Several days passed before Boro and Lady Jesa's forces began to move again. During the day Boro did his best to stay as far from Lady Jesa as possible, but he frequently found the task near impossible, she attended every meeting. Be it a meeting for the leaders or just a small counsel meeting to resolve minor disputes in camp, she was there. She never made comment about their night in her tent but Boro often felt, and saw, her eyes on him and although she did not speak of it, she also did not shy away from being close to him. She would wait for the rest of the officers to leave to try catching him alone, and despite him doing his best to make excuses to leave, she had successfully caught him alone several times. She continued to court him when she caught him alone, offering to sit with him for meals, or attend him while they were on the move, once she even asked for a private audience in his own tent... In front of several of his own officers.
Before long she will be waking up early and joining Nila and I for breakfast. He prayed that would not come to pass.
He no longer feared her interference with questioning Nila. Four days after their night in her tent she had managed to catch him before he left the command tent after a officer meeting and asked again about putting Nila, and the other prisoners, to the question. He told her in a not so tactful way that he would see himself dead before anyone of his prisoners were tortured, she did not take that well at all and threatened to bring him up on charges of conspiracy with the counsel in charge of the rebellion. He knew that her threats were meaningless, none of the counsel would believe Boro a traitor this late into the rebellion but the threat left Boro furious and in a dark mood, in reply to her threat he made some of his own, one very unchivalrous and beneath him. He did not mean it, at least not after his anger had passed, and sought her out after cooling off to apologize, she too apologized and mentioned that her family's temperments always ran on the hotter side. She even apologized for what had happened in her tent. Boro was taken aback at the mention of the disastrous night in her tent but felt that her apology was sincere and quickly forgave her. After that she stopped bring up questioning the prisoners and Boro stopped trying to hide from her every chance he got. Things seems to get better after that for a while and they traveled in peace for nearly a span*.
It was when Boro and Lady Jesa's army was just a few days away from Kurten things began to fall apart. Several wagons had their wheel spokes broken, a handful of young riders had been thrown from their mounts after the horses tumbled into unseen holes in the snowy road, more then once trees had fallen on to one of their supply carts crushing the horses pulling them, once someone had carelessly left a lantern on the back of another supply cart carrying food, the lantern was knocked over and set the cart on fire, burning all the food in the cart and the horses pulling them. It seemed as if the world itself was conspiring against them, that or they truly did have a traitor in their midst sabotaging their progress.
Boro woke early to a particularly cold morning, icicles had formed over night and dangled from nearly every stationary object. A fresh layer of snowfall had left the world a dazzling, pure white. Boro made his way to the large tent with the cook pots and got himself two thick, creamy bowls of hot wheat, one for Nila and one for himself. He found Nila already awake in the tent she had to herself. Normally she would have been in a tent with the rest of the hostages but since she was a blademaster they had kept her separate from the others. She was treated well as befit her title and station but was still shackled hand and foot to a large steel pole in the center of her tent.
Boro carefully handed her the bowl of hot wheat and sat by her. She thanked him but something seemed off today, she did not wear her customary smile when she saw Boro, and they ate their meals in near silence. After they both finished Boro collected both bowls and utensils and put them aside.
"Is something amiss Nila? You're usually more lively then this"
She looked at him, her eyes sadder then he had ever seen. "I do not think I have much longer for this world Boro."
"What that is nonsense, none here, or anywhere else would kill you, you are a prisoner and a valuable hostage."
She looked at him and pity replaced the sadness in her eyes, "You were always too good and honest Boro, even at the academy. You never cheated, never slacked, and always helped any who would ask it. You have always been too innocent for this world."
She continued on over his attempt to speak, "I hear things, even here, and I know what fate awaits me at Kurten. I will be out of your reach and protection there, and when you must move on, I will need remain. It fills me with sadness to think about how my final day with you approaches so quickly."
Boro had not given any thought to her staying behind at Kurten, although he knew that it was likely, he had held out hope he could sway her to join his side. But she had not budged at all on her stance in the war, in fact she seemed to have dug her heels in even further in their conversations about sides.
He did not know where the courage came from, but he grabbed her hands and lifted them, and lowered his voice so none might hear, "Nila, i'm in love you. I have been for so long. If you say that you feel the same and that you will join me, I will unshackle you right now and marry you. We will leave this war together, we can travel west and leave these lands forever."
Tears had begun falling from her eyes, and she shook her head vigorously. "Boro, you know as well as I that is not possible. We would be hunted for traitors by both sides forever. Never knowing a day of rest or comfort. Always on the move, not knowing when we could be living our last day. I can not live like that and I know that you could not either."
"I could run forever, through the flames of damnation itself, if I had you at my side."
She did not answer, only held back a sob and wiping her tears away she said, "I love you Boro... But I can not be with you and fight for the side i believe in without it destroying us both. I am sorry Boro." Then she looked down at the ground, a river a tears falling uncontrollably from her eyes.
Boro felt a sharp pain radiate from his chest, as if a knife a been plunged into his heart. He had been stabbed before and he would rather be knifed a million times then feel what he was feeling at that moment. The pain felt so real he had to stop himself from clutching his chest, his breath began coming out shorter and ragged. He turned away from her to hide his pain, but it felt palpable, as if he were wrapped in a miasma of his pain. Without another word he left the tent.
Boro did not visit Nila that night, or the following day, or the day after that. A weight had settled in his chest, as if an anvil had replaced his heart, but at the same time he felt empty too, as if his heart had been removed completely. He went about the following days like a ghost, the emptiness and weight growing. But he knew he had to press on, that this fight was more important than his pain.
Kurten came into view just as night had begun to settle so Boro had his army halt for the night, by this time tomorrow they would be right outside the city, merging with the massive army camp Boro saw outside the city walls. Thousands of campfires sent up clouds of smoke and Boro could just make out the sounds and smells of the army. Just one more night and he would be a leader in the greatest army ever assembled on Korone. The thought had once excited and terrified him, but now he felt none of those.
As he lay in his tent that night he thought over the last few days. This would be the end of his time with Nila, maybe forever. He wanted to go to her but he continued to lay on his pallet instead, his heart heavy with a paralyzing grief. Eventually his eyes closed from exhaustion. His dreams that night were vivid and filled with horror.
He woke from his nightmare sweat drenched despite the cold of the winter night. As he laid he tuned into the sounds of the camp around him. It was quite this deep in to night, no sounds at all reached Boro. At first he did not notice the silence that enveloped the night, it was not until he heard just the faintest sound of a muffled set of feet moving close by his tent that he realized something was wrong. Even this late at night he would be able to hear the sounds of steel boots patrolling the camp. Steel boots... Steel boots did not make muffled sounds. He sprung to his feet and reached for his sword. He concentrated on the sounds around him again, this time giving it his undivided attention.
Boro's tent was near the center of the camp along with the tents of several officers and the prisoners. He could hear movement outside, more muffled feet. He crept to the entrance of his tent, and cracked the flap open just a fraction. The fire pit near his tent was out, only a trail of smoke let him know of it had even been there and there were no guards in sight. Several shadows moved on the opposite side of the fire however, Boro could just make out the silhouettes of several people moving in and out of tents. Just like that Boro flung himself out of his tent and let out a roar that pierced the silence of the night.
"TO ARMS, INTRUDERS IN THE CAMP!"
Boro hear the sound of muffled feet to his right and barely leapt out of the way in time, narrowly avoiding the thrust of a sword. He felt the blade graze his chest as he spun in the opposite direction, his own sword flashing in the light of Korone's moons as he delivered an overhead blow to the shadow that tried to kill him. He felt his blade cleave through soft leather and hard steel of a helmeted foe. There was a quick intake of breath and then nothing from the slain person. He shouted again and begun to hear the shout from all around him as soldiers woke from their slumber. The shadowed forms that were across the firepit charged him. One of the shadows was huge, nearly three or four hands taller than him but moved with grace that can only belong to one well practiced in swordplay.
Boro dispatched two of the shadows before the huge one and another smaller fighter was on him. The hulking fighters own blade, a massive piece of steel, was brought down towards him, both hands gripping the sword. The other slashed at Boro's waist. Boro threw himself out of the way rather then try to block, rolling and leaping back to his feet before re-engaging with the foes. Both fighters worked in tandem to kill Boro, not giving a break in between there slashes for Boro to catch his breath. One, the smaller of the two, attempted to end their fight with Cobra Strike the Rat, feinting a high attack and then quickly whipping their blade into a slash at Boro's left leg. At the same time the other attempted to hit Boro head on with Bull Rushs the Hill.
Boro nimbly stepped back twice out of reach of the shorter opponents blade and then set himself into Sea Meets the Sand, both his feet planted firmly to the ground and his blade held sideways to block an incoming downward blow from the larger foe. He slide back from the force of the blow, and sparks burst from the point of contact on both swords. but Boro remained firm in his stance. Then without moving his feet, he brought his sword around in a half circle striking at his advancing opponents exposed right side. He hit something firm on the enemies arm, a muffled DING, the only sound he heard that indicated he even hit the person.
They must be wearing steel wrapped up in some sort of fabric to hide sounds. Boro thought before striking again at the huge foe, this time he struck at legs protected in the same fashion. At the same time his sword hit, his foe smashed a huge fist into Boro's stomach and the second used Wind Through the Wheat to slash at Boro's exposed back several times. He was nearly lifted off the ground by the blow to his gut, which was quickly followed up with by a backhand blow to the face, sending Boro spinning, while at the same time a burning sensation exploded from his back.
Boro gritted his teeth and used the momentum of the blow to spin around and smash his sword hilt right into the temple of the big enemy. Then quickly followed up the blow with a defensive form, Cat Leaps the Fence, landing lightly on both feet he bound forward immediately thrusting upwards towards the smaller foe to force distance between them, then again turned to strike the larger of the two with a blow to his exposed throat using his left hand. There was a crunching sound and the foe fell to their knees, dropping their sword, and clutching their throat.
Boro stabbed the huge person in the heart and kicked them over. His head still spun from the force of those last blows but he did not have time to waste. He spun about to face the second enemy but saw that the coward was already fleeing into the night. All around him there were shouts and the sounds of fighting. Light began to shine in several places in the camp, flames that were leaping from tent to tent, lighting up the night. Boro ran to the tent holding Nila, and found in empty save for shattered shackles. The same was true for all the tents holding prisoners, all were empty of life.
Boro shouted orders to nearby soldiers, "You two there, gather some people and put out those flames, you four gather as many as you can and secure our camp lines, you and you, bring me my horse our prisoners are missing"
It took nearly three hours to get the camp back in order, several more intruders had been found and killed but none were their former prisoners. When Boro say the face of the huge warrior he had killed, he saw that it was none other then Fur himself, a graduate of the Academy. The last Boro had seen of Fur was after Nila had bested him so many years ago. Although he was still furious, a sadness also overtook him, Fur may not have been his friend but he had know Boro and had even sparred with him on occasion when they were still students. Boro shook the sadness off and remembered that he still had to secure his army and his prisoners too. Boro inspected every body and none were Nila. Boro was both relieved and furious. Boro had lead a mounted search party that night, not wanting to waste any time and allow his escapee's to get further away from him.
How could they have been attacked in the heart of their camp, just a days march from the rest of their army? How could they have been ambushed so close to their destination? These and more questions seemed to fill his mind as he and his men searched the trees for their escaped prisoners.
Rage still seemed to fill Boro as the light of the sun's began to shine through the early morning fog. Boro had halted the search after one his soldiers ran her horse in to a ditch and broke its leg forcing them to mercy kill the horse and carry the rider back to the healer tent to mend a broken ankle.
Still seething Boro ordered his army forward. After just a few short hours, Boro and his officers had arrived before Kurten, were they were greeted by the Lord Commander of the rebel forces, High Lord Hyltel Rembrate, one of the highest ranking nobles in all of Gladous.
High Lord Hyltel was a boulder of a man. Lord Hyltel was not a particularly tall man, in fact Boro was at least a head taller than him. However he was built like a blacksmith. His wide body, at first glance, could be mistaken for fat but once you got close you could see he was all muscle. His large hands looked like that could easily crush stone. He had a wide, square jaw and a bald face and head making him look much more youthful then he really was.
The High Lord looked Boro up and down, taking in the young man and gave him a slight frown. "Hello Sir, you are late." the high lord said calmly. "I was expecting someone more... mature" He told Boro, not saying this as an insult but as a point of fact.
"You and every other lord or lady it seems." he mumbled before continuing on.
"I apologize for the delay High Lord, poor weather and misfourtune have taken their toll, we were also ambushed last night, our prisoners were freed and several of our soldiers have were killed in the fighting" Boro replied in the same fashion. He found that with Lords and Ladies, High ones in particular, it was best to remain as neutral toned as possible. " I am Boro Malus sir, as i am sure you are aware. The council of twelve has sent me to join Lady Jesa's and my own, armies, with yours."
"Yes, settle your forces in for now and then gather your officers in my command pavillion. We have much to discuss before we set off to cross the Eastern Gladous mountains."