30 Day Image Prompt Competition

Day 2 Prompt 1 - Warrior Princess

         “Scouts have reported that the enemy camp is located ten miles to the north of here,” Tobias reported as he pointed to a location on the map before them. “There are about fifty knights with a hundred infantry soldiers.”
         “What security have they set up?” Callum asked as he studied the map.
         “Very little, I’m told. There’s a patrol of about ten soldiers that circles the camp with half a dozen sentry points set up here … here … and here.” Tobias looked at the men stood around the wooden table, all knights with a firm resolve in their eyes. “They do not fear pursuit. It is known that they believe themselves to be invincible and above reproach.”
         Kyr looked up from the map before him, his blue eyes cold and hard, like shards of ice waiting to cut into your soul. “Their mistake. Have the men make ready. We leave before dawn. I want to catch them before they are ready to move out and on to their next target.”
         “You think they will want to attack another village so soon after the last one? Surely they would want to lie low for a few days before moving on?” Kirk asked, a puzzled expression across his bronzed features. Like so many of the other soldiers, he had fought alongside Kyr in many battles and whilst he respected the other man’s leadership he was not averse to questioning some of his decisions.
         If Kyr was annoyed by Kirk’s questioning of his decision it did not show on his face. Those that were close to him knew that he welcomed others to question him for it showed attentiveness and a quest to learn more rather than just benignly accept decisions made. “They are bloated with their victories. None have dared to challenge them as they have travelled throughout this land. None have followed their trail of blood and destruction in an attempt to stop or capture them. Until the first challenge is made, they will continue to move from village to village, raping and murdering all who cross their path.”
         “I guess it’s time for us to make that first challenge, then.” Kirk looked around at the others. “The first and only challenge.” Nods of agreement echoed his firm words as the waiting knights all accepted the call to this challenge.
         “Prepare your men. I want them well rested before we leave. They will have the advantage of being on their home ground whereas we will have the advantage of surprise. I do not intend to give anything away to them.” Kyr look around the table, seeing the determination stamped across the features of those before him. These were his trusted commanders, men who had fought by his side in an endless series of battles against enemies great and small. They were a unit, tight and secure following a quest to protect those unable to do so themselves. “We will meet here a half hour before we leave to discuss the final plans.”
         After the large canvas tent had emptied, Kyr wandered back to the wooden table and stared long and hard at the map before him. His eyes studied the terrain, noting the hills and forests that had been carefully plotted. His soldier’s mind had already identified the areas where they could approach the camp undetected, the areas to be avoided due to their being no cover. He had seen what would be the camp’s strongest and weakest defence points, the escape routes that could be used should the battle not go the rebel’s way. The fight on the morrow would be a hard one but they were not unused to such battles and he had not doubt that they would encounter further testing encounters in the future. For now, though, he would deal with this one and all the possible outcomes.
         “What time do we leave?”
         The soft, melodic voice cut through his thoughts like a hot knife through butter yet he did not look up from his contemplation of the map. He had been expecting her appearance after his men had left. It had just been a question of how long she would wait before joining him.
         “I leave in the morning before dawn breaks. I want to catch them before they are fully awake and prepared for battle.” His voice was as firm as his visage, inviting no challenge to his directive.
         “You leave?” The voice was closer, a touch of incredulity rippling through its dulcet tones. “Don’t you mean ‘we leave’?”
         “No, I meant what I said, as I always do.” There was a subtle warning in his reply, directing her not to challenge his decision.
         She pushed him away from the table so that she could stand before him. A petite firecracker who barely reached his chin yet had a temper to match his own. Red hair crackled with energy, framing a face with a skin of the softest silk and green eyes that flashed with an emerald fire. From the rosy tint streaking across her cheekbones he could see she was mad at him and he hid a smile at her challenge of his authority.
         “You leave?” she repeated, her tone hardening with the anger coursing through her. “You do not go after them alone!”
         “I won’t be alone. My men will be with me, to fight by my side, as they have always done,” Kyr replied in a neutral voice.
         Her eyes flashed even brighter as her temper burned hotter at his words. “Do you really think that I will let you, and your men, go after those bastards? You forget that they were my people they raped and murdered. My village they ransacked before burning it to the ground. I will not sit here and wait whilst you go and deal with them. That is not my way!”
         Kyr took a step forward, bringing himself to almost, but not quite, touching of her lithe form. His control rose another notch as he fought the urge to haul her into his arms and kiss her senseless before dragging her through to their quarters and making love to her until she was too weak and sated to challenge him.
         “It may not be your way but this time you will stay here. Those men do not care who they fight or kill. Man, woman or child, it matters not to them and I will not put the lives of my men at risk because their leader is too worried about what his woman is doing in the middle of a battle. You will either stay here willingly or I will have Tomas tie you to the bedpost until I return!”
         She looked up at him, not intimidated one inch by his domineering presence. She had felt a secret thrill when he had declared her to be his woman, a title he had never bestowed upon any woman, let alone her, before. But, even that acknowledgement was not going to stop her from claiming her right to go after those who had wronged her and her people.
         “I have the right to seek justice for what they have done and I demand that right. You cannot stop me from taking it!” Rash words, she knew, but she would not back down, not without giving him a fight.
         Kyr stared down at her, his warrior princess, his woman. She was his guiding light, a flame against the darkness that threatened to consume him. He would not allow her to put herself in such a position to risk that beacon being extinguished. Should he lose her, not have her in his life, he would not be able to stop the consequences of her loss. The darkness within him would win and his world would be forever dark.
         “Do not challenge me, Keira,” he warned, his voice tight with control. “You will not like it if you lose.”
         “Then do not stop me from getting what I want, what I need to atone for what they did.”
         Words were getting them nowhere and Kyr was tired of arguing with her. One muscled arm reached out across the small gap between them and hauled her against his hard chest. Her soft curves fitted perfectly into his harsh angles as his lips claimed hers in a deep, soul seeking kiss that released the fires that burned within them.
         The time for words was past, now it was the time for actions to speak the words that neither of them were willing to say, yet.

         The faint, silvery glow of the moon was still visible in the early dawn sky as Keira reined her mare to a halt and climbed out of the saddle. She had managed to sneak out of the camp less than an hour after Kyr had left. Tomas, his loyal servant, had been left dozing in his chair, a sleep brought on by the light dose of the sleeping potion she had put in his breakfast drink. She felt a slight tinge of guilt at what she had done but had no regrets. This was her battle as well as Kyr’s and she would not be left in camp whilst he went off to fight.
         She unclipped the heavy, wooden shield from its saddle mount. Its steel rim and dragon wings emblem glittering in the pale moonlight as she placed her arm through its holding straps. Her father’s broadsword, with the emerald jewel embedded in the pommel, was released from the leather scabbard on her back as she made her way up the slight incline to the crest of the hill.
         Crouching between the craggy boulders, shielded by the long grass, she studied the battle scene before her. Kyr’s men had already commenced their attack on the rebel camp and she could hear the clang of steel against steel as the two armies met with deadly force. The cries of the wounded and the dying could be heard as cold steel tasted the warm life blood of the enemy.
         None would notice her slipping amongst the ranks to join the fighting, to seek out the revenge of her people. When it was over, when their deaths had been avenged and their souls appeased, she would present herself to Kyr and accept whatever punishment he wished to deliver, for that was his right just as this was her right.
         A grim smile crossed her features as she thought about the vengeance due to her. They would pay for what they had done, pay with their blood, their lives, their souls. There would be no mercy, no surrender, no giving of anything only death until the cries of the fallen had ceased. This was her vow, her promise, her fight.
         With a final glance at the battle below, she turned and retraced her steps back to her waiting mare. The sword was returned to its embossed leather scabbard before she secured her flame red hair and covered it with the helmet that was as black as the armour she wore like a second skin.
         Seated astride the mare, she looked like any of Kyr’s loyal warriors rather than a princess of a ravaged and battered kingdom. Today, her royal standing was forgotten as she followed the path of vengeance against those who had wronged her people.
         The warrior princess, who had once challenged Kyr on the battlefield when he had tried to take her castle, was back and woe betide anyone who dared to stop her, including Kyr.