‘Tell me, my God, why are we staying put for this long?’

Elethien sat in her tent in prayer, the morning light once again arriving over the Forester camp. Outside, Teion was already waiting for her orders while food was being distributed to each Forester.

Adva had also arrived, carrying Elethien’s rations along with her own. The small child had become a helper for Elethien the past two days, doing various chores from carrying light items to cleaning the tent. In return, as promised, Elethien had divided a small portion of her rations for Adva and her aunt. Although it was originally a rather emotionally-motivated decision, in hindsight it had greatly improved the atmosphere of Elethien’s daily life. Instead of staring at the quiet Amovishel every day, she now had an energetic child to liven up her spirits. Just two days of relative rest was already enough to brighten up her mood.

Without any fighting, most of the Foresters had recovered from their minor wounds. However, once again she could feel their restlessness. Despite the failures and the mounting casualties, the army’s morale hadn’t dropped a single bit, the warriors still eager to return to battle. For nearly all of them, this was the first time they were properly fighting for themselves, after all.

The time has come. Take up your whole army and fight. The enemy is upon you.

Fate had finally spoken.

‘My God, what do you mean?’

The forests will be your fortress. Do not enter the city.

‘Wasn’t Maerila the target this entire time?’

Is that not your personal selfish ambition, my dear child?

‘But wasn’t it—’ The memories came back to her mind. While Fate was silent, it was she who hastily ordered the attack on the city in the first place. To take the city was to have a foothold, but what if Fate had only intended for her to loot the surrounding areas before heading to the next destination?

Go, my dear child. The enemy is upon you.

Elethien felt the presence of Fate fade away, her eyes returning to their usual emerald green colour.

‘You two can come in now,’ she called out. As expected, Teion and Adva entered, the former already in his combat equipment, the latter munching on a cracker as she handed Elethien a pouch of food.

‘What are our orders for today?’ Teion asked. ‘As breakfast is nearly finished, most of us are all ready for an attack… if we are doing that, that is.’

‘Prepare for battle, but not for an attack,’ Elethien commanded. ‘Tell everyone to pack up their belongings, especially the noncombatants. We’re retreating to the forests.’

‘What…? Aren’t we supposed to be attacking Maerila?’

‘... We are not.’

‘Wasn’t this our goal this entire time?’

‘Fate has prepared something grander,’ Elethien said.

‘And what is that exactly?’ Teion was clearly becoming impatient. ‘We’ve rested for the past two days, waiting to attack and slaughter our opponents at your command, but you’re saying Maerila wasn’t even supposed to be our goal?’

‘You’ll see.’

‘Elethien, forgive me if I’m wrong, but you’ve been acting a bit weird recently after your injury,’ Teion argued. ‘Instead of leading the charge, you had been sitting back and allowing our enemies to rest and survive for another day. Didn’t you say to “kill them all” when we attacked Norerila? I followed that conviction as well as I could, killing any and every Trelvenese I saw for the kingdom. Where’s your passion for the Kingdom of Foresters now? Elethien, I followed you because of your boldness and strength in the face of impossible odds. You’ve protected many of us so far, but you’re now letting our sacrifices go in vain. Tell me, Elethien, what should we do now if you and your God seem to always change your mind?’

‘Teion, be patient,’ Elethien stressed. ‘Our people are more important than the deaths of our enemies. I’ve been too arrogant before, causing unnecessary deaths with our blind charges at the city. We’ve seen so many of our companions die that we have become numb to the feeling of death. It still hurts, Teion. A Forester’s life is more important than a Trelvenese’s death.’

‘Then what about all those who have already sacrificed themselves for the kingdom?’

‘Follow me, and I will lead us to victory,’ Elethien answered. ‘Our companions’ sacrifices will not be in vain.’

‘You’re changing too fast, Elethien—’

She glared at Teion, her eyes piercing into his soul. ‘Disobey me, and you are disobeying Fate, the almighty God of this world.’

A messenger rushed into the tent. Elethien recognised her as one of the guards posted near her camp.

‘E-Elethien!’ she reported. ‘The guards noticed the enemy marching towards us. They’re still organising themselves, but soon, they’ll be within charging distance to our camp!’

My God… They are upon us.

‘How many have they sent?’ Teion questioned nervously.

‘I… don’t know,’ the guard answered. ‘But there’s so many of them. I think… they number over ten thousand, maybe even twenty thousand.’

‘That’s the Trelvenese army for you,’ Amovishel, silent all this time, finally spoke. ‘If there’s anything I can say, it’s that they’ve likely sent out the entire force.’

‘Twenty thousand…’ Teion muttered in fear. ‘That’s how many they had. I didn’t even think it was that many when we first fought them outside the city. And we have… a few thousand. At best. They could’ve easily crushed us after the first day of battle if they counterattacked.’

‘So you finally realised,’ Amovishel sighed.

‘Shut up—’

‘Teion, quickly organise the vanguard to battle positions,’ Elethien ordered, stopping Teion just before he raised his hand to slap Amovishel. ‘As I said before, we’re retreating to the forests.’

‘Elethien, did Fate tell you something—’

‘Go.’ Elethien grabbed Adva by the wrist and Amovishel by his ropes. ‘The blessing of Fate be with us all.’

She marched outside and stood in an open area, her voice able to be projected to as many Foresters as possible. Fate had given her too little time to prepare.

‘Everyone!’ she shouted. ‘Pack up your things and retreat to the forests! The enemy has begun marching towards us, and we have little time to prepare before our inevitable clash!’

The author's content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

‘Wait, what?’ A commotion sprang up amongst the Foresters. In only a few moments, the jovial mood they shared earlier turned to confusion, and then rapidly, grit. Each hurried back to their tents, the warriors quickly arming themselves as the noncombatants wrapped up their belongings. One moment ago, they were still finishing up the last bits of their food while they chatted to each other. The next, an air of tension had descended among the camp, the Foresters quickly entering combat mode. It was almost shocking how calm they were compared to Elethien’s expectations. There was anxiety and patches of fear, but those were forcefully suppressed with a determination to fight.

These were her people, a race raised in war and used to war.

‘Protect the noncombatants! In turn, I will protect you! Fate will once again deliver us from this struggle!’

She turned towards Amovishel and Adva. ‘Adva, lead him to your aunt. Do not untie him. Go to the forest. See you in a bit.’

‘See you…?’ There was worry in her eyes, but obediently, she tugged at Amovishel’s hair, leading the man towards the back.

‘Elethien,’ Amovishel said as he turned his head around. ‘Believe me when I say this: your rebellion is not prepared. The moment you fall in battle, this is all over.’

‘Then I will not fall,’ Elethien replied.

‘Use me as a bargaining chip if you need to.’

‘Leave,’ she snapped. ‘I don’t need your pity.’

As long as she followed Fate’s instruction, she believed another miracle would arrive. After all, they had ransacked Norerila with only a hundred and recruited thousands outside Maerila, both with the blessings from Fate.

Even if they were heavily outnumbered, there must’ve been a reason for Fate giving specific instructions to her only on this specific day.

She fully trusted in her God.

It wasn’t long before the Forester vanguard lined up in front of the camp. Some of the noncombatants were already leaving on their wagons, escorted by a few dozen warriors as they slowly trudged in the direction of the forests. Elethien sat on horseback at the very front, allowing her a minor vantage point to overlook the land. The enemy had finished their preparations at this point and began advancing across the plains, marching at a constant pace without any break of formation.

Compared to the chaos Elethien experienced on the first day of battle, they were far more disciplined than she expected. There was also a surprising lack of cavalry, save for a single figure in the distance, likely the commander of the entire enemy army.

Even from her distance, Elethien could see the commander was dressed in full plate armour with a single banner tied to his steed. A wealthy and powerful man, at the very least.

They were within range now. Elethien dismounted, allowing her horse to run free into the distance. It had burned too much supplies to be useful at this point. The Foresters prepared themselves, ready to charge at her command.

The enemy commander raised his sword. Elethien spread her wings, expecting a wave of arrows and projectiles. Teion raised his axe to his shoulders, his muscles tensing up for battle.

Instead, the commander released a fireball from his blade, shooting it to the sky. As it reached the peak of its arch, it split into a multitude smaller fireballs, showering the Foresters in a rain of flames.

Magic.

Elethien turned around, her wings like a shroud protecting the Foresters as the flames fell on the feathers. Those that landed were quickly smothered, but those that hit the ground immediately lit the grass on fire. Smoke billowed all around the Forester lines, obscuring their sight.

Elethien felt the ground shake. Twenty thousand pairs of feet stomped in near unison, approaching closer and closer, their hazy silhouettes appearing behind the smoke. Turning back towards the enemy, the heat blasted towards Elethien’s face, stunning her for a moment as more fireballs were sent into the sky, this time sailing over their heads… towards the rear of the Forester camp.

She heard screams. As she looked back, a wall of smoke appeared between the retreating Foresters and the nearest woods. Following the wind, the smoke began blowing back towards them, the heat quickly spreading as more of the ground lit up in flames.

Without the enemy even surrounding them, they were already trapped.

‘Brace for impact!’ Teion shouted. There was no time or space to even charge now. Before Elethien could react, the enemy had already run straight through the fire and into the Forester formation.

Under the heavy smoke, Elethien began slashing at every incoming enemy soldier while her wings flapped rapidly in an attempt to blow out the flames or at least direct the smoke back towards the Trelvenese. In the confusion, the enemy archers finally fired their arrows, piercing through the hazy smoke and into Forester bodies.

‘Retreat into the forest!’ Elethien shouted. ‘Go through the fire if you have to!’

‘We need to buy time for everyone!’ Teion roared. ‘We can’t just fall back now!’

A spear struck towards her. She quickly parried with her sword, the blade sliding forwards until it found the enemy soldier’s hand, slicing cleanly through it as she narrowly dodged the speartip. Another spear appeared from her left. She quickly brought a wing inwards, colliding with the enemy soldier and sending him towards the spear of another. In the heavy smoke, she could barely see much other than the few Foresters fighting beside her. Even breathing was becoming laborious, the smoke choking her as it entered her lungs.

‘My God, is this what you want?’ she screamed, smoke sputtering out from her mouth.

She saw the silhouette of a person on horseback. She pointed her sword at the figure, and in a moment, an energy beam shot out from the tip, splitting the smokescreen wide open. It whizzed past the armoured figure, the beam barely missing his helmet as it singed off the tip of his colourful plume.

There was no doubt. The man was the commander.

The man pointed his sword at her. A great fireball quickly shot towards her. Her wings quickly blocked the shot, but bits of fire shot out in all directions, hitting both a Trelvenese and a Forester.

Immediately, both ignited into flames. Screaming, wailing, they ran blindly until each fell to the weapon of the other.

A Trelvenese life taken at the cost of a Forester’s.

Elethien shot a beam at the man again. At the same time, the man released another fireball from his hand. The two clashed.

An explosion. Both were blown back by the shockwave, but not enough to make either of them fall to the ground. Gasping, Elethien fired another energy beam before the man could charge up another fireball.

My God, if this is your plan, save us now.

The man parried. His sword snapped as he deflected the beam, nearly falling off his horse from the force.

‘Commander-General!’ Elethien heard a soldier shout out. As if shaken from that blast, the man began galloping away on his horse, throwing his sword on the ground.

He was fleeing.

The fire and smoke was still there, but the enemy’s will to fight had suddenly depleted. Seeing their commander flee, they too began to run, sprinting back in the direction of the city.

The Foresters stood bewildered at the sudden change of events. ‘They’re… running from us?’

The vanguard numbered a thousand people at most. Under the thick smoke, they were in disarray from the moment the enemy crashed into them. They were collapsing. The other Foresters could barely even reinforce them as they fought to extinguish the fires. It was a mess, a recipe for disaster. Elethien could barely see any of them. Teion was fighting somewhere, but his loud voice had been drowned out in the chaos.

This was nothing short of a miracle.

‘RAAAA!’ the Foresters shouted in jubilation. They had just beaten back an army in the tens of thousands.

And once they tasted the fruits of victory, they would not be satisfied with merely a bite.

‘Chase them down!’

‘Kill them all!’

‘Avenge our fallen companions!’

‘No, stop—’ Elethien called out.

‘Long live the Kingdom of Foresters!’ Teion’s voice roared above all as he cut down a straggling Trelvenese soldier. ‘Elethien has delivered another miracle to us! Do not let a single Trelvenese get away!’

‘RETREAT!’ Elethien screamed, but in their madness, no Forester heeded her call.

Teion had lost his mind. And Elethien had lost control of her own army.

Do not enter the city.

Fate’s instructions echoed clearly inside Elethien’s mind. This miracle was enough to grant the Foresters a huge morale boost. Now that Elethien looked around her, there were around the same number of Trelvenese and Foresters lying lifeless on the ground. The enemy had all the momentum, the numbers, and no reason to retreat.

Sure, she had shocked the enemy commander into running away, but it wasn’t that he couldn’t fight back. She had seen a fireball be released from his hand. He was a mage, and a very powerful one at that, being able to fight her and leave practically unscathed. The way he used his magic was also horrifyingly cunning, trapping them from behind instead of hitting them directly as the Foresters always did with their energy blasts. The use of wind and smoke nearly suffocated Elethien, Teion and the entire vanguard. No Forester would’ve ever thought about that.

The man would not simply run away at the first sign of danger, jeopardising the entire battle in the process.

They’d have the terrain advantage if they fell back to the forest. Instead, they were chasing the enemy into the city, a place which none of them had ever successfully stepped foot into. All of this went against Fate’s instructions… and Elethien could do nothing to hold them back.

‘Forgive me, my God.’ Gritting her teeth, she joined in the charge, firing energy beams from her sword as she took down the fleeing soldiers one by one.

She must protect her people, after all. Even if they were foolishing running straight into their demise.