A God Of Kings ✔

TWENTY: Intensity

Rina had only gotten a couple of hours of sleep before her brother woke her to get ready. Despite it, she felt well-rested and ready for what the day would bring. Ever since Benj had told her what was happening, adrenaline had coursed through her veins and she had wanted nothing more than to liberate Maeve from its enemies.

Her time away had changed her brother and she couldn't tell if it was for the better or for the worse. He was angrier, ready to attack anything that posed a threat to him, her and her friends included. Or maybe he had always been that way and her time in Brenmar finally allowed her to notice it. It could be that she had been the one to change, or it was both of them. Either way, they didn't get along as well as they once had.

He'd been so angry at her for her hair, but she had grown to like it. It wasn't as short as his, as a real Warrior of Ziya, but short enough for it to not be much danger during a fight. When she'd explained it to him after Emrick and Isiah had gone to bed, he'd tried to convince her that she didn't need to fight, but stopped the instant she brought up saving his life. Fighting was necessary if she wanted to live and wanted Isiah to do what was needed. No one else would believe them, but it didn't matter, as long as they saved as many as they could.

Maeve would be Isiah's first foray into doing his job as the Beast that was Promised and she had no idea how he was going to go. It was obvious that Benj wanted him to fight like she did, but he wouldn't. Even though everyone and everything told him to fight, Isiah would stay as peaceful as possible. While it annoyed her, she had to admire him for sticking to his values.

In the main room of the little resistance force, Benj was helping his second in command put on their armour. There weren't many of them in the room, thirty at most. Benj had told her that most of the townsfolk that were able would help them, but that was only a little over a hundred. If she hadn't arrived with Isiah and Emrick, they would have been slaughtered the second they tried anything. Her baby brother.

In the corner was Benj's second in command, someone she had barely spoken to the night before, but had smiled kindly at her. Their name was Skyt if she remembered correctly. They had a bow on their back and as she watched, they put it on the table with a sigh. They weren't part of the army, but someone from Maeve trying their hardest to help out. Just like everyone else around them.

They were relying on Isiah to be the bulk of the force. The chaos his flames could create would be enough for the enemy to be confused and to not fight as well as they were expected to. After that, her, Benj and Emrick would be the ones to take out as many as they could, trained as Warriors. The other townsfolk would do what they could, but she didn't expect them to be much help.

Dawn was the best time to do it. Any army would expect a surprise attack at night or a stupid one during the day, but dawn was when the night watch and the day watch swapped, both exhausted. If they were lucky, they wouldn't see them coming until they were close. At least, that was what Benj had told her. She trusted him, he'd been the one to be trained as a general after all.

Even though he was only seventeen, he was intelligent. He knew how to formulate a plan almost as well as any general, but he was still a child. He shouldn't have had his ceremony, shouldn't have had his hair cut, shouldn't have been in Maeve in the first place. All it showed was how desperate their father was that he would potentially sacrifice his only son.

"Rina!" Benj called when she walked into the main room, gesturing to her. "We tried to find your friend, the Ishini, but he wasn't in his room. Do you know where he is?"

She frowned and then let out a laugh. Finally. "I do," she said, ignoring the confused look on her brother's face. "I'll wake them."

As she had expected, Isiah was with Emrick. Both were fast asleep, pressed against each other under the blankets. Emrick's face was buried in Isiah's hair, who snored into his chest. They looked content and part of her didn't want to ruin it, but she needed to. They had a battle to win.