Chapter 5 - The Final Battle

      The troops were ready two day later and Rosie sent the order to begin the march. Rosie led her troops with General Lee by her side as he had been throughout the entire war. Alice, the ruler of the Eastern Kingdom was marching her troops as well, as were Mary and Linda from the West and South respectively.

      As Rosie thought of this, it gave her a pain of sadness since all four princesses had been childhood friends. They had promised each other that when they ruled their kingdom that they would come unite the kingdoms and rule them together peacefully. When Rosie remembered that promise, she shed one single tear.

Lee looked over at her with concern, but she waved him off. They continued in silence toward the battle front.

      When they were only a short five miles from the sight of what was sure to be the final battle, Rosie ordered her troops to set up camp. That night the soldiers ate cold food, and went to sleep cold for they didn't dare to light a fire and give away their location. Rosie barely slept that night as she was worried about what was to come.

      Rosie and her troops rose before sunrise the following day, again eating a cold meal As they ate, no one spoke. Many thought that meal was going to be their last. When everyone was finished eating, they began to get ready for the long battle that lay ahead.

      Rosie marched her troops into the battle. As they approached, the cries of battle could be heard. Rosie, however, no longer cringed as those cries. In fact, it had absolutely no effect on her. When they reached the edge of the battle, they paused for a moment, before charging in.

      They fought bravely, killing many of their enemies. Rosie fought along side her troops and watched as they fell, yet also causing many others to fall. They fought without mercy, yet they were careful not to kill one another. Rosie thought that they looked like dancers as she had the first time that she fought in battle. She noticed the dance never ended since every time one fell, the victor would move on to another opponent.

      Rosie looked to the air and saw a rainbow of colors from the acid bombs that her troops had set off. People screamed in pain as their skin melted off when the acid fell onto them. As night began to fall, the four armies retreated to their camps. Rosie watched as they retreated and noticed that there wasn't a single person heading back to the Western Camp. The Western Kingdom was out of the war, bringing Rosie one step closer to victory. Finally she turned around and headed back to camp.

      That night fires were built since everyone knew where the others' camp was. Rosie announced that the Western Kingdom had been wiped out and that their own losses were minimal. Afterward, the fires were extinguished and everyone went to bed.

      The next morning, Rosie and her troops woke before sunrise and ate in silence again, wondering who would return. As they walked to the battle, they heard the cries again, yet none were effected.

      This time, they went straight into the battle, and took up their positions and started the dance again. They were just as deadly today as they were yesterday, killing every enemy soldier they could find. The planes that Rosie had designed came from the North. They were jet black with only enough room for one person, and five bombs that could effect everything within a half-mile radius. They reminded Rosie of birds, so she had named them F2 Bird Bombers.

      The planes began to drop their bombs. As they exploded in the sky, their colors were bright and beautiful. What seemed to be an endless stream of acid started to rain down killing many and injuring many more. Rosie watched the horrific sight unfazed. She saw her troops fall, but she saw more enemy troops fall then her own. After hours of fighting, the sun started to set and everyone headed back toward camp.

      Again Rosie watched to see the numbers of her enemy troops. What she found shocked her to her core. The only kingdoms left in the war were hers and the Southern Kingdom, and they were in bad shape. They were drained from the seven years of war that they had been in. Rosie told her men the news and went to bed with a smile on her face. She was almost positive that they were going to win.

      The next morning Rosie woke before anyone else. She left her tent, walked over to a small hill, and sat under a tree that was growing on top. She sat there and stared at he battlefield that lay in the distance. She saw the bodies laying around and she knew that two of her childhood friends were among them. Once again the memories of the past began to fly through her head. She remembered when the four of them used to play together in the field below that was now a battle sight. They would have races and play games, but it would always come down to Rosie and Alice. They had always been the strongest out of the four, but Alice almost always won. Rosie knew that this time she had to finally beat Alice, because if she didn't, she wouldn't be able to ever try again. She was pulled out of her memories when Lee put his hand on her shoulder. She looked up at him, and she knew that he knew what was going on. He had always been there for her. They had grown up together since he'd been in military training from an early age. She had grown to love him dearly and now she needed him. She looked at him again, and he helped her up. She hugged him and as they pulled away, their eyes locked with each other. Rosie leaned forward and kissed him. It was passionate, and Rosie felt something she had never felt before. It was as if everything else had stopped. When they pulled away, they started to walk back to camp in silence, not even daring to look at each other. When they arrived back at camp, the troops were ready to go, as was Rosie. The began to march to what Rosie knew was the last day of battle.

      That day Rosie's men fought long and hard. The planes dropped wave after wave of bombs on the battlefield. People were dying left and right, falling to the ground like toy soldiers in the wind. Then, there was no one left standing except Rosie and her troops. She knew the war was over.

      She stood looking around, and as she did so she realized that all she saw she ruled. Rosie looked at the once beautiful field that lay in the middle of her country and she saw that it was soaked in blood, innocent blood. The blood of men from the four kingdoms. Rosie turned and looked north to the kingdom of the mountains. This is where her people lived. She was an ice princess. She then turned to the east and looked at the farm land that lay in that kingdom. She looked to the south and saw the ocean in that kingdom. Finally she turned to the west and saw the forest and the kingdom that lay in it.

      When she was done examining her new borders, she once again looked around her. She saw all the death that surrounded her, all the blood spilled. Then when she thought she would be her strongest and bravest, she fell to the ground and wept. She didn't cry out of sorrow for her childhood friends who had lost their lives; they had stopped being friends four years earlier when they declared war on her. She wept out of fear of what would happen, in sadness for the innocent that had died, in anger for what had happened and that these conflicts could have been solved peacefully.

      Then she looked up to the heavens, raised up her arms, and screamed “Why did you have to leave me? I wasn't ready to see this! I'm not ready for what is to come! Father, guide me as you once did!”

      She continued to weep in the field of death that lay around her.

TO BE CONTINUED... (maybe)