Waiting

The sound of the hooves stopped as the camp fell silent, my captors dragged me to where they were meeting representatives of the Empire, a small guard escort in full plate, and one lord stood in between them in his purple robes embroidered with reds and blues. He held his nose up high above the rest, asserting his noble blood over the rest. He slowly scanned the camp, a smug look on his face before he came forwards and glimpsed at all the prisoners. Several of the serving staff and other lords had been dragged out with me, they looked just as bad if not worse than I did. From behind I could hear a soft clinking as the leader of the captors came forth, he had a certain evil smirk on his face, his pale skin was different looking far brighter than it was when I first saw him.

He stepped past the guards, his presence turning the air fowl, and a sense of despair sat within me, at this point I had no idea what was going to happen making me feel uneasy. They both proceeded to shake each others hands, their snake like attributes coming to full fruition.

"We've been sent to ransom the prisoners you should have; Lord Fjalo, Lady Fjalo, Lord Yoik, Lord Gallo and the rest." he held pulled out of his pocket a small letter, sealed with the royal sigil, slowly passing it to the pale man who quickly opened it and began reading. His face breaking into a horrid smile, his teeth had been reddened due to his bleeding gums, his eyes felt as if they shrank into what a predator would when hunting his prey.

"These... terms. Are unacceptable.... you may not have all of my captives..." he began to slowly tear the letter from top to bottom in front of the esteemed man who had changed his demeanour, his face now scowling at the pale one, clearly pissed off with his actions.

"Bring the boy forwards." he added, as soon as he was finished I was dragged out of the group, a dagger kept to my throat, then the pale man began pointing at several others, quickly they were brought forwards. The line I was in now contained; me, some serving staff and a lord and his lady. I was at the far left, the beginning of the line from my perspective, but possibly the end from another's.

"You're terms has disrespected me, so now I shall make a display of my emotions!" he cracked a wild grin, his laughter echoing through the silent camp, the lords face turning to stone as he was faced with an impossible situation.

"Kill them slowly, starting with this one." he quickly tapped the lady on her shoulder, as soon as he left her throat was slowly sliced open, the blood pouring out like a fountain. The soldiers and the lord looked on in horror as these people were slowly drained of their blood. Down the line they went before stopping at the sound of the lord.

"Stop.... please." the lord remarked, the pale man laughed like a maniac, and stepped up to one of the serving staff and slit his throat.

"We'll get different terms..." the lord had been defeated due to how unpredictable this man was, he was about to add to his sentence when the pale man interrupted him suddenly, his maniacal smile gone, showing how serious he was about to become.

"No... You will listen to our terms." he paused for a moment to let it sink in to the lord, who began to panic.

"Our terms are simple, you people either pay handsomely for a select few, or they will all be tortured and most likely killed after their use for us is up. So lets say 5000 gold for the lords and ladies, 1000 gold for prized soldiers and 10 gold for servants." he waved his hand up signalling to move the survivors back into the line, and slowly we were dispersed to our cages.

Mine had been moved closer to the centre of the camp, closer to the pale mans tent. He still remained anonymous to me, his questions always the same. The pain I endured for weeks on end, it numbed me. My body felt as if its surface became stone, to protect myself from breaking all I could think of was how I was going to get my hands wrapped around that torturers neck, and slowly watch his life drain from his eyes. How I would make them all suffer the same as I did. The lord returned with a compromise, more of the prisoners were killed in front of my eyes.

It was obvious how this would play out, the constant compromises they tried to make till they eventually would break and end up paying. Yet with so few of us left, why would they risk that. Half asleep, barely moving I was dragged to the front of the camp again. I looked up as the pale man stooped over me, his face broke into a murderous smile as he held in his hand a bag of gold. My frail body, skin and bones at this point keeled over, then I felt it, my shackles were opened.

"Fight for your life." the pale man whispered, picking me up and throwing me into a circle with another prisoner. It was one of the lords, Lord Fjalo, he held in his hand an arming sword that had been chipped away at and was in poor shape. The next thing I knew I was thrown another arming sword and Lord Fjalo began his attack instantly. His face was in pure terror, fighting on his animal instincts, before I could react he had knocked me to the ground and began his final plunge. Quickly I rolled away from his attack, gathering what strength I had and mustering myself to my feet.

The crowd around us began to roar as they poured wine and ale, placed pigs on spits, and began to bet on who would win.

"100 silver on the old man!" I could hear one man scream with another voice replying "50 on the young one!" my nerves began to subside for a moment. Regaining my composure I quickly prepared myself for Fjalo's second attack. Quickly I reacted to an overswung slice, and parried it to my right, moving quick to shoulder barge him with the strength I could muster. He stumbled backwards and tripped over, his sword fell from his group as he quickly scrambled to grab it. His voice nearly broken, began to scream as he quickly grabbed it and jumped to his feet. Then with an almighty roar he launched another attack. I felt sorry for him at this point, he wasn't fighting for no reason, but for a moment I felt my reason for living was far greater than his. So swiftly I dodged under his attack and lodged my sword directly into his heart. Killing him instantly. It was the only way that I could ensure that he suffered no more pain.

The crowd began to roar again as they all came together to collect their spoils from betting, the pale man slowly clapped as he watched on from atop his table. All laid out perfectly with assorted fruits and meats everywhere, my stomach growled, yet as I looked at Fjalo's face I saw the face of a man happy to die, a smile that began to haunt me. A couple of the guards came over to me and dragged me before the pale man, he began munching and crunching into different meats at once; chicken, pig, cow. His disgusting eating ensured that I didn't have to look at his hideous features. He spat out a bone before proceeding to gulp down a pitcher of ale.

"You're capable with a blade." he exclaimed, wiping the ale from his lips.

"Yes." I muttered, my head began to swim with emotions, anger, fear, sadness, but yet I was resolved to survive this.

"You made quick work of that oaf even in your current state, impressive." he began to grab some grapes and pears and began shovelling them into his mouth.

"Nothing impressive at being more trained." I calmly said back as I began to look him in the eyes with sheer will and determination. He merely smirked at me before standing from the table.

"Unfortunately for you, we know routes to get to the capital, so your usefulness has somewhat... dwindled." he began to laugh after he said it as the camp began to roar, their war was headed for victory whilst mine could possibly end tonight.

"We shall wait for your ransom to arrive and set you free then. If they have enough. If not, then you will die in front of them next time." he slowly had me dragged away as he retired to his tent. Throughout the night the drinking and partying didn't stop, I slowly began to nod off and throughout my sleep, I was haunted by Fjalo's face, the face of Lillia, the burnt villagers, everyone began to pass through all at once. I quickly awoke in a cold sweat, my body felt like shit, I constantly tried to fall back asleep but I was too afraid to see their faces again. So I remained awake through the rest of the night till I completely passed out. How much I wished I had stayed in the capital and never came home. How much I wished I had decided to fight during the siege and take better actions. I sprang awake began to speak to myself as tears broke and rolled down my face, their bitter sting on my cheeks.

"I wished I could be better... I should've stayed.... I should've saved them... it's.... it's... all... my-" I passed out yet again, my body felt as if it would be unable to withstand more. Everything had gone numb, blood started pouring from my nose, if death was to take me here, I would gladly accept it.