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Rath turned his head on the ground, not knowing who was talking. It was hard to see anything at this point. The pain in his ribs was too strong to concentrate on anything beyond it. He could still hear the battle, though, and with it came the hopes that maybe they would win. They had to, the future of his people was at stake after all.
He couldn't hear everything that was happening. There was a lot of noise going on after all. But something about the fall of the doors and the battle between the soldiers and the beast, began to peak his interest. The beast sounded more like a man or a woman depending on how you looked at it, or maybe they had a man or woman in them. An anthropomorphic beast? What kind of description was that! There was a man trying to hold it down with magic, how is magical energy material supposed to work? How many types of magical energy exist?
Either way the attacks were ineffective. The beast held its ground, even with the soldiers being launched through the other side of the doors by a barrage of arrows. There was no way they were going to mount a counter attack capable of stopping that beast in its tracks. It was more like trying to stop a locomotive from reaching the finish line at the end of the stop, with rocks clogging its path and delaying it a bit.
Rath had always wondered about that. How exactly did someone tell a beast of magical energy to stop? He didn't see anyone with their neck in the noose. All he saw were arrows and magic flying in every direction. There were no remnants to settle the matter. He didn't know how it did this, the one thing he was certain of was that it was magic.
Rath heard the explosions, both magical or not, and he was vaguely aware of a thud. He didn't know who or what had fallen there. The battle still raged on, but all he could hear were screams. The screams of the beasts, both human and animal, and the screams of the soldiers trapped in the other room, their bones and muscles rupturing and tearing from the strain of battling the beast.
Rath heard the sound of the beasts attacking and injuring the soldiers trapped in the other room. Most of them had already been injured, though not nearly as bad as Rath, and were in no state to fight. The room was a mess and the beasts outside were having a field day. Rath had a feeling one of the beasts was going to break through and get him. There was nothing he could do about it, so he just decided to wait for it to happen.
What more could they do? Everyone in his group, in fact all the soldiers of their fighting force, was contained in the prison room. If they were going to die, they were going to die frustrated and angry, but still alive. Could they get more soldiers? Not with their injuries, without any injuries they could only bring soldiers back to a basic state of health. From there they could fight, but should they? Should they risk bringing in other soldiers when they all knew that if these soldiers died, they would die thereafter, too? They had an idea of what this beast was, maybe they could stop it with magic. If they could, though, it would ruin everything.
The longer they fought, the more the beast would be able to fight. Its body would strengthen and its defenses would improve, much like any soldier's armor would with use. If they stopped it now, they would be able to wound it, but they wouldn't be able to defeat it completely, but would it be worth it? They would have to accept casualties, and possibly more, but that wasn't happening. Not without some more soldiers that is. They couldn't resurrect them if they died, it was one thing to heal a soldier and it was another thing to retrieve a dead soldier just to heal it.
Which is exactly what they were doing when it was time for this thing to stop. They had the soldiers' lives in their hands. It was completely unfair, but that was their lot in life and Rath accepted it, as did the others.
Rath heard a noise in the other room. He heard people panicking. He could hear them throwing things around, maybe their necks. He could tell they were struggling. Then, he heard something fall to the ground. Who was it? And what was it they were going to do?
Rath started to take interest in what was going on in the room. He could hear it, and frankly, he hoped he would not have to witness it. He didn't see it. He didn't see any of it. He wanted to know what happened, how their plan went, he wanted to have something to think about, something that would distract him from the pain.
But Rath had no such luck.
Rath heard an ear piercing scream from another soldier. It was non-stop. There was no way it was just one scream, one soldier. It didn't sound like one, it sounded like a thousand. Even after the sound of the screaming stopped, he didn't hear any more fighting. What was the soldier screaming about? Was it a medical emergency? Had something happened to one of them?
No. It was definitely not a medical emergency.
Rath heard a bang. It sounded like something had been knocked over, like an explosive. It had to be something like that. He heard a torrent of words coming from the other room. There was a lot of noise, and there were a lot of soldiers making noise. They were trying to hurry. Rath could tell. They were trying to do something they hadn't planned on doing, but now, it could be their only hope.
Something was definitely happening in the other room. He could feel it. His ears were not deceiving him. Something was happening in the other room. Something had to have happened in the other room. There was a lot of shouting and a series of loud bangs and explosions. The Beast had to have it's counter attack.
Rath could hear the screams of the soldiers. They were cowering in the room, which was odd. They should be fighting, trying to get out of the room and away from the beast as quickly as possible. There was no way the creature had continued to attack as ferociously after it had done so. Without the extra energy it had gotten from the prisoners, it didn't have the strength to fight so strongly.
Rath could hear something new. It was the sound of the soldiers dying. There was the sound of magic, like nothing he had ever heard before. It was a sound that would haunt him for the rest of his life. He not only knew what it was, but he knew who was doing it. It was not good. It was definitely not good.
Ashtra.
Was this a retreat? Was this a tactical retreat? Would the beast stay back, because if not, this was the end of the line. If the Beast could enter and destroy the only hope they had of surviving for the rest of their life, it would.
Rath could hear a series of bangs and explosions. It was the battle. The beast had taken advantage of the situation and was destroying the soldiers left isolated in the chamber with it. In retaliation, they were fighting back yet again. The sound of the beast attacking the soldiers was now a regular thing.
The screams continued, but Rath could only listen to the sound of their dying and the bellow of their attacking. He looked down and he saw the dust of the remnant of battle. He then closed his eyes and pretended to be in a different situation. He was in a hospital surrounded by loving friends, who were wishing him well, hoping for a speedy recovery. It was all a lie.
They were traitors. He would never be able to escape. Once a traitor, always a traitor. He thought it was only right that they succeeded. He held no ill feelings towards any of them. He wasn't angry at them. They were his family, his friends, his brethren. He knew he would never see them again.
His feelings were not one of anger. Perhaps it was relief. Something had changed. The beast had beaten back the soldiers and the Queen's ills had diminished. His life was here now. And it would be good to roams, and for the rest of his life he would be able to enjoy everything he had gained with no need to worry about the past or fear his future.
The Queen would be happy.
He wouldn't have to rot in prison for the rest of his life with nothing but time. He would be able to do whatever he wanted with a more meaningful life. He spared a thought to the soldiers fighting to protect his respawn. They were fighting for their own survival. But they were fighting for his too. He was grateful for their efforts. They will have a chance at a happy life, even if they won't be able to share it with him.
Ashtra was laughing at him. How could she laugh at him? He wasn't hurting anyone. Or was he? Did she really believe he was the one hurting the Queen? If what he did was hurting her, why was the Queen laughing?
Ashtra has the Beast use more of its power. She said it worked because it had used some of its power to kill the soldiers. The Queen was laughing. She wants the Beast to kill more, and she wants it to keep killing. She was happy that they were fighting, that they would not stop.
Rath heard the Queen's laughter again. Something was wrong. There was something that he didn't know. The Queen had said something after she talked to Ashtra. He could hear it. She had yelled something, and Rath could feel it in his heart. She was not happy with the situation. She had said something about Rath. The Queen had said something about really hurting her. She didn't want Rath to hurt her.
Rath had nothing to do with the Queen. She had nothing to do with him. They were entirely separate entities with a shared interest, to kill the Beast. They had been helping each other. They knew how to fight, so they fought together. Was it so wrong for the Beast to kill them?
But that wasn't the point.
The point was the Beast was powerful. And the Queen wanted Rath to fight it and hurt it. She wanted him to hurt the Beast and kill it. She didn't want to kill it anymore. She didn't want to kill the beast. She wanted to kill Rath, if she could.
The Queen was against him.
He was right. She had given him the soldiers and she loved him for it, but she was not a good person. She was going to fight him. She wanted to kill him. She didn't want him to kill the Beast. Was the Beast really more important to her than one of her soldiers? He had done a lot wrong, but he was still a soldier. He was still a valuable asset. Was the Beast really more important to her.
He was not a thief. He had not stolen anything. Where did she get her information. He didn't understand. He did nothing wrong. He protected the Queen, and his people, and she just sentenced him to death. She just sentenced him to death without proving anything about his innocence and she was happy to remand him, just so she could hurt him later on. How did that make her a good Queen?
The Queen was laughing. She could hear the Queen laughing. She was happy about the Beast's performance. She had it kill everything that was around it. She didn't want it to kill anything that was near it. She wanted it to attack more, and it was getting close to attacking things that were near it. She wanted the Beast to believe that the Beast could kill its queen. She needed it to believe that it could hurt her, because when it thought it could, it was going to attack both sides.
That was how she was going to kill both sides. The Beast didn't know that the Queen wanted to die, so it would continue attacking. The Queen would let the Beast come closer to the door, and she would let the Beast try to kill her. Then she would close the door and she would shake the exit lever. Rath could only have to suffer.
The Beast knew where the Queen was. The Queen had lied to it. The Queen had to lie. It needed to believe that it could hurt the Queen. It needed to believe that it could kill the Queen. The Queen had let it believe that because she wanted it to kill the Queen.
Rath had to die.