With every breath, my heart begins to thaw
As ice-cold walls give way to warmth and awe
The frost that once consumed me starts to fade
And in its place, a fiery passion's made

Under the red sky, we all stood as one, waiting for the enemies to arrive. Everyone's face was full of confidence and commitment. If anyone saw our steadfast faces, they would probably not come in our way to victory.

And so we waited.

And waited.

And waited some more.

"Something's not right." Someone seemed to say.

Yeah, something is not right. We were supposed to clash at sunrise and it is way past that.

Turning my head to Aza, it felt like he was the type of person who would have an answer to this but when I took in his throbbing temple and wide eyes, I realized that something had gone wrong definitely.

My brain turned gears and endless situations clashed in my head.

Out of nowhere, a white eagle as prestigious as a white stallion landed on Aza's shoulder and everyone's attention shifted to him.

Tied on one of its feet was a small piece of paper rolled in a thin line.

Aza pulled it out immediately to read, "A message to Amir Hamza."

To me?

Aza skimmed his eyes on the paper, "We have been made fools!"

Aza sounded terrifying and I Snatched the paper from his hands, It read,

Amir, large battalions of Purus empire had been spotted on the western, eastern, and southern border! Some soldiers of the Draco empire are also involved. We have been fed wrong information! Almost all our warriors are at the northern border with you and whoever is left is at the stronghold. We need troops!

No! No no no! This is all wrong! This should not be happening. How could this happen?

 Khulaid seemed to rip the paper from my hands, reading what I just read.

Aza had his fingers rubbing his temples and fear consumed me. If they make it past the border, they will infiltrate the empire. Killing and terrorizing the families. Soon enough they will reach the stronghold and kill the Amir!

We are miles and miles away, it will take us a lot of time to reach the borders anyway! What can we do!?

"I need everyone's attention!" Aza's voice thundered next to me and my body shuddered.

"Our enemy has tricked us with the help of a spy among us who fed us the wrong information. I will find him for sure but right now what matters is what we do. At the moment, three battalions of the Draco and Purus empires are marching to attack our borders.

"We will divide our current army into four parts! One will stay here in case the enemy decides to strike from here while the other three will make their way to the three borders! Am I clear!?"

"Yes Sir!" Warriors chorused. Aza was fast to react and implement. Since we had no specified leader in our cavalry, the strongest could take the lead and in this case, it was definitely Aza.

But definitely, people would think that the Amir would take the lead in terms of position and status, but I did not dare to step forward. 

"Why can we not just march forward and infiltrate their empire?" Haroon asked and Aza shook his head.

"Not possible, Draco and Purus have teamed up together. They have enough troops to defend and attack, We do not. If we go this way, our whole empire is in danger, our Amir will be killed and we will be destroyed on their soil due to differences in the army."

And it seems like our enemies have been granted permission by our other two neighbors to pass through, thus the attack from different directions. We do not know for sure if Draco was the only one teaming up with Purus.

"Haroon, Khulaid, Amir Hamza, and I will lead the four battalions respectively." My heart skipped a beat when Aza mentioned me. "Haroon, lead your cavalry to the east, it is closest to the stronghold and the best choice. Khulaid, lead yours to the south and I will go to the west. Amir Hamza will stay here."

Is this the reason our enemy felt confident? Because they had a spy among us? Because they knew what we were doing, thus the attack in our absence.

Haroon exchanged some words with Aza and then went back to his battalion. "Move out!" Half of his troops stayed where they were and half left.

On horses they came and on horses they left.

Khulaid turned towards our battalion.

We were a total of 500 soldiers while the troops under Haroon were 2000, he took 1000 and left 1000 for us. We were not even half of what they were.

From the 1000 of Haroon troops, Khulaid took 500 and 100 from our cavalry.

600 now under him.

"We need 30 more horses!" Khulaid called. Most people had their own horses and those who did not had to borrow.

Warriors were ready to offer and my thoughts immediately went to Quwa. He was my heart, no way I would give it to anyone!

Before someone could ask me for my horse, Khulaid's battalion was offered from our cavalry members.

"We are setting out, Allahuakbar!" And just like that, our army in the Courtyard of Mirage was reduced to only 900 warriors.

Aza took the remaining of Haroon's troop and 100 from our cavalry. 600 troops under him.

"We need 50 more horses!" Aza called. My eyes moved to the 300 soldiers, they were going to be under me now. Their faces had sullen as they offered their horses.

My hands tightened around the reigns of Quwa.

"Can I take your horse?" I shake my head.

"Can you give me your horse?" I shake my head to another one.

"Amir, can you give me your horse." Shaking my head again, I had rejected three people.

Not Quwa! Any horse but him!

"Hamza! I need the horse." Shaking my head, my eyes clashed with Aza.

"I had to give my horse to someone else so I need this horse." Shaking my head once again, aza seemed to take a step closer. "I am not asking Hamza!"

Aza was starting to lose his patience and when I shaked my head one more time, he blew up.

"What kind of a man are you!? Is this how you are going to fight for Allah! You are no true warrior if you cannot give things up! People are going to die if we do not get there by time, time that you are wasting!" My eyes were wide.

He was not wrong. In war, people have to sacrifice.

Aza releases a deep breath, as if calming himself.

"I promise you, I'll bring him back to you." My eyes had started to burn. Everything was happening so fast!

Handing the reigns of Quwa to him, Aza mounted him immediately.

"Hamza, I trust your judgement. Lead this battalion and inshallah we will meet again." With that being his last words to me, Aza led his battalion out of the courtyard of Mirage.

From 2500 to 300. That was what was left of the army in courtyard of Mirage.

We had no horses and not many excellent fighters. Khulaid and Aza were quick to choose the best ones.

Raising my eyes towards the remnant of our cavalry, they were already looking at me.

What I have gathered so far is, there were three empires that stood against us. Two of which we were informed had backed out but in the note we received, it seemed only one had backed out. We were mis informed. Confirming Aza's speculation about the spy.

Maybe this was what they were striving for. Dividing our troops so they could attack us from the courtyard of Mirage.

So many possibilities, so little time.

The illustration of the black woman at the top is so fine! So pretty, ahhhh!

What do you think might be the possibility? I see them losing for now.
Ahh!