‘Shit!’ he hissed as he quickly dressed himself to see if she was foolish enough to take the soldiers on by herself.
‘Well, well, look what we have here, you’re a pretty face.’ The soldier laughed as he approached her, without a word or hesitation the soldier was suddenly on the floor after a fast and heavy punch to the face from the woman that stood before him. The other soldiers were taken off-guard but quickly sprang into action, she didn’t even need her sword and kept to her fists as she was fast to dodge and strike.
‘Adonia!’ Fenrir yelled as he burst outside only to have a man nearly launched into him, it was only until a soldier pulled out his sword it forced Adonia to do the same, where she could show her true danger to those who opposed her. With the soldiers defeated singlehandedly, Adonia approached the first soldier who approached her who finally regained consciousness, she held her foot against his chest and pressed down, keeping her sword close to his head.
‘P-please don’t-.’
‘Shut up.’ She interrupted. ‘Why do you come here?’
‘Griffiths tells us too, l-look I know it looks bad but I’m just following orders.’ He whimpered.
‘Pay well?’
‘V-very.’
‘Hm, were you going to take me back and do whatever you wanted for that pay?’
‘N-no!’ she pressed down harder on his chest.
‘I don’t like liars.’ She could see the wince in his face, of course he wanted to, he wanted to because he could, but Adonia was about to change things. The soldier was completely aware he was going to die at the hands of this woman until she suddenly took her foot off of him, as he stared confused, she flicked her sword so the blade faced herself and the handle to the soldier.
‘I-I don’t understand.’
‘Follow me and I spare your life, I won’t pay you as well as Griffiths, but then at least you can keep your life.’
‘Adonia what are you doing?’ Fenrir yelled in a worried tone as he ran up to her.
‘A-Adonia? Adonia Hardgrave?’
‘The very same.’ The soldier nervously sat up and took the handle as a peace offering then closely examined her face, it truly was her.
‘Your majesty forgive us!’ he slammed his arm against his chest, the greeting of a soldier that she never forgot. ‘I had no idea it was you; you have my honest word! You have my sword! And…Anyone else who made it.’ He said as he looked behind her at the writhing soldiers.
‘Good, what’s your name soldier?’
‘Idan your majesty.’ She could see in his eyes that he was terrified as he trembled before her, if not for her strength then definitely because of her name. She gave a quick nod to Fenrir and looked over and saw an old barrel which he helped her to climb onto and stand high upon, her words were no longer going to be silenced.
‘Everyone I need you all to hear my words!’ the village looked up from their hiding at the woman, most of them were simply going to ignore her until the villager Derek walked up to her to hear her speech while others watched from a distance. ‘I am Adonia Hardgrave…Many of you believed me dead either from the attack on the Hardgrave Castle, the battle of South Realm…’ many more people started to join Derek and the others that were saved in the castle, hearing her words, some even came out of the tavern at the gathering commotion. ‘But I am alive, and it is time to take action against the evil that clutches at our nation, it was Kinlan who ordered my family’s death and Griffiths who carried out the attack, Kinlan abandoned our King Talin, Knight Commander Greymire and all those men to their deaths. Not to mention the torture he inflicted on you, men we believed to be dead hidden away and tortured for Griffiths’ sick pleasure. We have to make a stand against him once and for all.’
‘We’ve tried so many times already what will make any difference?’ a man called out from the crowd which Adonia nodded in acknowledgement.
‘I know you’ve all tried for years, but what we need is strategy, planning and training, when we’ve attacked Griffiths in the past he knows it’s just a handful of men from a rundown village, his trained soldiers can easily take care of such men. But you all have something his men doesn’t, you have fire in your hearts that drives you to fight, if you were all trained like true soldiers, you’d be an unstoppable force.’
‘Griffiths has an army we have nothing!’ she jumped from the barrel and walked toward the open blacksmith store and picked up a blade. The metal was hardly fine quality in fact she gripped the handle tightly and slammed the blade against the anvil.
‘What in the Divines’ name?!’ Derek yelled as he saw his work damaged.
‘These swords are of poor quality, where do you get your metal?’
‘Wherever I can, I can’t afford decent material.’
‘…What about the ore in the mines?’ the village fell back into unsure chatter. ‘We harvest the ore from the mines and make better weapons, armour defences, together we can do this.’
‘But that still doesn’t solve the problem of the soldiers.’
‘Greymire trained me as a soldier, those who want to fight stand by me.’ Some were hesitant at first, but Jenny was the first to run to her friend.
‘Teach me to fight like you do.’ Adonia smiled at her. She was quickly followed by Fenrir who laid his hand on Adonia’s shoulder and Barmic who flourished his hatchet.
‘Let’s kick his arse one last time.’ Derek soon approached his smithy before pushing over a barrel of old tools and weapons.
‘Give me the material and I’ll give you the best damn weapons you can get.’ Others joined the cause; everyone would have their part to play and Adonia became the mastermind behind it all.
All men and women secretly took to the mines, some of the older men had mining experience and instructed the younger generations in the art, even Adonia used the pick and joined her brethren in the hard labour. The soldiers she spared helped with their cause, the village was cautious at first but Adonia trusted her own judgement as she learned more about the soldiers themselves. A lot of them were conscripted from neighbouring towns, hardly any of them wanted to fight. The soldiers were honest that Griffiths gave them an easy life, in return for their protection they could have all the women and drink they could handle, it was easy to be corrupted.
‘It shames me that we used to do such things my lady.’ One of the soldiers said to her as she overlooked one of her hand-made maps. Adonia glanced up at the soldier, Fenrir looming close over her, just as careful of the soldiers in their ranks.
‘Power makes you do foolish things.’ Adonia leant up from her map. ‘I have chosen to spare you; I need as many able men on my side as I can get. But it’s not me you should be afraid of, it’s the people here. It’s one thing standing by my side, but you have to earn their respect and trust.’
‘Anything, my lady.’
‘Here my name is, Addie.’ She smiled as she looked over at her friends. Even though the entire village now knew who she was many continued to call her by her nickname, for her first friends it just became a habit, for Fenrir it was more of a sign of affection. The soldiers instructed her on new patrols and traps laid out in the castle, any weak points within the castle walls, but even as soldiers of the castle they were still unsure of certain secret exits.
‘Many aren’t even shown on any maps of the castle, I heard with his recent renovations a lot of exits have been blocked off, but we can’t promise this completely.’
‘I’ve already got some ideas, don’t you worry.’
Derek trained others too in the art of the blacksmith and with his new finer quality ore he was able to make much better weapons and armour.
‘Addie!’ he called out as he polished his newly designed work. ‘Sword like that you won’t need a shield, but…’ he handed her a fine kite shaped shield with the proud embossed symbol of the Alexandrian phoenix. ‘I haven’t made a shield like this in years, I want you to have this.’
‘It’s a fine shield, if not in my hand it will be displayed for
all to see.’ And it was displayed for all to see in the tavern as it was proudly displayed on a large oak beam, making it one of the first things you’d see once stepping inside. It glistened against the fires and many held up their tankards in respect to the phoenix, knowing that this was their chance to finally make a difference.
Something in Adonia changed since she was rescued, no more did she see herself as having any innocence left in her, like Alexander, she grew bitter. If she wasn’t training her new army, she trained her body to grow stronger, Fenrir would always catch her doing pull ups on the beams of their room, even waking to it. Her fighting also became more brutal, her anger and bitterness she used to fuel her skills as if it gave her power. But there was still that one speck of light left, her insecurity of her now scarred body. Adonia stood in front of her mirror without any upper body clothing. She hated the image, she used to be so beautiful but was now left with this disgusting body.
‘S-sorry.’ Fenrir said as he opened the door and saw her half naked.
‘It’s nothing you haven’t seen before Fen.’ She sighed as she crossed her arms.
‘What’s wrong?’ he said as he approached her. She kept her head down before looking back into the mirror.
‘…Do you love me Fenrir?’
‘Of course.’
‘But how can you love something…So hideous?’ he gave a sigh before walking behind her and wrapping his arms around her body and held her tightly.
‘Because to me, you are more than just flesh.’ Adonia sank into his embrace briefly before turning to him and slid her hand up his arm, feeling the groves and markings of his scars. ‘We’re the same.’ She pressed her hand against his and for the first time with his and looked into his bright green eyes for comfort which she struggled to find.
‘Griffiths tried to destroy me and…Sometimes I feel he succeeded, I was in such a dark place…Out there I feel I can lead these people to victory yet when I’m here by myself and I can see this, what they did to me…I feel weak.’
‘You’re far from weak Adonia, I know the darkness you felt and I can see the growing strength in you every day, not just for the Badlands, but for the whole of Alexander, you’re the phoenix.’ He leant down and gave her a kiss before sitting her on their bed.
‘Fen, not now.’ She sighed; she wasn’t in the mood for such activities, but he had a different idea.
‘I know it’s horrible, but you need to face your fears.’ He removed his shirt and sat opposite her, Adonia stared at him confused, it’s nothing she hasn’t seen before even before their relationship. ‘You said we’re the same? Then we know what each mark is, don’t worry, none of them hurt anymore.’ It was an invitation for her to touch and explore his aged scars, Adonia was scared at first, the painful reminders of her own torture, she recoiled back at first but slowly began to touch, starting with his wrists.
‘Shackles…They were too tight on you.’ She said almost silently under her breath as she felt his wrist then held her own against his seeing the identical marks, then slowly moved up his arms. ‘Burns.’ The more she explored the more nervous she became, she could feel it again, every infliction of pain she could feel again. Even when she touched his back, she could feel the coarse skin, his were deep, probably a lot deeper than her own and in far greater multitude. Adonia felt his chest that still had its fair share of cuts and burns but she didn’t recognise that as torture.
‘Knife wounds from the fights.’
‘There’s a lot here.’ She said as she traced her fingers down to his side where there were numerous markings, most she could see were slashes rather than stabs.
‘They try to aim for the stomach, almost guaranteed death, just had to learn to be quicker.’ She continued to explore his side until he lightly jerked which made Adonia quickly recoil but Fenrir only chuckled. ‘That’s my ribs.’ She smiled but still felt unsure.
‘I still don’t understand Fenrir.’ She sighed almost disappointed.
‘You know what each of my scars are, as I know what yours are, I know the pain you felt, I want you to face that you aren’t alone. Yes, they are a painful reminder but, for us that’s all they are, memories. The scars on your flesh make no difference to the woman that I’ve always known, and care for.’ She gave a soft almost embarrassed smile.
‘For a man it’s different, Greymire had his fair share of scars, so did my brother…But for a woman it’s…’
‘It isn’t Adonia.’ He said softly as he pinched her chin gently. ‘I’ve had my scars since I was six years old, for me they became the norm, I grew up knowing that they were a part of me. It wasn’t until I got older and thought of the impossible; the thought of being with another, how would they react to me? Would they think I was hideous? You think about it and it wears you down, the more you think less of that the less it hurts. It takes time but eventually you learn to live with it then one day it feels as if it’s always been there. But I like I told you before Adonia, you’re still the most beautiful woman I’ve ever met, nothing will ever change that.’
‘You know, ever since I met you…I never took you for the soft type.’ Fenrir gave a light chuckle before leaning his forehead against hers.
‘Consider yourself the first to see it then. I’ve never had the chance to be anything other than how we first met, the only other I ever treated with any softness was…’
‘Arthur.’
‘Hm.’ He sighed. ‘Not a day goes by where I don’t miss him, it should have been me.’
‘Fenrir.’ She leaned against his shoulder and wrapped her arm around his. ‘Arthur is in a much better place now, but he’ll always be with us as long as we keep him in our memories.’
‘You sound so sure.’
‘…My close friends at the camp told me that once when I was coping with Greymire and my family, as long as you remember them, they’ll always be with you, it was hard at first but you get used to it eventually.’
The bell tolled, she gave a sigh and pressed her forehead against his chest.
‘We’re not ready yet…But one day we’ll never have to hide again.’
‘I’ll keep a lookout.’ Adonia slipped from his grasp to hide in the cellar with the other women, but now it was not just women that hid, weapons, armour and other essentials for battle where hidden as well. The blacksmith threw a huge blanket over his work and brought out older items to give the illusion that this was his work. The village was given a full sweep as nothing different had ever happened. Adonia knew she couldn’t recruit every soldier that came to the village, she knew that Griffiths would grow more and more suspicious, but she could hear from their words that no more did the soldiers just search for women, they searched for her.
‘Woman, black hair, blue eyes have you seen her?’ they asked individuals either to receive silence or no acknowledgement of her very existence. Fenrir watched from the rooftops as the soldiers searched peoples’ homes, he knew the weaponry was safe from their view, but he was still concerned for Adonia. She sat in the darkness surrounded by the other women; she noticed a new fierceness growing in Jenny. She was good with a bow and smaller blades, a sword was much too heavy for her to use, better suited to an assassin. The other women were learning fast too, desperate to free themselves from the tyranny of the north. They waited again in silence until the bell tolled again and the hatch was opened.
‘When can we fight these bastards?’ Jenny asked with a frustrated tone as she sat beside Barmic.
‘We aren’t ready just yet, but I have a plan.’ Adonia leaned back in her chair while the others listened to her every word. ‘We’re to separate into three teams.’ She said as she looked out to a map she had made of the outer perimeter of the castle. ‘It’s risky girls, but when the time comes, I want you to go willingly to the castle under the guise of celebration, distract the guards and Griffiths if you get to him as best as you can. Stay together but if and only if you feel in any true danger use your hidden weapons.’ The surrounding prostitutes gave an acknowledg
ing nod. ‘When the girls are in I want the second team to attack the castle head on- this I know will be extremely dangerous, I can’t promise you that you’ll all make it, but this too is merely a distraction. I will lead the final team into the secret exit dressed as soldiers ourselves- how’s the uniforms coming along?’ she asked.
‘Good, just need a few finishing touches and you’ll never know the difference.’
‘Excellent, it’s this group that will take the castle from the inside out, silent kills only as we don’t want to draw attention and blow our cover.’
‘Kill everyone inside?’ Adonia pressed her fist against her lips slightly as she leaned back into her chair then shook her head.
‘No, I am not the monster Griffiths ordered his men to be. I want his son, daughter and wife located and placed in a marked safe room where they will not be harmed in anyway.’ She shuddered at the thought as she remembered her own door, how it had that mark. Greymire never really told her his thoughts on it. But with her new information she knew that Kinlan wanted her alive, she was never supposed to leave that room until Kinlan- the knight in shining armour came to save the day. ‘Also…If there are any soldiers willing to join our cause, let them.’ The tavern mumbled slightly, even though the soldiers here tried their hardest to win the trust of the villagers even they could sense that there was tension.
‘What if…We escorted the ladies?’ Idan asked nervously. A lot of the patrons stared angrily as if to say “who asked you” but Adonia was open to the idea.
‘Continue.’
‘Well, we could act as if we found them fleeing from the south, they’d believe it if we were with them.’
‘That’s not a bad idea.’
‘Well if any of ye even think of layin’ a finger on me missus.’ Barmic snarled.
‘Y-you have our word sir.’ He backed off nervously but Adonia tried to remain on both sides.
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