Cover of the story was painted/made by Hayashidraws (Twitter).
Author's notes:
Hey, it's the second part of my gift for all of the readers. It's just a story that was written in Polish in past, but tbh, it was never finished.
I hope you'll like it.
I might release a 3rd part of The Power of Love at the very end of the week, but no promises.
She was hearing the screams of pain, the soft sobbing of people who were about to die. All these noises were coming from far too close distance for her comfort. The smell of the burning flesh filled her nostrils in no time, making her want to throw up. Akali could not say where was she ... to be frank, she didn't remember a thing. The last couple of days, or maybe even longer period, was a bit fuzzy for the Ionian assassin.
It must have been a really late evening, or maybe she was just wrong. The heat could be associated with the day time of this year's summer. But, now a cool wind was blowing, the temperature decreased significantly.
To make her situation even worse, she could not see anything. All she could see was darkness. Apparently, someone must have put a blindfold on her. The woman tried to reach out for the item to remove it from her eyes, but she could not move. Her legs and hands have been tied down. Based on the pressure it was inflicting on her body, she was tied down by the ropes, very thick ropes.
The raven-haired woman tried to wriggle out of the lines, but to no avail. The person who put the lines on knew what he was doing.
With anything else to focus on, the assassin started to listen to every single sound that was around her. In the distance, she could have sworn that she heard the weak echo of battle.
The sand squeaked under the heavy boots. The tied-down woman tensed visibly, the sound came from too close. The owner of the boots was slowly approaching her.
The stench of an unwashed man mixed with the smell of fresh blood hit her nostrils only a couple of moments later. With every passing moment, her stomach wanted to empty itself even more. The mixture of the smells that surrounded her was slowly killing her smell sense. Akali wanted nothing more than for all of it to end, but if it could not be done, she would be satisfied with being free with her kamas in her hands.
The man stopped right in front of her, or at least it seemed that way to the raven-haired. The stench that she associated with the man – most likely a soldier – increased. He must have leaned over her.
"Damn … Niels, come see what we captured today," the soldier called out in Va-Nox.
The Ionian assassin understood only a little, but she was certain that the man was calling his companion to watch her. "It won't end good," she sighed deep inside her mind.
The sounds of another man's steps reached the ears of the tided-down woman only a couple of seconds later.
"What do you want Soth?" the new-comer nag. "You know that we must get out off here in like a couple of minutes?"
"I know, I know … but, look at that woman I found earlier," the first man said with excitement in his voice. "I won't be that lonely during the nights anymore."
"Ehhh … I really don't want to kill your excitement, but the general won't allow you to have her," the new-comer sighed. "We need to get going," the man added. "Now, you can either kill her, or take her with you, but then, the commander will decide about her fate," he provided an additional explanation.
"I'm taking her with me!" the stinking soldier growled. "The general won't take my war loot away from me."
"I knew a man who told something like that in the past," the soldier's companion started in a grim tone. "He even challenged the commander for his war loot, as you might expect already, he was humiliated and then killed. If you want to do the same, it's your will," the new-comer said in a plain tone, and turned around, starting to walk away.
"Fucking Niels!" the stinking man cursed under his nose. "I'll fucking show him how much he's mistaken," his continued to growl. "And you," he focused on the tided-down assassin, "you'll be soon pleasing me during the long, cold nights," the soldier started to laugh. His voice was filled with lust.
In a matter of the next few moments, the stinking Noxian picked her up from the ground like a bag of potatoes. Then, he placed her onto his broad shoulder and started to follow his companion.
It was the worst kind of humiliation that Akali has ever experienced. If she was to choose her fate, she would take death in a blink of an eye. Even a fleeting thought that she would have to please the stinking soldier was making her sick. Truth be told, she would kill him sooner or later, but thought that his hand could be on her skin, his genitalia inside of her, it was more than gross.
She was being shaken in a rhythm of the soldier's pace. The assassin didn't know exactly where they were heading, but the sounds of the drums and peoples' shouts were coming from close and close with every step that the soldier took.
Soon enough, she was thrown into the ground like a bag of potatoes. It hurt her a bit, but she muffed any sound of pain.
All around her, there were voices. The Va-Nox was being mixed with Ur-Nox, but the meaning of the conversations could not be understood by the woman. The soldiers were simply talking too fast for her little knowledge of their languages to process the information.
"Soth!" the commanding voice emerged from the close distance. "Hand down the woman you brought here."
"Why?" the soldier asked in a venomous tone. "She's my prize, she's my share of the raiding loot," he added confidently.
"You're that stupid, soldier?" the dominant voice asked. "I gave you just one order, you were to capture the woman in green attire, with a facemask, and with the dragon tattoo," the most likely commander growled. "Look at her, then tell me that she isn't the one that I wanted you to capture."
"It doesn't matter, she's mine, I have captured her," the stinky man opposed his officer. "If you want her, you'll need to kill me!" the soldier threw the challenge.
"You're far more stupid than I have ever expected," the officer laughed loudly. "Remove the blindfold, let the girl see your downfall," he ordered.
"I won't do that," the soldier replied in a low tone. "You can do that only when my body will be cold …" the man tried to boast, but he was interrupted.
Akali could hear the cling when the steel met the steel. The sand and the dirt was being squeaked during the duel.
Akali felt the heat nearby, she must have been thrown near some sort of fire. The assassin's skin started to be covered in sweat. The raven-haired didn't enjoy that sensation, more so that her fate was in the hands of whoever would win the fight taking place a mere couple of metres away from her.
All the tided-down woman could do was to listen to the sounds of the duel. She could recognise the soldier that carried her there. He was out of breath while his opponent's breath was perfectly stable. "Hmmm … there is an enormous gap in the experience department between them," was the initial thought of the assassin. "I'm pretty sure I have heard the commander's voice before, but I just can't put my finger on it," she continued her thought process.
The fight over her was coming to its end. It was an easy task to notice that the general of Noxian invaders was winning without much effort. Then, why the loud gasp escaped the mouth of the stinky soldier, the realisation came. "It's Darius, so I'll live, they're planning something and the part of that plan is me," the raven-haired sighed in her mind. "Splendid, even more problems."
"Please, please … General, spare me," the wounded soldier began to plead for his life.
"You had your chance, filth, you wasted it," the strong voice of Darius rang in the ears of the woman.
A moment later, the sound of the descending battle-axe reached Akali. The smell of fresh blood filled the air nearly instantly, but something was mixing with that. Something that the assassin could not recognise, or at least could not recognise at the very beginning. After just a few seconds, Ionian knew what was that, urine.
The chants of the gathered soldiers stunned the raven-haired. They were so loud, so excited about the easy win of their leader.
Soon enough, she was once again picked up from the ground. This time, the person doing it was slightly more gentle while doing so. Her ties were cut a moment later, and the blindfold was discarded shortly after.
Akali needed a few blinks to adapt her eyes to the significant amount of light coming from the sunset and bonfires. When the process was completed, she could easily see the Might of Noxus, their mightiest general – Darius. As per usual he was wearing his heavy armour with a red cape, and in his right hand, the trusted battle-axe could be seen covered in fresh blood.
"What do you want from me?" Akali asked in a plain tone.
"We have a job for you, ninja," Darius responded simply.
"And why would I ever accept your offer? Could you explain it to me?" the woman asked ironically.
"The post you were staying in was burnt down to the ground. Most of the soldiers stationing there were killed," the general replied.
"You could tell me something I don't know already," the raven-haired replied in a low tone. "I smelled the bodies being burnt, I know what you did, but I won't turn back time. I'm not able to."
"And what if I say that I have many, many more soldier waiting for my command to conquer your country, to kill your loved ones?"
"I don't see the reason behind your offer," the assassin confessed. "What is the life of a single entity worth? Explain that to me, you want to trade my life for the lives of my people? Did I get it right?"
"Exactly," the Might of Noxus nodded.
"How can I be sure that you'll hold up your end of the bargain?" the curious ninja asked.
"I may be Noxian, but honour means a lot to me," the man slightly rose his voice. "But, if you still don't believe me, come with me, I'll show you the might that will be released upon your people if you don't agree for that bargain."
Without anything better to do, the raven-haired Ionian followed the steps of the Noxian. Even though she hated Noxians for everything they did to her country, she considered Darius, a fine officer. His soldiers, or at least the majority of them obeyed his order without hesitation, they followed his lead.
Soon enough, they reached the very end of the cliff. Akali mostly focused on her own thoughts, but still, she kept an eye on the Noxain's raiders' leader. As soon as the man stopped, she did the same. She looked directly into the eyes of the man who ordered her people to be killed.
"Don't look at me, look at the area down below," the general spoke in a low tone.
"Fair enough," the ninja replied.
In a matter of seconds, she averted her gaze from the tall soldier and lowered it. What she saw made her heart missed a beat, or two. Beneath them, there were dozens or even hundreds of Noxain's ships. Most of them were not even moored to the beach. Maybe two or three smallest boats were. Even though the distance between her and the fleet down below was significant, she could spot the masses of soldiers doing her chores on the decks.
Akali swallowed a thick gulp that was formed in her throat, then turned around to face Darius once again.
"Do you believe me now?" he asked with a smirk on his face.
"Yes," the short answer was provided. "If I agreed for that bargain, you would retreat these ships?"
"Yes, that exactly what I was told to do," the man replied stoically.
"Then, we have a bargain it seems," Akali whispered.
"Yes, I think we do," the voice of Darius reached out Akali's ears as if from miles away. The young woman was lost, she didn't know what she had signed in for, but she could not let that horde descend upon Ionia. Her people would not be able to survive that.
"Farewell," the ninja said to Ionia. "I don't know if I am to see you again," she added while the single tear ran down her cheek.