.......... I felt it shelter to speak to you_ Emily Dickinson....
"Go soldiers! Go and conquer. You go there and lay the head of that bastard at the feet of your mothers. Show her you dare not allow him soil her land." The war commander roared at the warriors as they all shouted and ran to the battlefield in rage.
"Kill them all! Kill them all!" He yelled after them, in hope to make their thirst for blood more.
The hungry warriors ran down to the battlefield, colliding with their adversary. It was well-known that this war wouldn't end soon.
Behold, away from the killing and anger, in a small white tent, two seemed to be in their own battle.
"Get your head in the game, Axel!" He growled.
"The people out there know what they really need." Axel barked back.
"Stop fooling yourself, boy. There will be no end to this war if you keep acting as though you were a thumb-sucking child."
"They started it in the first place, General." He paused, taking his sword sheath from the rack, "If they want war, they 'ave asked for it from the right person."
"Listen to me, Axel. They need you and you know that.", The general said in a more tender voice.
"A truthful leader, General, that is what they need and the moment I see no one fitting." , He turned away from the General and started to leave.
"You would not dare to do it now, son, would you?", the general asked quietly, stopping him right in his tracks.
"I would not do what?" He said under his breath.
"You wouldn't kill your own father, would you, Axel?", General asked again.
Axel drew in a deep breath, stood firmly at the exit and said with pure hatred and malice burning in his olive green eyes,
"If I have to, General, I will...without hesitation."
And with that, he exited the tent.
★. ★. ★.
Out of breath, he finally woke up in a sudden rush, bathed in his own sweat. His eyes were wide enough to pop out, his entire body was tensed.
He remembered. Although he had woken earlier, nothing of sorts came to his mind. He remembered how he ended up in the fields. He remembered this eyes.
Blue, they were, the one that appeared in the sky on a cloudless happy day.
The angel.
The one whose hand he held tightly. He had thought he was dead.
What will a man like me be doing in heaven anyways, he thought sadly.
He slowly eased back into the comfortable bed he was on, his sight was clear now, he gently turned his head sideways, having his eyes lay on a dame.
She stood beside the wooden wardrobe with a bowl in her small hands.
"You had a nightmare?" Her question came out as a gentle statement. He groaned painfully to her question. His wound still hurt but not as much as they did before.
"You don't have to say a word." She said as she got up from where she sat and sat down on the bed by his legs.
"Mother made some soup for you. She said it should help with the pain." She removed the lid from the bowl she held. The delicious aroma of the soup immediately filled his nose and his mouth salivated. "You should not sleep on an empty stomach."
He studied her face so well as though he was lost between those long eyelashes and those arctic blue eyes of hers. Her silky and straight jet black bob hair gently parted on her small head. Her pointed nose and her thin lips, which had a tiny but obvious birthmark just an inches above it, added more features to innocent face. He studied her so well that he finally placed her face.
She was the one. The angel in the fields.
I'd know those blue eyes anywhere, he thought gladly.
"Let me help you up so you can eat.", She put her timid hands on his shoulder to help him sit up. He would have shifted uncomfortably away from her hold but he somehow knew that he would be safe in those hands and she wouldn't have saved him if all she wanted was to see to his death.
But a tiny voice at the back of his mind reminded him, you've wronged so many people in this life, so many that you do not remember, then how could you possibly know if she is one of them? Ignoring the voice, he remained in her hands.
All the while, his eyes never left her face, as she noticed, her pretty cheeks flushed a brighter colour. When he had sat up on the bed, she fed him like he was an infant. She would blow the soup until it got warm enough for him to swallow, she was so careful not to spill any on him. She possibly didn't want to kill him, he tried to convince himself.
Once, he refused the soup and she had calmly said to him "don't worry, it's just soup.",then had blown the soup again and even swallowed a spoonful in her own mouth just to convince him that she meant no harm .
Eventually, he silently swallowed each spoon of soup she brought to his mouth without taking his eyes off her. She had been right when she said that the soup would help his wounds, just after taking few spoons, the pain had died down so much.
"You should do more of talking and less staring." She said with no intention of offending him.
Embarrassed, he immediately moved his eyes, away from her, to the floor.
"My apologies.", The soup was working wonders, his voice too had come out better. Only if it could help with my manners, he thought.
"Not that I was complaining.", She smiled slyly at him, afterwards the room was quiet as she fed the soup to him.
Even though he tried to stop staring at her, his sneaky eyes glanced at her face from time to time. Her innocent face was awfully different each time he stole a few glances at her. She looked different from every other face her had seen from time to time.
Her eyes held such calmness in them that even the gentle wind was envious of them, her pink lips, time after time, twitched up trying to give him a relaxing smile. Her night-dark hair stayed in place like a princess's hair, so silky and smooth. He never thought he'd see someone close to that kind of beauty...
When he had finished the soup, she gently placed the bowl down on the wooden table on the other side of the bed. She asked if she could check the wound in his side and he nodded in response. Her tiny finger raised the clothes that was covering him and timidly touched the wound. As she removed the bandage that was over the wound, he winced at her touch.
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have touched it roughly..." She babbled.
"It's alright. It doesn't hurt as much as it use to," he assured, "you are gentle enough." She bit her lower lip softly, he was being charming but a while ago he had his knickers in a little twist.
She continued to unwrap the bandage around his waist, he had his eyes closed while she did, squeezing his eyes tight each time the pain hit him, so she would not think she was too rough.
After she had finished unwrapping the bandage, she saw that the stitches were still intact, she let out a breath of relief.
She grabbed the cotton wool and another bowl with a paste in it from the drawer and said in a small voice "This is going to hurt a little..." And it did, more she said it would.
"A little?" He yelled after she was done applying the paste all over his injury.
"I'm sorry."
"You keep saying that.", He mumbled. "Haven't you got another word on your tongue?", He tilted his head at her in amusement. In a way, she amused him.
"It is utterly strange for me to be near another man apart from my brothers.", She admitted while she dropped the shirt over his wounds after she had wrapped a new bandage over it. He found that hard to believe, a lady like would have the entire village's young men after her but he said nothing.
She drew away from him, shyly brush her hair away from her face; even though there was barely a strand of hair there.
There was silence in the room afterwards; he kept looking at her as if she was the first woman he had ever laid eyes on and she was a lovely sight to see after closing his eyes for so long.
"I apologise for being so rude earlier...I was not thinking well..."
"It's alright, it doesn't matter. All that matters is that you're alive.", She smiled at him and her blue eyes shone brightly.
She barely knew him and she was so kind irrespective to how rude he was earlier. In that moment, he wanted to know more of her, her beside him alone was enough to ensure him that he was safe from all the evil that could be.
"We could start afresh, I'm Maria, what's your name?.", She grinned in excitement at him as she asked softly like a child.
He grinned toothy at her and for the first time in ten years, his olive eyes shone with life as he said his name proudly.
"I'm Axel."
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Thanks so much for reading.
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