Where We Once Were One

Three years before, I’d stood on this very field, encompassed by the richness that was the battle smoke, hand and hand with Esleigh while she swung her sword. Every whistle through the air took down the foe that dared to harm me. 

Now, she was the foe that dared to harm me. 

The moonlight was thick behind her, sharpening the curve of her set jaw and the sparkle of ash in her eye. Her grip tightened on her sword and her nostrils flared. 

Esleigh was a traitor to the throne yet she wasn’t ashamed to show it. In fact, she basked in the thought. A smile steeled her face and she leaned into her feet, readying herself for any move I might have made. 

Give a simple wave of your hand, Commander Leo had said. 

A simple wave and that’s all it would take to end Esleigh–one wrong step from her and the arrows of the First Order would pierce through her heart. At my command. 

The smell of danger rode thick over the field like the clouds gathering in the early morning fog, hovering just above the still lake. 

Another place where Esleigh and I played when we were children. 

Before my father committed treason, leaving me to rebel against him in order to protect our vassal kingdom. Alfuron was loyal to Etherya. To the Princess. My father was not and I now held the weight of his crown–a crown I needed to iron and sharpen for glory instead of being a pyre for Etherya. 

Esleigh’s chest rose and my thoughts pulled me. It was a place that, if I was unfortunate, would have my sword buried to the hilt in mere moments. 

No, it wouldn’t. I wouldn’t let that happen. 

“I thought we agreed to come alone,” she stated, drawing a halt to the silence.  

I considered her for a long moment. “You said to meet alone at the place we once were one. No formal borders exist.”

Her lips twitched. “Afraid, are you?”

My heart palpitated. The last time I heard that phrase, she was lecturing a maid who’d dared spill milk on me. I swallowed.

“No.”

“Then why have you brought three Alfuron Guards?” She gestured to the forest. 

I bit my lip. Three, she thought. I had more than that. But the Etheryan Knights–the knights of the realm we swore fealty to–were good. Too good, it seemed. They lurked like cougars in the night, their bows sharp and ready. 

“If you kill me, she will have your head in three days,” I replied. Three seconds, really, but she couldn’t know that. Not yet.

“Is this really how it is now?” she asked, tilting her head, a mocking smile on her lips. 

“This is how you made it, Esleigh.”

She didn’t hold back her scoff, her weight shifting. “You are the one who betrayed your father.”

“He wanted a rebellion.”

“He wanted,” she paused, “to save the throne from the hands of another foreigner, another powerful ruler.”

“Yet she saved us,” I replied. “It’s what the Prophecy–”

“To hell with the Prophecy,” she growled, leveling her sword in front of her face. “She was an outsider. We couldn’t trust her.” 

I straightened, scanning the edge of my weapon before staring at hers. “And she proved you wrong.”

The corner of her lips teetered. The glimmer in her eye returned, but it was different. Something hidden, buried deep. But I didn’t push.  

“The Princess of Etherya wasn’t as evil as your father thought but I suppose the fight is between you and me now, isn’t it?” she said. 

I took in a breath, tracing my gaze over the familiar features of her face. The high-set cheekbones, the vast, deep amber eyes, and the narrow button nose that dipped just over her lips. Lips that had whispered secrets of the court years before. Sweet, innocent gossip passing hot between our ears, the daily blabber of teenage nobles. 

What would I give to get it back?

“Now is your chance,” I replied. “I am the ruler of Alfuron now. If you turn your sword on me, you will be charged with treason. Not only treason against Alfuron but against Etherya as well.”

Her smile dropped and she stilled, the little bone in her throat working. The Esleigh I knew would never back down from a fight. She’d never feel insecure. Or if she did, she wouldn’t show it. So, why was she now?

It faded. 

“So be it,” she muttered.

The iron was next to my throat in an instant, and I swung my sword. The clang resonated through the trees before her weight shifted. A glimmer at my waist–and my hand carved through the air, slamming into hers. The dagger she held thumped onto the damp grass yards away. She came at me again but I threw out my foot, knocking into the leather padding on her wrist. 

Her stance faltered. The sword fell. 

I lunged for her. 

She rolled back onto the ground and I kicked again but another dagger sliced the air, tearing into the flesh of my calf. My cry seared the air, and she launched off her bent thigh, her sword large and angry on me

The moon caught something in the grass. The dagger. If only it was closer, I could use it. I could win without having to put an arrow through her heart.

Her sword found my shoulder, slicing into skin. In my scream, my elbow met her chin, knocking her teeth together. She coughed, blood plotting the ground in circular drops. 

My breath came in a rasping whisper. “End this,” I said. “End this, now.”

She sneered at me, the crimson a frame on her teeth, filling into the gap at the front. Her stance shifted in response and I launched for her. 

Her blade crossed in front of me, and I pressed against her. 

If I could get her close to the ground, I could restrain her. With vines. She just needed to be near the ground so the vines went unnoticed until I had them around her, too thick to burn without effort. Without her breaking free before the knights could detain her. 

She thrashed against me. Her nails caught my cheek, ripping into the flesh and I stumbled back. She jumped to me but my foot was at her ribs in seconds, sending her into the torn grass. 

Behind her was a hill. A dip in the landscape. 

Three steps and I could get her to the ground. 

One step, our swords clanged, the jolt sending a numbing ache through my wrist. Two steps, dirt dislodged beneath her and she faltered again. The glimmer returned in her eyes and she met my gaze, the desperation there. But I couldn’t reason why. Three steps, her hand grappled for her dagger and I moved forward until she fell. Down the hill. 

I jogged after her, forcing her face into the cool soil. A hiss escaped her and she thrashed but my grip was firm. Now was the time. One small wave. 

But if the knights saw her down, perhaps they wouldn’t shoot to kill. Authority of her punishment had been allotted to me. My life was no longer at a direct threat. If they shot her in a fatal spot, the action would no longer be Alfuron’s. It would be Etherya’s.

I took advantage of the thought. With a wave, the whistle of an arrow zipped past my ear and I saw my action first hand embed deep into Esleigh’s shoulder.

She screamed. 

Every ounce of me burned to close my eyes. To look away. 

I didn’t. 

The blood seeped from her wound, decorating the arrow with crimson swirls,and she convulsed before going limp, her scream dying into a soft cry. A shadow fell over us. I looked up. 

Just as I suspected, her guards were there, their arrows aimed at me. The Alfuron Guard responded, their bowstrings drawn against the enemy. I glanced back at Esleigh. “You did the same as me.”

 She bit into the leather padding at her wrist, her eyes meeting mine. Hers were different now, alight with the flicker of emotion I saw briefly before battle. “And why wouldn’t I?”

“Call them off. Or they will be injured with you.”

She stared, and I waited. The enemy kept all thirty arrows aimed at me until each one clicked, their drawstrings going loose as they snapped to attention.My gaze flittered between them and Esleigh. She hadn’t moved or spoken…she gave the command, through the mind channel. 

Only so I wouldn’t hear her admit defeat. 

The energy pulsated in my arms and I reached for it. My vines wrestled her arms to her back until they were a thick wall around her limbs. I eased off her and my Guard stepped forward, the purple cuffs hanging from their hands. 

“You teamed with her,” Esleigh muttered. 

I peered at her. 

“The arrow is an Etheryan arrow. The First Order…they’re here, aren’t they?”

I flinched but I didn’t answer. She tore her eyes from mine, her head falling limply to the ground as the cuffs tightened around her wrists. 

She smiled again, but this time no sneer was present. “I already knew, Everlee. You know me. I can’t go down without a fight.”

I froze and her eyes drooped closed. I bit my lip, the tears building. The Guard scanned me, awaiting permission to drag her off, and I nodded, the others in my Guard immediately approaching Esleigh’s men. 

My Guard’s bows were out with every step. Esleigh might have ordered hers to shoot after she was taken away. To continue their mission. Yet they surrendered, lowering to their knees, their hands raised high above their heads. I studied each weapon on the ground, each wood-chipped bow. They were thugs. Bandits. Refugees. All looking for an extra coin. 

The First Order wouldn’t step out, wouldn’t verify her theory. Yet I didn’t deny it. It was enough verification she needed. When she was hauled off the ground, she blinked, her eyes glazed. “I still hold true to what I did.”

A stretch of silence hung between us. “I know.”

“But…” she averted her gaze to my calf, the blood staining the grass. “I’m sorry, I suppose. For injuring you.”

The breeze whipped through her blonde hair, revealing an inking we both got together when we were thirteen. “I know.”

The Guard tightened their grip on her and I nodded, Esleigh’s body and moonlit frown disappearing from view. I stared at the hill stained in her blood. It crested toward the west. 

She came from the east. Beyond it were many hills that followed the same pattern. Esleigh knew about my technique of using landscape as my leverage. Something my father taught us. Something I mastered before I could perfectly wield a sword. 

I sucked in a breath. 

Meet at the place we were once one. 

The hill tactic. 

The flickering in her eyes. 

She knew.