Divided by Hostilities (Chapter 5)
Wednesday, September 17th, 2014 06:30 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jiminee posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
mindcrackloveWar was coming, and the attitude in Daedalia had shifted to a state of mild panic. The citizens were preparing to fight, gathering weapons and enchanting as fast as they could. The forests filled with monster hunters, trying to gain as much experience as possible before time ran out. They knew Zisteau was going to attack Daedalia, and they were going to defend their home to the death.
Pause sat on his bed, feeling guilty and anxious. King Zisteau was going to try and invade Daedalia today and it was compulsory to fight. Pause had his armour on, weapons and potions at the ready. But he felt as if he had an emotional connection to Daedalia, through his visits to the forest and his friendship with Beef, and could hardly bring himself to pick up his bow. He would give anything to slip away again to the forest now. Instead, he was supposed to go out on that battlefield and fight the people he was told were his enemies. There were severe consequences of avoiding the battle. Pause had no choice but to fight. He hoped that he would at least see Beef in the skirmish, be able to say sorry, to do something. At the moment the whole situation seemed uncontrollable. Pause pressed his palms into his eyes, trying to make time stop for a second as he imagined there was no conflict. No wars over silly things like land, just the two kingdoms living in peace.
But reality returned with a knock on his door. Pause gathered up his things as his heart sank, taking last minute items from a chest and slowly making his way downstairs. The caller was Pyro, whose job it was to make sure everyone was out of their homes and ready for the war.
“Are you ready, Pause?” Pyro said. He was clad in shining diamond armour, his dragon skin still peeking out over his black hair. Pause admired his ability to stay hopeful, even in times like these.
“I guess. Though I’m not looking forward to this.”
“Don’t worry, we can’t lose,” Pyro said.
Pause sighed. “It just seems so pointless, you know? There must be a way to do this peacefully.”
“You know king Zisteau. He’ll get what he wants, no matter what it takes.”
“I don’t like it.” Pause said shortly, ending their conversation.
Pyro left to continue his rounds, as Pause trudged towards the gate, where the army of Abattians were getting into formation. As he walked, Pause felt himself becoming different. He was becoming a warrior. He didn’t like it at all; although he was a skilled bowman and an expert at monster hunting, killing humans for no reason seemed foreign to him. He thought all the people here were changing too, even if were only changing because they had to. And he didn’t want to think about it, but Pause knew Beef would be becoming this new person, this warrior too. They were all different now.
Beef could hazily remember the last war. Standing on the battleground outside the city gates brought back old memories of flashing swords, whizzing arrows and the cries of men. It was different now. Of course it would be unfair to his Daedalian friends and to the king not to try to defend his kingdom. But Pause would be there, and it felt so wrong to be fighting someone he considered his friend. Beef didn’t blame Guude. He was doing all he could as a leader to the people. Beef blamed Zisteau. He wondered who Pause was angry at. Did he care at all that his king was doing this?
Everybody felt the change. They were all warriors, whether they wanted to be or not, standing out there on the battle-scarred ground with nothing but their swords and bows and determination to defend against the Abbatians. King Guude directed the last of the horsemen to their places, then rode to the front and turned. The sun beat down on the men as Guude began to speak.
“We are about to clash with a fearsome force. You know all too well the danger we are in, and know the cost of letting King Zisteau’s forces invade our city and our kingdom. You have done this before, and I have trust that you can do this again. Do not let them win. Do not let them win, simply because they are bigger. We have something to fight for. King Zisteau is a bully who only wants more land for the sake of feeling superior. Do not let them do this to us.”
The crowd shouted half-heartedly at Guude’s words, trying to stir up the energy and the emotions necessary to fight as well as they needed to. As they heard the thunder of horses’ hooves and the clanking of diamond armour in the distance, Guude turned one last time.
“In your day-to-day lives you are bakers, butchers, miners, builders, redstoners and hunters. You live in that city, and it is your home. But now you are warriors. Not soldiers. You are warriors. And you are going to defend this home.”
Beef’s heart pounded. The speech was inspiring, but he was afraid. The Abattians were coming into view now, and the Daedalians were as ready as they could be.
And the fear struck. Pure, unadulterated dread filled Beef’s gut, blinding his vision and making everything seem impossible. His heartbeat matched the speed of the pounding hooves of the horses as the Abattian army came ever closer. Friends were going to die. He’d exchanged a few heartfelt words with Etho and some other friends, but he’d never gotten to speak to Pause. So many people were going to die. It was possible they would fail and the kingdom would be lost. This was wrong.
Pause loosed the first arrow from his bow, watching it sail over the heads of all the warriors and bounce off a Daedalian helmet. Secretly, he was pleased it hadn’t caused injury. He was fighting half-heartedly.
Around him was the clash of swords and the various groans and cries of the wounded. Health potions were already being swiftly downed along with shining golden apples. Pause fumbled for one of his own enchanted apples and munched it down, feeling the powerful effects taking hold immediately. He continued firing arrows, this time not bothering to see whether they connected or not. All he looked for was Beef. His eyes were sweeping the battlefield in front of him, trying to see past the horses and soldiers and looking desperately for the bearded man, although he probably hated Pause now, hated Abattia, and hated what they were doing. Pause wouldn’t blame him. But he wished he could somehow let Beef know that he hated this too, and he would do anything to stop fighting. Pause also wished – and he knew this was a silly wish – that he could tell Beef how much he cared about him. It played in his mind for a little, some kind of battlefield romance, with the different ways Beef might respond looping through his brain. He knew it was soppy and unrealistic, but a tiny part of him believed Beef might have feelings back.
An arrow against his helmet knocked Pause to attention. He hadn’t been paying attention to his surroundings, and the blow dazed him for a second. He was grateful for the protection enchantments on his armour, preventing the arrow from doing any lasting damage.
Pause was fighting almost automatically, firing arrows rapidly across the field. He knew he should be aiming better, trying at least to make any sort of progress. The Daedalian army was fighting back impressively well, and the Abattians had hardly moved any closer to the kingdom. They were just locked in the middle of the battleground, with nothing in particular happening. Pause wondered if anyone had died. He attempted to ignore the thought, trying his hardest not to think of Millbee, or Pyro, or Arkas lying there…
“Stop,” he said out loud. Nobody heard him. Pause realised he’d been extremely quiet for a long time. Around him, men were shouting battle cries and yelling in pain. He’d just been quietly focused, preoccupied with his thoughts. He set an arrow in his bow, this time with purpose. He pulled back the string, gritting his teeth, and aimed. Some Daedalian was locked in a swordfight, hardly moving from the one small spot of land. A perfect target. The arrow whizzed over everyone’s heads, and hit it’s mark, sending the victim sprawling on the ground. Pause immediately regretted it, but again pushed away his thoughts. This was a battle. He was meant to be doing this, for his king, for his city.
Vechs saw Paul Soares fall out of the corner of his eye, but could not move from his battle-locked position. He was swordfighting with an Abattian, and one wrong move could kill him. He hoped desperately that Paul was okay. He didn’t deserve to die. Paul was his old friend. Paul was old, adventurous and gentle. He was fighting to defend, not to kill. Vechs felt something burning rise in the back of his throat, and tears blurred his vision. He wasn’t sad, he soon realised; he was angry. He was suddenly channelling the anger into his sword, almost automatically. He found himself swinging the weapon with all his strength, knocking his opponent backwards onto the dusty ground. Not caring to see whether his rival had been killed or not, Vechs pushed his way towards where Paul was sprawled in a clear part of the field.
“Are you okay?” he gasped, dry mouthed.
Paul looked up. There was an arrow sticking out at right angles from his collarbone and Vechs realised he’d lost his chestplate.
“Paul! Paul, answer me!” Vechs’ throat was stinging again, this time tears of despair forming in his eyes. He put a hand over the man’s chest, a sudden burst of hope occurring when he felt the faint heartbeat. Vechs fumbled around and found a splash potion of health, quickly dashing it on the ground by Paul. He watched fretfully until Paul sat up, wincing at the pain from his neck.
“Paul! Paul you’re okay!” Vechs cried with relief. “I- I thought you were – “
Paul groaned. “Thank you for saving me, Vechs. I thought I was gone, too.”
“You don’t have a chestplate. It’s not safe,” Vechs said. He didn’t have a spare, and neither did Paul. He searched desperately through his things.
“Here,” Vechs said, holding out his hand. “Take this. Please take it. It’s my last one, but…”
There was a glittering golden apple in his outstretched palm.
“No!” Paul said, shaking his head. He was quickly regaining his strength. “It’s yours. You’ll need it.”
“Do you have one?” Vechs asked indignantly.
“No, but – “
“Take it!” Vechs forced the apple into Paul’s hand. “You need it more than me. You don’t have a chestplate. Plus, you’re an old man.”
“What?”
“What?” Vechs parroted, beginning to grin. “See, you’re so old you can’t hear well.” He started to giggle. “What are you going to do now? Go to the Royal Chicken and demand your one per cent senior’s discount?”
“Vechs,” Paul sighed. “You’re crazy.” But he was starting to smile.
“Don’t forget your dentures and cane, old man.” Vechs said. “But seriously, are you okay to continue fighting?”
“I’m fine. And thank you so much for the apple.”
“Okay. We should probably get up, too. Don’t worry about me, I’ll be fine.” Vechs helped Paul up as they readied their weapons once more. “And don’t break your back, or anything. They’d miss you back at the old folks’ home. ”
Beef saw Pause. He was firing arrows haphazardly from behind the line of swordsmen. It was hard to recognise anyone under their armour, but Beef could clearly see the red painted on his face. Beef stared at the man until finally he looked up.
When Pause saw Beef, a hundred expressions crossed his face at once. Beef felt doubt drop heavily in the pit of his gut. What if Pause hated him now? They were, after all, technically rivals, and all Beef was really was another enemy that Pause must slaughter. But Pause didn’t raise his bow. Instead, he slung it over his back and unsheathed his sword, raising it in the air with a significant look. What did that mean? Beef tried to understand what Pause was trying to signal. He was moving towards the front line, seamlessly blending in with the swordsmen. Beef understood now. He slipped through the crowd, weaving towards where Pause was. As he moved, he heard the boom of TNT cannons being fired and felt his heart jump. The situation was even more dangerous now, to say the least.
Beef met Pause, who was looking around to make sure nobody was paying attention to them. Everyone was engaged in battle though, so they could talk in relative safety.
“Beef, I’m so glad to see you. I need to say something,” Pause said quietly.
“So do I. I wish we’d been able to talk before this started,” Beef replied.
“Beef, you know I don’t like doing this. But I have to.” Pause’s words were a plea; both men knew as well as the other that Pause wanted Beef’s forgiveness.
“I have to as well. You think this is only hard for you?” Beef said. He wanted everything to be right between them, but he wasn’t ready to forgive Pause. “There’s a difference. I’m fighting for my life here. For my home.”
“Beef, I know. You think I don’t know? I hate this. I hate that I couldn’t tell you before, but,” Pause was shaking. He took a deep breath. “I – Fuck, Beef, I’ve had a massive crush on you since day one. This is so stupid –,” He shook his head. “Sorry, I know it’s weird.”
Beef looked down, playing with the hilt of his sword. “I didn’t know.”
“I’ve been an idiot about the whole thing. I know this is the worst possible time to be telling you this, but I need you to know. If either of us dies –.”
Beef interrupted him, inhaling sharply. “Don’t say that! I mean, I’ve thought about that too. I mean, it’s been going over in my head all day, but now it just seems too possible. I don’t want to think about that.”
Pause nodded. “Sorry. And um, sorry for all this. I think I’ve hit some of your – some Daedalians with my bow. I don’t like it, but I have to fight.”
“I know.” Beef said. He didn’t want to think that any of his friends might be dead, least of all at the hand of Pause.
Beef still had things he wanted to say, but no idea how. He was going through the ways he could tell Pause what he wanted to say, but his train of thought was shattered when a TNT bomb landed on the ground between him and Pause.
“Pause!” he felt himself screaming, simultaneously leaping back before the TNT could explode. “PAUSE!”
no subject
Date: Wednesday, September 17th, 2014 08:52 am (UTC)no subject
Date: Wednesday, September 17th, 2014 09:10 am (UTC)no subject
Date: Wednesday, September 17th, 2014 10:13 am (UTC)-shaziru
no subject
Date: Wednesday, September 17th, 2014 10:58 am (UTC)That cliffhanger though •o• awesome as always!
But really, akasksjwlennf. Gahhh.
no subject
Date: Wednesday, September 17th, 2014 01:40 pm (UTC)After reading: 0.0
no subject
Date: Wednesday, September 17th, 2014 02:07 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: Wednesday, September 17th, 2014 06:13 pm (UTC)-Eclipse
no subject
Date: Thursday, September 18th, 2014 10:29 am (UTC)no subject
Date: Thursday, September 18th, 2014 01:24 am (UTC)no subject
Date: Thursday, September 18th, 2014 10:35 am (UTC)