The Loss – Part 4

The Loss

THE TALE OF A SHE-ELF’S RISE TO WARRIOR 

4

Scouts were dispatched; they waited tactically

            without fires so to never divulge their place.

Nimgalliel thought about her initiation:

                        the first time she used her dagger to kill.

She recalled…

While traveling back to the Kingdom, she saw the Queen’s guard

             fighting off attackers

            leaving her open to deadly harm, so

Nimgalliel leapt into the fray to protect her.

Armed with her dagger

            she assessed the attackers

            as they moved toward the Queen.

She squinted at one on her left, then scorned

              one to the right.

“You think that two of you scare me? Think again!”

She lunged like a cat

            at the one on the right,

             used momentum to propel

             toward the one on the left.

Dagger on skin, claws to the bone, two deaths fell hard;

            the cat spun in place, her eyes seeing all.

Men moved, she swiped, she danced up,

            then under

            their thrusts hitting nothing

            but darkness or wind

            as the She-Elf dispatched them

            twice and then thrice; whence,

five were dead at her deftly trained hand.

The Queen grabbed and hugged her

            unusual and loving for her to do

            to a She-Elf warrior.

Nimgalliel tensed at first, then returned the embrace.

 It was over.

The Queen had lost

             many companions

            and most attackers were dead.

The ones that could run, had.

She, Nimgalliel the She-Elf, was commended by the Queen

            who took precious time

            making sure

            her courtesans were well enough

            to move home

            with Nimgalliel as their guard…

Startled out of her thoughts

            her Captain ordered the garrison

             to get ready to move.

While she daydreamed,

             the scouts came back

            with good news:

The advantage was theirs.

The attackers too lean

            in their numbers

            to warrant

            a buildup of troops.

They prepared to attack!

They fanned across the field

            and attacked from four fronts,

            swiftly leaving but one alive

            to take back to the King

            for torture or truth.

“ How easy this battle,” the Captain praised

            his garrison and She-Elf

            every one of them brave.

But, nonetheless,

            she had disobeyed

            a direct order from her King.

Her captain looked down at her

            from his horse, “You are worried

             what will happen when we return?”

“Yes. I disobeyed,

            and punish me, he will,

            to set an example

            no matter how much

            he might care for me

            or my late father’s trust.”

“I’m not sure that will happen.

            He and the Queen

             saw you fall in with us

            and they did not stop you.”

She groaned, “Are you sure?”

He just smiled at her and rode to the front.

She watched him go

            and tried to push the thoughts

            from her head

            that she was falling in love.

Chorus– in unison:

She would not be a She-Elf like her mother. The day her father and her Elf-mother were slain, they were attacked by a jealous kingdom. Her father fought to save his beloved family, till he could stand no more. The murderers left her parents dead, but Nimgalliel faked death to live.  Her mother and father slipped away to the gods, leaving Nimgalliel, their Girl-Elf, to seek revenge as a woman warrior in the King’s Royal Guard. She would prevail, for when any man gloats that he enjoys killing a woman and her destiny, it causes his moment of defeat.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Leave a Reply