The Phoenix Awakens (Book One) (#Wattys2016)

Chapter Seventeen

I sit on the couch and stare out the window. Soldiers march into the forest, disappearing under the shade of the trees. Their weapons are raised, pointed in front of them ready to fight. The battle was beyond the force field, the Natherinians not yet breaking through. Soldiers also exit the forest, their bodies bloodied and bruised from the fight. They are the lucky ones, they are the ones that no longer have to fight due to injuries. My heart clenches and I close my eyes, blinking back the tears that threaten to spill out. These poor people are paying for the one mistake I made in the forest a long time ago.

The TV sounds louder drawing my attention away. The battle appears on the screen from an overhead view. It's a swarm of people running at each other, screams of fury sounding through the air. The TV has been connected to the ones from Naterina, playing all the same news feeds that Natherinians see. We thought it would help us see their tactics but it only shows how big of liars they were. The announcers talk back and forth for a few minutes discussing their points of views on Wielders and why they instigated the start of the old war that they lost almost seventeen years ago. Why had they started a fight they knew they couldn't win?

The male announcer with the dyed orange hair and emerald eyes pipes up. "There is nothing to worry about. This is what we have been told constantly, and it is completely true. These Wielders who we have feared for all these years, who have taken our children and hypnotized them, are nothing more than idiots," he grumbles. "They just want to cause trouble, distract us from something bigger, something we wouldn't expect. But for now, all you need to know is that we are winning the war and that soon enough it will just go down as another victory in Natherinian history." An image of the war pops up on the screen behind him and he points at it over his shoulder. "We have been assured by many Natherinian soldiers and even the King himself that this war will end soon. They are using mostly the same tactics as last time but with a few improvements. But as we have been told, this war will end the same exact way as last time, with the Malians surrendering."

I scoff, everything about those ads were wrong. They kept saying "the war will end soon enough" but it was already the start of March. Three months of gruesome battles and fights. Three months of being held up in this small little cottage, not allowed to do anything. When the ad first aired we were all in the living room watching it together. When they said the same tactics would be used everyone freaked out and all eyes were on me. If they used the same tactics that would involve kidnapping me and no one wanted that to happen. So they decided that I should stay in the cottage surrounded by guards. If I decided to leave I'd be accompanied by an entourage of five bulky men. I tried pleading with them, I tried telling them that I should be out there not sitting on the couch like some damsel in distress. That didn't sit well with anyone. We got into a large argument about whether I should fight or not.

"Come on I've shown I can hold my own! I can't let people fight my fight," I complained.

"If you die then there won't be a fight!" Caius shouted, his face bubbling with rage.

"I won't die!" I grumbled.

Brook had been on my side for the most part. "Caius she does deserve to fight," Brook had reminded him, her voice calm.

"We know she deserves to but we don't want her to Mom," Zephyr explains. "We can't risk her life for some petty war, and if they intend to use the same tactics that means Collette will try to grab Fieria when she's not paying attention."

"Hasn't she proven she could get to me anywhere, that she can get into Malahano. What stops her from just slipping into Malahano and grabbing me?" I questioned, and there became the start of the guards. "I don't need protection! I need to be in the fight!" I looked over at Elise and Archer. "You have to agree with me."