Chronicles of the Kiridians
Chapter 19

For it is written in the Chronicles of the Kiridians:

Courage is not defined by the number you’ve slain

It’s not defined by the number of wars won

Courage is defined by the ability to keep going even when everything inside of you tells you no

Courage is what turns a warrior into a hero

“Run,” I command looking at everyone behind me. “You need to get away from here. You don’t have time to wait,”

“Kara, we aren’t leaving you!” Joey declares.

“I didn’t ask. If you get caught then my dad died for nothing. Get out of here. Now.”

The group looks at me with sadness in their eyes. My mom is the first to move, getting off the ground from where my father lay dead on the concrete. She looks at the group with a determined look and sticks her arms out to turn them around. “She’s right. We need to go.”

They reluctantly leave as I turn around once again to face the king. His face looks amused as he stares at me with my sword in my hand. “Am I supposed to be scared of you, Lena?” he scoffs, “You’ve forgotten how to use that thing. The only thing you’re doing right now is looking foolish.”

“I guess I’ll die foolish then,” I declare. “You’re not coming anywhere near them.”

My body is feeling drained from the amount of energy I just poured out. I wish it was as simple as me sending another green flash toward the king, but I can’t possibly feel myself exuding anymore of it right now without severely hurting myself. If this is the great showdown that everyone has talked about, then this is going to be a hand to hand fight.

The king unsheaths his sword and points it at me. He begins to circle, and I counter by circling myself. I watch as he steps closer and closer with each step he takes, until he lunges at me and swinging his sword from above his head down toward me. I pull mine up at the last second and block the king’s attack, but barely.

“Still time for you to concede, Lena,” quips the King. “You’re not as good as you once were.”

I lift my foot and slam it into his leg. He stumbles backward and looks at my surprised as I readjust my sword and put it in a positition that covers my chest. “I think that we are just getting started, Delmund.”

He grins as he lunges once again, I block the attack, but the king is fast. He regroups quickly, and has studied for years. He already knows where he is going with his next attack the moment he swings the attack before it. If I want to win this fight, I’ll have to outsmart him.

“What’s your end goal here, Delmund?” I ask him as he brings another attack down with barely enough time for me to block it. “Your kids hate you. You’ve been outsmarted by a group of six people multiple times tonight. Your people probably think you’re a mockery-”

He swings three times back to back, each getting harder and faster than the last blow. A stinging sensation on my cheek makes me clench my teeth as blood drips from the abrasion left behind by the blade. I touch my face in shock, and the blood covers my fingers.

“Well firstly, I’m going to kill you, just like I killed that traitorous elder,” he taunts as he swings his sword again. My rage flares up once again being reminded of the death of my father. I kick at his leg again as our sword connect, but he was expecting it this time and managed to step aside. “Then, I’m going to track your mother and that sad excuse for a boy down and kill them, but I’m going to do that slowly. They’ll have you to thank for that. Then my kids will have to be sacrificed for me to bring my wife back. Then everything will start over for me!”

He slams the hilt of his sword into my gut and I scream in pain as I hear a cracking sound come from my ribs. I fall to the ground and begin to scoot backward as he walks towards me with this sword pointed toward me. He brings the blade above his head and is about to bring it down on top of me when I hold out my hand for my sword. The sword zooms over to me, and lands in my hand right as his blade is brought down toward my body. The sound of metal on metal clashing fills the air as he stands over me, pressing down on his blade harder and harder.

“You know it’s weird,” says the king. “When we were lovers, I had thought the world of you. You were this unstoppable force, Lena. Your praises were sung throughout the planet as some sort of god, and I will admit that I sang them too,” he pushes down harder onto the blade, “but you’re very weak in this current form. I guess everyone has to start somewhere, but this isn’t the woman that I loved.”

“You didn’t love me,” I manage to grunt out pushing on my blade with all my strength. “You loved the idea of loving me.”

He brings his sword up and laughs loudly and I use this break as an opportunity to catch my breath. My body is weak, and I’m replaceing it harder and harder to stay alert as the fight goes on. “You know what is funny? You said the exact same thing to me the night that I tried to kill you. I guess some things never change Lena.”

He lifts the sword above his head and has aimed it to strike my chest as he brings it down. I close my eyes and wait for the blow, to injured and hurt to move, but the strike never comes.

“STOP!” I hear from a high pitched voice.

I open up my eyes to see Raina pointing a blaster at her father. She looks at him with tears streaming down her face. She is shaking standing only a few feet away from her father and I.

“Raina, wait there. I’ll be with you shortly,” the king demands as he raises his sword once again. Raina shoots the blaster directly to the side of the king and he looks at her awestruck. “Raina?” he whispers sounding hurt.

“I said stop, father,” her voice sounding much stronger than it did previously. “I won’t let you hurt her.”

The king takes a few steps back and holds his hands in the air. “What are you going to do, sweet heart? You’re going to shoot your father? You’re going to kill me over someone you’ve known for...what a few weeks at most?”

Raina takes a few steps closer to me with the blaster in hand still pointed at the king. She motions for him to step back, in which he complies with. “That person you’re refering to took a stranger in and watched over her even though I sounded crazy. She helped me fit in and replace my footing on earth, and risked her life several times to help the family that you broke,” she looks at me with a caring look. “And became like family in the process. I won’t let you hurt her. Turn around and leave. Do not come back.”

“You think it’s that easy?” he says laughing. “Everything I’ve wanted for sixteen years is right in front of me, and you think I’m going to let you all leave? I lose one battle and that is it? You’re my daughter Raina. Clearly you’ve learned by now that is not how I operate.”

Tears stream down her face as she fires the blaster again to the side of the king, who takes a few more steps back. “You’ve lost the right to call me your daughter sixteen years ago, Delmund,” she sobs emphasizing his name. “You have lost all your soliders. I know you don’t have anymore with you. They’d be here by now. There is no move for you to make anymore. Go!” she shoots the blaster toward the king one more time. “The next one goes in your chest.”

He backs away not turning from us and frowns as he stops right at the trees. “This isn’t over, Raina. I’ll be back.”

“I count on it.”

He disappears into the trees and Raina waits for a second, not moving her blaster away from the forest line, and then begins to sob. She sinks to the ground, and I can hear the pain in her voice as she sobs and I do my best to reach out to her.

“Kara,” she whimpers seeming to snap out of her crying. “I heard everything. You’re okay. I promise we will get you help,”

My body starts to give out on me as I replace it harder and harder to keep my eyes open. With heavy breaths, I try to talk to Raina, but instead, my head falls back and all I see is black.