The Kingdoms of Blue and Green.

Part 61

The blaze grew, licking the bottom of the towers. Warping colours of red and orange. Evelynn clenched her teeth as her fire archers behind her placed the second arrow back in their quivers.

"No need for a second" She exclaimed.

They watched the oil-tipped arrows spray their light onto the brick.

The languid flames struggled to stay alive in the gaps between the bricks. Snaking and wriggling up the brick. They quickly kept moving from one point to another, the menacing flames causing the brick to blister and deepen its brown colour. The dense smoke triggered a hurl; a wave of people spewing out between the gaps of the towers. The black grass was extinguished by the crunch of their boots as they hurled forward. Overhead arrows slipped in between the gaps in Evelynn's army, the screams echoed out of the wave.

Evelynn threw herself forward at them. Her metal boots clanked as she sprinted. Flipping and slashing her blade from side to side. Pressing her army deeper into the gap between the two towers. The red and orange flames flickered beside them as she saw the fraying of her line in the sea of metal. Her army ripped from her as her blue feather placed a target on her back in the sea of silver metal and yellow.

~

The blade caught him across the neck and the fabric of amour hid no protection as the honey-split skin blossomed a long red stripe.

He took a step back and glared at Evelynn for a brief moment. His deep blue set eyes caught the light, his mouth a hard line. Evelynn raised her arm to strike again but the man gargled the red liquid which poured from the specks of foam in the corners of his pale lips. His eyes were empty as if the life from his eyes was poured from his body like a spilt teacup.

Evelynn flipped the bloody sword in her hands and watched the man fall to his knees, clutching his throat. The blue eyes were a spectacle in the yellow sea. But she couldn't stop. Yellow was coming for her at every angle, swaying and the waves rolling in on top of her. Slashing and poking she continued, trying to hold herself upwards. She turned behind her the blue wave growing closer. Exhaling in relief, she tilted her head back looking to the sky. They were coming.

The moment of relief was ripped from her as the whistle of an arrow pieced her ears. The high-pitched whistle made her lift her blade up in reaction in front of her face. Watching the arrow split in front of her. The metal shattered the arrow. Falling to her feet Evelynn looked up.

The yellow mark plastered across her forehead and glistering red hair. Evelynn blinked and shook her head, but the red hair remained. Her freckled skin and calloused fingers attempted to draw another arrow, but Evelynn grabbed Lisandra's wrist. Forcing her to halt. Evelynn slashed the left side of her, sending a wave of yellow falling backwards. The scream of her army echoed closer. Evelynn's heart beat erratically, looking through the visor up to Lisandra. Her brown eyes were full of fury and empty. A shell of a human tormented by the horror of war.

Lisandra flipped her hair back and pulled a blade out from her side, forcing Evelynn to tumble backwards.

"Lisandra!" Evelynn screamed. Forcing Lisandra's head up. The mark across her forehead rubbed into her pale, freckled skin. Evelynn pleaded with the Gods for time to freeze for the moment. To hold her once again. Lisandra grounded her teeth together.

Lisandra placed another bow into her quiver and pulled it back. Evelynn retreated, screaming out her name once more. Evelynn's hands shook and panicked reverberations bounced off her chest.

"Princess!" Someone screamed from behind her, as Lisandra posed her arrow on Evelynn's heart.

~

Evelynn's archer groaned as Lisandra released an arrow into his neck, but as he clutched his neck. Evelynn raised her sights to his quiver. The empty quiver slid down his shoulder. Evelynn's eyes widened, searching for the missing arrow. Lisandra's gaze lifted to Evelynn, behind her helmet.

They both glanced down.

~

Evelynn didn't believe in magic. Fairies of different land and their abilities. But her gut ached at the thought of it. The magic to stop wasted time. The time wasted fighting, running, leading. The time wasted for this. All she wanted was to stop this feeling. The plaguing emptiness in her stomach. The pit gaping open, ripping her apart as the blood seeped through the amour. But time lingered. Time being the death of us all. And time always continues.

~

"No- no- no, no" Evelynn gasped, dropping her blade in return. Her heart rattled as the shock sent shivers down her spine.

The small rising and falling of her breaths were silent in the midst of the battle. Her red hair stained the soil brown, her face was planted in. Her hands violently shook as her gloved hands reached out, a knot tightening around her heart. She painfully swallowed and lifted her head out of the soil and turned her head. Evelynn dropped to her knees and turned Lisandra over. Her brown eyes still smiling at her. Tears welled in her eyes.

"No- no-no-no-no!" That was all Evelynn could etch out. The words repeated over and over in her head. Lifting Lisandra's head onto her armoured thighs Evelynn rose her hands to her face. Lifting her helmet off. The blue feather tassel drifted in the breeze beside her. "No- no, no. Please no!" Evelynn grasped Lisandra's face in the palms of her hands. The yellow mark smudged across her brow. "Lisandra please!" Evelynn cried.

Evelynn's gaze lowered to the arrow that plumaged through her stomach. The metal encapsulated the arrowhead, spewing warm sticky blood from her abdomen. The blood pooling into the soil. Lisandra's chest lifted for a brief moment. As if the world when quiet. Her gentle, shallow breaths grew lighter.

"Please," Evelynn choked. "Lisandra-" Evelynn placed her forehead to hers. Her tears dripped onto Lisandra's brow. A small noise replied to her. Lisandra's brown eyes glistened a final time, as her mouth moved slowly to form words, but her shallow breath wouldn't allow it. A crackled replaced her words. Evelynn placed her hand in hers. Her lips trembling and her breath halting. A faint squeeze of Evelynn's hand was all she felt, before Lisandra's chin tilted back towards the sky. Her chest grew still, and the blood stopped seeping into the soil. Her eyes were empty.

Evelynn knew; her friend was gone. And she never said goodbye.