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I’ll remain outside the doors and buy them as much time as possible. There is a passage off this mountain that only I and a few of the children that remain here know of. It’s a dangerous passage, but we’re out of other options.
The city will fall.
But I will make sure the mountain bleeds with the blood of those who dared to take my home.
Alone now, I’m left with my thoughts as I wait for the invaders to set their sights on the mountain. I knew there was danger coming.
I was warned.
My lover had come running to the temple to tell me that I was in terrible danger and that my city would fall. I may serve the Goddess, but his power is said to rival that of the divine.
He embraced me when he broke my heart.
I asked him how we would fight the danger, and he insisted that he could not fight this battle for the city. He showed me a satchel he’d packed with food and clothes. I noticed a dress in the satchel, and my heart shattered even further. He wanted me to abandon my very people and stressed that my staying was certain death.
I moved away from him then, shaking my head softly. While this divine creature may profess his love for me, if he thought I would leave my sisters and temple children to face death alone, he knew nothing of my heart.
But then again, he never knew me at all.
While he had shared his powers with me and shown me how he could grow life into being, I was not so forthcoming, ashamed of how my own nature so sharply contrasted with his.
From an age earlier than I remembered, I was chosen by the elder priestesses to act as the guardian of the temple. Guardians are not simply a title but a promise held in absolute secrecy until the moment is dire. Whereas my fellow sisters swore to do no harm and are pacifists, I was sworn to the dark side of the moon.
I was sent from one temple to the next, across our kingdom, to be trained by the greatest warriors known tohumanity. Scrolls of ancient fighting thought lost to the world were kept in the vaults of temples, only accessible to the guild I was selected for – the Guardians.
The Guardians are called on to protect their faith and those who live in service of it. We are exceptionally skilled with all forms of combat, and our true identities are kept hidden to stop outsiders from picking us off.
We are monsters in people’s clothing.
I’ve never breathed a word to my sisters about what I am, and only a few remaining elder priestesses know the truth. I’m their weapon, the living embodiment of our warrior goddess.
My lover has undoubtedly never even heard of the Guardians. The guild has never even become a whisper of a legend; such is their dedication to secrecy. He could only know me as a pacifist, no doubt accepting my impending slaughter.
Instead, I urged him to stay and fight. To protect our home and not abandon us. But he’d shaken his head, pleading that I leave with him.
I turned from him and went to wake my sleeping sisters without another word to him. I left him in the temple hall, and when I returned sometime later, armed with my short swords and dagger, he was gone.
That was hours ago, and I know my last moments are drawing near. I’m not so vain to think I can take out the entire army. But I will make sure that I spend my final breaths trying.
I may be alone, but I have the advantage.
The path that winds up around our mountain is barely two feet across. The path twists so that your right arm is pressed against the wall as you come up. Any right-handed soldier climbing the path will have a minimal range of motion and difficulty swinging their weapon.
My robes wave in the light wind, and my red hair is secured around my head in intricate braids. I can hear them now, in the lower part of the mountain, yelling and making their way up the path.
I hope the long trek up the mountainside will exhaust them.
The soldiers are fresh from battle, their armour soaked in blood. They aren’t moving quickly, and I can hear their laboured breathing. I disappear beyond the turning of the path, lest they draw arrows on me.
As the first soldier rounds the bend, I stab him in the neck at the junction of his leather armour. He’s dead before he even sees me.
The invader behind him hasn’t noticed his companion stop. His head is down, and his cheeks are flushed, panting from the steep climb.
I kick my foot out at the man I killed, knocking him back off my sword and into the still-staggering second invader. The force is enough to push them both off the cliff, and the other soldiers yell and panic as their two comrades fall to their deaths.
The following soldiers now approach more carefully, unsure of what just happened. Once again, I strike from beyond the bend in the path. My blade slices through his lower stomach, and he doubles over. He bleeds out quickly and blocks the way for the others.
The other soldiers yell, pushing the wounded soldier off the path and out of their way as they rush towards me in single file. Their swings are awkward as they try to maneuver the narrow space.
