Her horse tore through the field, her hair in her face and sword strapped to her back. Moments before, she'd gone to check on the only family she had left. The men and women were all dead. Only the few small children remained alive.
The women were half naked with their necks broken. Their children crying for them to wake up and having these cries go unheard.
Her heart wrenched so that it made her vomit. But through the tears, she moved the bodies, said the rights, and burned them.
She left the children in the care of Paulo and went to the village. There she put on her breast plate and said a few silent words to Kate before returning to the hunt. She knew what she must do.
The rain had dusted away most of their trail, but the further she went, the more evidence came up in the mud. It wasn't long until she spotted them. Her hand positioned on the dagger at her belt. They were drinking and laughing. Never could they have guessed what would come next.
She kicked her horse for him to go faster. His stride was long and quick. She readied herself and leapt onto the back of the nearest man, plunging the dagger deep into his back.
Another man threw the knife in his hand, which he had been eating with, at her. She deflected it with her palm and drew her sword. There were at least twenty of them, but the pain and outright rage fueled her. Never had she seen such ruin in her life. They would all die.
She fought them off with speed and precision. First came a man swinging a wood axe at her. She stabbed him through the middle and pulled the sword out through his side. She was then hit in the back of the head by someone's forearm, knocked to the ground, and barely missed a stabbing blow that instead went into the ground.
She kicked herself up and punched the man in the face before cutting him about the middle. Blood from him and the others stained her face, hands, hair, and armor. She tore through them, stabbing and slashing, feeling their skin and flesh rip open and bleed. With each kill, her heart pounded faster. With one more blow, it appeared they were all gone.
"Bravo Lady Draco. Beautifully done. You've just killed, or should I say murdered, my entire company,"
It was the man who had stabbed her three days prior. Her whole shook and her wound again bled from the tearing at the stitches.
"You are the murderer," She said bluntly, "You killed my family, raped the women, and left the children for dead. And you're about to pay,"
She clung to her side. Blood could be seen running down her leg. She gasped and the crumpled to the ground.
"You have a lot of spirit and fire. It's a shame I'll have to kill you twice before you'll learn a lesson,"
Aurora watched as the man raised his sword in his hand. She tried to push herself up, but her legs did not obey her mind. All she could do was watch in terror.
In a split second her thoughts went from her childhood, to Nona and Paulo, to watching her father die and feeling she let him down and lastly to….
An arrow passed through the man's left arm. He screamed in pain and tore the arrow on through. Aurora thanked God for this and looked at the arrow that now lay on the ground. It was her's.
"Will!" she yelled as the knight charged the man. Aurora watched as she continued to try to get up from her hands and knees. The attempt failed yet again but she could not simply watch. She dragged herself to her sword and turned on to her back. Just as she did, William and the man broke from each other. The man lost his footing and fell. As this happened, Aurora raised her sword. With in seconds of it, the man fell on it, causing the death blow. She pushed him off and pulled away from him. William ran to her and kneeled down at her side.
"What were you doing?" he asked gently, "You could have died. Promise me you'll never do anything like that again,"
She took him into embrace and buried her face in his shirt, weeping uncontrollably.
"They're dead. They killed them all. Everyone that's ever cared for me is dead, Will. Murdered in their own home,"
"You haven't lost everyone. You still have Paulo," he looked down into her eyes, "And you still have me. Let's get you back,"