Ultimate Sacrifice (NaNoWriMo 2014)

Chapter 3

Dedicated to Willow105 for her continued reading of my stories and just general awesomeness.

Arianna pushed herself up, gritting her teeth as she stood. Her legs felt wobbly, like they would give out on her at any moment. That damned scorpion venom, it would take weeks to recover full use of her legs. And her arm, her sword arm, the would take longer. Her frustration only increased as she struggled to walk across the camp.

Soldiers eyes followed her as she walked and she put on a mask of agony. Her feet moved sluggishly, dragging across the ground. Her legs quivered under her, shaking visibly as she attempted to follow Nacrissa.

“If you’re looking for Sir Nathaniel, he’s in his tent,” one of the soldiers piped up. He pointed to one and stood. “Do you need help? I know your legs can’t be in great shape.”

“I’m fine,” Arianna said.

“You’re not fine, I saw your wounds—”

Arianna shot him a glare with enough fire to melt steel and he sat down. She continued her slow walk to Sir Nathaniel’s tent and pulled the fabric aside slipping in. Nacrissa and the knight had her back to her.

“He’s completely mad, why would he ride without us?” Nacrissa asked.

“Because he’s a lord,” Nathaniel snarled. “Which means his heads shoved so far up his own ass he could eat his own shit. As far as he’s concerned we’re late.”

“Sir, we could be much closer to where we were supposed to be today,” Nacrissa said, her voice lowered. “I mean, it’s nothing on Arianna, but she shouldn’t be guiding her own horse,

“I apologize,” Arianna muttered. “I’ll be able to ride longer tomorrow. Will we be able to catch Lord Adalos?”

Nacrissa whirled around, surprise on her face. “How long—”

“No, he’s already arrived at the keep. Nacrissa it appears he hasn’t stopped or even considered waiting for us. We cannot wait around too much longer, tell the men we leave before dawn tomorrow. We’ll eat in the saddle. The faster we get moving, the further we can go.”

“Yes, sir,” Nacrissa bowed out and hurried away.

Sir Nathaniel turned to Arianna and tilted his head. “It’s a long walk from Nacrissa’s tent, you shouldn’t strain yourself like that.”

“I was wondering if I could see the blades you recovered from the orc campsite, my father was a master blacksmith, allofae in fact, I’m pretty good with blade care. Maybe I could tell you a little more about them.”

“I do have several questions about what an afae, such as yourself, was doing where a group of orcs could capture her,” Sir Nathaniel said. “It does raise a fair amount of questions.”

“I was riding for Keep Rololinde,” Arianna shrugged. “I was hoping her ladyship would grant me safety behind the walls of her keep. My village was pillaged by orcs, I hid in the basement of my father’s forge.”

“Lady Rololinde doesn’t take on charity cases because they decided to almost get themselves killed,” Sir Nathaniel said.

“I will work, I can clean; sew, though I’m not very good with a needle; cooking,” Arianna said. “Please, I just want to survive this war. I barely survived the village being raided, those orcs tortured me for information I didn’t have. I’m sure her ladyship will understand.”

“You put a lot of faith in Lady Rololinde,” Sir Nathaniel said.

“I’ve heard many excellent things about her,” Arianna said. “Her kindness is rumored to be exceedingly great.”