FicWad

The sun was almost high up in the sky, the heat beating down mercilessly upon them as they got ready amongst themselves. They were dressed in their usual training clothes, their faces painted with the colours of their clan made of the dye of crushed berries and red clay, each armed with a staff. Azmirah was amongst them, stretching and loosing each muscle, getting ready. The smell of anticipation was in the air, and her heart was beating fast. Will she win the race? If she didn't, she would disappoint Karo. Clearing her head of such negative thoughts, she got ready. She looked to the side and saw Mirond watching her. Seeing her sister looking at her, Mirond flashed her a thumbs up, and Azmirah smiled, and returned the gesture. 'Good luck,' mouthed Mirond quietly.

The time soon arrived for them to set off, and the leader of the clan stood in front of them, surveying each and everyone of them. 'Today, the competition for the strongest amongst you will be held today. Each of you will encounter traps and elder warriors in the forest as you race to the end. The first to arrive at the end will be the winner. This competition will be held in justice and no one is allowed to ambush any one else. Should any encounter dangers, you will blow the horn and we will come to your aid, at the expense of being disqualified,' He looked at them hard again. 'May the Gods be with you!! And now, the competition will begin!!' He raised the horn he was holding to his lips and blew, and immediately, the boys and Azmirah took off into the forest, determined to win.

Azmirah knew that speed wasn't going to help her very much. Last time, a boy thought that speed was the most important thing in the race. In the end he encountered about all the traps in the forest set therre by the elders and nearly lost his life. That was reckless action, Zandos had told them. The important thing to go slow and keep your eyes open for anything coming your way. Azmirah walked fast through the forest. Never run, Zandos had told them. If you do, you're bound to stumble right into the traps. Azmirah looked around, and saw a well disguised trap- the deep hole which Karo and Rerso talked of yesterday, the leaves covering the opening well enough for any unsuspecting boys to come along and step right into it and plunge to the bottom. That'll make her disqualified, she thought, as she walked around it. Where are the others now? Has any of them encountered any traps yet? Suddenly, something dropped from the tree behind her, and she whirled, branishing her staff, but it was too late. The someone had an arm around her neck and was holding on to her tight. 'Argh-' she choked as she struggled to get free. It wasn't possible that she'd meet an elder this early in the beginnings of the competition, they were usually standing in wait near the end. Or has the rules changed? But that was not possible either. Her eyes widened in shock when she saw figures emerging from the forest in which she thought she was alone. It was the boys, and each bore of every's face a lok of menacing, but the immense shock was when she saw who was leading them. Karo. Her brother. Karo has betrayed her.

'You!!' Azmirah snarled as she struggled against her captor's hold.

'Yes, me, dear sister,' smiled Karo, and Azmirah recoiled from the smile on his face. In his eyes she had saw the menace and the capability to kill. 'It was foolish of you to take part in the competition. Do you think we'll let you win that easily?'

'Why, Karo?' Azmirah asked, fury burning away in her heart. 'You said you'd help me!!'

'And you was silly enough to believe me,' Karo smirked. 'You are just a girl. If it were not you, i'll be the best in the group. You're a disgrace, Azmirah.' He reached out to touch her hair with the sick smile on his face. 'You do not belong with us, understand?' He yanked hard on her hair, and Azmirah cried out. 'You belong with the women, and stay in your place next time!! You must think that you're great, hmmm? Beating the boys in all those small trainings, rising to the first. We have been hating you for so many years.'

'Then why were you so kind to me?' Azmirah regretted not listening to Mirond's words. She tried to hold on to her belief that her brother was kind to her and loved her as her dreams lay shattered at her feet. Everything around her seemed to be crumbling to dust, revealing the harsh reality that she didn't believe in exists. It was all lies, all lies. Everyone hated her all along. There was no kindess, no sympathy. Only hatred, and envy.

'It was to let your guard down,' Karo tested out his staff. 'Yes. It worked, after all. You believed that we really wished you good. Now is the time to pay back everything.'

'Karo!!'

'Don't call me by that name, slut!!' Karo raised his hand and backhanded her hard across the face. Azmirah tasted blood, her cheek stinging from the blow her brother had dealt her. 'You do not deserve to even say my name.'

'Brother...' Azmirah called out weakly.

'Not anymore,' Karo said coldly, his words stabbing straight into Azmirah's heart. It was as if her heart was gushing blood, a wound that nothing can heal. All that she believed in wasn't real. Everything was just a dream, a dream from which she has just woken up from. 'Now you pay.'

Her captor flung her to the floor, and the boys who surrounded her immediately attacked her. Curling into a ball, Azmirah tried to protect herself from the blows raining down on her, which hurt as much as what the boys threw at her, the insults which she was so familiar from the mouths of the people. She was foolish to believe that they really accepted her, Azmirah thought sourly to herself. And most of all, the most foolish thing she ever did was to trust her brother. She should have known earlier. How can they allow a girl like her to win? And worse, to be better than them? She wished that she had listened to Mirond that day by the river. How stupid. Her dreams and hopes all lay shattered on the ground, trampled on. So she was only a disgrace to everyone. She had been living a lie all these times, she thought, as a blow to her head sent her spiralling into blessed darkness, and she knew no more.