Chapter 2.

11 years later...

A piercing roar cut through the air sharply, explosions went off scattering my men like cattle. I kept my eyes open for any enemy on my side. Kiano had gone to the other side. I and our men were to join him there shortly. I instructed them to retreat. Some men groaned mumuring curses. It was hard being a female commander. I led our men through the thick green forest, we marched past the mud that sucked our bare feet.

I was overwhelmed with anxiety and excitement. It was not my first battle on the battlefield. I couldn't help but be proud of being the female lead in our kingdom. I looked down at the small bracelet around my wrist, it was a reminder that today was that day... The day that I brought victory back home.

Papa would be proud.

When we reached the other side of the forest, something fell off the tall trees, I reacted by instinct, elbowing the person behind me. I heard a groan, and I knew it was him. Kiano!

I helped him get up on his feet. It took me a while considering his tall heavy figure.

"So, now we climb trees?" He rubbed his face. He had dreamy eyes, the level of tiredness I saw in his poorly poised body could equate to the defeat I was now smelling. Thick in the air and unavoidable.

"Sister, when I tell you this war is the end of us I mean it." The warrior attitude he always had with him disappeared. His thick eyebrows were lifted as he sighed, wiping his sword off of the blood that had stained it.

"We cannot give up, we have made it this far..." For some reason, I couldn't get the words out.

"Kamaria, what can I say?" He addressed me by my name, which meant that the situation was just as crucial as he said it to be.

"They have wiped off every last of my men!-" He stretched his body so that he was now standing upright, pointing his sword at the men behind me with a loud voice that carried hopelessness.

"I have some with me."I looked back, the realization hit me. We were only left with a few, worn out, useless fighters.

"That won't be enough to fight them all-"

"We have all of us in here, we can fight them." He lowered his head. All my seven brothers departed with me for the war, we together could take down their warriors, it was not the first time we had done that.

"Kya is gone, Kamaria. I don't have the strength to fight." He buried his head in his hands before wiping his face with it.

"Kya is gone?" My heart throbbed hard against my chest, every pain felt like a sword cutting through me.

"Listen," Kiano cupped my cheeks in his hands. His eyes stared right at mine, holding them open.

"You have to take the closest road out of here, I'll handle this." He said it slowly making sure every word landed on my ears. I protested, slapping his hands away. I breathed heavily.

Warriors don't cry.

"I'm not leaving you, never." I shook my head. I wasn't going to leave any of them. I was born a warrior and I'd die a warrior. My chest tightened as I look at the now dying son, the defeat cut through like a spear and yet I refused to admit it.

"We can't fight with emotions, we have to fight with all our senses, these people happen to know all our hiding places, and they have cornered us. We have to be smart. If you can get out of here and call more troops for us..." I stared at him, not believing what he was saying.

Where did we go wrong?

This was a long-awaited war. We practiced, we put our blood, sweat, and tears into this. This war was to free my papa from exile. He was going to be free at the dawn of this day... If we had won the war. Everything that could have gone wrong... Went wrong. It went very wrong.

"Kiano... How can I go? How can I run leaving you all behind? My conscience is going to hunt me down for it." A crushing pain seared through my chest at the thought of running away from the battlefield. I belonged here as much as they did.

"If anything happens to you, what will become of our father? Somebody has got to save him after all. By fair or crook. You are going to get him out of there, regardless."

"For the nation?" He held his pinkie up, I hesitated, but ended up holding my pinkie up.

"For the nation," I said locking our pinkies together, we kissed the back of our thumbs.

He nodded to the man behind me, I looked at him one more time. An explosion went off behind us, it lifted me off the ground, tossing me against a tree. Kiano yelled for me to go but when I saw the enemies surrounding us, my instinct was to fight.

"Run, Kamaria, run!" I let my feet lead the way out of the forest. I ran, not leaving myself enough time to process anything. Like a dog, after who knew what, I ran. Spikes pierced the sole of my feet but I kept on running. I heard footsteps after me, but I didn't spare a glance at anything. I kept running, however, the speed of the footsteps was almost inhuman.

This run took me back to the six-year-old Kamaria who ran from corridors to corridors looking for her papa. Blinded by tears she was, but never wanted to give up on finding him. Today I found myself in that exact position as my knees trembled. I knew I had to get away, for my papa I had to get away. To save him.

Maybe I was still that little girl who still needed her papa to pick her up and feed her some fufu. Maybe I was still little Kami. When my knees had finally given up on me and let me roll my way down the steep slope, with every roll it took me back to the girl who needed somebody to help her get up when she fell.