And Then There Were Three

Sarah nods. Between sobs, she chokes out, "They... they were... slaughtered... a mile away..."

"Where?" you ask.

She points, and the three of you set out into the woods. Though Aaron is wounded and Sarah is crying, you decide that it's better to all go than to risk losing one of you again.

You walk slowly through the woods, dreading what is to come. You know that you don't want to see the battlefield, but you know that you have to. You're drawn forward by a morbid curiosity. If you don't see it, it will never be real.

Then, suddenly, you're there. You come out of the woods into a large clearing. You stop, and your breath catches.

Lying scattered across the field are more than a dozen bodies, bleeding and broken. A few of their swords are drawn, but most of them are sheathed, never drawn as the women who once carried them were struck down from behind by a rain of arrows. A blazing wildfire burns the trees across the clearing, started, perhaps, by a fallen torch. It burns out of control, threatening to destroy the bodies and the surrounding woods.

You move your eyes over the clearing. All of the remaining New Amazons fell in this field, but not a single male body lies here. These women were struck down from behind, massacred by a volley of arrows before they had a chance to react.

You close your eyes tightly as the reality of what has happened slowly sinks in. You knew these women. You were horrified to see the battlefield outside of the New Amazon fortress when you first awoke so long ago, but even that can't compare to this. You knew these women. You knew them when they were alive; its incomprehensible that they're dead now.

You feel a sick, empty feeling, and you realize that in all of this madness you've just experienced your first real loss.

As you open your eyes and turn back to your friends, you start to realize just how alone you are.

Aaron looks at you grimly, while Sarah has turned away and walked off a short distance, her face in her hands. You walk to Aaron and fall into his arms.

A cold wind blows.

After a few moments you stop. "Wait, which way do we go? The capitol or the pass?"

Aaron sighs. "I don't know. I don't even know which way either one is anymore. We just need to get away from here, before the men find us again."

You look at Sarah. She says nothing; she just stares blankly before her.

"Maybe we should get some rest," you say to Aaron. "We're all exhausted, and we all need time to deal with this."

"No," Aaron says. "We can't let them capture us. It's too dangerous."

You hear a distant rumbling. A storm is coming.

"They probably won't look for us here," you say. "They might not even try to look for us at all. Maybe they think they killed us with the New Amazons." You know that's a weak argument, but you don't think Aaron is up to fighting you for long. "Besides, if they do find us, we're not really strong enough to defend ourselves as we are, or even strong enough to run away."

Aaron looks at you, then at Sarah, then at the sky. Then he sighs and says,

1. "All right. We'll go a safe distance from the fire and make camp, and rest until morning."

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