The War for Gurbadin

Chapter 2: A pleasant, or not, surprise

(Karamaki's POV)

Karamaki clutched her daggers, trembling like a leaf. She felt the drums booming in her chest. It was all too much. A slow black tear trailed down her cheek.

Suddenly, she felt a comforting hand on her shoulder. She swirled her head around, still holding the daggers in her hands. She almost sliced her old friend, Lysandra.

"Careful!" Lysandra cried in alarm, backing up very quickly. "You wouldn't want to hurt an old friend now would you?"

Karamaki gave her an apologetic look. "Sorry Lysandra. You took me by surprise."

Lysandra had a sword strapped to her hip. Karamaki knew that Lysandra was a bit older and had decided to go train as a protector of her clan. Lysandra was part of the Larvalin tribe. Therefore even though they were part of different tribes they had been great friends, through the alliance their tribe leaders had set up.

"It's good to see you alive and well, even if it is under unwanted circumstances," Karamaki said, giving Lysandra a proper greeting. She tried her best to not seem scared of what was to come in the not too distant future.

"It's good to see you as well my friend," Lysandra replied. Then as if having picked up on what Karamaki was feeling she said, "It is perfectly normal to feel afraid when going to war. Just don't let it take hold of every thought you think."

Karamaki nodded solemnly. She knew that she shouldn't feel bad for the giants, and really she didn't. However she was worried about the folk who would be killed in the war, or the families who could lose someone due to the war.

Lysandra bid Karamaki farewell, leaving to her own group of more trained warriors. Karamaki was left alone to train. She had a hunch that Lysandra could have been punished if the Commander had seen her come to wish Karamaki good luck, however Karamaki also knew that the commanders and lieutenants were under a lot of pressure and couldn't afford to lose any numbers.

Karamaki took a deep breath and buried any unnecessary and worrying thought away. She knew that war was either kill or be killed, so it was best if she threw away any feelings that weren't needed with the current situation. Karamaki then focused all her energy on training. Her father had shown her and her brother how to throw daggers and knives before he had passed, that was the main reason Karamaki had chosen daggers rather than a sword or another longer distant weapon.

Karamaki put the extra daggers into pouches or sheaths, only holding one. She held the dagger by the blade, being careful not to accidentally cut herself. She held the knife back and threw it, trying to hit the bullseye on the dummy. The knife flew through the air, doing a half spin in the process. If you listened very closely you could faintly hear the dagger whizzing through the air, and then the thud when it hit a bit off of where the bullseye was. A couple heads turned to look at the dummy, then at Karamaki. Lysandra was one of the people whose heads had turned. She looked impressed, she knew that Garvan and Karamaki's father had been a protector of their tribe and that he had trained them even just a little bit. However Lysandra had not expected Karamaki to be that good. The Lieutenants yelled at everyone to get back to training.

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(Lysandra's  POV)

Lysandra was impressed to say the least. She had been training in sword fighting. However when she heard the thump of something hitting the bullseye, Lysandra had looked at where the noise had come from. She saw the dummy with a dagger through the bullseye. She looked at who had thrown it only to see Karamaki standing there. Karamaki seemed proud, considering she had remembered what her father had taught her.

Lysandra's opponent hit Lysandra's chestplate, signifying that Lysandra had lost. Lysandra shook herself from her trance and faced her opponent again. Syas, her opponent, looked at her disapprovingly.

"Sorry," Lysandra apologized. She would have to talk to Karamaki later.

"It's alright. Can we continue training?" Syas asked. Lysandra nodded. Syas had gotten Lysandra through her first couple months of training to become a part of the Larvalin protector squad. Syas was a more experienced warrior than Lysandra when they had met, but Lysandra had caught up quickly. Lysandra and Syas continued their training. They got in their fighting stance and started sparring together. They only ended when the lunch call was sounded.

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(Garvan's POV)

Garvan had heard from some of his troop members that there was a girl from the Shadow Dweller clan who was good with daggers. He didn't think that there was anyone in his tribe that was good with daggers other than Karamaki. He had chosen a flail and had trained with someone else, from a different group, who had chosen the same weapon.

It was lunch time for everyone who was taking part in the war. The lunch area was packed, most of the tables were full of people from different tribes and different groups. Garvan had his tray of lunch, then he started walking with his troop to go sit down. He saw Karamaki and split from his group to go sit with her. Lysandra seemed to already be sitting there, with a girl, who was a Larvalin, Garvan didn't know. Garvan sat down across from Karamaki, right next to Lysandra. Lysandra stopped talking and turned to look at Garvan.

"Hey Garvan," Karamaki said, greeting her brother. Lysandra smiled at Garvan.

"Nice to see you again, Garvan." Lysandra said. Then pointing to the other girl she added, "this is my friend Syas."

Garvan acknowledged Syas. Lysandra looked at Karamaki again, and continued talking.

"What you did during training earlier was great! We definitely needed at least one youngster that is good with the weapon they chose."

Garvan was looking at Lysandra while she was talking, he was also eating. Garvan stopped eating and looked at Karamaki.

"So you were the one who everyone is talking about?" he asked, although it was more of a statement than a question. The three girls turned to look at him.

"So you heard about what happened as well?" Syas questioned.

"Karamaki, threw those daggers like a professional!" Lysandra declared, she sounded very proud of Karamaki. Karamaki looked a bit embarrassed.

"That's what I heard from some of my troop members." Garvan stated. He started eating again. Lysandra and Karamaki continued filling each other in on the latest gossip and news of each others' clans. Syas and Garvan listened quietly, occasionally adding something their tribe members had missed.

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The bell had rung and everyone was pushing their way through the crowd to get where they needed to go so as to not be late. Garvan had got to catch up with Karamaki and Lysandra, as well as learn more about Syas.

As Garvan was walking towards where he needed to be, which was more training, he heard some whispering. He slowed his pace when he got close enough to understand the whispering. A female and male voice seemed to be arguing.

"I don't see why you won't join my cause. I mean to bring peace to the tribes with new leaders. And you can either join it or be gotten rid of as well." The female voice informed the other person. She sounded threatening, however of course she did. She was talking about ending one of the leader's lives as well as the other person's.

"Shavia, I will not stand for you murdering my father." The male voice replied, he sounded confident and unafraid. The fact that the Shadow Dweller leader, Shiva, was planning to kill people from the tribes shocked Garvan. He should tell someone, however it was Shavia's word against his.

Shavia spoke, her voice sweet again but still sounding like glass shards in your skin. "Have it your way. Come see me if you happen to change your mind."