The Guardians

Chapter 40

"We need to split the group up," Saren said. "Arlan won't expect us to strike from two places at once."

Lyra frowned. They had been extremely successful for three years in disrupting Arlan's supplies. Food was given to the people in the poorest villages. More and more of the people were growing braver. Atevora continued to grant them asylum whenever they needed it after killing the platoon of Arlan's men and appointed leaders and freeing Alondo and Erin, along with the men and women set to die with them and in the various devices for punishment. Lyra herself had killed an executioner as he was about to hang Alondo and a young woman. She and her family were grateful and swore loyalty to the Guardians. The entire area had been under Arlan's heavy thumb. But now they had the courage to stand against him. Thanks to the Guardians.

"Are you sure that's a good idea?" Lyra asked. "We had the advantage of numbers."

They'd picked up a couple of deserters from both Arlan and Sari which brought the group to thirteen, although Grace mostly stayed behind in Atevora with Alondo and Erin.

"I know it seems like a bold move but Arlan has begun to expect one attack, not two." Saren looked at the others. "What say you?"

Aiden, Neve, Will, and Lex also expressed concerns about the plan, but the rest agreed to the plan. Saren chose Lyra, Aiden, Will, Neve, and Lex to join him. He appointed Orin to lead the rest of them in another group. Plans were laid and the two fractions parted ways. Lyra still had her doubts but hoped they weren't making a mistake.

~~~

Bandages covered Sari's midsection and right arm after another disastrous battle. They had been having more since Daylen left, weary of all the fighting and angry at that massacre four years before. But Sari had been determined to continue on without him, even ordering her men to capture him if they came across him. She wouldn't kill her own son, but she would punish him severely. Now she only wished to see him again and ask, no, beg him to return to her side. She'd received word that someone was eroding Arlan's support little by little. The people were having the courage to stand up to Arlan because of them. Sari needed a victory and soon. If they kept losing battles, she wouldn't have much of an army left, even with her drafting peasant men into her forces. What she needed desperately was a miracle.

~~~

Arlan watched the woman approach him. She had black hair cropped to her chin and piercing brown eyes. A scar traveled down the left side of her face. She wore dark brown leather armor that left a good amount of her chest bare but covered the important parts. The bottom of her armor looked as if it were made just for her and fit her curves perfectly. She wore matching gloves that traveled all the way up her arms, stopping just above the elbow. The skin between the gloves and the shoulder guard was bare. Her dark brown boots reached her knees and didn't make a sound as she strode towards him. She wore a sword at her left hip and two daggers on her back. Two more daggers hung at her left hip and she had a pair of knives strapped to her thighs.

Arlan snorted. "I asked for a mercenary, not a leather-clad whore." A knife embedded itself in the seat of his chair, dangerously close to his manhood. "By the gods! I should have you flayed for that!"

"Not bad for a leather-clad whore, hmm?" She crossed her arms. "You wanted the best, you got the best. I expect you to pay me as much as you would any other tarse you've sent after these scum."

Arlan just looked at her. She was blunt and had a language no woman should have. "I'm not paying you to talk to them or use what's between your legs to capture them. Women do not belong in armor wielding a sword. They belong behind their men in a dress wielding a spoon."

"I missed on purpose. I can take your manhood as a souvenir."

"You wouldn't dare."

"Try me, tarse."

"You are very unladylike."

"I wasn't brought up as one. Wouldn't know how to act like those lilies."

Arlen shook his head. "Go back to your brothel, whore."

Before his guards could stop her, she was on top of him with the cold steel of a dagger's blade against his throat and her knee to his crotch. "This whore can end you right now with naught but a flick of my wrist. The world would not miss you. So you can either hire me and pay me more than your tarses or I can end your sorry life right here and right now and be out of here before your idiot guards know what happened. And then you can explain to Thanatos how some leather-clad whore ended your life."

"You will regret this, whore."

"Maybe, tarse." She stepped back and sheathed the dagger. "But you will respect me. You sent a call out for the best mercenaries. Each one that you've sent out has ended up dead."

Arlan rubbed his throat. He gave a quick nod to his guards and they quickly stepped forward and grabbed her arms. The woman immediately began to fight. It took four guards to subdue and bind her. They forced her to her knees.

"Get her out of my sight!"

"This is something you will regret, tarse!" she screamed at him as they literally carried her out of the room.