Scars of War
Chapter 3
A Spectre of Pain
Ash stood alone in the town's park and covered her face.
It had returned.
The empty park turned into a catastrophic battlefield littered with the bodies of soldiers and war animals. What were before songbirds picking chance seeds off the ground became vultures scouring through the victims of battle.
Ash shook her head and huffed out a huge breath of air.
The empty park returned again.
So did peace.
But Ash knew this would not last.
It had been years since the war but it still came back to haunt her.
Especially That event.
But no, she needed to be strong. She was not broken yet.
Ash stood up and took a deep breath.
"No longer, I am no longer in war." she consoled herself as she turned to see a house nearby.
Though the park was outside the boundaries of the town, one could still see the houses and buildings that broke out from the large plains around them.
"I must forge onward," Ash told herself as she looked at the road that led to the open country.
However, her mind shifted to the knight.
It was he that brought her back to those dark times.
Fernando. He was there.
"Him? Never." Ash spat, "That playboy could never be a soldier... much less a knight..." she growled and grabbed her weapon.
"He dares lie to me... He would have fled at the sight of that siege."
The woman set foot on the road and started to make her travels, for it was best to leave now before the night came.
With the setting sun on her back and the rising moon to her front, she started walking down the paved road.
However, the sound of a galloping horse reached her ears.
It was a white horse.
And on it the knight.
"Hyah! Hyah!" Fernando yelled as he struck his horse. "Paraos!" he suddenly grabbed the reins and made the horse stop a few meters away from Ash.
"What do you want?!" Ash responded aggressively as the knight set foot on the road, "I should get rid of you now that no one is here to save you..." she tightened her grip on her cannon.
Fernando stopped in his tracks.
"Señorita..." he looked at her, "I was wondering where you were."
He smiled.
"What to me and to you, liar?" Ash glared at him with a piercing stare.
"I was just wondering why you were not in the town for my appearance." Fernando chuckled, dismissing her threats. "I was looking for you- I did invite you to dinner after all."
"I do not take company with imposters."
"How many times must Fernando explain that he is a real knight?" Fernando sighed and walked to his horse. "You are very pushy, but that's how I like my damsels."
Ash growled and saw Fernando pull out a rolled up fabric.
"Now you have interested me more than the other ladies." Fernando confessed as he looked at her.
"There's something about you I have... seen before."
"You know nothing about me." Ash set her cannon on her back and crossed her arms. "Except the fact that I'm going to skin you alive if you do no-"
She stopped when Fernando unrolled the fabric.
LEGIO HELIOS V read the golden letters on the red standard.
"Had you been there, you would have heard my tale." Fernando spoke coyly.
Ash yanked the standard and inspected it. Unlike the man's armor, she saw that this item was very worn out and torn in some areas.
"This is... impossible..."
"Now now, would you like to hear more of my tale?" Fernando wiggled his eyebrows and reached for his standard, only to have his hand smacked away.
Ash looked at him.
"How could this be?" she looked at his face. "You don't have the appearance of a man of war..."
She could not bring herself to believe it. Fernando's face was lively and radiant; his eyes had the burning spirit of the sun in its colors.
Compared to her face, which was eternally spiteful and rough. Her eyes were as dull as her armor and her face was as stiff as her soul.
"It's not polite to stare, but I understand." Fernando smiled and patted her shoulder, "Please, señorita, let Fernando tell you of his exploits from all around the Realm."
Ash cleared her throat.
"Were you there?" she spoke lowly.
"Excuse me?" Fernando turned to face her.
"Nothing." Ash grunted and handed him his standard, "Forget I thought such foolishness." she spat on the ground and started to walk away.
"Señorita, please." Fernando reached for her.
"The night is dark and the way is bad, let me take you to were you need to g-"
"As if I need a man to protect me." Ash turned to face him with a scowl. "These hands have brought down citadels. I don't need you." she scoffed and continued her path.
"You are mistaken, everyone needs someone." Fernando laughed, "Especially in an army-"
"Don't you dare talk about that, you pig!" Ash exploded in a fiery fury and grabbed hold of the man's neck.
"You know nothing of war!" she pushed him into his horse and stormed away.
Fernando sighed and laughed.
"Regardless of whether you like it or not, I am here to serve you." he bowed and walked towards her holding his horse.
Ash ignored him.
"My lady, please." Fernando kept a few meters distance, "You will get tired. Use my horse."
"I do not need your help." Ash growled and withheld her anger.
"Leave me alone before you actually get hurt."
"My lady, you are such a tease." Fernando chuckled and shook his right hand, "Please, just take the courtesy. A knight must appear chivalrous now."
"You are not a knight!" Ash pointed at him.
"Technically I am not." Fernando responded, "I was, but am now self-appointed." he informed her as he brushed his horse's mane.
"You sicken me." Ash crossed her arms.
"You do not sicken me, though." Fernando grinned and showed his perfectly white teeth.
"Show me those teeth." Ash smirked, "Do you like them? Because you'll like picking them off the ground." she walked towards him.
"I know you would not do that." Fernando called her bluff, "I am too beautiful for you to even think of harm me." he wiggled his eyebrows.
Ash punched him in the face.
Fernando stumbled back and held his left cheek.
"Turn the other cheek." He mumbled and gave out a small laugh.
Ash stood silent and looked at the knight with a deep disdain. Such scorn came out of the woman's gaze that even Fernando was getting unsettled.
"As I said before, pig, Begone from me!" she swiped her arm in front of her.
Fernando nodded.
"Very well, my lady." he shrugged his shoulders and started to walk away.
"But whenever you need me, call Fernando." he extended his arm towards her.
"Unlikely." Ash scoffed.
"Very well." Fernando responded and looked at her face.
"Say, I never got your name." he smiled.
"You do not deserve it."
Fernando sighed and walked towards her.
"How can I lose the memory of such a beautiful woman? Hngh!" he groaned when Ash uppercutted his stomach.
"Like this!" Ash yelled and delivered a crippling hook to his head.
Fernando fell to the ground and groaned.
Ash spat on the ground and removed the toothpick in her mouth.
"Go to hell." she kicked sand in his face and started to walk away.
Fernando's horse whinnied when it saw its owner in danger.
Ash stopped in her tracks.
Horses screaming, soldiers shouting orders. Cries of pain and agony as stones fell from the sky and boiling oil poured from the walls.
The woman's chest contracted and she fell to the ground. Her breaths became heavy and her skin became pale and sweaty.
"Get back! Get back!" Ash cried out to the empty countryside and started moving her arms frantically. "The archers are coming! The! The!" she struck the horse.
Fernando's horse screeched and ran off back to the town in a craze.
Ash fell to the ground due to the horse's outburst and covered her ears.
"Get down! Please Get back!" she cried out and bawled out her tears.
At this point, Fernando arose due to the commotion and found Ash on the ground.
"Huh-"
"AHHH!" Ash yelled angrily when Fernando came into the picture and stood up with the intent of hurting him.
"Die!" she raised her fists.
"Hey!" Fernando grabbed hold of her arms.
"Filthy Monarchists!" Ash tried her best to fight Fernando's grasp.
"Hey Hey! Calm down!" Fernando finally realized what was happening, "My lady, please! It's not what you are thinking!" he yelled into her manic face.
Ash snarled and dropped Fernando into the road.
"DIE!"
Fernando gasped and blocked her incoming punch.
"You have punched me enough times, señorita!" he growled, "I'm sorry but this is for your own good!" he grabbed her head and shoved her into the ground.
The knight pinned the woman down.
Ash panted and wrestled until her breaths started to slow down.
"I... couldn't save them..." she murmured and started to weep.
Fernando looked at the woman with pity as he got off of her. He felt a deep pain inside his heart and his innate goodness moved him to pick her up.
"Hngh!" he grunted when he shuffled around with her weight.
"Dios mio, you are heavy." he murmured.
"I couldn't save them..." Ash cried into chest.
Fernando sighed and rubbed her head.
"There there, amiga." he smiled and started to walk towards the village.
0000000
The inn landlady laughed with her maiden friends as the world outside shifted to the night scene. Her gossips were short and sensuous, showing off her desires to her friends and her fantasies over their previous visitor.
"Did you see his chin?" one of the maidens giggled.
"Oh it's so strong... I wish the men of the South had that." she sighed.
"How about that ten-o-clock shadow?" the third maiden, an elf, bit her bottom lip.
"That tanned skin... he's a god." the landlady rolled her eyes back.
"More than a god." the first maiden added as she twirled her purple hair, "I would devote my life to him if I had the choice-"
The doors of the inn suddenly burst forward and revealed the subject of their fantasies.
Fernando groaned as he shifted around with Ash in his arms.
"Oh..." the landlady and the maidens gained a sudden air of jealousy.
"My ladies, I require a room." Fernando walked towards them and looked at Ash, who at this point was asleep in his arms.
"For my lady here."
"Your lady huh?" the landlady scowled.
"Went for the low hanging fruit on this one..." she crossed her arms.
Fernando looked at her with confusion.
"That hairstyle is, like, so last year." the elf maiden smirked, "Makes her look like a guy."
"I'm surprised it isn't one." the third maiden laughed, soon joined by her friends.
Fernando growled.
"All I need is a room for us-"
"Us?" the first maiden asked, "Ugh... men don't know how to chose maidens."
The landlady raised her hand and looked at Fernando.
"Very well, 900 credits." she informed him.
Fernando looked at the price chart behind the counter.
"But the sign says 500 for a room-"
"Oh, sorry for the mistake! It's 1000 then." the landlady responded and flipped the chart over.
"Special price due to the fact we have a special visitor here." she looked at him scornfully.
"Dios mio." Fernando groaned and set down Ash on a nearby chair.
"It suffers to be famous." he said as he reached into his wallet and pulled out the necessary credits.
"Thank you." the landlady smirked as she received her money from the knight and went to get a key. She walked back and held the key in front of him.
Before Fernando grabbed it, the landlady playfully jerked it away.
"My lady..."
"Uh Uh Uh." the landlady shook her head. "If you want to get this key, you have to kiss me first." she smiled coyly and puckered up.
Fernando rolled his eyes and kissed her.
"Mmm... Could be better." The landlady mumbled and handed the keys to him, "Now go off."
Fernando nodded and stepped away to grab Ash. The giggles and the gossip of the maidens would have angered him little if it had not been for a new revelation that appeared to him.
Ash had her face all covered in makeup that, even for someone as oblivious as Fernando, was obviously not hers.
On her left cheek in copper lipstick was a small drawing of a goblin head and on her right in blue eyeliner was a very bad word in Elvish. Her lips had red lipstick slobbered all over them and her eyes had mascara plastered all over them.
"Huh..." Fernando gave an annoyed sighed and grabbed the woman in his arms.
"Have fun..." the maidens giggled as the knight walked up the stairs.
Fernando gave them the adequate finger gesture for such actions.
Thank you for the review! I'm glad you liked it!
Hope all of you enjoy this new chapter!