Greeks and Romans: A Medieval Journey

Chapter 9 ~ Betrayal

“Sorry to ruin your good time, but we best get moving if we wish to get back to the city by evening,” stated Kyros.
“We are not going back to the city. Thank you for escorting us here, but we had better be on our way now.”
“What do you mean you are not going back?” asked a shocked Kyros.
“We... are... not... going... back,” replied Kendra very slowly. “Is that clear enough for you?”
“I thought we had an agreement! An agreement which you have obviously broken. Well, I have had enough. I will deal with you for good!” Kyros exclaimed, drawing his sword. His two men followed his lead.
“You don't have to do this, Kyros. We can settle this dispute without violence,” Kendra soothed.
“No! I have had enough talking.”
“Very well.” Kendra sighed. “Jason, Father, Mother, do you have your swords on your person?”
They all nodded, drew their swords, and stood by Kendra. Her fist clenched her iron sword as she waited for Kyros to strike. She didn't have to wait long. “Do not kill anyone! Merely wound and disarm if you can!” Kendra yelled as the bombardment of swords against swords began.
Clang! Kendra and Kyros's swords clashed as they both moved out of the fray to face each other. Up, down, to the right, to the left! Wherever Kyros attacked, Kendra was always right there with a block. She was playing with him now, teasing him, exhausting him, waiting for her chance to strike. It came when Kyros made the mistake of dropping his guard for a second to catch his breath. Kendra struck with all of her remaining strength at his sword-arm, forcing him to drop his sword. She was on Kyros in an instant, first pushing him to the ground, and then getting on top of him and pointing her sword to his throat.
“Know when you are defeated, Kyros,” Kendra declared. She stole a glance over her shoulder to see how her friends were fairing, and it seemed as though they had it under control, so she went to go tie Kyros up.
When Kendra got back, she saw to her dismay that her mother was wounded and there was a soldier standing over her, ready to make the final blow. She leaped without hesitation and stood in the path of the falling sword. Bang! Kendra blocked it in the nick of time.
The soldier hadn’t expected this, and so his guard was off. Kendra pushed up with her sword, and bam! His sword went flying out of his hands. “Are you alright Mother?” Kendra questioned.
“Yes, thanks to you. You saved me.” Laura looked proudly at her daughter.
“It was nothing. I am sure you would have done the same for me.”
“Of course I would have, but that is not the point.”
“I know. Now, can you tie up this brute? I will go see where the others have gotten to.”
“Sure, I can do that.” Laura replied, relieved that Kendra hadn't asked her to join the battle once again. “Come on you brute. Let's get you tied up then, shall we?” She shoved the soldier towards where Kendra had tied up Kyros. As soon as the twosome got near, however, Kyros tried to get Laura to untie him. He was very convincing, but Laura had the strong will to ignore him.
“Please, don't do this to me,” the soldier Laura was about to tie up pitifully pleaded. “I—I have a family. Please.”
“Sorry, but you don't have a choice,” Laura replied as she forcefully tied his hands behind his back. “You won't be able to escape, either. I will keep a close eye on you.” She stood back to guard.
Meanwhile, Kendra was busy searching for her missing friends. “Hello? Tyro, Jason, where are you?”
Listening intently, Kendra could just make out a soft whisper, “Here.” Running towards the direction the voice was coming from, she discovered the soldier holding her father and Jason captive. How one soldier did it she had no idea, but it was painstakingly obvious that he had.
“Get away from my friends!” Kendra yelled as she bombarded the soldier with vicious attacks. “Tyro, Jason, go! Get out of this place!” She screamed.
The soldier, unprepared for Kendra's monstrosity, wasn't able to raise his sword in time. She disarmed him easily, and tied him up with Kyros. “You won't cause me anymore trouble, will you?”
They nodded in response, to frightened to speak. Kendra went around and gathered Tyro and the others to decide what to do with Kyros and his men.
“Well we can’t kill them, that is for certain,” Laura stated.
“And why’s that? We should just put them out of their misery,” Tyro replied.
“No, if we kill them the city of Corinth will blame my brother. Sparta and Corinth will go to war and thousands will die. We must keep them alive, however much we want to kill them.” Laura looked to Kendra. “It is your decision, and I will go with whatever you decide.”
“You have heard us talking, and you know what your fate might be. Do you have anything to say on your behalf that might help us decide to spare your lives?” Kendra asked, turning to the prisoners as she spoke.
“I cannot offer much, only tell you that we have families. Would you want to be responsible for leaving our sons and daughters fatherless and our wives husbandless?” Kyros replied.
“I would, to rid the world of sadistic men like you.”
“You think me sadistic?”
“Yes, you and your kind are as ruthless as they come.”
“Think and do what you will with me, just leave my men be. Do not punish my men for my mistake. I would not forgive myself if anything happened to them while in your care.”
“Really... you? Feeling remorse? Tell me I’m dreaming,” Kendra replied sarcastically, rolling her eyes.
“It is true, I swear on my life. Just... don’t harm them. Torture me all you want, I won’t run if you do.”
“Really? Well then, I guess I’ll just have to take you and your traitor friends with me to Sparta. My uncle will help me decide what to do with you. In the meantime, I will just have to make sure you do as you are told, as there will be consequences if you don’t.”
“What sort of consequences?” Kyros asked, beads of sweat forming on his face.
“Don’t worry, I will not harm you. No, if you misbehave, your men will pay the price. Do we understand each other?” Kyros and his men all nodded, not wanting to offend or anger her by speaking. Kendra then turned to Sethon and the other prisoners, “You will not cause any fights, will you? Those are always so messy, I don’t care for them in the least.”
“We will not start any fights amongst the prisoners, although I cannot say the same for Kyros or his men,” replied Sethon, spitting Kyros’s name.
“Good. Now that we have that settled, we should be on our way.” Kendra stated. “Tiberius, before we go, are you sure you don’t know anyone in Corinth’s dungeons?”
“I don’t think so but there might be. May I question Kyros about the fates of the men who were captured with me? He would know, and if he doesn’t maybe Adonis will.”
“We’ll just have to hope Kyros knows so we don’t have to capture Adonis. He was so friendly to me last time, and I’d hate to ruin our friendship.” Kendra and Tiberius then walked over to where Kyros was still tethered. They questioned him, but he claimed he didn’t know anything about the men who were captured with Tiberius.
The group decided that Kendra and Tyro would go to capture Adonis and the others would stay behind to guard Kyros, his men, and the Romans.