{"id":227,"date":"2009-11-27T20:03:08","date_gmt":"2009-11-27T20:03:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.sophiehoulden.com\/writings\/fair\/?p=227"},"modified":"2009-11-27T20:03:08","modified_gmt":"2009-11-27T20:03:08","slug":"chapter-93-a-thousand-soldiers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sophiehoulden.com\/writings\/fair\/?p=227","title":{"rendered":"Chapter 93: A thousand soldiers."},"content":{"rendered":"<p><!-- \t\t@page { size: 21cm 29.7cm; margin: 2cm } \t\tP { margin-bottom: 0.21cm } --><\/p>\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 0cm;\"><span style=\"font-family: Lucida Sans,sans-serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: small;\">Doll and Aella stood in the gateway to the palace, before them a thousand soldiers waited for them to cross through the portal. The atmosphere was tense, the men had all seen the pillar of fire that was fearsome even from miles away. Many of the guard hoped the warriors would just turn back, some hoped to become heroes by taking them on, all however were nervous.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 0cm;\">\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 0cm;\">\u00e2\u20ac\u0153<span style=\"font-family: Lucida Sans,sans-serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: small;\">It&#8217;s a pain you wont kill them all at once huh?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Doll smiled over to Aella, who was a little shocked she would say something like that.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 0cm;\">\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 0cm;\">\u00e2\u20ac\u0153<span style=\"font-family: Lucida Sans,sans-serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: small;\">Eh, I&#8217;m just kidding, don&#8217;t worry.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d she patted Aella&#8217;s head \u00e2\u20ac\u0153its just troublesome because I&#8217;ll have to kill them all anyway to get past.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 0cm;\">\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 0cm;\">\u00e2\u20ac\u0153<span style=\"font-family: Lucida Sans,sans-serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: small;\">Why?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 0cm;\">\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 0cm;\">\u00e2\u20ac\u0153<span style=\"font-family: Lucida Sans,sans-serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: small;\">huh?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 0cm;\">\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 0cm;\">\u00e2\u20ac\u0153<span style=\"font-family: Lucida Sans,sans-serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: small;\">If you don&#8217;t want to kill them and do want to get past&#8230; why are the two mutually exclusive?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 0cm;\">\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 0cm;\">\u00e2\u20ac\u0153<span style=\"font-family: Lucida Sans,sans-serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: small;\">So you would just walk through without attacking anyone?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 0cm;\">\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 0cm;\">\u00e2\u20ac\u0153<span style=\"font-family: Lucida Sans,sans-serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: small;\">yes.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Aella started walking into the palace grounds and towards the main building. A lot of the guards ran at her right away.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 0cm;\">\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 0cm;\"><span style=\"font-family: Lucida Sans,sans-serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: small;\">Doll smiled a little, this girl really was special. Time seemed to slow for doll a little, and the samurai spoke to her; \u00e2\u20ac\u0153did you find it?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 0cm;\">\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 0cm;\">\u00e2\u20ac\u0153<span style=\"font-family: Lucida Sans,sans-serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: small;\">the right way to live? I think she has shown me.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 0cm;\">\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 0cm;\">\u00e2\u20ac\u0153<span style=\"font-family: Lucida Sans,sans-serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: small;\">so what next?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 0cm;\">\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 0cm;\">\u00e2\u20ac\u0153<span style=\"font-family: Lucida Sans,sans-serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: small;\">Well I don&#8217;t want to make her a hypocrite killer like me, and I also want her to live to make her world after winning the contest. But to make sure she survives to the end, I guess I don&#8217;t mind being the killer for her.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 0cm;\">\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 0cm;\"><span style=\"font-family: Lucida Sans,sans-serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: small;\">The heads of all the soldiers running at Aella rolled off backwards and their bodies fell forward from the run, spilling blood across the cobbles.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 0cm;\">\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 0cm;\">\u00e2\u20ac\u0153<span style=\"font-family: Lucida Sans,sans-serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: small;\">If any of you run away, you wont die!\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Doll called out.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 0cm;\">\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 0cm;\"><span style=\"font-family: Lucida Sans,sans-serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: small;\">A loud hiss and a beeping noise echoed above the soldiers.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 0cm;\">\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 0cm;\">\u00e2\u20ac\u0153<span style=\"font-family: Lucida Sans,sans-serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: small;\">This is Polot, I will personally kill any deserting soldier, hold your ground.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d the sound system hissed again as it shut off, and as Aella continued walking towards the next wave of guards they were very torn and very fearful.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 0cm;\">\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 0cm;\">\u00e2\u20ac\u0153<span style=\"font-family: Lucida Sans,sans-serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: small;\">Ignore that guy, he wont outlive the day anyway, there&#8217;s no reason for you guys to die for him.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 0cm;\">\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 0cm;\"><span style=\"font-family: Lucida Sans,sans-serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: small;\">at that the soldiers parted for Aella and Doll and from their edges they began to run for the gate.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 0cm;\">\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 0cm;\">\u00e2\u20ac\u0153<span style=\"font-family: Lucida Sans,sans-serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: small;\">Did you have to kill them?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 0cm;\">\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 0cm;\">\u00e2\u20ac\u0153<span style=\"font-family: Lucida Sans,sans-serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: small;\">I had to protect you.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 0cm;\">\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 0cm;\">\u00e2\u20ac\u0153<span style=\"font-family: Lucida Sans,sans-serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: small;\">If I cant live by my ideals, then it&#8217;s best I don&#8217;t live.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 0cm;\">\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 0cm;\"><span style=\"font-family: Lucida Sans,sans-serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: small;\">Doll looked to Aella, even though she had just been shunned for helping her she didn&#8217;t mind, it was for her beliefs and determination that she would protect her for as long as she could.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 0cm;\">\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 0cm;\"><span style=\"font-family: Lucida Sans,sans-serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: small;\">The two walked across the cobbled palace grounds towards the palace building in silence.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Doll and Aella stood in the gateway to the palace, before them a thousand soldiers waited for them to cross through the portal. The atmosphere was tense, the men had all seen the pillar of fire that was fearsome even from miles away. Many of the guard hoped the warriors would just turn back, some [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-227","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sophiehoulden.com\/writings\/fair\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/227","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sophiehoulden.com\/writings\/fair\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sophiehoulden.com\/writings\/fair\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sophiehoulden.com\/writings\/fair\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sophiehoulden.com\/writings\/fair\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=227"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.sophiehoulden.com\/writings\/fair\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/227\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":228,"href":"https:\/\/www.sophiehoulden.com\/writings\/fair\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/227\/revisions\/228"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sophiehoulden.com\/writings\/fair\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=227"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sophiehoulden.com\/writings\/fair\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=227"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sophiehoulden.com\/writings\/fair\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=227"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}