Chapter twelve

Charlotte left me. Behind a tree. What am I suppose to do? She said to tell out to any movement but, I could be giving away my position to an enemy soldier. I don't want what happened to Artanis to happen to me. So, I make a decision.

Leaving the shelter of my tree, I make my way to what I think is the middle. Maybe then I can find someone to help me find Emmet. It'll be a little hard though, over this dust and noise to find him.

Over the few minutes of leaving my tree, I fell three times over nothing, I feel six times over soldiers and I fell on my face ten times because I tripod over a rock. In total, I feel nineteen times. My face hurts, my legs hurt and my brain hurts from all this noise.

Ignoring the pain in my body, I push forward, stopping once in a while to tell for Emmet. The rumbling has gotten louder and you can now hear very close yells of fourth district soldiers. If I don't find Emmet or Charlotte soon, I am done for.

Slamming into the hard ground below me, I am quickly picked up. Not knowing who it is, I start to kick and scream before a hand is covering my mouth, a voice whispering in my ear. "Its Emmet. The fourth district army is here. We need to be quiet if you want to get out of here alive. Do you understand?" Nodding, he lets me go and grabs my hand, pulling me behind him, gracefully going through the thin lines of openings between his soldiers.

Wanting to know how he is doing it, I decide not to ask as he said we need to be quiet if we are to get out alive and I would like to live a while longer.

Once we got to Charlotte and Refeco I think his name was, Charlotte had me out some weird eye stood in my eyes. Afterward, I could see through the dust. Mumbling to myself, "So this is how you saw everything.." Emmet brings us into a circle and holds his finger to his lips, telling us to stay quiet. He starts to whisper in a very quiet voice, I could barely hear him. "They have hearing enhancers. They can only slightly hear over this rumbling but they can still hear. Okay?" We all nod and he pats us in the shoulders. "All right, let's not die." And, with that, we start towards the fourth district army, gathering our army together in a V formation with me in the middle of it all.

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Getting my army ready, we walk forward.

The dust eventually dies down to where we can see better. The rumbling though, it hasn't stopped. Neither has the echoing roar surrounding us. We don't even know whats causing this. Only that it's big and coming right to us.

Hazel is safe for now. She is in the middle of the army, protected from all sides except for the back. We managed to get a deer up and walking through the rumbling so Hazel is riding the deer. Everyone else is walking, swords drawn and at the ready.

Soon, the rumbling is louder than ever before, the shouts of the soldiers of the fourth district also growing louder. Everything is loud all around us. There's no getting out of it.

Half of my soldiers are on the west side, -which I hope is doing better than us- leaving me with fewer soldiers and less attacking force. This may not end well for us. We may not even get any significant damage to the soldiers of the fourth district. But, j can't let my soldiers know that. I am sure they know but they can't hear it from me. Then, it is definite; When the prince says something to his soldiers, that's the final word. That's how it goes.

Charlotte is right beside me, as confident as ever. Refeco is on the left of me, looking a little queasy but following me with every ounce of courage he has. This is the type of army I want. An army that will go through anything with you.

That's my army. And maybe, just maybe, we will win this war.

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Hazel needs to go. It's like she gets all of these special things just because she doesn't belong here. She doesn't have to deal with the rules of this place.

Thinking back to the potion in my bag, I try to figure out the best time to do it. It has to be now. Somewhere where anything could happen. Stone could've put the sell on her. It has to be now.

Looking over to Emmet I smile, you'll be mine soon... You will forget about Hazel... Emmet looks over to me and smiles at me before turning back to the front of him.

Gently taking out the bottle from my saddlebag, I stuff it inside my jacket in a secure pocket. If it breaks, I'll never get another one.

There is a cling and the next thing I know I am being charged by a brute. He has potions all over him, an ax in his right hand. This will be easy. Just destroy the potions and he'll either be eaten through by acid or he will catch on fire. Either way, it's not a good way to die.

Emmet is already fighting someone along with Refeco and five others. The soldiers have yet to make it to the back of the formation.

Holding my sword up, I try my best not to break formation. I can only reach the big guy if I do. But, it will leave an opening for soldiers to get into. If that happens, we are completely done. No fighting chance.

I have a choice to make. This big guy needs to go down. I could get the soldiers out of the way and lead a path towards Hazel and then spell her so it looks like the brute did it..

Is getting Hazel more important than my fellow soldiers? I don't even know how to get the power from inside her.

That hidden power inside. I can't get it yet.

This brute though, he still needs to be brought down.

Will I sacrifice some of Emmets soldiers to save almost a whole army?