Betrayal of the Heart

Chapter 11 Lets Play A Game

The hot desert sun beat down on Amelia's fair skin, she used her hand to shield the sun from her eyes. Spitting two steps of footprints splitting ways she examined them both. One set of foot prints went east, the indents were light and the shoe small and miss shaped. The second set of footprints were deeper meaning the person was wearing something heavy like armor and the foot print was well define, most likely a boot of some kind.
"West it is" Amelia said to herself as she followed the footprints.

Through the rough desert she finally saw salvation in the distance, in the form of a small oasis. A pond lay in the middle, trees scatter around it and a sleeping body with a leaf over their eyes under one of the trees. Amelia smiled as she stalked closer to him, being as silent as she could. Standing over the sleeping body she crouched and inspected his armor. 'There you are' Amelia thought as she reached out and lightly traced her finger over the panther on his armor. Anger bubbled from the pit of her core as she finally found the man that killed Marcella. 'I could just kill him right now' she thought as her fingers danced around the dagger on her side. She gripped the dagger tightly, as she did the collar around her neck started getting tighter and tighter. It was a reminder that she was here on a mission and she couldn't get distracted. Releasing the hilt of her dagger made the collar loosen up instantly. She perched on top of a small hill that overlooked him as she also checked her surroundings from the high vantage point. In the distance she saw a small village the sat beside a cliffs edge. The cliff looked like it had a steep drop, 'would be a shame if someone fell from it.
"Well, Well, Well! Look what we got here boys" the voice snapped Amelia out of her thoughts. Turning around she faced three men with their weapons drawn, a sick and twisted smile on each of them.
"Not everyday we find such a pretty woman out here in the middle of no where" one man said to the other. A smile grew on Amelia's face.
"And look at how well she takes compliments, this is going to be fun" one of the men said walking towards her. As soon as he got close enough Amelia quickly punched him in the throat. The man dropped to the ground clutching his next as he gasped for breathe. In the blink if an eye she had the other two men in the air, her hands holding them up by their throats.
"You are lucky I have a better use for you men then murdering you were you stand" Amelia said with a sick and twisted smile.

Arne woke up to the smell of smoke in the air and screaming on the wind. Jolting up he looked around until he saw the black smoke billowing from the other side of the hill.
"Shit!" He mumbled to himself as he took off running. As soon as he hat reached the top of the hill he could see a small village being burnt to the ground and everyone gathering at the edge of the cliff. Without thinking he charged in, using the clothe from the shirt under his armor to cover his face. When Arne reached the end he saw three men shoving people into cages, locking them and pushing the cages off the cliff. Both cages where tied to a rope that the ring leader was standing beside, waiting.
"Looks like the hero is finally here. Do you want to play a game hero?" The ring leader asks smirking at him.
"What are you doing?" Arne asks each step bringing him closer to the man. When Arne was a feet away the ring leader grabbed his sword and cut the rope. Diving as quickly as he could, Arne managed to grab both the ropes and stop the cages from falling.
"You're not going to be able to save them all" the ring leader whispered in Arne's ear, "which one will you pick to save? The children? Or their parents?" Arne stood there struggling to keep hold of both ropes. He knew if he tried to save both he would kill them all, he didn't have the strength to pull both of them up.
"Tik tok hero" the ring leader laughed. From the other side of the clearing a man dragged Amelia in, a knife pointed to her neck.
"I found this one trying to put out the fire, what should we do with her?" He asked as Amelia 'struggled' in his grasps.
"Kill her" The ringleader said, waving his hand as if he didn't care. Arne looked back to see the girl, dagger raised in the air ready to be stabbed. In that split second of lost focus both ropes slipped from his grasps and both cages lowered slightly before Arne regained his grip. 'I have to pick one and now' he thought as he let go of one of the cages. It plummeted iff the cliff and crashed into the ground, killing everyone inside. The second cage was brought up to safety.

'Hmm interesting choice' Amelia thought as she elbowed the man who was holding her in the gut and easily escaped his grasps before grabbing the sword on her hip and stabbing him. Her eyes were locked with the blood oozing out of his wound. 'Control yourself' she thought as she tore her eyes away from it to look at Arne opening the cage door and releasing all the children. As soon as they were free they took of running and Arne pulled his sword, killing the ring leader. Arne looked over in her direction and smiled, "you have the skill to be a great adventurer".
"That is the point, I am one in training. Hoping to travel and learn all I can" Amelia said curtly bowing to him.
"Well it is a pleasure to meet you, I am Arne" he said bowing his head to her.
"May I ask you a question?" Amelia asked curious.
"Of course"
"Why did you choose to save the children instead of the parents?" Arne stood there thinking for a moment, in truth it was just a gut feeling.
"Children will grow up and lead amazing lives, it seemed like the right thing to do. Now they can run off to find their other families and live exceptional lives" Arne smiling, proud of his heroic act. This was definitely something he would right about to father.
"You must be knew here" Amelia said shaking her head.
"What do you mean?"
"Well in villages like these the family all live together. Judging from the direction they were running the sun will kill them before they get to any sort of village or settlement where they may find help. They have better odds of running into cannibals who will eat them or being kidnapped and sold into slavery where they will be beaten daily or murdered. With their families dead they have no way to survive or look out for themselves. If you saved the adults who are already skilled at surviving these harsh lands they could have had more children" Amelia said with a shrug of her shoulders leaving Arne to stare at her with his jaw hanging open from shock. She was right, he had made the wrong choice. Arne's heart twisted in his chest at the thought of what he just did. 'I failed again' he thought dropping to his knees.
"I.. I tried to do good" Arne said in a sullen voice, he thought he was doing good.
"Well mister hero, thank you for this teaching experience but I must be off" Amelia said turning to leave.
"Wait!" Arne called out to her. Amelia slowly turned on her heel and looked at him confused, "yes?"
"Let's travel together, two brains are better then one. You are extremely smart and we both seem to be on the same quest. What do you say?" Arne asks. Amelia had to stop herself from smiling, this was better then she expected! It would be easier to mess with him and torture him if she were travelling together with him.
"That sounds like an amazing opportunity!"