Princess of the Nile
Chapter 10 – The Battle
Emira crept through the tents and stopped next to Haji. Looking over at the woman, he smiled and nodded his head
"Ardeth letting you fight?" he asked, Emira grinned
"Knows I'm too stubborn not to." She told him, turning her eyes towards the sand "Any sign of them yet?"
"Not yet." Haji replied distractedly, he cast a glance sideways "Maybe they know you're here" Emira pulled a face and elbowed her friend, though he blocked it easily
"There!" she whispered, raising her arm, Haji followed the line of her scimitar and spotted what she had seen – a thick line of black against the sand dunes directly in front of them
"Ardeth!" Haji hissed, the leader seemed to materialise out of the dark behind them, his eyes also travelled up the length of Emira's weapon and he nodded.
"We will wait." he told the warriors "They can not stay there forever."
And it appeared that they wouldn't, for no more than four minutes later a yell had started up from behind the dunes and suddenly a large number of dark clothed men appeared over the dunes, swords and guns held high and screaming as they bore down on the waiting Med-jai warriors. The Med-jai stepped forwards as the invaders closed in on them, the two groups meeting with a deafening clash of weapons, and screams of the dying quickly joined the sounds of battle. One fighter, running at Emira, staggered back slightly to see such a petite young woman pulling a bloodied sword from the body of one of his comrades, a look of blood lust in her eye. She seemed to realise someone was staring at her, for her head snapped up and immediately she locked eyes with the now suddenly nervous fighter. Only for a second did they stare each other, for then Emira turned to fight another intruder running at her and a Med-jai warrior cut the stunned fighters throat.
Emira was, for the most part, enjoying herself. The weapon she held seemed to be almost part of her arm, and her mind and arm acted on instinct to defend and kill the men who charged her. That was the one bit that she disliked, each man she killed sent shivers through her spine. But then, that's what made you human by her reckoning. A blood curdling scream sounded over the other sounds of the battle field and Emira turned her head to see two men, seemingly to huge in height to be natural, and astride horses that didn't look like they should be able to bare the weight, baring down on Ardeth and Haji, who stood side by side. Emira gave a yell and sprinted forwards, weaving through the other fighting groups until she was beside her two best friends, standing solidly before am imposing wall of horse hooves and swords
"Emira?" Ardeth said questionably
"Couldn't let you have all the fun." she replied, not even looking at him "I reckon these are all show. One hit and they'll be down." she gave a grin and shook her head "Ah. It's nice to dream, isn't it?" Haji laughed in spite of himself, backing away as one of the two horses bared down on him.
"This is not going to be easy." He murmured
"When is it ever easy?" Emira shot back sarcastically, diving into a roll as one of the horses reared, hooves plunging down at her. They caught her skirt and she gave a yell tugging at her skirt for a moment before the horse reared again. She rolled away from its flaying hooves and staggered to her feet.
"Now I'm mad." She hissed, a murderous glare in her eye. Grasping her scimitar with both hands, her face pale with determination, she ran at one of the horses, dashing around its side and slicing her weapon into its riders leg, hearing his shout of pain as she skidded to a halt several metres behind the creature. She turned around, shaking her hair from her eyes, and saw Ardeth attacking one rider, Haji taking on the one she had just wounded. She watched as the horse Haji was up against reared suddenly, throwing its rider and bolting away, the man leapt to his feet, wincing harshly as he put pressure onto his cut leg, but was quickly engaged in battle with Haji again.
With a yell, Emira was running forwards again. She leapt onto the back of the man Haji was fighting, forcing her scimitar into his back and the same time Haji slit his throat. The man crumpled to the ground, Emira pulling her sword from the corpse and leaping gracefully from his back as he did so and then looked to Ardeth, who was pulling his own weapon from the chest of the other large man.
"We're done here." Ardeth whispered as those few survivors of their enemy staggered away from the battle and fled for their lives. He scanned his own group of warriors, a number of them sported injuries, a few lay dead.
"Haji." He said quickly "Get some of the women to help you with the injured." Haji nodded "Burn the bodies." Ardeth said to the warriors as a whole, nodding to the corpses of the attackers "Gather ours and alert their families. You fought well. Any of their survivors I want kept alive. We can question them on why the-" he was cut off by a moan from behind him and turned to see Emira stagger, and watched as she hit the sand heavily.