Aela by Rosalind Hyson Page A

of his chest as planned by Ardu. Eena gave the signal for the drums to start beating so that Ardu and her warriors were to assemble in the great Cavern now.
    Then they marched out into the dawn, just as the sun was rising over the nearby mountain. They were soon on their way to take up strategic positions atop a mountain pass, in order to await the invading armies that would march along the valley below.
    In the meantime Tet’s spies took up their positions on either side of the pass and watched as Eena’s army came out of the Cavern. To his surprise, he saw Rom carrying the Sacred Sword with both hands, directly marching in front of Ardu. ‘How can that be when this precious symbol which should be situated in the inner sanctum of the Temple of the Sun?’ Tet exclaimed, ‘this must be a trick, but I will send a messenger back to Brude with this piece of news.’
    So Tet and his men continued to watch Eena’s army as they slowly marched along the valley.
    The sun rose higher in the sky and still there was no evidence of Juno’s warriors joining forces with Eena’s men. What was holding the two armies up, thought Tet. There must be another plan that Ardu had in mind. He began to feel nervous and agitated and started to pace up and down tightly gripping the hilt of his sword with one hand. Then he suddenly thought of a plan to sneak up on Ardu and some of his men could take a prisoner so that he could find out what strategy that Juno and Eena were going to use in the clash between the armies.
    With this thought in mind, a select number of men were chosen and they moved silently through the woods with Tet in the lead. The climb up the pass was difficult and arduous and all the men arrived at the top panting and exhausted. Only to find they had misjudged the direction where Ardu and his men were and they had overshot the position by quite a long distance.
    In the valley, one of Ardu’s sentries saw a flash of light on a shield and immediately raised the alarm about the impending danger of enemies situated at the top of the pass. Warriors from both sides were than seen running through the trees towards each other with their swords unsheathed held in front of their bodies as both forces were on a collision course of destruction to kill their enemies. Then there was a clashing of metal on shields with their swords, as the two armies met and fought each other with raging fury reflected in the eyes of the warriors as they clashed with each other.
    The battle was soon over and a number of prisoners were taken by Ardu’s men, including Tet much to his horror. The prisoners were quickly hustled along and were soon standing in front of Ardu.
    â€˜Well what have we here! I believe I recognise one of you,’ said Ardu and looked straight at Tet. ‘You are one of Brude’s close advisers. Tell me his plan to attack Eena’s territories.’
    Tet replied testily, ‘I think it is more like Eena and Juno who are joining forces and together united, plan to storm the defences and overrun the Temple of the Sun.’
    Ardu was amazed at this accusation coming from one of Brude’s chief officers.
    Tet continued ‘And how is it you have our Sacred Sword here, when it is carefully guarded in the inner sanctum of the Temple of the Sun? This one must be a fake!’
    At this verbal attack Ardu grabbed Tet by his throat and glared straight into his face. ‘What do you mean by making up these wild stories? I had my men pull down the sacred sword from the chain it is attached to, when I and my men invaded the Temple of the Sun.’
    Tet did not answer Ardu immediately as he was winded by the attack, ‘I think I am mistaken Ardu.’
    Ardu slowly released his hold and let Tet fall to the ground gasping for breath. Take this man out of my sight but guard him very well as he must not escape,’ exploded Ardu. ‘Rom, bring the Sword to me instantly. I want to have a