A Court of Pain and Sorrow

Seventeen birthday

Rhaella Nyx Archeron spent the first hours her seventeenth birthday in her purge.

Dante sent her alone to a forest at night.
The Commander of the Mortal Queens' Armies battalion would cross it that night to get to the Guild and have a surprise attack, taking advantage of the chaos of the purges.

Dante's spies in the Continent's court informed him weeks ago.

And he had given the mission to make them turn away (or kill them, whatever came first) to Rhaella as her purge.

She had to face a whole battalion.
By herself.

According to the spies, she should expect around twenty five armed men.

The other Ravens had been sent to various missions by themselves too. So her attention was partially divided' she had to survive but she was crazy worried about her friends.

Soon, the battalion came to view.
A quick recount revealed they weren't twenty five, but thirty.

If she was lucky, many of them would be superstitious.
Or at least, would believe in her divinity.

She waited for the battalion to pass and after she ajustes her mas, she jumped off the tree without making a sound.

Rhaella walked behind them and analysed them all for a couple minutes.

Then, and before she regretted it, she stepped on a branch.

The five men in the back turned around and looked at her.

She didn't bother waiting.

Before they could react, a knife went to all their throats and the five of them dropped dead.

Simple. Easy.

The hard part hadn't begun yet.

At the sound ten other men turned around.
If it hadn't been because of the snow, even the Commander (that was leading the battalion) would have heard the bodies dropping to the ground.

At the sight of her, a couple of men ran away, alerting the others.

She got her daggers out and threw a couple.
One hit a man in the throat while the other one went to the eye of another.

She got her sword out and cursed herself for not learning how to wield a sword with her left hand. It would've come in handy.

Everyone turned to look at the Raven Death.

Eight more soldiers started to run into the woods, escaping from her fury and probably hoping to return home.

Those eight, the other two who had already run and the seven men she had already killed left her to face thirteen soldiers.

It was nearly impossible.
Nearly.

She was the first one to attack, cutting everything that came into view without caring if it was a leg, a hand, a head or a shirt.

She fought with many and the sounds of swords crashing one against the other filed the forest.
However, most the soldiers she fought were terrified and weren't really a threat.
Their hands were shaky, their movements deplorable and their form and position made her want to stop fighting and give them a quick lesson.

She didn't count how many she killed or how long it took her.

After what seemed like a second, soldiers stopped throwing themselves at her without any kind of order or ability.

She looked around and saw the bodies of eight soldiers lying around her.

Rhaella looked up and saw five soldiers, including the Commander, surrounding her.