Chapter 4: This Is Not What I Signed Up For

Maiden Chapter 4: This is Not What I Signed Up For

My sword bounces off his shield. My fingers tighten as the vibrations of the two clashing walls resonate throughout my arm. His foot digs into the ground as he twists his body, his spear aiming for my gut. I mirror his shield as I spin around, keeping his spear’s angle weird. Even with his obstructed angles, he goes for a thrust, missing me. I thrust my crescent-shaped blade downward, aiming for the wooden shaft of the spear. The metal alloy is inching itself into the wooden barrier. I click my cheek as the blade slips out of the tiny crevice it made as I pull away. Those bedtime stories weren’t so accurate, huh, Dad?

The man screams, his lungs piercing my eardrums. Shoving his shield into my chest, I brace myself. My face contorts as I dig my heels into the dirt. The ground catches the momentum from my legs. Unable to hold my torso from the man's strength as my knees lock and my body flies off the ground. My grip on the sword is wavering as I roll across the dirt. My fingers rip into the ground, filling my nails with dirt as I try to control my body. My gut blanketed by the waterlogged ground dirties up my once feminine appearance. I look up at the giant as he rushes towards me, his spear pointing downwards, no not downwards but at me. I lift my right hand, expecting a sword, but all I see is dirt. Eyes growing in shock, I don’t have time to look for the sword as his spear thrusts right at me. A scream erupts from my throat. The tip of the blade grazing my stomach. The man kicks my chest back down as he yanks his spear from the dirt, but its tip refuses to budge from the entanglement of mud.

My eyes lit up with fire as the man stared down at me. His boot planted on my chest, pressing me into the ground. The boot is full of grime and dried blood. His eyes peek through as he yells in a tongue I do not recognize. His hand leaves the spear and reaches for the sword at his hip. I use the moment to push up against his leg, shoving my hand into his knee, causing it to bend in the wrong direction. He gives a blood-curdling scream and kicks my body away. I roll further away. My back landed on something hard and sharp. A more rounded object than the weapons I dropped earlier. The man yells at me, probably curses in his foreign language. I pull myself back onto my feet, grabbing the object under me.

He strides towards me with his sword unsheathed, pointing its symphony of death at me. His eyes show crystal clear rage. I toss the heavy object at the man, hitting him in the head by surprise. The rock bounces off his skull onto the ground next to him, stunning him. I rush him, grab his shield, and yank it. Its wooden body refuses to come off the man's arm. I reach into my purse and grab one of the marbles. I don’t know which one, but at this range, anything will work. The struggle from the man as he attempts to shove me off his shield is cut short when my hand reaches past the shield, a small marble stuck between my knuckles. Mana courses through my body as a spark of flames flashes into his face. His cloth scarf catches fire. The man uses all his strength to wrestle me off his body while flames douse his face. The heat of the marble burns my hand. During the wrestling, I pull the marble back towards his shield, lighting it on fire before I am tossed a great distance from the man. My body slams into a tree, the pain causing red-tainted puke to puddle out of my mouth.

My mind goes back to the past, my body being gripped by my parents as they hold me tight, whispering sweet love into my ears. Their hugs broke any form of courage I had as I stood at the end of our property, my bags in hand, my dream in my mind, my tears in their arms. Is this how my life ends? What did I accomplish by leaving home? I wanted to be more feminine and find love, but I'm going to die lying in dirt, cuts covering every inch of my ripped clothes, alone. The world around my body darkens as my parents disappear. The stars of the sky sparkle as my body lies in the grass. I watch as each star dances around, each one beating like a living heart. But there is one large star, one so large that anyone who sees it knows it is the most important. The moonlight brushes into my sight, the beam of light burning itself into my irises. I panic, but my body soothes in the nothingness, no pain from the blindness, no crickets from nature, no feeling of grass at my feet, just peace.

I wake up under a tree. My body aches, the red shirt now a darker shade around my side. My vision is blurry, but I look around. I don’t know what's happening. Where am I? Why am I in so much pain? I see a man soaked in water walking towards me. His body thumps into the ground with each step. His face is partly covered with a cloth with burnt edges. The visible flesh is burned, mangled, painful. Memories flood my mind about the brawl. I look around for anything as the man approaches me with a blade, his grin smiling to the edges of his face. He jumps on top of me, wrestling me onto my back. His blade hangs above his head, and lightning swirls around it as he slams it downward, aiming for my heart. I reach for a broken piece of wood, catching the blade in the wood. The blade crackles as it breaks halfway through the wood. I grit my teeth as I try to overpower the man. How am I going to overpower a man? Even a man as injured as him? I think as he moves inch by inch closer to my chest. My elbows are breaking the dirt under them as I brace myself. I close my eyes. God, please.

Tears are dripping down my cheeks as the weight of the man lessens. Peeking through my eyelids, I see an arrow stuck inside the man's chest. His body turns as another arrow is shot into him. He tries to stand up, but a third arrow hits him as he falls, his weight landing on me. My body absorbs the impact, causing my torso to spring upward into the blade, its tip slicing into me—electricity pounds through my entire body as I lose feeling all over. My arms holding the piece of wood fail, causing the blade to fall into my chest. I see three men rushing over, one with a bow and two knights. They throw the man’s body off of me, my vision starting to fade as one of them grips the blade’s handle.