Mylidred

19

The field was silent. Utterly, silent, as though it was a graveyard. The only sounds were the occasional chinks of armour when the soldiers wobbled on their horses, and coughs into the freezing cold air. Neither the horses whinnied, nor the wind whistled. I searched the soldiers on the other end of the field, till I found the face I'd been looking for. Kerran's.

He stood right beside his horse on Tania's left. He was in soldier mode as was I. He stood at ease, with his arms crossed behind his back. His gaze roamed my side of the field and his eyes briefly grazed over me before they jumped right back to my face.

We didn't acknowledge each other with a nod. We didn't even smile or greet each other with a thought. We just stared.

I turned my attention to Tania instead. Tania wasn't wearing her full body armour today, which was extremely unusual, especially in this freezing cold weather. She decided to wear full body armour every single day, except the one day it's most important. The battle day.

She wore a black leather tube like top that had no straps and reached only down to her mid-stomach, so her belly button was on display. She wore a skirt of the same material, that reached only mid thigh. She had her sword strapped to her side. How? I didn't know, but I doubted she'd use it today.

The clothes she wore allowed runes that stretched across her skin to be on full display, and I understood how she became a Mylidred. The elders must have given her a Mylidred with the use of Runes.

The Runes seemed to shift around her body till they looked very legible, somehow I could see them clearly even though she was stood over a mile and a half away. The Runes seemed to magnify themselves, so it was like I was simply reading off a blackboard in front of me, while using one of those magnifying object things. I think it was called the magnifying glass. They seemed to have changed and rewritten themselves so I could read it and so I did. In my head.

It read:

"For years, your greed for power has grown, and now, it has extinguished the most human parts of you. It brought you on a quest to obtain a Mylidred of your own.

The intensity of ones greed, determines the intensity of the consequences. You have set in motion the consequences of your actions with the choices you have made thus far.

You shall have the power you so desperately seek, for the Mylidred shall be your one true constant companion. It will be born of your lack of humanity, and will have no mercy on anyone, not even you.

The time will come, when you will die. The date has been set, and you shall die by the hands of the one, true Mylidred, for he is the one destined to kill you. Your fate has been set in stone, just as your curse has been engraved on your skin.

The one who reads this, is the only one who can read it. It is intentional, child. You have been given a gift. Your Mylidred. Do not take advantage of that power."

I took a startled step back from where I stood beside my horse, Brigh almost falling, when I grabbed a hold of Brigh's reins. My eyes automatically snapped to Kerran's on the other side of the field, and we held eye contact.

'What did they mean by that? Am I really the only one that can read this? Are they referring to me? You're a person not a sword, they can't talk about you like that!' I yelled in my head, scrunching my face up in annoyance.

Kerran's lips tilted up in amusement, probably at my anger. I glared at him and the smile slipped from his face. His face was neutral.

'Shh. You're not paying attention to the important thing here. We have to kill her. I know you and Alea didn't want to because Alea believed she could help her, but we have to. It's the only way. The only way we can help her.' He thought.

I sighed, looking down at the ground thoughtfully. "Ok. I need to tell Alea."
He nodded and turned away from me to his horse, petting its sides. His horse must have really liked the attention because he whinnied softly, but I heard him.

I mounted Brigh and rode her next to Alea, before I stopped her. I turned to Alea who was sitting majestically on her horse glaring at her sister across the field.

'She really didn't want to do this. She didn't want to wage this war.' I realised. ''And the news I have for her would break her."

"Your Majesty." I called her attention.

"Yes, Nora?" She replied. Her tone was clipped. Her expression was blank. She was always like this when she was about to do something she didn't like doing but had to and wanted to get it over with. I sighed.

"The only chance we have at winning is to kill her, Your Majesty." I confessed.
She swivelled her head towards me, transferring the intensity of her glare onto me. My face remained neutral.

"It's the truth, Your Majesty." I added.

"And where did you get this information?" She demanded, her eyes blazing.

"Somewhere reliable, Your Majesty, but it's confidential." I explained.

"Well, she's a Mylidred now and it's impossible to kill Mylidreds." She answered defiantly, determined to keep her sister alive.

'Not when you have a Mylidred on your side.' I thought, looking straight at Kerran. He met my gaze.

'She's not taking it well.' Was his reply. It wasn't a question. It was a statement. He wasn't asking. He knew.

'But it needs to be done, so it will be done.' I said.

He shot me a small smile before mounting his horse once more.

I nodded at him and he nodded back. We were both going to leave here safe today.