Love and Duty
"I love you," said Ahmed carrying a dagger as the war waged around him. Dragons spit fire and frost and made cries of thunder. Some lay on the ground, pierced by giant rocks. Fire and air clashed as warriors made their roars, trembling the earth. Unfeeling and Ever-obeying machines crushed people beneath them as they marched forward. Commanders shouted to their regiments, and the once peaceful valley of Barmount now cried with tears of blood.
"That was a long time," said Hira, wearing chainmail. Scimitar in one hand while fire burned in her other.
"Is your name not Hira and mine, Ahmed? Are you not the girl that laughed with me just a month ago?"
She stretched her hand, and a storm erupted from her hand, but Ahmed easily extinguished it with his blow, though some of his front hair burned.
"We still have a chance," he said, but Hira kept looking at his burned hair.
"It was your clan that broke the pact." She jumped and moved her hand in the opposite direction to speed herself up. She turned into living fire, and in the blink of an eye, her scimitar was inches away from his chest, but as she looked at him: He looked right at her. He moved right in a flash, and she couldn't control her speed and fell.
"Fight me!" she said, getting up.
"Why should we suffer for the mistakes of our clans?"
"Has the clans not suffered for us? Do you forget the Wall of Tears, where half of my clan died to stop the Fire Giants or when all of your men died to save the women and children?"
"When things calm down. We'll return."
"You don't understand!"
Hira roared, hurling toward him. He looked in horror at her once sweet eyes; as he doughed her attacks again and again. She moved like the wind, and before he knew it, a fireball ravaged his chest, throwing him away. His eyes snapped from one place to another as he tried to find his dagger. Finally, he grabbed it, but Hira jumped over him, diving toward his face. He blocked her scimitar, and her necklace slipped from under her armour. It had a white rose with a golden centre: the one he made for her.
And The one she still wore.
He looked at her numb eyes; her pain was no less. She banged his dagger, and it trembled. Then she went for his face, scarring his left cheek. Blood spurts out of it, and he throws her away with a gush of wind.
She looked at his scared face as he tried to smile, the brightest smile she had ever seen, but then his wound pained, and he looked away.
"Do you think I want to do this?" A tear dropped from her eyes.
"Then come with me." He took a few steps forward.
"Just kill me."
"Never."
"Why didn't you ask me a month ago? When the burden of responsibility was not given to me."
"Would you come with me?"
"I'll do anything for you. But I…I… father was ill, so I came in his place. I can't betray him. His honour will be ruined."
"When the war is over, we can come back. Your father is a reasonable man. He'll come back."
"This whole war is unreasonable. Clan Barmount and yours had skirmishes for years, so what if they had another."
"Maybe they had enough."
"It's not about reason, it's about duty."
His eyes widened as Hira opened her mouth, and a furious wave of fire burst out. He tried to stop it, but it was too late. It caught him. And before he could recover, Hira rained punches on him. His vision became blurry, and he saw something shiny and sharp coming toward his face; he took a stance and blocked it with his little dagger, but she shot him with fire near his lungs. His clothes burned, and he flew away.
He wanted to plead with her to stop, but he was too weak to form words. In the distance, he saw Hira rushing toward him, scimitar burning hot red, and no part of her body was free of the poison of fire. She was the most precious to him. There was a time when he got angry over someone even laying eyes on her, but the burn and scar got the better of him. He stretched out his trembling hand, and Hira fell to the ground. She got up and touched her neck; It was like someone was suffocating her then she looked at Ahmed and fell to her knees as more and more air ripped out of her lungs.
Ahmed's vision became clear, and he looked at her: Her eyes were about to pop out, and her voice got quieter and quieter by the second; her body was as though someone was freezing it, and then she whispered, "Thank…you…"
He winced his eyes, made a fist and pulled his arm back as air returned to her lungs.
"We'll not suffer for the mistakes of others," Ahmed shouted.
Hira came to her senses as his voice fell on her ears. Should I run away? She thought, But what are the chances that I won't meet him in another battle and that I have to kill...No! Never!
She took her dagger out and plunged it into her stomach.
"No!" Ahmed rushed toward her and caught her. "Healer! Blood Bender! Anyone," he said, disparately looking around.
Hira touched his face, making a smile more beautiful than the moon and said, "I love you too."