Original Stories Fan Fiction ❯ Memoirs of a Mercenary ❯ Chapter 5

I left, and never returned to the practice grounds. I was let off the hook, as it had been in defense, but forbidden to return so that such a situation would never again recur. At first, I was grateful for the lenience I had been given, but I soon began to hate the situation passionately.

 

I do not like women's work. It is tedious, boring, and makes me insane.

 

I couldn't stand doing the same boring thing, day after day, and more than that I was horrible at it. Well, most of it. Not surprisingly, I turned out to be an excellent butcher. But I found no joy in that either.

 

It got so bad, I prayed. I prayed for strength, for the ability to like my lot in life, and nothing happened. Then I began to pray for change. Then anything, anything to make my situation different. This lasted about 6 months. After 6 months of pure tedium, plucking chickens furiously while I listened to insipid gossip about boys I would never marry, I think I really went crazy.

Because it was then I decided I would talk to my husband.

Silently, in the middle of the night, I begged the evil spirit who had robbed me of a normal life to do something. Even if it meant killing me, any end was better than this. I realize now how spoiled and selfish this was, but for some reason not being able to fight was like a prison. I was like a caged panther, not meant for captivity. My mind was most likely not what it should be.

 

More likely than not, it was merely coincidence that my prayers were answered. Almost a month after my desperate plea, the village was attacked. As a warrior village, we were prepared for such things. As soon as the alarm went off, all the women rushed to the cave in one of the hills. It was big enough to accommodate all of the women and children, and it was easy to defend. The only thing the plan didn't account for was being outnumbered. We were outnumbered three to one, and the fighters were almost as experienced as ours. A troupe broke through the defenses and began attacking the guards to the cave, which was also unexpected. I was at the front of the cave, and I saw all of it happen. The guards went down slowly, but it was soon apparent that they would all lose.

 

Without thinking, I rushed to the body of the nearest guard. There were calls from the women for me to stop, but I would have none of it. I wasn't going to allow some stupid taboo to be responsible for the death of all of the women in the children in the cave. Besides, the chances of me surviving were slim at best.

 

I took up the sword.

 

The moment I grasped the cool handle, something inside of me changed. I now had nothing and everything to live for. I rushed towards the fray, my mind a blank prepared for the fight. I took my first life as soon as I reached them, sealing my fate, deciding my destiny.

 

I don't remember much else.

 

They say I was like a demon myself, moving faster than the eye could follow. Once I had killed all the men attacking the cave, I moved on to the main body of fighters, never stopping, never tiring. They even say there was no light in my eyes, and that I was not myself. However, I think that was an attempt to defend me.

 

I killed over half of the fighters. Needless to say, the village survived. My fate, however, was still to be decided. Regardless of the fact that I had practically saved the village single-handed, I had willfully and purposely betrayed our way of life. The law said that I should be killed, and as soon as possible. But there were obvious complications.

 

First, I had saved the village, and they were not entirely ungrateful. Second, there was always my husband to consider. There was much deliberating and arguing, and to my surprise I found myself greatly defended by the boy's trainers and even some of my former students. As warriors, they were most likely to understand what I had done. But the women had a say in it as well, and it was not to be tolerated. I was so shocked that I actually lived that I barely paid attention. At last it was decided.

 

“Tera,” the shaman man addressed me from the long table at which the group of people who would decide my fate sat. His voice was not unkind. “You have violated a very important law, one that calls for death as its punishment. However, due to the service you performed to the village in the process of breaking that law, we are willing to give you leniency. We grant you life,”

 

I breathed a sigh of relief, tension flooding out of my body.

 

“as an exile.”

 

My mind exploded. I had expected death, dismemberment, heavy labor, silence, anything but exile. Even when I dreamed of being accepted as a fighter I had never imagined leaving the village on a mission. The thought of leaving alone was even more terrifying. Most of the women in the village lived their entire lives within the confines of the valley the village was situated in. Any who went further did so to greet returning missions with provisions and aid. My mind could barely even wrap itself around the concept that there was anything beyond the hills, even though the men often told stories of the strange things they encountered in their missions.

 

“You will go to the shaman woman to prepare for your journey immediately.”