Three Broken Kingdoms-Book 1 of the Lost Continent (Completed)

Chapter Fifty-Three: Rose's Choice

A few days earlier

There were so many. So, so many. How could they be alive, and then gone, in an instant? How could so many breathe and then not?

Desperately, she clung on to Viktoria, clung to Caelia. Only a tenth of their army remained. A tenth. And now, flickering back to life, was the shield.

Everything was lost. No one could save the God-Born now. Five thousand valkyries stood no chance against six hundred thousand humans, skilled as they might be.

Myra's world was shattering, piece by piece.

They fled. Medea's city was a death trap, so Myra led them in a retreat, hoping to fall back in Kazimiar.

Sometimes she thought she could hear the Empress laughing as they retreated, trying to put distance between them and the Kallian army.

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Rose

It seemed stupid that she was still alive when some many were not. It was stupid that she was left, when Calais and Ruby weren't. She was nothing, nothing at all, a few months past initiation.

A few months ago, the only thing she cared about

was glory and High General Myra. Then they had gone to war, and her best friend had died. The medal on the clasp of her cloak-Rhiannon's medallion, for bravery-had felt bitter then.

Mia Surducan. Her rival, her friend. Dead.

Rose had not stopped fighting. Filled with vengeance, she had striven to make Mia proud throughout all the twists and turns of the war.

Now it was all useless. Mia's killers would destroy Miras, the kingdom her best friend loved even more than she did.

On the endless retreat, Rose thought of Mia, and of the times they had spent together training. What would become of the initiates now? What about the elders?

The valkyries would never arrive in time to warn them. They wouldn't want to, anyway. The initiates would die with them, fight with them. There would be no deserters.

But if she went alone, might she warn them? Prepare a new rebellion?

That would mean leaving the army behind. It would mean being branded as a deserter. But to save the initiates, she could do it. Rose was suddenly reminded of the oath she had taken, months ago:

Do you swear to never flee from danger, to spend your last breath fighting for your fellow warriors?"

That was what she had sworn to. That was she would break. But there had been something else too.

"Do you swear to give your life, your pride, your dreams, your glory, and all else you possess up if necessary, to protect your fellow soldiers?

Yes, she would be giving her pride, her dreams and her glory to protect the initiates and the valkyrie teachers. Perhaps one day she might be able to create a rebellion from those she saved.

By morning, Rose was gone.

The valkyries spat her name as a curse, but she clung to her oath for support whenever she doubted.

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She rode, and she did not dare to stop. All through the rocky terrain, and the punishing wasteland of the Isthmus. The valkyrie army could not catch up with her. They could not.

Rose could not stop riding. No matter how much her legs burned, she couldn't stop riding.

A human could never have managed it. Neither could an elf.

But a valkyrie warrior, atop a valkyrie steed, filled with purpose and desperation and struggling to care about her exhaustion because her best friend was dead...

She made it. Rose Lisell made it to training grounds in three days and collapsed at the feet of the Hawk Mountains.

"Rose?" One of the elders called out in surprise. "Rose, what are you doing here? We can't have won already!" She scanned the skies, as if searching for the rest of the valkyrie army.

"No," she panted. "No, we haven't."

"What happened?"

Rose looked up at the elder, Briar. The warrior was nearly six hundred years old and one of the most admired in the academy. How could she tell her about her desertion?

"General Ruby is dead. Calais, Diaz...all dead. Forty thousand are lost in Crimsith and another six hundred thousand men are marching on what is left of our army." Briar's eyes widened, but Rose continued. "I am here to warn you. To help you flee, before it is too late."

The elder only nodded and within a day the entire school was gone, on a trek to the mountains on the other end of Miras.

From there, they would regain their strength.

From there, they would rise again, but not in time to save the kingdom.

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Myra

They reached Kazimiar two days after Rose deserted. Deserted. There had not been a deserter in decades. Myra had never felt so ashamed. How could she face her goddesses and tell them what one she had trained had done?

The valkyries reached the city feeling hopeless and weak, beaten-down and despairing. But things only got worse when they realised that the rebels were gone. Nala had cut her losses and fled.

So, they trudged on to Cobalt, looking for miracles and finding nothing but dirt