Three Lies, All True || ONC2021 Longlister

Chapter 11: A Distant Glance

Peter didn't know why, but he felt that something was wrong. Extremely wrong.

As he pierced the sword into another soldier's chest, he flicked his eyes to the manor. He wanted to continue staring at it and try to think about what she was planning, but a stinging pain from his back made him turn back and face the Nuryynian soldiers.

There were rumors that there were defects in Nuryyn's Army, but he couldn't tell which were defects and which were not. The soldiers fighting him had an array of ears, both pointy and slightly round, while their strength in magic and fighting were weaker than his own.

Were they all defects, or did Nuryyn just have weaker soldiers?

No matter how many times he reached for his magic, the only thing that greeted him was either pain or a near punch to the face. Fortunately, he was able to dodge most of the incoming attacks to him and retaliate with a slice of his blade.

Peter dashed forward, making three of the remaining soldiers in front of him fall to the ground. "Pathetic as always, aren't you, Nuryyn?"

One of them placed a hand on their chest, slowly standing up. Green wisps of magic traced from their fingers, though the color slowly flickered away.

With that, he charged inside Alejandro's Manor. He could always think about that later. Right now, he had to find his sister, make sure she was safe, and make sure the blame wouldn't be pinned on his kingdom.

For Royisa, for their fallen comrades, and for those to come who deserve to live in peace.

He kicked the door in front of him and threw the sword. There was a yell, and another body fell to the ground. Instinctively, he reached for his magic, before dashing to his right. He butted his head against the soldier and grabbed their spear, before piercing them in their chest.

The smell of blood slightly made his nose twinge, and he wiped a drop of it away from his cheek. It would have been more enjoyable if he could use his magic rather than kill people with weapons, but he needed to make do of what he could.

The amount of bodies littering the floor made him shiver, and his nose scrunched at a foreign smell. It was probably poisonous gas that faded away, and the people lying down on the ground didn't have any barriers strong enough to protect them.

His ears twitched, but it only made him frown. They were heavy footsteps, but he couldn't tell how many or where they were from. It took him reaching the stairs to see that even more soldiers surrounded him. Almost like Nuryyn sent an entire brigade just to go after him.

"This is as far as you'll go!" one of them yelled as they pulled their bowstring back. Peter scoffed, but he still raised his arms. "Commander Adrien of the Tactics Brigade in Royisa's Army, surrender or we will shoot!"

Peter narrowed his eyes, though his thoughts were interrupted when the sound of clicks echoed in the halls. He didn't need to turn around to know that even more bows and maybe crossbows were now pointing at him. And one wrong move meant he would die.

Still…

He gulped and gathered every courage and strength he had, hoping that it wouldn't lead him to his doom.

"You'd really point a bow at a super soldier? I can just poof away before you can hit me and maybe kill some of you. It would be a waste of perfectly good arrows!"

He froze in his spot, praying to the gods that none of them would see past his act and think of shooting an arrow just to test if he was lying or not.

When no one moved, he flicked his eyes around him and slowly lowered his arms. His hands shivered, and he could feel sweat trickling down his palms. Still, he swallowed any fear or nervousness building inside of him.