Innocent Sorrow: A Tale of Twisted Hearts Book One

Chapter Twenty-Two

Nathanial looked around at the troops they had gathered. Each of these men was here, not only to fight for their own land but for the homes of their allies as well. It was a glorious thing to see and, as the enemy approached, everyone eagerly fell into line. Nathanial looked to the tops of the Canyon ridges that bordered them. At the very tops, men with huge vats of oil waited; the hot liquid bubbling dangerously. As the Nyekian line approached, Nathanial turned to the rest of the men. “We will split our forces in two! Half of you stand behind the white Ty-pyro and to the sides so you are not seen! The rest of you, the front! We must lure them in!” Sure enough, about half way into the canyon, Valkea stood with his wings down and his hackles up. The men easily split themselves with most of the Reickians going over to the beast as they saw their General come to stand next to the animal. Haydn had a dark look on his face but quickly took charge of the situation once briefed by one of his soldiers. His orders were good and bespoke of years of knowledge but none even questioned how such a thing could be possible. Nathanial nodded to the Earth Spirit before turning his eyes back to his own men with a wild grin. “Ready yourselves, men! Today, we fight, we die and we show those damned frozen bastards why they shouldn’t mess with the land of fire!” The cheers that rose at his words made Nathanial felt proud of being a Knight. To protect the people, that had always been his reasoning.

The Beldanian troops that were under his direct command had always done their best but in times of peace, the men had never had a chance to prove themselves. This was that chance and, unlike the Reickian men who had cowered at the thought of dying; Beldanian men would rush headfirst into anything, no matter the odds. Nathanial quickly mounted his beautiful mare that had seen him through more than a few journeys. Nadia had been the first thing he purchased after becoming a knight and he had raised her from a newly weaned foal till now. In return, she earned the nickname Quick Silver and provided him with the fastest steed in Beldan. Moving her forward so he was at the head of the line, he started giving orders just as Haydn had. “I want half of you to go to the sides of the canyon on the outside…we have the advantage with the shadows cast, use them to hide yourselves on either side. The rest of you, join me in going out to meet our guests. We need to lure at least a few of them into our trap before we sick the rest of our combined forces on them.” The men nodded and gave quite murmurs of agreement. The best tactic in this war would prove to be surprise. When outnumbered, you must stun the opponent and that is exactly what they would do. Drawing his sword, the long, silver weapon glinting in the afternoon sun; Nathanial signaled for the men who would follow him to head out. Together, they approached the outer ring of their encampment and waited for the line that was now only a few minutes from reaching. It was obvious to Nathanial that Nyek had not thought this out. Very few of them rode horses meaning they had run for hours across the terrain as the sun inched up the sky and the heat increased drastically. He knew what it had done to the Reickian men and they had had the time to cool off. For the Beldanian soldiers who had quickly shed their layers as the temperature increased, this was nothing.

The soldiers across from them were dressed in layered, white uniforms with heavy, leather guards. Nathanial could only shake his head. Only a small portion of the Nyekian army had followed but this group would be easily crushed… The Knight moved forward, into a gap in the fence and addressed the enemy army though his eyes zeroed in on a skinny, black haired man astride a large horse. This man was obviously some kind of higher ranked official and Nathanial figured he would be the one to call the shots in the battle. “Turn back, enemy troops! You have come far from your camp and even further from your country. If you continue this folly, you will take heavy and irreplaceable losses!” The man upon the horse stared back at Nathanial with little expression though Nathanial could practically see the gears turning in his head. “We won’t turn back, we’ll kill you foolish, weak cowards!” the man who spoke was nothing more than a foot soldier but it sparked the men on the ground and, despite the fact that Nathanial could see the black haired boy jump to say something, a man in the front loosed an arrow. The small projectile sailed through the air and embedded itself in flank of one of the horses, making the beast shriek as its rider struggled to calm the animal and remove the arrow. As if that shot was the signal, Nyekian men flooded the battle field and raced towards the Beldanian men with little regard to what the boy on the horse was shouting, for shouting he was. Nathanial couldn’t make out the words but the enraged expression that the man directed at his troops amused Nathanial. Such insubordination would never be tolerated in Reicks or Beldan.