Merry-Go-Round Second Draft: Chapter Twelve

Chapter Twelve – Doing Nothing

“Agh!” Sieural grunted, feeling a sharp pain in his left leg.

One of the many spears that confronted him had pierced his leg. Blood now ran freely down his leg, and he was now nearly unable to avoid other attacks.

Sieural with only one leg, and Koellis, with only one hand, were barely able to keep themselves from being chopped up into many tiny pieces by the group or nearly fifty soldiers.

“Damn it. Where the hell are you, Alexis?” Koellis growled, fighting off enemies with one sword.

“You called?” Alexis shouted from behind the trees.

As if on command, the ground beneath the enemy had erupted into flame, stemming the flow of soldiers. Along with the blessing of flames, multiple arrows struck one of the soldiers. Beside Alexis, who had jumped into battle with her scythe, Riania had drawn her bow once again, and fired another barrage of arrows at another soldier.

The result of just two additional fighters was astounding. The tide had turned immensely, allowing Sieural and Koellis to fall back. Immediately taking their place were Kairius with his long blue coat and icy blue longsword, Araschaun, and surprisingly, Luna, with two small daggers suitable for his size.

“Damn! They have mages?”

The effect was immediate. No longer forty on two, but forty on ten. And this was a very special ten.

As was expected, the quickly diminishing group of enemies was no longer a match for the Coalition.

Kaelyn was beside Sieural and Koellis, and for the second time, her ability to close wounds was needed. Sieural sat and watched the deep gash in his leg slowly close.

Koellis, however, did not wait. He grabbed his sword and jumped back into battle. As Sieural waited, he asked, “He’s not waiting?”

“Actually… this power has a problem.” Kaelyn said, as she sat down and rested. “If you get hurt by magic… I can’t heal it.”

“Are you saying that his hand was hurt by magic?”

“I dunno.”

“Either that, or he’s just trying to be a hero.”

“Maybe. But… when he uses his magic, he hurts himself too.”

“Doesn’t that defeat the purpose, then?” Sieural scowled.

“I don’t think so…”

“Whatever.” Sieural stood up. By the time he had readied himself to fight once more, the battle had ended.

Kairius, followed by the rest of the group, walked back to where Sieural and Kaelyn were.

“That certainly was fast.” Sieural said.

None of them had received any major injuries. Other than Koellis’ hand, only a few scratches marked the bodies of any of the Coalition members.

“This is just the beginning.” Koellis replied, as he walked by.

“Of course. But we’ll all make it through this, okay?” Alexis grinned, as she also walked back to the Coalition hideout.

“Right. It’s the least we can do, hm? Fight for our own lives, keep ourselves in this little game.” Araschaun said.

Sieural followed the group in. They had to be ready for what was now going to stand between them and their right to live.

~~~~~

Deshael was now climbing up the rocky mountain. After running nonstop for nearly a day, he had finally reached the site of the Coalition’s battle.

“The hell happened here?” Deshael gasped, as he surveyed the battlefield.

He looked around. For the second time, he found himself standing on a blood-stained ground, wondering who could have done this.

However, his mind returned to his objective. He looked around the bodies, hoping to find any trace of the army’s captured prisoners. This small group was far too small to be the full size of the army that attacked Lakai.

“If the army didn’t pass through here… I didn’t see them when I passed Kereial, either.” Deshael said, as he turned back to the south, back toward where he now lived.

“Damn it! They’re going to Kansehl.” Deshael yelled, as he began running once again.

The south had three main cities, although, unlike the north, these three cities were very small. The northern half of the continent had the six largest cities, while the largest in the south was Lakai, now a ruin. What seemed to be inevitable was an attack on Kereial soon after Kansehl had fallen.

Kansehl was built as the sister city to Kereial, although more than 100 miles separated the two. Kansehl was the second largest city in the southern half of the continent, but as Deshael predicted, that was soon to change.

Deshael sighed. “Time to head back to Kereial. Can’t do much anymore.”

As he began jogging back down the mountain, the sun was now beginning to set. Like always, the cold air was now flowing freely down the mountain. Ice cold winds rushed down with Deshael. Much like the news he was to bring to the city.

~~~~~

“Deshael! Where the hell have you been?”

“Took a walk to Lakai.”

“A walk that took a day?” Shiriana swatted at the back of Deshael’s head.

“Hey, hey. Don’t say that you didn’t need a break from me, anyway. Deshael’s not here for me to annoy anyway.”

“Still, I’m glad you’re back, Deshael. We were all worried.” Soriana said, blushing slightly. “How are your parents?”

Deshael’s grin immediately fell off his face. “I don’t know.”

“What do you mean, you don’t know?” Shiriana yelled. “Why’d you go there, then?”

“Calm down. I have news.” Deshael said, solemnly. “Lakai was burned down. By Elleani.”

“What?! Why? What did they do?”

“That’s terrible… How could they?” Soriana gasped.

“I have no clue as to why. For all we know, Elleani could have control over the whole northern half of the continent.”

“What? That doesn’t make sense, though.”

“I’m thinking so. How else could they have destroyed all of Lakai without any opposition?”

“… What happened to your parents? Do you know what happened to them?” Soriana, concerned, asked.

“I don’t know. I don’t know if they were killed, or if they’ve been taken prisoner.”

“This doesn’t make any sense. Why would they? Lakai didn’t do anything to them.”

“It’s a pretty damn harsh world, Shiri. And, by my guess, they’re heading to Kansehl next.”

“Ehhh? How do you know that?” Soriana gasped.

“I took a walk to the mountains too. Seems like a small group was sent back to Elleani. I found them all slaughtered in the mountain.”

“What? How?” It was Shiriana’s turn to gasp.

“I don’t know.”

“I’m not sure whether to be happy they they didn’t make it back home… or disgusted at the people who killed them.”

“War isn’t all that far off. You’d better get used to it.” Deshael sighed.

“Yeah. It’s stupid. Why do we have to have wars anyway?”

“You know, Shiri, I sometimes forget that you’re still 13.” Deshael grinned. “It’s common, really. And we just can’t help it, either.”

“Whatever.” Shiriana sighed.

“Wow, Shiri. You sound like Sieural when you do that.” Soriana giggled.

“Dang! I didn’t mean to say that!” Shiriana blushed furiously.

“It was a good impression of Sieural!” Deshael laughed.

“That’s not a good thing! I don’t wanna be like that idiot!”

“Shiri… Sieural’s not that stupid.” Soriana said.

“Well, he’s weird. He’s always trying to ignore anything emotional that happens to him.”

“That’s just how he is…”

“Well, it’s stupid. He knows he needs the help. He’s just trying to be a hero.”

“I don’t think he’s trying to be a hero… Maybe… more like… considerate?”

“That’s not considerate! It’s being an idiot!” Shiriana growled. “You’re just biased because you like him!”

“Ahhhhhh! Shiri!!!” Soriana blushed.

“Wait, what?” Deshael said, totally perplexed. “Sory, you what?!”

“Oops.”

“Nothing! I nothing!” Soriana continued to blush a deep red.

“I didn’t know that at all, Sory! You never told me!” Deshael laughed.

“Why would I tell you??” Soriana turned away.

“That sucks now, though. He’s gone.”

“We’re going to see him soon… Right?”

“We’d better. I’d be mad if we don’t find him.” Deshael frowned.

“Isn’t Elleani a big place… What if we never find him?”

“Don’t be so negative, Sory! We’ll find him.”

“Now you sound like Alexis…”

“Oh, jeez. Alexis? I’d rather sound like Sieural than her.” Deshael laughed. “But, damn, I hope we find Sieural. Even though, if you think about it, we haven’t a damn clue as to where he could be.”

“Now you’re being negative.”

“You know what? Just forget it.” Deshael huffed. “Where the heck are Ari and Yukishi, anyway?”

“They went to the flower garden… I think. Shiri, do you know?”

“Yeah. The flower garden. Ari told me where she was going.”

“You wanna go see them? ‘Sides, it’s time we all went home.”

Soriana nodded, and skipped along the dirt path. Shiriana and Deshael followed her toward the setting sun.

~~~~~

The normal friendly air that would often fill the Coalition meeting place was now nowhere to be felt. Replacing it was a solemn aura that seemed to infect anybody within the room with silence.

Of course, this was only normal. The war between Elleani and Kereial had begun. The war between the Protectorate and the Coalition had begun.

“We’re just waiting now?” Sieural asked, confused.

“That may be the only thing we can do.”

“He’s right, Sieural. I want to do something just as much as you, but right now, we can only wait. I mean… I really want to go out there and… well… do something.” Alexis sighed, lying down on a small wooden chair.

“Whatever.” Sieural sighed.

“You know, Sieural, if you’re bored, you wanna spar?” Alexis stood up quickly and grinned.

“I don’t see why not.” Sieural grabbed his sword.

“Bring it.” Alexis said, running to where she placed her scythe.

Sieural, normally the first to rush at the enemy, waited for Alexis to attack. After a few seconds, Alexis ran at Sieural, swinging her scythe downwards at his head. Sieural jumped to the side, allowing Alexis’ scythe to ricochet off the rocky ground. Sieural jumped at Alexis, blade primed to swing.

Alexis ducked underneath the slash and jumped backwards, lashing her scythe out at Sieural. Anticipating the attack, Sieural parried her weapon into the ground, still in mid-air. Using his momentum, he ran up to Alexis who was now unable to slash.

With his sword at her neck, he said, “You haven’t changed your fighting a bit since you were gone. I would have guessed you would have improved a lot more spending a year in this Coalition.”

Alexis laughed. “That’s a good point. Maybe you’ve improved more than I have. But, there’s still one thing that I can do that you’ll never ever be able to do.”

“And that is?”

A flaming ball of energy flew out of Alexis’ free hand at Sieural’s face. Sieural fell backwards into a body that was standing behind him.

Immediately jumping to his feet, he turned around, ready to assit whoever he had fallen into.

Riania was sitting on the ground. Sieural held his hand to her, but she got up on her own power.

“Sorry, Ri.” Alexis grinned.

“Hey, I’m fine. I can take more of a beating than that.” Riania smiled, dusting herself off. “It’s nice to meet you, Sieural, although I’d rather have met in a less physical way.”

“Sorry about that.”

“Like I said already, I’m tougher than that.” Riania said. She was clothed in a long black robe, almost like what seemed to be her normal battle dress. “Were you sparring?”

“Yeah. I beat him good!” Alexis grinned.

“You did NOT!” Sieural laughed. “You haven’t used magic in any of our other spars.”

“Don’t lie about it, Lexi.” Riania also laughed. “He had you beat.”

“You both suck.” Alexis pouted, turning around and walking away.

“While she’s leaving, how about we spar?”

“Why not.” Sieural once again readied himself for a mock battle.

“No magic for me, either. Just to make it fair.” Riania said, holding a thumbs-up sign with her hand, while drawing her katana with her other hand.

“Whatever. I’m fine with it either way.”

Without warning, Sieural rushed at Riania, slashing. With surprising force, Riania parried the slash upwards, quickly slashing at his torso. Acting quickly, Sieural grabbed Riania’s wrist, stopping the slash from reaching lethal distance from his chest.

Sieural then slashed downward, toward Riania’s head. She spun out of the way, easily clearing Sieural’s sword. Using her spin, she slashed once more, aiming for Sieural’s neck. He ducked underneath the slash, and thrusted his sword upwards at Riania’s neck, stopping just inches away from her flesh.

“Wow. That might just be the second time.” Riania conceded.

“Actually, that would make it the third.” Kairius interjected.

“Hey, I’m not counting that loss, okay? You cheated!”

Sieural was blown away at how quickly she could change her topic.

“Anyway… dang. You’re really strong. I guess Oaklyn and Alexis weren’t lying. Well, why would they, after all? There’s no reason to lie.”

“Thanks…?” Sieural was perplexed at how to respond.

“No problem! I’ll ask you for a rematch sometime. You can bet on it, so you’d better not slack off.” Riania grinned. “Yeah, really. That’s the second time I’ve lost. That sucks!”

As Riania ran off to find Alexis, Sieural sighed. “Wow. How energetic.”

Kairius laughed. “Of course. I’m afraid that without people like that, the Coalition would long have gone insane.”

“I don’t doubt it.” Sieural sighed, watching Riania jump on the back of Alexis.

The idea that this small group was to fight for their lives in this mountain range seemed to be a very foreign thought. He never would have thought that children as young as ten would need to kill others to live. And what surprised him the most was how little the group as a whole reacted to the violence that was soon to overtake their lives.

Rushing in as the setting sun had almost completely faded from view, Kaelyn immediately sat down on one of the wooden benches.

“Wah!! It’s cold out there!” Kaelyn shivered, wrapping her arms around herself.

Kairius walked to Kaelyn, and placed his long coat on her back. She smiled and stood up, but when she tried to walk, she tripped. The blue coat was longer than her body, and nearly a foot of material dragged along the ground behind her.

“I’d appreciate it if you didn’t drag my coat along the ground, Kaelyn.” Kairius calmly walked to her and lifted the coat off the ground. “My coat must be clean.”

“Oh! I’m so sorry!” Kaelyn exclaimed, as she carefully lifted the coat off of her shoulders and over her head. The end of the coat not hun just inches off the ground.

“It is almost touching the ground…” Kairius said, once again lifting the coat.

Just then, Araschaun grabbed Kairius’ coat, draped it over his shoulders, and gave Kaelyn his own jacket. “So it’s big. Not as bad as Kairius’, hm?”

Not caring that Kaelyn was no longer wearing his coat, Kairius walked away. Sieural laughed. “As if they haven’t already gone insane.” He said to himself.

He began to walk to the side rooms, when Kaelyn grabbed his shoulders and jumped onto his back. Apparently something she learned from Riania.

“Hello, Kaelyn.” Sieural sighed, without turning around. “Is there anything you need?”

“Just wanted to say hi. You haven’t said anything after that battle, ya know?” Kaelyn said, resting her head on Sieural’s shoulder.

“I’m perfectly fine with sitting at the side and watching everything else unfold.”

“Really? I thought you liked to go and change things… you know… like do something. You’re lying, aren’t you.” Kaelyn said.

“As of this point, really, I don’t know. I’d rather not get involved too deeply.”

Koellis then walked by. As he strided to his room, he said, “Too late.”

As Sieural sighed once more, Kaelyn finally let herself down from his back. “I’m sorry you had to be involved in something you didn’t wanna be a part of.”

“Can’t help it, I guess. Like Koellis said, it’s too late. I’m here now.”

“Oh…” Kaelyn frowned, hilding Sieural’s arm close to her.

“I have a question, actually. You’re only eleven… How can you stand to see your friends fighting every day? Don’t you just want to stop fighting?”

“Of course! But… if we didn’t fight… then worse things would happen. Like… if we didn’t fight the Protectorate, then Kereial would… not be there anymore. Just like Lakai isn’t…”

“Wait, what?” Sieural immediately exclaimed.

“Oh. I forgot to tell you! Kairius told me that the small group of soldiers we fought today was a small part of an army that was told to kill Lakai and Kansehl…”

“Wait, wait, wait. An Elleanian army destroyed Lakai and Kansehl?”

“Well… ummm, not Kansehl… yet.”

“And we’re not doing anything? Or, wait. I can answer this. We can’t do anything. It’s in our best interests for us not to fight.”

Kaelyn nodded, abnormally silent.

“I know you think fighting can only hurt. But doing nothing sometimes hurts more.” Sieural said, walking to his room.