I swore under my breath as I shot down another bloody mercenary, but when one went down, another seemed to pop up in its place like the hollow men myths I heard about from the Sparrow King, however I rarely believed him. From far away, I could see Walter and Annabel as small dots slashing their way through hordes of enemies, whilst I was on higher ground shooting from afar. It was thrilling; I hadn't ever fought like this before and I was relishing every second of it! Blood pumped fiercely through my body with adrenaline as I pushed through the countless amounts of mercenaries, swapping my gun for a cheap but tough sword I had found in Brightwall a while ago and ran to catch up with Walter, who was slowly getting surrounded. A bullet whizzed past my face, grazing my cheek as it went along making me curse. I saw a man grinning maliciously at me.
He mocked, "Did you hurt yourself little girl? Maybe you should go run to your precious mummy and daddy!"
Before he even got to laugh at his own joke I put my own bullet into his skull and he dropped to the floor dead. No sooner had I killed him though did I have to keep fighting. After a few minutes though, the mercenaries' numbers were dwindling. After Annabel beat the living daylights out of the last man there was silence, which was worrying. Walter, Annabel and I stood panting for a little while, trying to figure out why it was so eerily quiet.
"Where's Saker? I haven't killed all these mercenaries to end up short you know," Said Annabel, still a little breathless.
At the very moment the Princess uttered those words, the giant gate to the left of us opened up, to reveal a sort of arena with many mercenaries and one enormous man standing above them all- he was obviously Saker.
"Who dared to enter my camp and kill my men?" A voice thundered. "Come closer."
We had no choice in the matter but to step forward, for if we turned to run we would have surely been shot in the back, a coward's death. Besides, we promised we would make sure Saker paid for his heinous crimes. As soon as we entered the arena, the gate quickly fell down and we were trapped. Two men grabbed my arms and I tried to shake them off, but it was impossible. To the right of Annabel, I could see Walter being dragged off too, but nobody took Annabel.
"So," began Saker, as he rubbed his hands together and jumped down from his raised platform to walk closer to Annabel, "You've left quite a trail of bodies. You're not one of Sabine's dwellers, that's for damn sure, but you'll die like one."
Annabel dodged a firearm that Saker had grabbed from his pocket and thrown and grabbed her sword to protect herself. I tried to pull away to help her, but it was no use; the men holding me back were too strong.
She was now striking blows at Saker, but it was like they didn't touch him. Every now and then, he would push her away, punch her, throw fire at her; he seemed invincible. Fire was struck into his face by Annabel and he pulled away in pain, buying time for Annabel to run out, give her some time to catch her breath and prepare for her next attack. Watching Annabel was incredible, she moved swiftly and carefully around Saker and never gave up. Every time she fell down she got back up again, angrier and more determined. It reminded me of when she was learning the piano, she would always get angry when she hit a bum note but would always try again. The fight went on for a long time, neither person giving up. They dodged each other's attacks and shot, hit, fired at each other before Annabel stopped for a second- these bright florescent blue lines appeared all over her body and with a yell, she struck her sword down on Saker and he fell to the ground. She had won! Annabel looked like she couldn't quite believe what had happened, but I certainly could. Saker slowly pulled himself off the ground onto his knees before talking.
"Stop! You've won. The battle is yours. Kill me or let me live, it's your choice and my men will honour it."
Silence spread across the arena as the princess made her decision. The mercenaries stood worried and so did Walter and I. I could only imagine what was running through Annabel's mind but whatever it was I hoped it was something good. Out of nowhere, she slapped him and cries of protest could be heard from the men, but she pulled out her hand as a support to pull Saker up. Smiling, he took it and the protests turned to cheers and sighs of relief.
"Thank you. I won't forget this, and the dwellers will be left alone. Let the strangers go!"
Immediately, Walter and I were released from our firm hold and allowed to run over to Annabel.
"That was amazing!" I gushed.
She giggled like a little girl before replying thank you. We agreed that then was a good time to head back to the sanctuary, before meeting Sabine. We materialised in front of Jasper.
"Oh, Back from your, err… muddy trip eh?"
We laughed at inspecting ourselves- we were a mess. There was not one article of clothing not caked in blood and mud, with rips everywhere.
Annabel walked over to the map room and studied it for a moment. "I'm going to head to my home in Brightwall, get washed up. Do you want to wash too after me, Emily?"
"Sure, I'll meet you there later."
She nodded her acknowledgement, before closing her eyes and disappearing. She'd left her weapons on the floor, so I grabbed them and headed over to the weapons room holding mine in my arms as well. It was nice; to sit in a room all by myself and clean weapons like my dad told me to. Before I'd cleaned them though, I changed into some old clothes to sit in, so I smelt less like death itself. After forty-five minutes or so, I thought it best to head down to Annabel's home for a wash.
She had bought with little money she had from pie-making, an old and quaint cottage that belonged to an old artist and had easels and paintings scattered around. It was a beautiful home, and I wandered around the little home, admiring the brush-strokes until the princess came in, wringing out her hair.
"Hey," she said, "you can wash upstairs if you want, there's a water pump outside and hot water is on the stove." She looked better after washing, but there was a large gash on her left side that needed attending to.
"Ouch! You should let Jasper check out that wound, it could get infected," I told her.
She looked down at her arm and her eyes widened as she suddenly noticed the injury she had sustained from fighting. "I-I didn't even notice it," she mumbled, more to herself than to me. "Well, I'll go talk to Jasper now, and then come back later. In the meantime, feel free to stay here." Once again she closed her eyes and left, leaving me to myself. I took a long soak before getting out and into my favourite outfit; a long flowing skirt made from a soft material and a loose fitting corset match with a white, short-sleeved blouse. On my feet I wore my comfiest boots made from leather, my dad's. They were a little big for me, but they made me feel safe. By the time I was finished, it was evening and there was a beautiful sunset, with shades of orange, purple and pink. I thought it best to talk to Walter and Jasper to see what would be happening tomorrow, so I went back to the sanctuary to find Jasper dusting and Walter polishing his sword and taking off the blood specks with a sparkling clean gun to his right. Jasper stopped what he was doing when he saw me.
"Ah, Emily! I trust you are feeling better?
"Yes, thank you Jasper. Did Annabel see you about her arm?" I asked.
"She did, yes, I bandaged her arm and she left very soon after, saying she was going to very quickly head to the market stalls before they closed and grab a potion to help the healing before going back to sleep."
"We will be meeting back up here tomorrow and then travel to the dweller camp to talk to Sabine. I'm sure he will be most pleased when we tell him the good news," said Walter, his eyes still fixed on his sword.
I smiled, and with the knowledge that I came looking for, I left to head to the Quill and Quandry tavern for a room to sleep in for the night. I only had a small amount of money, mostly from my savings I got whilst working in the castle, but it was enough for the equivalent of three weeks stay in a tavern, without any food or luxuries. I, however, only needed one night, so I headed over to the Quill and paid. The temptation of a drink though was a little too much, so I bought a small one and sat in a quiet corner upstairs, thinking to myself. As I was day dreaming, I noticed an odd piece of paper sat on the table, so I gently picked it up and began reading.
"The life and adventures of Ben Finn…" I said to myself, "…Page one…"
I was awoken by screeching birds outside my window and a slight headache from staying up too late reading this 'Ben Finn' autobiography several times, it was fascinating. As far as I could tell, he was a solider and a popular one too. Gunk… I had heard of Brightwood, but not Gunk, not even that as a nickname for an area. I guessed it was around ten, so I got up and quickly washed and dressed before heading to the sanctuary to meet everyone. By the time I had arrived, they were all there, feasting on some breakfast before leaving.
Walter swallowed before talking. "Are we all ready to meet the dweller?"
We all nodded except Jasper, who said, "I should stay here and look after everything, until you get back."
"Okay, then we should go now."
It was freezing in the dweller camp and I really wished I'd brought a coat, but at least I had long sleeves. It was a magical looking place, with snow dusted on the ground and old caravans were dotted around. People were cheering, and throwing confetti at us as we walked over to Sabine.
"Our hero returns, bringing good tidings!" Called out Sabine, a small jolly man with a welsh accent. "Saker has been defeated, and we are safe to roam Mistpeak. We will fight with you, to overthrow King Logan, but we require one more thing." He leaned in close to Annabel and said quietly, "Promise to restore these mountains to their full glory, and to protect our right to dwell in them, and promise you will bring nothing but the fiercest justice upon Logan's head!"
"I promise!" replied the princess, pumped on adrenaline.
Cheers were heard over where the rest of the dwellers stood and watched, joyful that they could finally get the revenge they had been so desperately waiting for on Logan. We shook hands before parting, having to pretty much drag Clover away from a giant of a dweller named Boulder, who had taken to the dog quite quickly.
The amount of people watching us had died down, so I quietly asked Walter, "So, where are we going next Walter, we still need more people don't we?"
"Yes, we do Emily," He replied, before saying to both Annabel and I, "Be ready to lose your sense of smell, we're going to Mourningwood."
~Author's Note~
Hello! Thank you for reading my little fanfic, finally getting round to Ben Finn! I was thinking that I might do a little bit of third person for Ben in the fort.
I'm gonna be reaaally busy in July so I'm sorry if it takes me ages to post a new chapter, but once its summer I plan to write a ton, unless I'm forced into the outside world…
I have a story on Fictionpress too, so please take a look: s/3123978/1/Love-War-and-Death
Okay, enough blabbing, bye!