Aela by Rosalind Hyson

have the honour of carrying it. Men now assemble outside of the main Cavern, prepare yourself for battle.’
    Brude’s men were making good progress through the woods and they were now in Eena’s territory very close to her headquarters. Tet thought the best move was to obtain permission from Eena to move quickly through her land, rather than going around the long route which would take three days to complete. So he sent an advance party to parley with her for safe conduct, in return he would pay her with jewels and gold.
    To Tet’s surprise his men returned very quickly with the news that Eena did not want to negotiate with him, but instead were preparing to fight him, Brude and all his warriors as soon as possible. But why the change of tactics? There must be a reason, they were obviously hiding something. Then an idea came to him, perhaps Eena had an arrangement with Juno to join forces with him, to defeat the opposition and together rule the conquered territories. He must send a courier to let Brude know his thoughts on the turn of events and await his orders of what next to do.
    Tet organised his men to set up camp in the woods and soon a courier was on his way with the latest news for Brude. Then Tet arranged for a small group of warriors to search through the woods to determine whether Juno and his army were on their way to join forces with Eena and her men. Tet did not want to be surprised by Juno and his men from behind, as he paced up and down nervously waiting for news or orders from Brude.
    Rom was also very impatient, he began to walk around his prison cell trying desperately to think of some plan of escape.
    Before he knew what was happening, the door of his prison was flung open and in walked Ardu, holding the Sacred Sword in both hands in front of his chest, ‘I believe you were hoping to seize this prize. Eena wants me to carry this in front of our army, when we go into battle against Brude and Juno. I have decided that you are to carry it instead, directly in front of me, so that I can keep an eye on you. Guards, take Rom and prepare him!’ shouted Ardu.
    Rom was instantly whisked away to be dressed for the big clash between the armies. With these turn of events Rom was very pleased with himself as now he had a chance to escape and rescue Aela as well. But he must be extremely careful how he conducted himself, so as not to arouse any suspicions from either Ardu or Eena. But how to get a message to Aela so they could escape together. In the frenzy of preparing for battle, he may have a chance to rescue Aela and they could disappear into the woods and then make their way home to the Temple of the Moon.
    Brude was furious on hearing the news that Juno and Eena may have joined forces and their combined armies could be this instant on their way to invade his territory and capture the Temple of the Moon He must plan immediately for the attack and so he was soon busy giving out orders to his men.
    In the meantime, he sent word to Tet through a scout to stay where he was positioned for the time being with his men and to deploy spies to watch what Eena was planning to do with her warriors. Perhaps he could strike a deal with Juno and together they could vanquish Eena and her army and divide her territory between each other.
    All these thoughts were running through his mind as he prepared for the conflict. At all cost he must be the winner and come out on top, whatever the outcome, Juno was determined to be victorious. Perhaps now was the time for him to defeat his foes, so that he could reign as supreme commander over all the territories. He always wanted to do this, but couldn’t find the right excuse to challenge both Juno and Eena at the same time in battle. This was his moment for glory, the gods were surely smiling at him, with these turn of events that had suddenly come his way
    Rom was quickly prepared for battle and he then placed in front of Ardu carrying the Sacred Sword in front