A Commander's Reign [BOOK 2]

Chapter 10: The Battle For Polis Part 1

The sun was now bearing its hot reign upon my head as the clouds cleared to reveal a brilliant blue sky. My green emeralds watched the water drops fall from the green leaves as it grew too strong for the fragile body to bear. I found myself observing this natural force of nature after every rain shower upon Polis, it reminded me to stay strong no matter the occurrence. That I must never let the water fall while I still have a beating heart, it shall only fall when I fall. Then it was the responsibility of my successor to create their own leaf and never let the water fall until their reign found its end.

Ivory and Oliver joined my company on my patrol around Polis. A few days had now passed since the battle at the gorge and now Polis was on high alert which meant guards everywhere and more fortifications. It had been quiet for these few days but that usually meant that our enemies were preparing, preparing for an attack on Polis for if you take the main city you will certainly have a better chance of taking the twelve clans. That's why our bodies were armed to the teeth with weapons, everyone around us had even the citizens of Polis old and young. Oliver was now fashioning an axe that he had grown quite good at wielding for such a short amount of training and I found myself quite impressed.

"What about the North wall has it been repaired?" I asked my second who was in charge of fortifications.

The maiden gave a sharp nod, "yes Commander, the builders were up all night repairing the damage."

"Good, there have been reports of Rebel sightings near Polis. Stay alert my friends, there may be an attack at any moment," I cautioned them as my eyes scanned the surrounding area for any suspicious activity.

As we passed into another street littered with stalls Oliver was the next to carry the conversation, "And what of your Natblidas Heda?"

I rested my hand on the hilt of my sword, "They are escorted to training and lessons by two guards and are confined to their guarded dormitory in their free time as walking around Polis is too dangerous at this time." My heart felt sorry for the young Nightbloods as it was insanely boring being confined to their shared chamber. I replayed the memories of myself and my class stuck in that room when Polis was on high alert in the past. I remembered Astrid's irritating voice complaining about how she would handle herself fine out there and how she would kill every last one of them while Atlas would shake his head at her comments before diving his eyes back into his books. My how I missed my fallen brothers and sisters. "And your sister has been allowed to stay with them as that is the safest place for her."

The blonde fashioned a grateful smile, "thank you Heda, she has faired much better around people her own age, she did not acquire such luxuries back on the Ark."

"Yes, she has especially grown close to Everest and has started to take on her wild personality." I conjured a small chuckle.

"I believe she was part of the water bucket prank on Titus, my they learn from the best, don't they," Ivory jabbed me playfully as we grew nostalgic from our prank-filled past.

The three of us released small laughs until I noticed something abnormal amongst the surroundings. My body grew rigid and my eyes and ears concentrated like a Deer would listen out for a lurking Wolf. My companions clocked on to my behaviour and their hands instinctively reached for their weapons. "What is it Y/N?" Ivory shifted her weight on her feet ready to move at any point.

"Do you hear that?" I asked as my ears were filled with a deafening silence. The birds had ceased their graceful songs and the Crickets had grown silent in the basking sun. "It's too quiet."

The two warriors stifled their breathing as they too realised how quiet it was. Then the silence was ruptured by the all too familiar strain of a bow string ready to fire and the source originated from the trees, "EVERYONE GET DOWN!!!" I boomed and just as the words escaped my mouth, an ambush of arrows rained down upon us like rain. My body landed hard onto the ground, specs of dirt discolouring my pale face. The sound of arrows piercing into the stalls grew sickening to the ear and my eyes scanned the area to get an idea of what was unfolding. A large number of archers were stationed in the trees meaning that they somehow managed to get past the tree guards and a distant banging was coming from the main gates. They were trying to get in. I shot my head round to one of my royal guards, "Make sure the Nightbloods are safely locked up in their dormitory with guards stationed outside!" My order carried over the whistle of arrows and he was soon running towards the tower with a shield to protect him.

"Heda! What are your orders?" Ivory shouted out.

My battle strategy that I had carefully planned started to puzzle together, "We wait until the archers run out of arrows. They're using them carelessly, they'll run out soon.....then the first squad of warriors will head over the wall and attack the Rebels trying to break in from the sides. Then we open the gate, let them in because it will give us the advantage." My orders met all ears.

"Yes Heda!" Many voices shouted in unison.

It didn't take long for the rain of arrows to stop and the distant banging of the gate grew louder. The citizens of Polis took cover behind the stalls that just hours before they were selling their goods off and held their weapons tight. "Send the first squadron over!" The group of warriors jogged over to the ladders and with quiet feet they climbed over and advanced towards the Rebels trying to break in through the gates. While they focused on the Rebels outside, myself, my friends and the rest of my army concentrated our aim on the trees putting down any Rebels that failed to keep the cover of the leaves. "Ivory are the traps ready?" I yelled to my second as another one of my arrows hit a Rebel.

"Yes Heda! They will release on your command!" She answered while she too riddled the tree dwellers with arrows.

"Good, we wait until they come through the gates. Now," I turned to face one of the guards on the wall, "Report on the first squadron?"

"It's working, they are about to break through the gates Heda!" He told the story of what his eyes saw.

I bit my bottom lip in anticipation, "Okay." I breathed out, "On my command!" Ivory grasped the rope that would set off the traps as soon as the Rebels advanced through the gates. The banging of the gates grew louder and louder until the hinges screamed a sickening screech as they gave way. A large group of Rebels advanced forward while my warriors hung back as they knew what was coming. My strong posture concealed my racing heart and I unsheathed my swords, "Release!" I commanded and right on cue, numbers of flaming sacs filled with toxic tree sap launched and landed in the Rebels path and within seconds, a thick green mist engulfed them choking them to death.

To be continued.....

Hey guys, hope you're well!
So this little section of the book will be in two parts as I think it will flow better and the next part is gonna build up for an action-packed final part of the story! Thank you for reading❤️

Also the Euro final
Proud of the England team they did so well to get to the finals 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿
Just disappointed with the small number of fans who were not decent human beings
Congratulations to Italy 🇮🇹🇮🇹🇮🇹