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Two

Winning Means Sacrifice

W e can’t lose.

Not now, we have come too far!

Think, Worth, fucking think.

Ivar. Of course! When I killed him, his people fell. Without a leader, a warrior is nothing and these…these soldiers follow one person—Regina. The prime minister. She’s sitting pretty on her fucking hill in the shade as her men die and suffer in a bloodbath down here. For her and her Cities.

I know by now Strand will have taken it over, they have nothing to go back to.

But she won’t be going back. Kill her, and the others will fall.

I know it. I’m not merely a warrior anymore, I’m a queen, and it’s time I thought like one.

Fighting down here helps, but thinking two steps ahead? That is how we win.

I think that was what Major tried to teach me. It’s a shame I’m only understanding now.

Dispatching the last soldier around me, I look to my men, but they’re all busy. This is on me. They are fighting back the surge and trying to stay on their feet. I’m alone.

But I’ve been alone since I was a fucking kid. While they protect my— our people, I will kill the prime minister and stop this war. Once and for all.

I start battling my way through the throng, but it’s slow going.

We are almost fighting back to back, and I have to stop to kill a soldier every now and again.

I hear a shout and look around, spotting Bern.

I wave and point to Regina. He follows my gesture and nods as he rips someone apart.

Stomping my way, he begins to clear a path with brute strength.

He takes a few hits, so I rush behind him and clear those trying to sneak up on him.

When we break out on the other side, he looks down at me. “Good luck, ma queen.” Then he turns, and with a roar, draws the gazes of the soldiers to himself and off of me. “For the queen!” He races into their masses as I face Regina.

Rushing up the sand dunes, I head her way. She must spot me, though, because the soldiers who have stayed back to protect her step into my path, and about fifty meters away, I realise my mistake.

They have an archer.

He takes aim and fires. I don’t have time to avoid it as it soars through the air. I duck swiftly to the left, stopping it from entering my heart, and it instead hits my shoulder. I feel my arm twitch and start to go numb as pain explodes through me.

But I’m used to pain.

I know how to fight through it.

To use it, to let it fuel me.

Pushing back my uncertainty, anger, and agony, I snap off the arrow with a cry and sprint towards them.

I throw myself at the archer who stands before them and stab the jagged shaft into his eye.

Blood drips from my shoulder and the wounds sustained from battle, but I get to my feet regardless, steady and sure as I stare down the five men she hides behind.

I step onto a flat piece of sand and swing my swords, ignoring the pain in my shoulder. “I’m coming for you, and your men won’t be able to stop me.”

She laughs from behind them as I smirk at the soldiers. “I’ve killed more men than you could imagine, you should be scared,” I warn, as I widen my stance. “I eat fuckers like you before breakfast.”

“You’re just one woman,” one of them spits.

“This one woman is about to slaughter you, so show some respect, boy, because I’m a fucking queen!” I roar and, done with talking, I make the first step. I catch them off guard by throwing a knife. I don’t look, but I know it hits one.

The other four are big, but one is bigger and stronger.

I take him first. Lunging at him, I knock him to the sand, and while he’s fumbling with his weapon, I slice his throat.

Rolling to the side to avoid the man behind me, I come up swinging, cutting through both arteries on his thighs.

Blood spurts as he stumbles before dropping to the sand.

Two left.

I leap to my feet, grinning at them. “Don’t say I didn’t fucking warn you!”

They both rush me, our weapons clanging as we clash. I parry and duck, slice and cut, stand and spin. It’s second nature to me, the dance of swords. I’ve been training my whole life for this moment.

They will not win.

One stumbles from a cut, and before he knows it, I have him impaled on my blade. I leave it in his chest as he falls and dies as I turn to the other, holding my remaining sword with both hands as I smirk at him.

“And then there was one,” I murmur.

He glances to Regina and shakes his head. “Fuck, she isn’t worth this.” Yet he still stands there, knowing he should leave, but his duty doesn’t allow it. I can respect that.

“I offer you a quick death,” I declare and step towards him.

I stab my sword into his gut before grabbing my knife and slicing his throat.

I keep my eyes on his as he sputters, his blood spraying across me as he starts to fall.

I grab my sword, letting his momentum pull it free, before turning and pulling the other from the dead soldier with a grunt of pain.

Swinging them, I look back at Regina, her protectors dead around me. Her people are dying down there for her, yet she does not care for their lives, only hers.

“Please, we can make a deal!” she begs, backing away with her hands up.

I snort. “We don’t negotiate with pale faces,” I mock, using her words from before while twirling my blades as I advance on her.

Suddenly, her pale, scared face transforms into that cold calculating one from before, and she smiles. “So confident, it will be your death.”

I hear the person too late, she was distracting me. I was so caught up in being so close to her, I didn’t pay attention to my surroundings—a stupid fucking error. One that might cost me my life.

She waves and begins sauntering towards the truck. I know she is running away. I can’t let that happen. It’s a split-second decision. I can feel the man advancing on me from behind, intent on my death, but it’s either her or him.

I can’t do both.

One decision saves me, the other my people…

So, with a war cry, I swing my sword and catch her mid-turn. She screams as I pull it free and swipe again, bringing it down on her head. The blade gets caught there as she drops to her knees, and I turn, my other sword ready, but I already know it’s too late.

He’s there.

The pain registers first as his smirking, sweaty face looms above mine from inches away. His eyes are blue, a dirty shade, his hair is thinning and grey, and he’s bulky like a warrior .

A soldier.

I follow his gaze to the blade protruding from my stomach and the blood seeping around it. It’s bad. I know it. It’s almost a numb thought as all sounds disappear. I can’t look away, even as he pulls the blade free, the metal coated with my blood.

I stumble back, my body sluggish as blood pumps from the wound. My arm finally goes numb, and I almost drop my sword, but he’s coming at me again to finish me off. I hear my name screamed and the pounding of feet as they race towards me.

My men.

Did it work? Did I stop the battle? It’s almost quiet now, no guns.

I raise my eyes to the soldier who is grinning, his blade arcing down for the killing blow.

With the last of my strength, I channel it all into a yell as I raise my sword and throw myself forward.

We fall to the sand, and I blink, staring down at my blade buried in his chest. His eyes turn empty underneath me.

Rolling from his body, I feel my back hit the solid sand, my blood pooling on it.

My hands fall to my sides, I can’t keep them up anymore. I dig my fingers into the granules, feeling my sticky blood coating them as I try to hang on. My weapons are gone, but it doesn’t matter, I couldn’t lift them now anyway.

Darkness edges my vision, and the pain is excruciating as it flows through me. At least I killed her. Turning my head slowly, I blink and look at the battle. The soldiers are trying to retreat, but my people are there to kill them. They circle them and take them down efficiently.

I see my men running towards me, Piper too, with Doc and her men. I swallow hard, knowing they will be too late. Between one blink and the next, they are closer. I am losing time. Their faces are contorted in agony and horror. They know it too.

I’m going to die.

Here in the sands where I belong.

I look back up at the sky, knowing the sun is heating my body, but I can’t even feel it. I’m cold now. Too cold. I never thought I would miss the heat, but I do. After all the fights, all the pain I have endured and survived, this is where it ends.

But at least I’m not alone. At least I will die for something, a cause. Not just my freedom, but everyone’s in The North. Not bad for a slave girl , I think dazedly. I just wish Major was here to see me.

“ I’ve got you kid, I’ve got you ,” he whispers, as my eyes start to close.

I’m sorry.

“ Death comes to everyone eventually. All you can ask for is that you go out on your own terms and in your own way .” Vass’ words echo through my head as the world goes dark, and even at the end, they are with me.

I see all those who were lost in the fight to get here waiting for me on the other side, wearing smiles on their faces.

Vass has a baby in his arms and a woman at his side.

Major’s hand is clasped in Cara’s, his other reaching for me. Noah is there too.

Von is calling my name.

My mother is there. I feel my lips curve into a smile as I extend my hand and reach for them.

This is on my own terms.

Bringing safety to my people and loves.

My one regret? Never having the life I always dreamed of with my men.

The pain is gone, not just today’s, but all of it. The pain of living, of surviving, of the scars covering me, and the blood on my hands. I’ve fought for so long, never stopping, but now…now it’s over.

“Come home, baby girl, it’s time,” my mother calls.

It’s time.