Chapter 14: Seperate Ways

Connor was the first to recover. "You want to help her?" He asked.

"No." Sara said. "I said I want to join her. On the battlefield. I... I think I know a way to end this without too much further bloodshed."

The Swarm Queen laughed. "Without much further bloodshed? You really are a little girl at heart, aren't you?" She shot cold daggers at Sara. "The only way to end this is to kill them all. To destroy the entirety of the Alliance!"

Sara looked at the Swarm Queen with equal fury and conviction. "And how many people will be caught in the crossfire, hm?"

The Swarm Queen rolled her eyes. "What do I care for their lives?"

"You care for theirs." Sara said, pointing to Kyle and Kaylee. "You rescued them. You saved those two, didn't you? Would you end the lives of the other children like them that get caught in the crossfire?"

"The children you talk about are enemies to me." The Swarm Queen said. "I saved those two from the ruins of Aetrix!"

"Aetrix!" Sara retorted. "The same place that leveled Drex! Tell me you don't harbor at least a little bit of rage for what they did! Tell me you don't regret even a little bit that your old home is gone! Tell me that you aren't still mad at Aetrix for going with Freylice to destroy your town. Look me in the eyes and tell me that you've really just forgotten about something like that!"

The Swarm Queen sprinted forwards with an unnatural speed, the force of her impact with Sara's body knocking her back a few feet and onto the ground. "Don't you dare speak ill of the dead like that!" She roared. "I died that day! I will never forget the suffering and pain that I went through! I-"

"Then tell me that you'd really put others through what you had to go through." Sara said, picking herself up. "Tell me that you'd really put entire cities through that kind of loss. Look me in the eyes and tell me that you'd reduce five cities of families to rubble and people like you, me, Kaylee and Kyle, people whose hearts and souls have been broken by war."

Sara stood there, unmoving, waiting for another strike by the Swarm Queen. It never came. The Swarm Queen looked into her eyes, and for the first time, Sara saw a glint of humanity in them, not the cold murder of the Swarm.

"I... cannot truthfully say that I would." She admitted with a sigh. "Fine then, tell me how to avoid more blood."

Hector watched the Freylician army advance closer through the eyes of his Overseer. His Swarm had assembled in full force before the walls of the city, about ten miles away. They waited along a ridge, holding the high ground in front of a river. Beyond the river was the furthest northern extent of his Creep. Beyond that, a virtually unprotected domain. He'd assembled his entire combat-ready Swarm here, with more being hatched back home. His forces numbered at least forty-thousand, against the twenty-five thousand that Freylice had to be able to field. He held the advantage in numbers. He couldn't lose here. He wouldn't lose here. He refused to.

The "what if this isn't right" sentiment passed through his mind, but he pushed it out. He couldn't go back now, even if he wanted to. It was now or never. The Freylician army came closer...

Sara looked over the assembled might of the Alliance from her vantage point on the ridge. This place, the Swarm Queen had told her, was where her brother had died fighting Freylice and their alliance. He'd managed to defeat most of the Freylician force before the rest of the alliance finally arrived, crushing him with their superior numbers. Then... well, Sara knew the rest of the story.

Behind her, the full force of the Swarm, at least a hundred thousand, waited. Before them, The Alliance, no more than three-fourths that. To her right, Conner. To her left, The Swarm Queen, standing tall before the masses. She'd promised to let her do this. She just hoped that the Alliance would go along with it.

The Alliance's commander walked forwards. "This is your final chance for surrender!" He called. "We will spare your lives if you would only leave us and our land to never return!"

The Swarm Queen stepped forwards. "I will not simply pick up the pieces of my life and leave this place of my birth!" She cried. "Not after all that I have gone through here!"

"But perhaps, an arrangement can be made!" She continued. Sara stepped forwards. "There need not be any more blood shed in this fight! I propose a duel by champions to decide who shall be the victor."

"And what may be the conditions of this fight?" The commander asked, now interested.

"Single combat!" Sara called. "No magic! Should I win, we will be allowed to remain here in peace, and you must never attack us again! Should your champion win, we will leave this place as you asked, and never seek to return."

"Fine, then!" The enemy commander roared. "Single combat!" There was a murmur from the other side as they quickly decided among themselves who was the strongest fighter among them. It took them a while, but they finally decided on a man to represent them. The two met on a level field between the two armies, and squared off. Sara didn't recognize the man before her, nor did he know who he was about to fight. They were strangers, chosen to settle this fight alone.

They began to circle each other, swords drawn. Sara's armor was light and flexible, hardened Chimera leather over a fiber tunic. She knew that it would not protect her from a direct strike of her foe's sword. Even a glancing blow might be able to do her damage. Her foe, however, wore mail. The rings were small and seemed to be made of iron, if not steel. She would have a difficult time finding a place for her weapon to pierce. Her only possibility was a strike at his head, but that would leave her exposed to a counterattack if she were to miss.

Her foe stopped circling and lunged. She parried the blow, and sidestepped as his sword came down in a vertical slash. She cut at his exposed side, but he pulled away, and only the tip of her sword made contact, and that contact was minimal. He attacked again, and she met his sword with her own, the flash of steel and the ring of metal smashing into metal became the light and sound of the duel. Sara moved quickly.

Parry, dodge, slash, pull back, avoid, stab, cut, roll, feint, hack. Her foe's swordsmanship meant that any attacks she made only landed glancing blows against his armor. She'd need a direct hit on him to manage any sort of significant injury, while the glancing blows that she found he made on her armor were able to cut shallow wounds into her flesh. She was bleeding from several small wounds, and she felt exhausted.

She looked to her foe to see him in much the same situation. Though he was uninjured, his armor was weighing him down. His attacks were growing more and more sluggish. The battle would be over soon.

They charged back into the duel, swords moving quickly, despite their mutual exhaustion. However, Sara found her lighter armor allowed her to maneuver better that her foe. She found herself scoring better and better hits against her foe. This revelation fueled her, and she pressed her advantage. Her flurry of attacks began to overwhelm her foe. Finally, his armor began to break under the flurry of strikes. Sara pulled back, centered herself, and charged, delivering the final blow of the duel, driving her weapon into her foe's mail, then into the flesh on his side, then through the mail once again. She withdrew her sword as her foe dropped to his knees, clutching at his wound.

Sara dropped with him, the now-dulled tip of her sword driving into the ground. She shook as the adrenaline left her body, and she struggled to stand. Finding that she could not, she instead crawled a few feet to her foe's crouching form.

"P-please, move y-your hands." She said. Her foe looked at her, and saw a glint in her eyes. He moved his hands, and the blood began to flow quicker out of his wound. Sara's hands closed over the entry and exit wounds, and she closed her eyes. The glow of life magic filled the small field. Slowly, Sara felt her exhaustion fade a little, which was odd, since her using magic should have made her even more exhausted.

She looked to her former foe, who had set his hands on her shoulders. There was a light glow from his hands as he fed her some of his own energy. She smiled weakly, and finished her work. He lifted his hands from her shoulders, and they struggled to their feet.

"Why?" He asked. "Why save me?"

"Because I don't want to see anymore bloodshed." Sara said. "I'm tired of watching people die." Sara closed her eyes, and sighed.

Hector stared out over the army that Freylice had summoned. He was ready to do this. He was ready to fight, to put his life on the line for his family. He would do this for them.

If I don't make it back- He began to send over the link.

You don't have to fight anymore, Hector. Came a familiar voice.

Hector stopped short. There's no way. I'm just imagining things. He told himself.

No, you're not just imagining this, Hector. The voice said again.

S-Sara?

Hi, Hector.

I don't understand. Why...

I don't know why. I don't know why I fell asleep for... how long was I out? Two days?

Y-yeah. Something like that.

I don't know why, Hector. I don't know why I dreamed what I did. I don't know why I woke up when I did. But I know one thing, Hector.

What?

I know that you can't go through with this fight.

Sara, I-

Hector, I'm tired of this. She said forcefully. I'm tired of death. I'm tired of war. I'm tired of all of it.

But Sara! They destroyed Aetrix!

So now you'll destroy Freylice to get even? Will you kill them all? Or will you leave some of them alive in the same state that we were in when we survived Drex? Or like Kaylee and Kyle when Aetrix was reduced to rubble? Will you really be able to live with yourself if you do this?

I'm not going to back down, Sara! I'm going to go through with this, no matter the cost!

Hector, is there anything that I can say or do that will convince you otherwise?

No.

Then I'm sorry, Hector. I really am.

Hector felt Sara's connection to the Swarm disappear. It was almost like he'd never infested her in the first place. Sara! He called through the Swarm. Sara, what are you doing? Answer me!

Freylice's army approached, and he forced himself to worry about the matter at hand.

"Sheila." Sara said, walking up to her Blade Queen.

Shiela looked to the one who'd birthed her, feeling the mental link between them fill her in on all of her Queen's thoughts and emotions.

"Are we really going to leave this place, my queen?" She asked. "Your family is here."

"My brother is gone, Shiela." Sara said. "The kind, caring person who I knew no longer exists. The person who cared for me... The person I loved..." She closed her eyes, fighting back the tears. "He's dead, and there's a bloodthirsty monster in his place."

Shiela remained silent for a bit, then spoke. "Let us go now, my queen. The longer we stay, the harder it will be to go."

So they left their old home behind, and they didn't look back. They kept going, running when they could, walking when they couldn't. They left the Swarm behind them. Sara's sadness was replaced with determination. She'd do better than her brother. He'd let power and emotion go to his head and change him. She refused to let the same happen to her. She wouldn't let it happen.

Part 1: End