Author's Note and Disclaimer: As most who will read this know, I do not own the world of Nyeusigrube nor the plot of Kiesha'ra. The culture and physiology of the avians and the serpiente as well as their history are all from the wide imagination of Amelia Atwater-Rhodes. However, Celia and Enrick are my characters. This is from Enrick's point of view. I plan for seven chapters if this is well-received. I hope you enjoy the story, and please read and review.

Peace Before Peace

Just Another Battle

I WOKE up and heard the shout of my flight's captain, Bran*, who was fittingly a raven. His voice echoed through the rooms of the soldiers, and soon enough I heard the mumbles of the still tired and sleepy members of my flight. The mumbles evanesced and were replaced by taps and scratches as the avian soldiers dressed and readied. I also lifted myself from bed, opening the drawers of my small room for some clothes. All of them were simple and light, fit for battle, and I picked two without thought, hanging them at the foot of my bed. I strapped some of my leather armor before putting on my shirt and trousers. I hated them, really, but they had saved my life twice and thrice, and it would be not be smart to leave without them.

My eyes floated to the window. The sun seemed aware of the coming battle today. It pierced the sky with red rays as if to say that it only came to bring more death, to bring more spilt blood, to witness the death of more brothers and friends. It cast a red glow to the forest as if to stir the blood and mock what the battlefield would look like after the battle was done. Past were the days when the sun brought hope. Now, the dawn seemed always red. Or maybe it's just my imagination.

I came out of my room, following the filing soldiers outside. I could feel their fear and anger. Of course, it did not show. Our sorrows were only for us, but I expected it. What else should we feel when we have lost a friend or one of our family to this war? What else should we feel as we ready ourselves to another battle? What else should fill our minds? Vengeance and death and nothing more. Or at least, that's I felt and thought.

I spread my wings, my black feathers glistening violet in the sun's rays. I landed just a few feet from my proper place in the flight, and I walked to put myself in line. I could hear my captain give his orders, but I could hear my thoughts louder.

"The serpiente are…"

Murderers.

"…planning to attack…"

And kill more of our friends.

"…when the sun rises."

They will come to slaughter unless we stop them.

I took a deep breath of the morning air to calm myself as I listened to the rest of his speech. Everything had been heard before. Kill without mercy because they will kill you without mercy. Be quick, and do not underestimate. Remember that a serpiente is never unarmed until dead. Remember the fallen. Remember the death. Remember your honor. Fight for your Tuuli Thea.

Just in time, I saw golden feathers rush from the sky and shift into the figure Nacola Shardae, Tuuli Thea. She landed not so far off from our flight, but she did not come for us. She came for her son, Xavier, who would also join us in battle. I admired the queen. Her heart must have already broken many times with too many news of death, yet her golden eyes showed strength. Behind her, Danica Shardae, heir to Tuuli Thea, also came. I knew less of our future queen, but I know I saw even more strength in her young figure. Her gold shone even more than the tired Tuuli Thea.

I closed my eyes as memories rushed into me. I remembered my own beautiful woman, my pair bond. Her beauty did not match the future queen's, but the sparrow was so gentle. I remembered our younger days, when we were just children, walking on the marketplace. I would follow her everywhere, and she would lead me to her favorite places, like the home of one of the storytellers. She was so entranced by those stories. I also remembered one particular birthday, her seventeenth. She was so beautiful in her dress, simple though it was. I remember the flush on her face as I complimented her. And, I remember her death. She came to the battlefield to look for me when a serpiente shot a crossbow to her wings. Oh and how merciful would have been the gods if she died at that moment. But no, she suffered hours on the battlefield and on the hospital until she gave her last words. "Live in peace."

I bit my lip to keep the tears back, and when I opened my eyes, I saw the royal family leave. Then, a new voice took over, one of the captain of the Royal Flight, Andreios. His message was not so different from Bran's, but somehow it was better. I had spoken once to him, and I thought he always spoke with much loyalty and concern even beyond his reserve.

Finally he gave his word, and Bran gave his. To battle.

Hundreds of wings spread, stirring the wind. I joined my flight and shifted into my second form, a crow. We would meet the serpiente before they marched to the Nest. A flight would go ahead to ensure that we were heading the right way and to make sure that there were no other troops. Then, the front line would shoot down with their arrows poisoned with a mixture made by the falcons. My own flight was in the middle. The same duties were assigned to us, but we always ended up fighting on the ground.

Cries in the air alerted me. The serpiente were near. I could hear arrows swoosh on the air. I heard the shouts of the serpiente. I heard cries of pain. I heard war.

I aimed and shot, and aimed and shot, and aimed and shot over and over again. I could feel my anger and pain loose with every arrow that escaped my bow. I pushed them aside every time. They were distractions. I needed not be a human here in battle but only a machine to kill. At least a dozen of the serpiente must have fallen by my arrows, but I did not really keep count. As long as a serpiente lived, there was someone to kill.

I saw an arrow in my way, and then two. I shifted to my animal form and dodged them, but I fell to the ground too fast. I had to land. Another fear came to me as I felt earth beneath my feet. They had advantage here. I fought still, shooting my arrows steadily at the oncoming serpiente. In demi-form, my eyes retained their sharpness, and I could see another set of troops come. They came from a height. I bit my lip, shot a few more arrows and took flight, hoping an arrow wouldn't hit me as I took to the skies for refuge. None did to my luck, but a shower of arrows soon came. I fired my own, but once again had to land.

I abandoned my bow and took to my daggers. They were also poisoned, and I needed only to make a cut to move on kill another. My heart's beat grew stronger and stronger each second. A glint against a blade blinded me temporarily, and I attacked the air in hopes of hitting something. Once I gained my sight, I launched myself at the back of another serpiente soldier.

Hours must have passed doing the same routine. I took flight when possible and used my daggers or an abandoned spear when on the ground. One time, I had to fight without a weapon, and I thought I would die, but a fellow avian landed an arrow on the back of the serpiente, and I stood to pick up the serpiente's sword and use it against his people.

During all these, my thought was that it was just another battle. I would live or die, and then another battle would be fought and if I lived, I would live or die in another. One person changed that. Her name was Celia.

I saw her while on the ground. I had seen sapphire eyes, familiar and frightening for they were the eyes of the serpiente which killed my pair bond, and I moved quickly to attack the figure which held them. My dagger was about to meet his back when a sword stopped it. I met another pair of sapphire eyes, the man's sister, Celia. My anger was masked, but it burned my heart. I attacked the woman like she was any other serpiente soldier. Her brother was too busy to help her, but he did not have to help her. Our skills were matched, and every time I almost landed and put a wound in her pale skin, her sword would stop it. Many times she also came close to killing me, but my dagger met her sword.

For many minutes, it was only us two, and silly it may seem, I think it drew us closer. I am not sure why another serpiente did not attack me or why one of my fellow avians did not attack her, but our battle lasted without any interference. I attacked, and she defended. She attacked, and I defended. It was almost like a dance. Her movements were smooth and quick, made without any hesitance. Her eyes were flaming in spite of their bright blue. And, she was pretty. I noticed it as I moved to make a cut in her face, an attack she blocked with a raised sword. She also resembled that serpiente soldier which I hated so, and so I thought her beauty must have been given to her by some witch.

She hated me, too. She never told me that. Both of us were too concentrated on our battle to say anything, but each of her movement made it clear. Her eyes even more. It made each attack easier.

I was about to strike her again when I heard Bran call. She stopped also, most likely also hearing her own commander. Both sides called for a retreat. We looked at each other, my dark brown eyes meeting her bright blue, and we took a step back at the same time. I could see the obvious anxiety in her eyes. She did not know if I was going to continue my attack. I shared the same anxiety, but my mask covered it from her. I moved a step back toward her, and she did the same, but this time I heard Andreios call.

Without another thought, I took the sky. Certainly, the serpiente would take a shot at me now. Surely, she would think it easy to end me there. But I heard no arrow towards me as I flew in my animal form. I turned my head and thought that she must have also been in a hurry. It was not so. She stood there with a bow in her hand aiming for me. She dropped the weapon to the ground as soon as I turned my head. I did not know why she did not take the shot, and it almost angered me. This could not happen. Kill without mercy was the motto of these battlefields, but she let me leave. She let me live.

The event bothered me as I flew to join my flight. Questions filled my head, dangerously distracting me from the still dangerous battlefield I was leaving. Why did she not fire? What was her reason? A caw put me back to reality. I looked to the raven which headed my flight, then to the raven which headed us all. Had they been wrong in saying that all serpiente must be killed? Surely such respectable men were not wrong. Surely.

I landed at our temporary camp, some miles from the original battlefield. Even though I pushed the thoughts away, they came back. Her eyes also came back to me every time. I both admired and loathed them. They were the same eyes which killed my pair bond, but those sapphires also spared my life there on the battlefield. I was distracted as I filed with other soldiers to hear the explanation for the retreat and the plan for tomorrow morning. I would be distracted even when my hunger called out for me to eat. On duty, I constantly pinched myself to keep myself aware.

Why?

*means raven in Irish

Edited: 03 January 2009, changed "Gregory" to Xavier. Thanks to Muse for the correction.