Skylar watched from her cell as the door shook with each time someone was banging into it. Once, twice, 3 times…
Then it looked like someone unlocked it and the door swung open. The sun was behind the figure but he looked tall and strong, the figure stepped forward to reveal…
“Chris!” Skylar shouted when she recognized her brother. But he looked different. His hair, which was usually well kept and spiked at the top of his head was now plastered to his forehead with sweat. Chris walked over to her cell with a limp.
“Chris, thank Luna, are you alright?”
Chris gave her a smile, but what usually was big and made all the girls fawn over him was now somewhat fake and filled with pain. She noticed he grimaced with each step. Skylar looked at the trail of blood that had followed her brother into the prison.
“Chris, you’re bleeding. You have to get medical-”
“It’s alright,” he said, unlocking her cell door, making her immediately fall into his arms. She had been so worried Chris would hate her after she defended her friends but now he seemed to not even remember the incident.
“I can manage,” he said, patting her back gently.
“Ahem,” Skylar heard a voice say, Luke was looking at them with an eyebrow raised. “Excuse me, but could you break us out of here, too?”
“Right,” Chris began walking over and unlocking each of their cells. When Chris got to Richard’s, Richard looked down in shame. “I-I’m sorry about your father. I could’ve-”
“That’s in the past, now.” Although Chris’ voice was tight, it was sincere. “I was fueled by rage and grief that I did not think of the innocents. We should not live in the past or worry about the future, we should focus on the present. Which is why I’m breaking you out of here. Even though I’m the one that got you in.”
Richard smiled, then, and took Chris’ offered hand.
“What’s going on, Chris? What happened?” Skylar had heard the boom and felt the shaking, so something big had to be happening.
“We’ve been spotted. Dueglesteiners are invading us. If you truly are the chosen ones, you must leave now.”
Skylar was so filled with anger and rage. She had been afraid this would happen, and now it was. Skylar punched her left hand into the bars of her former cell. She shook her hand and grimaced in pain, then asked Chris with her usual fiery attitude, “Where’s my bo staff?”
…
They came out of the prison into an active battlefield. Skylar now had her bow and new arrows on her back, and her bo staff in her hands, ready for a fight. Luke got his sword back and Richard had picked up 2 small swords. Peter had a club, (he said he was afraid he’d cut himself with a blade) and Helen refused a traditional weapon, opting instead for a slingshot.
The person that truly surprised Skylar was Alice. Alice on many occasions had said she could not hold a weapon and would not kill a creature.
But when they broke into the armory, Skylar watched as Alice delicately picked up a small, intricate, dagger.
It was a beautiful weapon, by Skylar’s standards a small blade was such a versatile weapon that you could use for many things. Alice would wield it well.
When Alice caught Skylar looking at her, Alice said, “For self-defense. My father would allow that. I am not trying to hurt anyone, I am only trying to defend myself.”
Skylar smiled. She was glad Alice still wasn’t (technically) giving up her beliefs, but was no longer defenseless.
Chris had been right. The Dueglesteiners had caught the Secret Woods by surprise, ordering a full-fledged assault. They had come in from all sides, trying to box in the helpless villagers while the warriors of the Protectors tried their best to keep the soldiers at bay.
They were outnumbered, though, and as much as Skylar wanted to stay and help her people, she knew this was not a fight she could win.
She watched in horror as her friends, people she knew, ran away from the Dueglesteiners in terror. As Skylar scanned the scene, she recognized one person she was ready to take on.
Boromir.
He was standing in the center of a field, just finishing running through an older Protector, one of the cooks named Jerry. Skylar felt like her heart was ripped from her chest as she saw from a distance the life leave an old friend’s eyes.
Then the rage hit. The rage and hatred towards this one man. This one man whom she hated more than anything had just taken something from her. Again. Boromir walked calmly up to where a mother had tripped over a root, clutching her baby to her chest.
Next, the adrenaline hit. She had to save that mother and her child. She had to.
Skylar sprinted to the field, raising her bo staff right as Boromir’s sword was brought down and hit her bo staff. The bo staff did not break, and the jagged edges of Boromir’s sword caught on it. He tried to lift it away from the bo staff, but he could not.
That was when Skylar kicked him in the shin at the same time she twisted her bo staff, bringing Boromir’s sword out of his hands.
Boromir fell to the ground, knocking the wind out of him as Skylar stood over him, taking the sword off of her bo staff.
Boromir looked up at her for once with fear. “Please,” he begged, “Have mercy.”
Skylar looked down at his quivering form, the once strong enemy now laying at her feet, begging for his life. She wanted so badly to run him through with his own sword.
“You don’t deserve any mercy,” she spat, then raised his sword as he shouted “No!” and thrust it into the ground next to his head. “But I am not like you. I never will.”
As Boromir looked at her in surprise, she spun her bo staff and knocked him out, then calmly walked away.
Skylar found the others soon enough, finding them at the edge of the Secret Woods, where a hunting path led into the normal woods. Chris was standing with them.
“You must run,” he said, “Find Hilgaria. They will trust you and you will be safe there. Hilgaria is a peaceful country, the Dueglesteiners wouldn’t dare attack there. Now go!”
The others started to run off in the direction Chris had been telling them to go, but Skylar stood her ground. “Chris, come with us. We’ll do better if we stick together.”
Chris gave her a smile again, although she could tell he was very sad about letting her go. “Don’t worry about me, Skye. I’ll give these Dueglesteiners a show of what we Verlices do to enemies.” Skylar ignored the memories the nickname brought back, and instead noticed he still wasn’t putting weight on his foot, and he had a small cut on his cheek now.
“Chris…” she protested, but he put up a hand to stop her.
“Don’t worry about me. The thing you should worry about the most is not dying right now. You should lead your friends to a safe space. Keep ‘em safe, alright? And keep yourself safe, too.”
Skylar sighed, “Christian Matthew Verlice you’d better not die while I’m gone.”
Chris smiled at her using his full name. “Well, Skylar Wren Verlice, the same goes for you.”
Skylar gave him a stern look, pure concern running through her veins. “I’m serious, Chris, if you die…I don’t know what I’d do.” Skylar couldn’t bear to lose someone else. It would be too much and she’d be all alone.
Chris looked at her now, his smile becoming more sincere. “I won’t die, Skye.” He leaned forward and hugged her. “I promise, we’ll see each other again. And I won’t let you be alone. You’ll see.”
Skylar felt tears pricking at the corners of her eyes, She would’ve traded anything, even her soul to the devil, to keep her brother with her. But she knew, that now she would have to let go.
Chris broke off the hug and gave Skylar a light push. “Now go on, Skye, kick some Dueglestein butt.”
Skylar smiled a little at that, and when she turned to the woods she saw Luke waiting for her, a few feet away from the entrance to the woods. He gave her a reassuring smile, and she started to walk over to him.
When Skylar looked back, she saw Chris had already run off and started to fight some Dueglesteiners.
Luna, she hoped he’d be okay. She turned back to where Luke and the others were and didn’t turn back.
She was afraid of what she’d see…
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