She decided to sit on the ground, with her back against the tree. She soon entered into a trance state, and sent her urgent message, ‘Rom, Rom, where are you? I must find you now or I will die.'

These desperate thoughts were transmitted through the air, carried along with a prayer of hope and longing. She wished she was with Rom, wrapped in his strong arms, where she would feel completely protected and totally loved.

Just at the same time, but a good distance deep in the dark forest, Rom heard in his mind, a soft, feminine voice calling him ever so calmly, ‘Rom, Rom where are you? We must be in each other's arms otherwise I will die.'

Pictures appeared in Rom's thoughts of Aela sitting crossed legged on a bed of moss, with her back leaning against a tree, hidden in a group of ferns near a small stream. But what stream, because there are so many waterways in the forest and they all in their own way looked the same.

Rom sent a mental message back to Aela, ‘Where are you Aela? And which stream are you near, so that I can come and rescue you?'

The message that came back did not please Rom at all. ‘I don't know which stream. I am tired, Rom and hungry. If I am not with you very soon I will die of exhaustion.'

Then the scene and voice of Aela faded away and Rom was left in a quandary as to where Aela was situated in the forest. Just as he was feeling totally helpless and frustrated he heard a male voice close to him, ‘Hello, I come in peace,' the voice said, but not too convincingly.

Rom, whose nerves were at breaking point pounced on the body of the man and placed his fingers around his throat as if to strangle him. ‘How do I know you are not an enemy from Brude or Juno. You look a scruffy, suspicious character who would lie through his teeth to save his own skin.'

‘Don't kill me, Oh master, please!' pleaded the person as he was trying to unlock Rom's hands around his throat, so that he could breathe more normally.

Rom relaxed his hold but he still kept his hands around the person's neck. ‘Speak now. What is your name, you scoundrel.'

‘My name is Ayab, and I have been wandering through the forest these past few days lost, hoping to come across some people or food. All I have been able to eat are some berries and roots and as I haven't a spear, sword or dagger, so I haven't been able to kill an animal for meat.'

‘Whose clan do you come from? And whose allegiance do you have? Brude or Juno?'

‘I come from the Dagger Clan who live near the Temple of the Moon. Athunor, is the goddess I worship. As far as allegiance is concerned, my only loyalty is to myself. As long as I can survive I will serve anyone that I see is advantageous for my gain.'

‘Well, you are certainly the worst of persons, but lucky for you, I also come from the Dagger Clan and I worship Athunor, otherwise you would be dead by now as I would kill you without thinking twice about it.'

With those words, Rom released his iron grip around Ayab's throat, and jumped up from his chest shouting, ‘Get up you low life. Tell me now why I should help you to live another day?'

There was coughing and spluttering coming from Ayab's throat as he slowly raised his head and chest and he looked at Rom's feet. ‘Well, we have a better chance to survive in this forest if there are two of us. At least there are four eyes that can seek out the enemy, find meat to eat and water to drink.'

There was a pause and Rom replied, ‘For the time being your life is spared, but if I think you are going to double cross me at any stage. I will not think twice about killing you on the spot.'

With these words, Ayab breathed a sigh of relief and slowly got up off the ground. ‘I will follow you anywhere, master, to the end of this great forest and back.'

Rom then placed his sword in his belt, shook his head and started to walk in the direction that his sacred pendant was telling him to go, in his urgent search for Aela.

Brude was white with rage when he heard that Aela had disappeared from captivity. The guards who were looking after Aela, had fled into the forest, because they knew on Brude's orders, they would be executed for their failure to keep Aela a prisoner.

Brude muttered, ‘Why are there women in this life? I much prefer that there were only men to deal with as women are so hysterical, emotional, stupid and treacherous. You never know next what they were going to do and they were always whining and moaning that no man understood them. They were just good enough for sex, to cook for you and have your children.'

By now, his physical strength had left his body and he decided to drown his frustrations in wine and food. He had to work out what he was going to do with Juno and how to win over Juno's people so they were under his power and control.

Very soon he was asleep, snoring loudly, whilst his men took the opportunity to rest as well. Even though Brude and his army were victorious it was a hollow triumph as he still had the task of storming the Temple of the Sun and the surrounding settlements before he was truly in command of all the territories. Everyone in Brude's army knew that they would have to face at least another conflict before they could go home to their loved ones hopefully laden with rich booty. All of Brude's men were convinced that when they faced the enemy next time they would defeat them.

Just to be on the safe side they held a special ceremony, as dawn was breaking, giving thanks to Athunor, their goddess and asking for her blessing that they would be triumphant at the next conflict.

Brude considered this ceremony a waste of time, but went along with it in order to humour his men. As far as he was concerned he was invincible, especially as now he had Juno a prisoner along with a number of his men who had survived the last battle. Just for Brude's own amusement and to feed his already bloated ego, he had Juno placed on a horse with his hands tied to the saddle which was led by one of his men making sure that Juno and the horse was walking beside his own steed so that he could keep an close eye on his old enemy. They all, including Juno's army began their march once more along the sacred way towards the Temple of the Sun.

Juno was in no mood to enter into a conversation with Brude and maintained a stony silence thinking thoughts of revenge, of what he would do to Brude, once he could think out a way to escape his captivity flee to his Temple, rally his people and vanquish Brude and his men forever. Brude was in the best of spirits, and he was highly amused that Juno was sulking and refusing to speak to him.

‘Come now Juno, put a good face on your defeat. You never know, I may grant you your freedom after I have sacked your Temple, confiscated your treasure of jewels and gold, raided your food stocks, taken your horses and cattle and placed your people in bondage.'

Brude continued to chuckle to himself as Juno stubbornly refused to speak to him, no matter how much Brude tried to draw him into a conversation.

Just at that moment a scout came riding up on his horse and stopped in front of Brude. ‘My Lord, we are now quite close to the Temple of the Sun and the enemy is only a short distance from us. What orders do you want to be carried out, my liege?' asked the scout still sitting on his horse, bowed his head towards Brude as he delivered his message.

‘We must prepare for battle at once, but we must approach the Temple stealthily and take them by surprise,' Brude hissed back to the scout. ‘Be ready, my men. Now, pronto, we must be completely quiet. Death to the first man who makes a sound.'

These instructions were repeated swiftly down the line to the last man.

As an after thought Brude issued the order for Juno to be gagged and tied up more securely on the horse he was riding. Satisfied that he had been obeyed to the letter, Brude gave the signal for his army to advance along the sacred way.

The atmosphere was electric with each soldier absorbed in his own thoughts of home, their loved ones, their stomachs churning in turmoil, sweat poring from their brows, and dust caked around their dry mouths. As they stared ahead, nervously clutching the hilt of their swords, bows, spears or a lucky talisman and praying desperately to Athunor that they would not be killed or maimed in the ensuring battle.