A/N: The only thing I would like to say is : Please Review. I would like to know how I'm doing. Enjoy the story.
Where am I, she wondered?The last thing she could remember was a voice screaming her name. She struggled to sit up and looked about the room; She was lying in a comfortable bed, wearing a clean nightgown. The tables next to her bed, held every sort of wrappings and medical instrument she had ever seen. Instinctively she brought a hand up to her forehead. There lay a bandage, neatly and carefully wrapped.
Suddenly she remembered who was screaming her name before; Danante, where was Danante? The children? She had to go find them. They could be hurt or captured or… or even worse. Her feet trembled, as she set them on the floor. They seemed at any moment to collapse under any pressure that might be put to them. Amarante took a deep breath, and then…
" Hey, Hey, Hey! You're not well enough to get up yet!"
Amarante looked up at the man blocking the doorway. He was tall with light brown hair. A gentle smile spread across his face.
The smell of blood and dirt lingered in the air as he pressed himself upon her. His ugly lips sought hers, as his sweat dribbled off his chin. She wanted to push away, so desperately did she want to run. The gold of the circlet around his head, shimmered.
The sound of laughter reached her ears, the jeering of his companions, the shouts of
"Take her now, take her now!"
He caught her arms, and pressed them to the wall. His sinister eyes bore down on her. He whispered to her, "One of the great warriors eh? Then beat me, go back to your people before it's to late!"
His laugh was harsh and cold as he tore of the top of her gown. He bent his head down, making revolting slobbering noises as he went. Against her will, a tear slowly traced her cheek before dropping to the ground.
A dagger flashed in the moonlight.
Amarante's dark eyes blazed at this stranger. Unconsciously she drew herself up, preparing to protect herself. She did not see her weapons anywhere, but her fists would work just as well. He had done something to Danante and the children. She struggled for breath.
"Please, please let them be living. Oh Gods don't abandon me! Great Goddess hear my prayer!" She thought to herself.
Amarante struggled as she tried to stand. Her legs were not ready to support her again. She grabbed the ledge of the table and forced herself up.
"Don't try to stand just yet. Thin as you are, your legs still need strengthening and rest. Sit back down."
Amarante did not care. She had to find them. She had to! A drop of fear shivered down her spine. If he had hurt them in any way, she would kill him! Neal looked at her in concern as she tried to pull herself into a fighting stance. What was the girl doing? He wondered.
"Be that as it may that most of my patients would like to hit or strangle me after I have worked on them. Well actually, it's not just my patients but that's not the point. You are not ready to yet. Unless you would like to fall unconscious again." He gave a smirk. "Let me help you into your bed and get a glass of water for you, then you can receive your sister. She has been very anxious about you!"
At the sound of the word 'sister', Amarante relaxed. It was not that she now trusted this man, she didn't, it was the fact that if her sister was alive; then the other children were too. They were safe at least for now.
"My sister!" Amarante croaked, "Where is my sister?"
"She just woke up as a matter of fact. My name's Neal by the way." He handed her a water cup as she sat down on the bed again. Her head felt dizzy, and pressed a hand to it.
" I thank you for the water."
Neal observed her as she drank. By anybody's standards she certainly was a beauty, he thought, with smooth skin and silky dark hair to trigger any man's desire. But there was something isolated and distant about it, yet it was still captivating. It was almost like there was a wall around her; an impenetrable aura, that no man could conquer. It was her eyes though; those bold, vivid, and merciless eyes that would drive any man to try.
Neal sighed and pushed all thoughts away. He did not want to try in any case, took the cup away from her, then forced a grin
" I'll go fetch your sister for you then. The little ones are still abed yet. I'll have them come as soon as they are up."
Amarante could barely hide the happiness she was feeling at seeing her sister alive, whole and well. And only when Neal left, did she show it. She wept and kissed her sister for joy. Danante was hardly less emotional, and the sisters' tears mingled together, but the smiles that traced their faces were the first to cross them in a month.
"Oh Ama, I thought you had died back there. You can't leave me here alone Ama you cant!" Danante whispered into her shoulder. " I need you!"
" Hush, sweet. I am not dead. We both must stay alive together."
They stayed together like that for a long time, just happy being with in the arms of each other and until the children also rushed into Amarante's arms begging for comfort, did she find out from Danante that they had reached their destination of New Hope and were under the guardianship of its commander: Keladry of Mindelan. Amarante soon felt her eyelids began to droop, and with the security of her sister holding her hand and the children resting against her, drifted off to sleep.
The dagger pressed itself to the back of the noblemen, revealing a hand held it.
" Touch her again and it will be the last thing in this life that you shall do." The hand's owner whispered.
The man chortled at his attacker, " You have made it your last night, not mine."
He pushed her away, as he drew out his sword. The pounding of hooves soon could be heard as well as the clashing of cold steel; the grunts of men and women as each sought to kill their enemy.
She quickly got up, drew a curved dagger from her boot and attacked the first soldier she saw. With one quick stroke, he lay gutted on the ground. On and on she went, with each death by her hand, she looked for another victim to take the fallens' place.
A man raised his sword at a young girl, who although fighting aggressively, her fists were no use to a superior weapon.
She ran towards them, coming up behind, and swiftly chopping off his head.
"Run Danante, run! Get as many of the young ones out of here as you can! GO!" She yelled as she turned yet to fight another.
In the middle of the battleground, the two that started it all, were in a heated struggle. Each stroke the other made came only inches away from death. The nobleman then screamed as blood poured from his hand, and his index finger fell to the ground
Amarante's eyes traveled to her defender as he slipped on the newly blood-spewed ground. The enraged nobleman brought down his sword, and cut him through.
A high-pitched scream lingered the air, "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"
It was hers.
The feet of the soldiers raced around her, like a nest of hungry hornets whose appetite could not be satisfied. The smooth green grass turned red as more and more blood was spewed. The world was lost.
Amarante sat up in bed, sweat pouring down every inch of her being. It was now dark. Danante and the children had left a while ago. Her hands were clasped over her mouth, to prevent herself from crying out. Silent tears slowly made their way down her face.
"Galyn! Oh Galyn!" She whispered.
She closed her eyes and Galyn's cold dead eyes, his bloody mangled corpse, met her. Her stomach surged and Amarante turned to the side and threw up. The tears still silently running down her cheeks.