皿 Outsmarted 皿

The bitterness within Cameron caused him to soliloquize as he strides his equine through the wilderness.

"I have been trained to my best, but he just would not let me show it, now I have to go home and sit there doing nothing." His angry rising words echoed over the silent rocky terrain, his horse whinnied and stopped. His eyes aimlessly discovered the scroll he tied to his loins.

"What important information could this be." Taking out the scroll, he halted the horse near a boulder. The hush surrounding made the young man concerned and vigilant while he unrolled the parchment. He stared at it and started reading, his face adjusted to a curious one as he found interest in what lies in the scroll. He browsed through some paragraphs and started thinking about it. He got up from where he lay on the ground. He walked a few meters away and looked at it again until it felt comfortable to take his eyes away from the writing. After looking a long time at it quietly basking in suspicion, he finally uttered,

"No way!" — he threw himself upon his steed, clutching its reins—"I have to get back to the troops."

Raising its fore legs as it neighed, the horse galloped off rushing.

"Lucius can't do this to me, not his family." He whispered to himself as he rode back to the camp, having the note fastened to his girdle.

He arrived at a distance away from the camp an hour later, having spent most of the ride on top of a hill. He heard constant outcries and rampaging vociferations coming from his destination. The screams and the dust stimulated fear and tension in him. He dismounted his horse and clung to a rock. With the curiosity bestowed on him, he peeked at the situation half a mile before him. The war has already begun, and he can't tell which side is winning.

***

"Your Majesty, we are losing to our enemy." A Ronan horseman yells as he swung his sword across an opponent.

"Our army has been completely routed!" Another cried with a voice filled with fear.

Aemon sat still on his horse, glaring at the warfare before his face.

"Initiate backup" he commanded. His right-hand man sitting on a black horse responded with a nod and left the scene. A short while later, fire ballistics emerged from the hill, driven down from the north by chargers fastened to it. Fifteen of them were approaching the battlefield, causing a panic in the feud.

"Retreat!!!" Aemon hollers, raising his sword. The Ronans returned to their king, following his order. They raced back with their shields raised high above their heads running toward his direction.

Lucius veered at the hills and in panic, he gaped at each canister coming his way. Like echoes to his ears, he heard his men panicking,

"Oh no! We've been outdone."

"What do we do your Majesty?"

The King remained silent processing the catastrophe that is about to fate them,

"Your Majesty, we need to retreat!!!!" Octavius yelled, jerking Lucius back to his senses.

"Fall back!!" He hollered out of confusion.

"You hear his Grace, fall back!!!" A shout from within the terrified army put everyone on their heels and steeds. They began to scamper for their lives.

Several creaking were heard and over them were fireballs descending. There was black all over, Lucius found himself on the ground upon a corpse with an arrow pierced through his thigh. The auburn groaned in pain, his body trembled, his heart pumping like a wild beast inside his chest while looking at what was quivering over him. And suddenly, he heard crashes and wailing in front of him.

The burning balls flying over him torched down on his men and their horses. He could only watch them, slowly burn to ashes.

He felt as if time had slowed down, and he was seeing everything in slow motion, he feels like the only one left among the dying and the dead. His eyes shut slowly as he drifts into unconsciousness.

He doesn't know how long passed until he finally opened his eyes and was able to move. Slowly getting up, groaning, he took a brief look at himself, but he didn't see anything wrong with himself except that a large red bruise covered his entire chest and arms. He notices a big cut that covers the whole right side of his abdomen, probably a wound caused by hot tars from the fireballs,

His mind was still reeling with disbelief at the situation and the wounds he received, but he tried to focus on more pressing issues to think about. He knew it was only temporary, and he needs to find somewhere to hide, he has to survive this battle. He got up shudderingly as he tries to stand firm.

His head jolts towards the voice he heard from behind shouting "That's their King!!" He couldn't tell if it was his men or his enemies'.

"Run." the shout came again, this time accompanied by another scream. It sounded closer than before but not in a good way.

He staggered clasping his abdomen as he attempts to escape, passing through a sea of dead, roasted bodies, which happens to be his men. He finds it futile to run as the pain won't let him, his pursuers are a few meters behind him. He raised his head looking at the dark clouds, he clenches his fist as tears escape his eyes. He went to his knees as he screamed the name of the gods, but the gods were silent.

***

Cameron had had enough to take in, watching the disaster like a horror film, he wished he were never here this, but now he's watching those Ronans take away his King. Going after them was useless, he knows he couldn't stop them, but it was a stupid idea to stay hidden. He wanted to join in the fight and kill each one of these bastards, yet he was frozen and unable to decide. He was going mad.

He was so consumed with his thoughts, that he didn't realize that the fighting had ceased. His gaze was fixed on the lifeless bodies on the field and the Ronans dragging Lucius away, he is about to take in the next shocking scene in his froze position.