บท 19: Chapter 19: Original Lireesa's past

Chatting with her friend and her daughter, Lireesa knew not how much time had passed, during which Alleria learnt a lot from her mother including the art of war and troll war experiences. Although she might learn later from others, she still felt fortunate herself to realize the difficulties and techniques used during the old war against the trolls. She gained many tactics and strategies, believing as if she was the goddess of war now. Well, it was probably self-thoughtful wish.

Alleria found her mother not tedious any longer, who routinely would scold and fix her to follow strict rules. She just wanted to be free as a bird. Despite not being absolutely free, Alleria had responsibilities she must undertake while enjoying affection from her mother who no longer demanded her rigorously. Regarding trolls, if it wasn't been told by her mother, she never believed their existence as similar to near-immortal. Trolls had huge regeneration power. As long as, the injury wasn't life-threatening, they would rapidly recover back to square one. Even if their life was threatened, as long as they didn't die immediately, with the help of their witch doctors and specific therapy, they could become the new ones again.

Even though she hadn't fought with trolls, she now felt her blood not boiling but her stomach wanting to puke. It was actually disgusting to wage war with trolls. She couldn't fathom how much her mother's generation paid for the current peace of Quel'Thalas.

On the sidelines, Sena listened with glister and was amused how Alleria's face changed when the trolls' abilities was mentioned. Sena reacted the same way back then when she was baptized in the flames of war with trolls. The era back then was truly dangerous and severe than it was now. Smacking her lips, Sena giggled sometimes what she thought now was funny but was actually the most dangerous time of her life. She and Lireesa ran like rats away from trolls who desperately chased them as if they had stolen their wives around the whole lower circle of Quel'Thalas where they couldn't directly return back to their headquarters or they could, because Lireesa lost her map and the whole platoon didn't even know, wholeheartedly trusting their officer leading the path to the brink of even stunning the troll commander.

Whenever, this shameful past was mentioned to Lireesa, she would refute and said it was all part of her plan, a strategic feint ambushed retreat. Yes, the exact same words. From then on, Lireesa would memorize the map on every occasion. Funny enough, most of the officers in the Windrunner guards were from the same group together. As a lord, one must have majesty so much so that the rest decided to forget this even selectively.

Seeing Lireesa proudly told her tales as if the warriors in the stories became mythical beings and her brilliant chess move as a commander, Sena just sneered and said in her heart, go on I wanna see how I break your myth.

Alleria's eye shone with sparkle; the emerald green along with her expression couldn't help received a pinch on her cheek from her loving mother. Lireesa stopped her speech and as if remembering some unspeakable history, the corners of her lip twitched and said, "Alleria, you must always remember to memorize the map in your head, especially the area where your group would be going.

"But this doesn't need to be told right mother," Alleria unknowingly embarrassed her mother. "Which idiot wouldn't take heed on maps? Everyone knows maps are unreliable during battle because you could lose it during combat. So, any sane leader will commit the drawing into their memory."

Straightaway, her mother face froze and her head gazed upward with her eyes roaming around the room. In contrast to her mother reaction, which seemed like she staggered along the stairways, Alleria found her aunt Sena closed her mouth with two hands and sniffling to the point where her body started to shake uncontrollably. Powerless, when she couldn't churn it into her stomach any longer, her laughter thundered across the whole room.

The light bulb shone on the top of Alleria's head alongside with her aunt's and her mother's unalike reaction; even a fool knew what she said hit right straight into the face. Alleria also giggled guiltily asked knowingly, "Aunt, care you tell me your experience which coincides with what I said."

Sena ignored the dead look given by Lireesa, continued to dare disobey would be met with consequences, and gladly reviewed her memory again to tell the tales properly. Sena just didn't care what the consequences would be as long as she could see Lireesa's changing expression, while Alleria also wanted to find out what occurred back then which seemed to embarrass her mother. The two foes knowingly had a peace agreement and entered a prosperous time of exchanging cultures.

Sena's voice slowly came out as if from a long river of time, indulging people in including Lireesa's to go through her memory again. "It started as…"

.......

Daylight. Sun shone but the forest still stayed cool.

Whoosh! Thump!

Long spears flew and hit the trunks of the trees. Right then the figure rushed past and seemed to sense the attacks from behind. With her strong agility, she jumped and twirled around in midair. Her whole body suspended completely horizontal to the ground. As she did this, spears passed straight around her body. She dodged everything thrown at her. She landed lightly and sprinted away from the dangers. As everyone expected, it was Lireesa from head to toe, the same size.

She exuded a youthful vibe and a carefree temperament. Noticing something, she turned her head back and her pupils shrank. She saw a troll, high-level assassin, chasing her. The assassin was so fast, it only leave afterimages. Lireesa sprinted fast. She wasn't afraid of the assassin behind, just didn't want to get entangled and got surrounded. All her other friends were retreating and the trolls' pursue would last only for a moment. The two fluttered through the forest, jumping from the trees' parts, as if they were performing a ritual dance.

Lireesa hopped on the huge roots the trees and put another force on her soles to lunge herself upward, reaching the trunk of another tree. She used her inertia to propel again and climbed 15 feets from the ground. As soon as she stayed on the branch, she pulled the bowstring and released the concuss shots toward her back. Afterward, she reached for her arrows from the quiver behind. Three arrows in her hand, within 1.5 second, she shot consecutively. No aim at all, just through instinct.

Lireesa turned around and continued her great escape. She didn't bother to look what happened behind her as if she already knew the result. What more could high-level assassin do, not to mention there were other high-level professionals following her. And it was the same as she imagined.

Lireesa heard a cry of agony and anger behind and she knew it wasn't the one she shot. Just by that voice, she confirmed she had killed. Her first concuss shot appeared no different from normal arrow. The troll didn't bother to dodge and blocked it, completely slowing him down. The spell lasted another 2.5 seconds to disappear, yet three arrows wouldn't give him a chance. Relying on his experience, his head avoided the first arrow, brushing his ears. The second arrow impacted his midpart torso, removing his ability to move and the third arrow nailed his eyes. A clean kill.

Lireesa had already predicted the troll's action for each shot and killed him easily even if the two were in the same rank—high-level. She heard rapid footsteps, a lot of force put by their soles. It wasn't one but two and still the same high-level. One was quieter apparently at a longer distance. She heard a whirling air, only happened when the air was bended suddenly. Closer and Closer. Without looking back she knew by the level of the sound, it was a heavy object. She slid half a foot to the left and the object passed near her. She didn't overreact by making more movement, reducing her speed and the distance with her enemies.

Thump!

It hit one of tree trunk in front of her. Some parts sprinkled on her. Except for her blinking eyes, nothing fazed her. The slid movement was possible because there was a plain ground for some distance. Otherwise, the big roots of trees could only her to either roll in the air without diminishing her velocity or slow down and dodge. Anyway, her distance with enemies would get closer. Whether plain or obstacles route, she had her own ways to deal with it.

Continued running, at some point, she discovered suspicious shadows and looked back. Her hair on the skin stood up and felt chill. She saw several spears thrown at her. They were predicted to hit ahead of her path. If she moved forward, she would surely be impaled by these spears. Not wanting to decelerate, she simply changed her direction a bit to the right. Although there was a huge rock blocking, requiring her to make several jumps for a moment, she chose this path.

Her face went cold. She turned her waist and shot the arrow at the troll closest to her, who, fearing it would be a concuss shot, decided to dodge and discovered it was a normal arrow. He was angry of been fooled that the distance between the two enlarged. Resuming the chase, he saw Lireesa jumping several steps and finally twirled in the air over the rocks. Just when he was thinking about throwing his axe again, he saw the arrow directed at him. Not wanting to be fooled, he simply whacked away breaking the arrows and was smug. When he anxiously jumped over the rocks, he saw Lireesa aiming at him, and his heart was chilled.

Lireesa smirked and released the arrow. The troll blocked it and found it was damn concuss shot. His movement now slowed. As soon as his feet touched the ground, Lireesa shot another arrow straight into his mouth. The troll fell limp on his knees. He realizing he was dying and with his last breath he still threw the axe intending to die together. Lireesa without hesitation slanted her slender waist and the axe flew past, brushing her silver hair in the air.

The troll's vision went dark unwillingly. Hearing another footstep, Lireesa waited and drew her bowstring to an arc. On her fingers, there were four arrows, well-prepared. She waited only for a second or two, the remaining troll came into sight, completely ignorant his fellow had already died. When this troll jumped over, his fate was then sealed. Four arrows released. Lireesa even saw the troll's panicked face. She knew it was over.