Gwenevere Markey Never Too Late to Change

GWENEVERE MARKEY

It’s Never Too Late to Change

General Stricken hit the table with his baton. “Here!” He said, in his bellowing voice, “Is where we will strike tomorrow.” The valley was in between two mountains, the Hubaris army would be marching through the valley according to our spies in their network. The mountains would make it the perfect point to ambush their troops. They would never see us coming. “Meeting dismissed.” General Stricken yelled, and everyone filed their way out of the conference room. I walked back to the bunkhouses, which meant I had to walk through the cold winter snow to reach them. My shoes crunched underneath me and I could feel the snow melting through my shoes, soaking my socks. My bunk was nicer than some of the others. I didn’t have to share a room with anyone, which was a luxury many weren’t provided. It didn’t matter to the Hirabelds if you were young or old, poor or rich. Everyone was assigned their worth to the cause based on how helpful they were. I had given the Hirabelds information in exchange for this room. My sister was a very important person in the Hubaris army. She told me things. It felt bad to tell on her, but I didn’t like what she was doing. She was messing with the natural order of things. The Hirabelds have always ruled, and it will be that way for a very long time. I took off my soaked shoes and peeled off my wet socks and plopped down onto the bed. I needed to sleep. We had a big day ahead of us. The next morning, I was awakened by the siren. Living anywhere else, this would be a cause for concern, but this was the wakeup siren. It went off every day at 6:00 sharp. I threw back on my shoes and socks which had dried out and went to the armory. The armory was next to the conference rooms. It held all of our supplies and weapons. I grabbed a large gun, a sniper from the rack. General Stricken was shouting out orders as people filed into the room. I was instructed to march to the top of the mountains before the rest of the army came along with a squad of skilled shooters. From up there, we would be able to see their troops approach and could alert of any difference from the plan. I met my group outside by the gates to the base. I had only ever seen one of them before. Kilda. She was arguably the best shooter on the base. Kilda yelled directions at the guards manning the gates and the gate slid open with a metallic whirring noise. The snow was thick, and even with snowshoes and a parka on, it didn’t prevent the cold from getting to you. I was freezing, but complaining doesn’t help anything. I marched on with the rest of the squad for the mountain. It was only a couple miles from base. We had to get there before noon, and seeing as the sun wasn’t out yet, we were on track.

After three hours of hiking, we reached the base of the mountain. It was a snowy monstrous thing. No plants were growing on the jagged rocky sides of the cliff. Kilda handed us rock climbing equipment. I grabbed the picks in my hand and attached the spikes to the snowshoes I had on. Kilda went first up the mountain, and the rest of us followed suit. One by one, we silently scaled the mountain. I could hear the heavy breathing of the people climbing with me. Never looking down at the ground once, I made it to the top of the mountain. We had gotten up unharmed. The wind was very strong from up this high. Kilda handed me the binoculars and I scanned the land around us. I could see the base we had come from all the way up here. The distance looked tiny. There were bunches of tiny people following the same path we had taken, the Hirabeld army approaching closer and closer. Out in the distance, I could see the bright blue uniforms of the Hubaris. They marched in uniform, slowly edging closer to their ambush. Kilda handed me a sniper. “You know what to do.” She said, I loaded the gun and attached the scope. The scope gave me better magnification than the binoculars, but not as much coverage. “They’re approaching!” Kilda whispered. “Who?” I asked “The Hubaris. Get ready.” I gripped my gun harder as the first blue coats came into my view. The leader of the army was dressed in a blue uniform but had on a wolf skin cloak that identified them as someone of impotence. Their red hair blew in the wind. The same red hair I have. My sister had gotten farther in the ranks than when I had last seen her. She was a general now. And she was marching into a trap.

I didn't like her all that much, but she was my blood. The last of it. My parents had died in combat. I couldn't let her die. I couldn't kill her. I raised my sniper gun and aimed. I pulled the trigger without looking and waited. I heard the loud echoing bang of the gun bounce off of the mountain. The Hubaris stopped marching and ran away, breaking their uniform marching pattern. Kilda looked around in disbelief. Where had that shot come from? Our position had been blown and Hubaris had realized that they were walking into a trap. I felt bad that I had betrayed the Hirabelds, but no one had gotten hurt. No one needed to get hurt. My sister would live to see another day, and so would my army. A newfound sense of peace washed over me. Violence wasn’t the answer. I guess it’s never too late to change.