The Tears

Amber threw her breast plate onto her cot in anger, anger that she felt towards no one in particular except herself. She had allowed herself to get wrapped up in the heat of the war and kissed Therion. Of all people, why Therion?

She had known for a long time now that the heat of war made her mind go blank and in the excitement her loins would quiver, but not once had she ever thought she would betray her own twin like that. To steal the lips of the man her sister, Sheryl was engaged to, just the thought made her sick.

"Why?" She shouted as she threw herself to the ground, beating the harden soil under her fist. "Why did I have to go and kiss him?"

Tears spilled over and splattered on the ground, her breath ragged as she pondered what to do now. Where does she go from here? How can she face Sheryl, her twin sister after she just stole something as precious as her man's lips?

As her mind raced as she tried to find an answer to these questions, a knock on the pole came. Amber sat up right and turned to look at the entrance of her tent. Therion stood there with the flaps pulled back, glaring at Amber.

"We need to talk." Therion said in a deep menacing voice that showed he meant business.

Wiping the tears away, Amber picked herself up off the ground and waved Therion in. "You won't go away if I tell you to anyway, so just come in and find a place to sit."

Amber moved her breast plate off to the side and sat on her bed, staring down at the ground, refusing to make eye contact with Therion. It was obvious to Amber that he had entered her tent but refused to go any further than the entrance.

"What you did out there," Therion said, his voice, usually calm and collected, now filled with anger and disgust, "was unacceptable. I am engaged to Sheryl and I will not allow you to endanger my relationship with her just because you cannot control yourself on the battlefield."

"I know." Amber said, her tone as sharp as a knife. "It was a mistake, one I do not plan to repeat. I will tell Sheryl and explain to her that it was my fault alone and that you had rejected me."

"…. Thank you." Therion said, his tone softening. It hadn't occurred to Amber before, but she now realized that out of the two of them, he was the one who was more worried about Sheryl finding out about the kiss. She smiled.

Amber smiled not because of the trouble she had caused Therion, but because he had shown her what she had always known. Therion was in love with Sheryl, even if he never had the guts to say as much, the fact that he would rebuke her and even thank her when she decided to confess to Sheryl was enough to show how he truly felt.

Amber's smile quickly faded, however, as she noticed the Julian Duchy knights approaching her tent. The knights all wore dark crimson armor, armor meant to match their master's hair color, and bore the Julian crest on their chest. It wasn't unusual for the Julian duchy army to be on the battlefield, Sheryl often sent them with the army to provide assistance where needed, but they never once visited Amber in her tent.

Amber stood up and pushed past Therion as she rushed out of her tent, stopping in front of the group. Before a single word could be spoken between her and the group, they all fell to their knees and bowed their heads in respect. Amber gaped for a moment, the knights of a duchy are never supposed to kneel in front of another unless they are royalty or their master.

"What is the meaning of this?" Amber asked, she tried to keep the panic out of her voice but couldn't stop it. Her hands shook violently and she could feel the tears begin to well up.

"I…." The man in the front of the group, whom Amber recognized as a commander of a small platoon. He went by Grall, an obviously fake name, and refused to be called anything else. "I am sorry, Duchess."

The words Grall spoke caused more harm than a blade could ever. Amber felt her world begin to toss and turn as she fell to her knees, her fingers digging into the soil.

"How?" Amber asked as she pushed past the tears and sorrow, she knew the question was pointless in this day and age. People could die of anything at any time as there were so few mages in the world, and even fewer who could heal.

Grall swallowed the lump in his throat as he tried to speak, he felt his own tears threatening to break free. He had loved Sheryl as one would love a sister and he mourned her passing but he had a duty to obey the next head of the Julian household, Amber Julian.

"She had…." Grall shook himself and cleared his throat so that he could speak more clearly. "She had ordered us to lead her to the battlefield so that she may join hands with you and her beloved. She despised being left behind to take care of the duchy and wanted to contribute to the war."

"Contribute to the war?" Amber asked, she strained to keep her voice down, to not kill this man who stood in front of her. "She had already contributed to the war enough by sending the duchy troops."

"Yes, I agree and-"

Amber leapt up and wrapped her hands around Grall's throat, squeezing as hard as she could. No one, not even Grall himself, moved to stop her. "If you agree then why didn't you stop her? Why didn't you keep her from traveling those dangerous roads? Why didn't you keep her in the mansion where she would have been safe!?" Amber screamed in Grall's face, her hands growing tighter as she poured mana through her arms, increasing the muscle growth.

"That's enough!" Therion shouted behind Amber, his voice trembled but carried the command of a man who had years of experience dealing with these situations. "Killing him won't do you any good, Amber."

Amber's grip loosened from Grall's throat, her sorrow almost too much. "What else happened?" Amber asked as her hands fell to her side.

Grall gasped for air, coughing from the lack of breath. Amber waited, allowing Grall to fill his lungs and recuperate enough to continue speaking.

"We…" Grall said between gasps, "managed to make it to the battlefield with little to no trouble, but the battle was about to start. Lady Sheryl had wished to join but… we didn't have time to find you Duchess Amber and Sir Therion. We pleaded and begged with Lady Sheryl to stay at the campsite, but she refused and when the first volley of arrows came ...."

"How did she die?" Amber asked, no longer fighting to hold back the tears and allowed them to flow freely. "I want to know every little detail of my sister's death."

"An arrow pierced her heart." Grall said with evident pain in his voice, as if the words he just spoke was an arrow that had pierced him.

"Where is she?" Amber asked through the tears, through the sorrow that now felt like a suffocating blanket. "I want to see Sheryl, now."

Grall turned away from Amber, not daring to look at her as he spoke his next words. "We couldn't retrieve her body. We tried and over half of our men and women fell to the enemy's weapons."

Amber was shocked by this news and felt every fiber of her being begin to vibrate with hatred towards this man. "You couldn't retrieve her body?" Amber shouted, her voice rising higher with every word. "The battle is over and the kingdom of Thermalk allows their enemy time to retrieve their dead and you still left her there."

It wasn't a question and Grall knew it, he had actually sent countless men and women to retrieve the body of their duchess but it had seemed that a magical barrier blocked their path. Grall himself had searched for hours to find a way around the barrier but could not find a path through.

"There was a… problem, Duchess Amber." Grall said, he had known better than to mention magic being involved in front of the troops. If they found out that magic, something that only one out a million can use, was involved, they would abandon this war in a heartbeat.

"What problem could have kept the duchy's greatest knights from retrieving their master's body from the battlefield?"

Grall didn't know how to tell Amber without causing a mass panic and desertion so he looked to Therion. Therion seemed just as upset about Sheryl as the rest of them, but he had always known how to keep his emotions in check and Grall was counting on that. Grall met Therion's eyes and it was as if they had communicated with just that for that was when Therion spoke up.

"Amber," Therion said, "he cannot tell you with the situation we are in right now."

Amber turned to Therion, ready to release her anger and sorrow upon him but realized that they had drawn a crowd. So this is why he cannot tell me. Amber thought, she was suddenly sure that whatever it was, it was probably sensitive information for her family.

Amber turned and faced her knights, her voice more sturn than she felt. "Leave. Return to camp and rest up, we will speak once more when you are well rested."

With that, the crimson knights returned to their tents and the crowd began to disperse. Amber turned to Therion and motioned for him to follow her into her tent.

The flap had barely closed behind them when Amber broke the silence. "What do you think it is?"

Therion shrugged, he had always been good at keeping his emotions in check, but he could feel the mask he always wears deteriorating by the moment. He did not want to show any weakness to those around him, especially the sister of his deceased lover. He needed to leave and he needed to do it now.

"I do not know," he said, his voice cracking in the middle, "but I intend to find out."

Without another word, Therion left the tent abruptly, leaving Amber in her tent, alone. As the flaps closed behind Therion, Amber, who didn't have time to protest nor felt like it, broke down crying. As her tears hit the ground, flames flared up and quickly flared out. Pain and sorrow enveloped her body as she was racked with tears.

Therion, immediately after leaving Amber's tent, rode his horse towards the battlefield. He didn't care if the troops of Thermalk captured him and tortured him, he had only one goal, to retrieve the body of the woman he loved and he would die doing so.

Halfway between the encampment and the battlefield, Therion's horse came to a stop. Therion tried to urge his horse forward but to no avail. This wasn't going to stop him, nothing was going to stop him.

Therion dismounted his horse and took six steps forward, on the seventh step, he ran into an invisible wall. Therion clutched at the wall desperately, trying to find anything that would let him through. Let him make his way to the woman he loves.

"Let me through!" He screamed at the brink of tears. He unsheathed his sword and tried cutting whatever stood in his way, it couldn't, shouldn't be able to withstand a blow from him. His sword, a gift given to him by Sheryl as an engagement gift, his most precious item, shattered into thousands of pieces. Distraught, Therion fell to his knees and let out a blood curdling wail as the tears began to fall.