Chapter 7

Flames rose up on the horizon. Red and orange painted huts and trees in the dark night. Screams battled with war cries from all sides. It felt both near and far as if fighting already spread to every corner of the camp.

Gunai looked around, seeing people fleeing away or running into the fighting. Brave souls charged straight into spears and swords. Blood sprayed everywhere as the ground started to turn into mud. The innocents that fled met a familiar fate. They were encircled by the Greeks. ‘I was too late…’

A few fleeing almost ran past her, but she stepped in front of them. “Inside! It’s safer than running about!” They tried to go past her only to see in the distance the flames and screams warning off their escape. Without further question, they went into her hut.

She looked around the camp trying to see anyone that she knew. The fires only helped a little in lighting anyone as the chaos made it difficult for anyone to be visible. ‘This is a disaster!’ Gunai started to move towards the closest voice she heard when a hand stopped her.

Behind her stood, Pan concerned and looking a little pale. “Where are you going?”

“Get anyone to the hut that you can! I’m going to try to save anyone I can!” The woman ran off without any further interruption as Pan stared on in confusion and worry.

The camp felt larger than she remembered. Even with proper food, her body pounded not used to the physical exertion. Her heart raced and lungs burned with the smoke and blood in the air. She’d cough if she could allow her that pause, but pushed through.

Gunai spun her head around side to side trying to find anyone still alive. The huts and tents got in the way of most of her sight. She ran down aisles trying to follow the voices. “Is anyone there?” Her voice disappeared into the cacophony of battle.

Running through rows, she eventually crashed into someone. A little dazed, she didn’t see who it was initially until she found her footing again. It was an older woman already covered in a little blood, though unclear if it was her’s.

She rushed over to the woman’s side trying to help her back to her feet. “Are you hurt?”

“N-no…someone…they…”

“I understand!” Gunai lifted her back to her feet and pointed off to the hut. “It’s safe that way. Someone will direct you. Go!”

“Thank you!”

The fighting rose with intensity to her right making her look towards the other direction. However, the longer she listened the more it dragged and pulled on her. In seconds, she found herself walking and then running towards the clashing. The smells of blood became thicker and death started to become a common sight. She kept her head up away from the horror so she could keep running.

“You bastards!”

Gunai looked in the direction of the voice. It sounded familiar. Anxiety gripped her heart squeezing tightly almost to make her cough in pain. ‘How many have died tonight already? Aniketos, we should have run… I should have convinced you!’ Regret followed her wake as she ran trying to keep her sandals out of the blood soaked mud. Her feet felt like hands grabbed at her ankles dragging her down. She fought to keep going.

“Aniketos!” She snapped around twisting her foot a little seeing some silhouettes. Her foot slipped out from under her, dropping her to the ground. “Aniketos?” Gunai pushed herself back up, getting her feet to drag her out of the softened dirt. Though each step forward just found more crimson pools filling out.

Metal clashed echoing around the tents and huts. ‘Someone’s fighting!’ Sparks and blood lit up in the distance to her destination. ‘Why am I running towards it?’ Shadowed figures danced around in conflict. ‘This is crazy!’ Some fell and others rushed in. ‘Why am I not scared?’ Each step pounded the clash deeper into her ears. ‘What’s wrong with me?’

Gunai broke through the last of the tents reaching the edge of the camp. Forest stretched out beyond, meant to provide them cover and protect. It seemed to have served another purpose as well.

In front of her, the battle raged on still with Aniketos still standing along with a handful of mens at his back. Opposite of them, the Greek army, though different than the others that attacked before. They had a heavy muscular build with spears and shields. Each looked like an army of themselves, clearly well trained and prepared for war.

The contrast against Aniketos army with frail, even if well fed men and women. They appeared well armed, but appearances ended there. None of them held their weapons with any confidence like the Greeks. A bunch of slaves against a professionally trained soldier, the results on the ground couldn’t even be seen as surprising.

Horrific.

Not everyone that laid in the dirt was Atlantean, much to her surprise. She also saw Aniketos looking a little out of breath. ‘What’s been happening? How come the Greeks are still alive?’

Charred earthen walls shot up alongside Aniketos blocking spear attacks, but they didn’t stop the attack fully. The spear cracked through parts or pierced entirely. He kept reforming his defenses each time a hole was created.

Aniketos stepped back as three men pressed their advantage against him. They ran their spears along the concave part of their shields keeping up their defense as they pressured the former slave. Each strike struck deeper. Aniketos groaned, getting caught by a little bit of the spearhead. “Dammit!”

‘Aniketos!’ Gunai looked around the field trying to see if there was anything she could do. The Greeks hadn’t noticed or perhaps bothered to focus on her. Aniketos kept their attention as the Blessed. But they seemed to have a different way of fighting. ‘He’s going to lose! I need to do something! But what? I’m not a warrior… I’d just die!’

She clenched her fists in her helplessness. Her eyes darted around still hoping for any sort of sign or inspiration to hit her. Nothing came to her until she saw the men holding back behind Aniketos. ‘Why am I going to do this?!’

Ignoring the Greeks for now, she went back behind the tents praying that they hadn’t noticed her. So far they remained uninterested and prayed it remained such. She lowered herself down to keep the tent hiding most of her. The fighting remained intense and smashing against her ears. Each thud of earth chipped away or grunt from Aniketos made her face twitch knowing the seconds ticked away.

The fight gave her assurance that he remained alive. She snuck around the last of the tents and made behind the few men cowering away from the fighting. Gunai checked on the Greeks once more. “Good, they're still not paying attention. Hey, you three…” She tried not to raise her voice much, but they didn’t hear her. Another attempt a bit louder did nothing. “Dumbasses!”

Two of them turned, feeling that prick of insult. The third got tapped to join them as they gathered around her with suddenly hopeful eyes. “You’re that woman! G-Gunai, right?”

“That’s not important right now, Aniketos…” They looked at her a little quiet and not fully listening. “Your command needs help.”

“But he’s got the Blessing.”

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“Yeah, he doesn’t need anyone!”

She closed her eyes, frustrated and not sure if it was ignorance or cowardice that fueled their words. “Does it look like he can use that right now? If you want to turn things around, you need to help.”

“But what can we do? They slaughtered everyone! The whole band was killed!”

“That’s right, we saw it!”

Her patience reached a tipping point and she grabbed the top of the leather armor of the man in the middle. Gunai pulled him down with surprising ease. “Now look, you’ve got two choices. Do nothing and die like your friends or help him and maybe not die.”

“Both end in dying!”

“Only maybe! Help him and he can turn the tide!” Gunai stared at the man with stubborn resolve. Even as he tried to pull away, she held tight. It actually shocked the three men, but also returned to them some courage.

They nodded with some confidence, weak as it was. Each turned and took a step towards the Greeks, but paused. Gunai narrowed her eyes in confusion as they looked to have lost their bravery once more. She waited a bit longer to see if they would find resolve once more. Instead, they turned back around and huddled up near her.

“How do we do that?”

“Yeah, they’ll see us coming!”

She slipped a little in the dirt knocked off balance by their question. “Can’t you think for yourselves?! Get around to their side, throw rocks or your weapons if you must!” Gunai threw her arm out pointing them for a direction to take.

Once more they nodded, though a bit more hesitant than before. It looked like the reality of going into battle hit them finally. But they kept moving regardless.

Aniketos kept in the fight, but still pinned down and focused on his defense. The spear attacks became more accurate and powerful. No matter what he did to strengthen his defense against them, they broke through. ‘I don’t get it! What are they doing to shatter my barriers? Nothing is working against them! My power is supposed to be invincible!’

Unnoticed by him, the remaining men did what Gunai ordered them to do. They reached their flanking position and blindly charged in without a thought to their stance. Before they could even reach Aniketos, several spears flew in from a back line taking them down with ease. Their bodies collapsed to the ground whispering Aniketos name as they died.

Distracted by the help and death, Aniketos lost his defense and a spear ran them through the heart. Blood sprayed from his blood and dripped out of his mouth. The defenses dropped as his stunned body was hit with three more spears. He remained standing in shock unmoving as one Greek soldier walked up and pulled out a sword.

With a swift arc, the soldier decapitated Aniketos. Another soldier caught the rolling head and speared it as Gunai saw them do before. His body collapsed with an echoing thud in her heart. She screamed through her hands in disbelief. The soldiers turned, alerted to her presence now. ‘Aniketos…is dead, no it can’t be! You can’t be dead! You can’t…’

The soldiers quickly marched over to her already ready to cut her down. Blood sprayed over Gunai suddenly even though she didn’t feel anything. She blinked through her hands trying to understand what happened. The soldier in front of her fell over with his head removed.

The men turned as they suddenly were mowed down in similar fashion. Dead soldiers laid before her making her scream louder and back away.

“There’s another one of the Cursed!” shouted an authoritative voice. The men turned, going back on alert. They slowly started to fan out putting up their shields once more.

A distortion ripped through the air and rang upon the shield doing almost nothing to it. Several more invisible strikes came from the forest keeping the soldiers on the defensive as they pressed forward. The night hid whomever it was that attacked them forcing them to poke with their spears checking for anyone trying to hide behind their power.

Gunai stood up confused by what happened. ‘Is there another Blessed beside Aniketos with us? Wouldn’t he have known?’ She flinched with each failed ping off the shield. Her curiosity drew her a little closer.

Suddenly, the wind picked up and battered against the Greeks. They hid behind their shields for protection, but the wind proved not to be the attack. Several deep bellowing groans ripped through the forest as dozens of trees began to lean over. Some of the soldiers backed away in time, but the rest were crushed or pinned under heavy trunks.

While the army attempted to regroup, Gunai hurried over to find whoever it was that managed to change the fortunes of the battle. However, like the Greeks, she saw no one. ‘Are they not here or invisible?’

She searched around the fallen trees with the momentarily peace granted. “Hello? Who’s out there?” Gunai turned around sensing something was off. A feeling in the back of her mind told her where to look. “Who–”

Suddenly, the moonlight cast over the stranger peeling away their veil of secrecy. A tall man with loose tan hair and thin build and all too familiar face. She gasped through her hands not believing what she saw. “Aniketos?! How? I saw you die!”

He looked around at his hands and body before getting her a reassuring smile. “It’s really me. Just a little miracle, I couldn’t leave my quest unfinished!” A spear appeared in his hands as the smile faded into a thin line of anger.

Gunai rushed over to him and grabbed his waist. “No! Please, just stop! So many have died tonight already!”

“And I can’t let them go free for those that they slaughtered!”

“Aniketos!” She stood in front of them grabbing the sides of his head to look at her rather than Greeks. “So many have already died! You were nearly killed and your usual tactics aren’t working! Please, retreat for now. Regroup with the survivors and you can fight again!”

He tried to look at this enemy, but she pulled him back down. It surprised him to see her looking so determined. It wasn’t the same Gunai he watched from a distance. ‘What’s changed?’

“Aniketos! While we still have a chance!”

Grinding his teeth together he tensed up as she forced him to decide. The pull of the enemy tugged at him while she anchored him down. Rooted in place, he no longer felt like he could disobey her. The spear disappeared and his body relaxed. “Fine, we’ll retreat. I’ll signal to everyone the escape.”

She smiled back to finally reach him through all of his rage. “Thank you!”

“Don’t thank me just yet. We got to escape without them giving us trouble!” He grabbed her hand and turned away from the battlefield with a black veil falling over them as the moonlight disappeared from their forms.

The Greeks had scouts through the forest and surrounding plains, but Aniketos kept them out of sight. She held close to him as they ran ignoring any of their body’s protest to the pain. Guiding down to the south, he arrived to a mass of survivors. They all rushed up to Aniketos as he revealed himself to them.

“You’re alive!”

“People were saying you died!”

“Greek lies!”

Aniketos lifted a hand up to calm their voices. “The Mother has seen fit to stay death’s hand! While they surprised us tonight, that won’t last. We will outsmart them! But…” Cheers for their saved Commander drowned him out briefly. “But we must retreat to safety for now and regroup. I will make a new plan that will see our brothers and sisters free yet!”

Gunai looked over at him, a little surprised at his choice of words. ‘Mother?’ He gave a little knowing wink and motioned for her to move forward. She nodded understanding then.

Their escape from the slaughter went with little resistance. After leaving camp, the Greeks had no further net of troops to catch them. It appeared that they expected to end everything then. However, the escape only delayed the battle and turned it into a hunt.

Resting in a distant cave, Aniketos put up a fake wall over the entrance that would keep any scouts confused. He sat down with the survivors as they tried to recount the events of the night.

Such things Gunai left to them. She started to walk away as someone stepped out from the shadows. A tall and thin woman with long black hair stood before her with deep cold eyes. It took her back a step as the fire caught edges of her face. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to get in your way.”

“On the contrary, I meant to.”

“Huh?”

“The bloodshed was an unmitigated disaster.”

Gunai paused hearing such blunt commentary, especially as she still could smell the blood and death that littered the field. She slowly nodded trying to understand what the woman wanted. “It was a surprise attack, I guess.”

“Yes, it would appear the Greeks’ commander knows how to deal with his kind.”

“Kind?” She looked back towards the gathering, seeing Aniketos. The whole battle remained a mystery to her. Yet what she could witness did sound accurate to what the stranger stated. “Yeah, Aniketos was struggling.”

“You’re going to need someone with more brains to survive the next battle.”

“Me, now wait a minute, I’m not. Who even are you?!”

“Medeia and I offer you my services for whatever it is you wish to accomplish.”