Corner them

"How much longer until we reach the mainland?" asked Luc as he, Zuph and Elihu were riding their horses with a great speed as he shouted so his voice would be heard over the great wind that was blowing in their faces at the moment.

"I have no idea, I believe it is still a long while" replied Elihu as he shouted back.

"I am worried about her Majesty, Mero and Zechariah, it was a bad idea for all of us to leave them all alone" said Zuph as he shouted, he did not agree with Mero's decision, but they were in a very delicate situation right now, and they did not have time to argue when the lives of people were put at stake.

"Well there was nothing we could do, Mero made a decision, we should be glad that Zechariah is still with him" said Luc.

"What if all of this is a ploy and the East actually want to attack the camp instead?" asked Zuph.

"Mero and Zechariah still have most of the troops with them" said Elihu as he looked behind himself to see the fifteen other knights riding on their horses and quickly following after them.

"But we are obviously outnumbered" said Luc.

"I feel uneasy about this" said Zuph as a little sparrow flew down and landed on Elihu's shoulder.

"How much longer until we reach the mainland?" asked Elihu as he looked at Lown.

"From what I saw just a little while longer we will reach the mainland, we have already passed the border of the valley" said Lown as Elihu nodded.

"What did he say?" asked Zuph as he looked at Elihu.

"He said that we will reach the mainland soon" replied Elihu it was a good idea for Lown to go with them, after all, he was the only one who could guide them and warn them of forthcoming danger,

"Lown, do you have an idea of how many Eastern warriors are attacking the mainland?" asked Luc as Lown flew to land on his shoulder.

"I cannot say that I know it for sure, but when I first flew over, I saw several men and horses, it would be sensible to assume that we are greatly outnumbered" said Lown.

"I knew it" said Luc.

"It is no bother, we will see what we can do" replied Zuph.

"I will go and check how much longer we have till we get there" said Lown as he took flight and his right wing almost hit Zuph in the face, to which he quickly apologized and Zuph did not seem to be bothered at all.

Lown flew up high In the sky as he looked to the horizon and he squinted his eyes, making sure that he was seeing correctly.

"Oh no" said Lown as he could not believe what he was seeing right now in the horizon.

He could see troops, several of them, some riding on horses and some were on foot, Lown was sure that he could not be imagining this, he could clearly see the men and to make it worse he could see all of them were riding towards them.

It was clear that they would soon corner them, and Lown was not sure if these were troops of the East or somewhere else, but regardless he needed to warn the others now.

"There is a huge problem" said Lown as he flew down quickly and hovered in front of Zuph's face.

"What is it?" asked Zuph.

"Up ahead of us, I saw several troops approaching" said Lown as he spoke loud enough for the others to hear him as well.

"What??" asked Elihu, Zuph and Luc in concern.

"Yes, I saw several men, some with horses and some of foot approaching us, we are greatly outnumbered and we will be surrounded any moment from now" said Lown as Elihu sighed.

"Are they the warriors from the East?" asked Elihu.

"No, I am not sure that they are, I did not see them carrying the East's flag, or any flag for that matter" replied Lown as he looked at Elihu who seemed to be thinking of what next to do, and so were the others.

"What do we do?" asked Lown as he voiced out the question that was on everyone's minds.

Fighting would be insensible, did they have to remind themselves of their low numbers, and worst of all, they did not know who they would be going up against.

Elihu cursed under his breath, he knew that it was a bad idea for them to have left, they were just entering into an even bigger problem than they already had.

"What do we do?" asked Lown again, repeating the question, he could hear the other horses fast approaching, and it did not sit well with him, sure he could just fly away and make his swift escape, but he was not that wicked to even think of leaving them all alone in such a dangerous situation, they had all helped him, and now he was here to help.

"We stop that's what" replied Elihu as he pulled hard on his horse's reins, causing the horse to stop abruptly as the others did the same.

"Halt everyone!" said Elihu as he shouted to the knights behind them as they did as they were told.

"Why did we stop?" asked one of the knights.

"Can you hear that? The sound of horses, we are being surrounded, so everyone stay still and do not move until I say otherwise" said Elihu as he was quickly trying to think of what to do, but nothing came to him, and it worried him knowing that this could be the end.

Zuph looked up to see what exactly Lown had saw as Lown flew up higher in the air so as not to draw attention to himself.

"Elihu, what is the plan?" asked Luc as he and Zuph both looked at Elihu who had no idea at all, turning back was not an option, who knew if back at the camp was even worse than here, and he did not want to lead this unknown army back to the camp.

"Maybe we can fight them… get ready" said Elihu as he grabbed his sword closer to him and he saw the other troops approaching.

Luc, Zuph and the others did as Elihu had as they all held their swords closer, Elihu was about to charge when he heard the most familiar voice that he had least expected to here in this kind of situation call his name.

"Elihu, Zuph, Luc" called Liam loudly as he his three most trusted men getting ready to fight, which made him call their names quickly as the three of them looked at him in shock.

"Liam??!!" called Elihu, Zuph and Luc all in a mix of shock, surprise and relief when they saw Liam.

Liam could not say how relieved he felt when he saw the three of them again after such a long while.

"What are you doing here Liam?" asked Elihu as he knew that was a stupid question to ask but he was just in shock.

"When did you get back? How did you get back?" asked Luc.

"It is a very long story Luc" replied Liam with a sigh.

"Wait, you remember us??!" asked Zuph as he realized that Liam seemed to know them.

"Yes I do" replied Liam as he looked around, just as he had thought, they were low on troops, Liam knew that this would be the case, Liam knew that after the Knights Summer festival over half of the knights would be set free to go home.

It was a rule implemented every five years, and the war just happened to break out when they had let more than half their troops go, and since he was sure that Wura did not want to raise any alarms and recruit troops openly.

And he knew that the East would be ruthless this time, which was why on his way back from the south, he had asked young men to join him, and they did not even think twice, they dropped everything to follow him, and he was very grateful for that, that was why It had taken him so long to finally return.

He knew that Mero would be struggling over here, trying to solve everything on his own with limited resources.

"How?" asked Zuph.

"It is a long story that I have no time to explain right now" said Liam.

"We thought that you were an enemy with the many people with you" said Luc.

"Yes" said Liam.

"I left some of them on the mainland, I need you to go over there and handle everything" said Liam as they nodded.

"Where is Wura?" asked Liam as he looked at Zuph.

"She, Mero and Nora are back at the camp" replied Zuph as there was a loud booming sound and Liam looked up to see a thick smoke shooting up into the sky.

Liam did not waste a second at all as he took off at full speed, he was fearing the worst right now, and he hoped that he was wrong.

…

"Mero, Mero" called Nora with worry filled in her eyes as she touched Mero's face, he had closed his eyes due to the immense pain he was feeling right now.

"Mero" called Nora as Mero just groaned.

"Mero, I am so sorry" said Wura as she rushed to Mero and she bent down beside him as she gasped looking at the arrow lodged in his chest, luckily it was meters away from his heart.

"Mero can you speak?" asked Wura as Mero shook his head and groaned, if it was a normal arrow, he would have been fine, but it was flaming arrow that was probably poisoned as well, he was trying his best not to cry out in pain.

"My Queen, what do we do?" asked Nora as she looked at Wura, she was on the verge of tears, and Wura just felt so bad, Mero was like this because of her, he got hit trying to protect her, why was she such a magnet for danger?

"We have to pull out the arrow??" asked Wura as she was not sure.

"But it would hurt him even more my Queen" said Nora as Wura sighed in frustration.

"Oh Mero, I am so sorry, I am so sorry, you are in pain because of me" said Wura as she did not know what to do right now, seeing Mero in pain hurt her so much.

"Take me to the physician" said Mero in a calm tone he managed to force out, he did not want to make things even worse for both Wura and Nora.

In the same moment, another large booming sound was heard as the ground shook and Wura looked up, something told her that things were going to get worse.

"My Queen, I will take him to the physician, come on Mero, help me by standing up" said Nora as she did not waste any time at all and she lifted Mero up as he helped her help him and he rested his weight on her shoulder.

"Let me help you" said Wura as she stood up.

"No, find somewhere safe to stay" said Mero as Wura nodded, she did not want to cause any more trouble.

Wura felt the ground shake again and she saw a thick black smoke in the sky, everything was crashing down, everywhere was in total chaos and Wura did not know what the heck to do, she was overwhelmed, she felt like breaking down and crying right now.

Liam quickly got off his horse as he rushed into the camp and his steps slowed down when he caught sight of Wura who had her back turned to him, she seemed to be struggling, and Liam felt his heart leap out of his chest.

He was finally here, he had finally seen her after so long and he remembered everything, and yet for some reason, he was scared to call out to her, out of fear that she would be angry with him for everything.

"Wura" called Liam carefully as Wura looked up, wondering if she had finally gone mad in all this trouble, she wished that Liam was here, she wished with all her might, and here she was, hearing his voice.

"Wura" called Liam again as Wura frowned, that voice was not coming from inside her head?

Wura's heart thumped as she turned around slowly and as her eyes met Liam's Wura felt as if the world stopped moving as she looked at him with wide eyes.