Excerpt: War Of The Flowerlands

Something was ticking her face, it was tepid and moist and when she turned it caressed her cheek. Seren opened her eyes and brushed the leaves from her hair and blanket. Caldemir stirred at the commotion and arose also, strapping his sword on and rummaging for breakfast. “These dried berries are actually quite tasty” he said as he munched a portion of them down and took a swig from his water bottle. “Yes, they tend to retain the taste even when dry, so long as they are stored correctly” said Seren munching her berries and drinking her water as well. She was strapping on armour over her light clothing as she ate. When he’d finished eating Caldemir began to help her and within a short while she was armoured, ready to search for her Brother. “So what do we do now?” inquired Caldemir “How do we find these exiles?” “To be honest I do not actually know, I had hoped that they would find us, however if we go into the forest and…” “You two will not be going anywhere” a voice hissed from the woods surrounding them. Slowly six vespids emerged from the woods surrounding the small clearing, surrounding the fairy and the bee. “Surrender and you will be granted a swift death” snarled one, presumably the leader. Seren looked at Caldemir and he already had his sword in hand, picking his shield up from the ground. It was made of over lapping leaves mounted own an amber plate in a fashion not unlike serens armour, but the bees, due to their complex body shape, rarely wore armour, preferring instead to have combination of a sword and shield. The vespids on the other hand each held two curved daggers, made of metal ripped from the earth, scarring it forever. Seren stood unwavering, resplendent in her Autumn coloured curiass, and adopted a fencers stance with her rose-flower hilted sabre just like her father had taught her. Wings folded behind her back to minimize any chance of damage to them. This was it, real combat. All the drills and training were leading up to this. She just hoped she was well trained enough and her instincts honed properly. She gripped the rose hilted sword firmly but did not tense her wrist allowing for maximum dexterity. The Vespids were fast, not strong, and on the ground, in a wooded area, their insanely fast flight speed would count for nothing.
Like all fairy warriors she was wearing no helmet which meant that the Vespid assassins could stare at her intense green-brown eyes with its own hideous multi-faceted ones, trying to bore a hole with through her with it's malevolence, or more likely look for a weakness. She coolly flicked her fringe of moonlight-white hair out of her way and stared back formulating a plan of attack. Toying with her hair was a sign of nervousness but Seren hoped that the gesture was disguised well enough as a 'strategic preparatory action' (as her father had called it) . She hoped the assassin assumed she did it to give her the clearest visibility rather than because she was noticing the Vespids long, sleek, and very deadly stinger. One stab and she would die, slowly. Painfully. Meanwhile Caldemir was sizing up the three vespids who were looking at him. They looked young but well trained and eager. The eagerness was the thing, it could make them fight on and fight harder than a lacklustre veteran. The would be a foe not to underestimate. He tensed his muscles in his abdomen incase he needed to sting them, it would kill him but if they fatally wounded him there would be nothing to loose. However it would be an unfortunate way to die from a vespids’ sting and from stinging it yourself. He hoped it would not come to that.
The leading vespid noted that the bee was older from his grey flecks, probably a highly expeirenced warrior, the bee was was determined though, noted the Vespid, unafraid, unlike so many other Bees in the Golden City were before it delivered the fatal sting to quell any dissenters. It then turned to the fairy. Analysing her defined features, the assassin tried to to read this fairy's body language and knew that she wouldn't be an easy target either. It raised its four daggers and charged, the two on its side racing for the fairy and the three on the other side dashing for the bee.
Seren raised Rosethorn and swung twirling around one hundred and eighty degrees slashing out. It connected and she avoided being surrounded by the three assassins. The middle vespid had a thin gash along his outer exoskeleton and looked even more furious. He stepped back as the other two leaped for her their four daggers rapidly stabbing until they were almost a blur. Her blade made a figure of eight and she heard the satifying noise of the daggers being parried. The two were off balance. On her toes she bounced slightly thrusting forward running one thorough, he fell gurgling as the leader resumed the fight trying to seize the initiave.
Meanwhile Caldemir had dispatched the first vespid with ease parring the daggers away from himself and brinign his blade up under the shield into the vespids chest. It was something the vespid had never encountered in training much to his misfortune. The other two were more wary now and it was Caldemir who cooly pressed the attack, bashing one on the side of the head with his shield and punching the other with the hilt of his fine sword before they even got a chance to strike properly with their daggers. He turned to his left where the vespid, having taken a shield to the side of the head, was stunned and disorientated. Wasting no time Caldemir slashed removing its head from its body and turned to face the last one who had recovered. At the side of his view he saw Seren face off with two of the vespids, noting one dead and one wounded. He hoped that she could hold her own until he dispatched this one.
She was now being more defensive waiting for her attackers to make a mistake but they were well trained or perhaps she did not know or have experience of enough techniques. If she thrust they would parry with one dagger and attempt to stab her with another though she was doing a good job of keeping both of them occupied so that one couldn’t distract her while the other delivered a fatal blow. She was loosing ground though as they continued to advance, pressing the attack, however the second vespid who wasn’t wounded, got over eager as he seen her step back towards a tree and lunged, Seren rolled out of the way, her light armour no encumbrance to her. When she turned she saw that the vespid was trying to pull its weapons out of the tree and she took the opportunity to slash downwards. Fatally wounded it fell. But where was the other one?
With a dexterous parry of his shield Caldemir had knocked one of his foes daggers away and was pressing his advantage. The vespid assassin now inverted his remaining dagger and tried to slash rather than stab. Caldemir clumsily stepped forward and the assassin took its chance swinging for his head but it was a ruse, Caldemir ducked and brought his sheld around the the same arc, knocking the weapon hand far to the side, with its last line of defence gone the bee brought up his sword and then turned to see Seren.
She turned and looked at the wasp only to be knocked off balance. Some thing and struck her shoulder. She turned to see the vespid, minus a dagger that had bounced off her armour. Now it threw another at head level and Seren brought up her sword to knock it out of the air but it was what the vespid needed, he sword swung high, the vespid lunged and brought its deadly sharp stinger to bear. Seren heard her armour crunch under its force and then fell, feeling only pain like liquid fire spread around the left side of her belly. The vespid withdrew his stinger looking cruelly as the fairy writhed in agony. Its glee was short lived as a blade emerged from between its eyes and it slumped, blade still in it as Caldemir trampled over the still twitching corpse to reach Seren. “SEREN ! SEREN !?” He looked horrified. She could hear him talk but could not speak. ‘Soon the poison will spread up to my heart,’ she thought, ‘and then the pain will be over.’ Caldemir shook her but to no avail, she could not move. He saw the large wound where the eight inch stinger had pierced the armour, it was bleeding but not much for a wound that size. Taking a dead vespids dagger he cut the buckles holding her cuirass and discarded it to one side. Lifing up her green linen tunic he could see the fairy’s pale skin becoming a sickly greenish purple. “Oh no.. Seren.. hold on I will find a way.” But he did not know a way. He had siad it himself. Vespid stings were one hundred percent fatal in apiaraians and fairies.