Embracing Love and Power
Chapter 16 - The game

Each and every time Tillie had run into Timber over these past couple of days, he had made an ugly comment on her behalf. He had done that even right in front of her men. It started to weigh on her, as she was doing her best to keep each and every sneer inside.

It was game day and Tillie was feeling nervous, she knew what her team would face if they lost. She had told them honestly what the consequences of losing would be. But they laughed and continued their training, it still bothered her that they would suffer because of her. She wasn’t sure if they were ready to win this thing yet. Every day they had been to the ruins to train and run over different tactics, giving room for different game plans as needed. Tillie wanted her men to be prepared.

And now it was time, they marched over to the grounds while she ran through everything in her head. Ace walked beside her: “You are thinking way too hard.” “Maybe” she simply replied. “Trust me, you are.” Ace reassured her. “Doesn’t it bother you?” she asked. “What?” “That we will get all the dirty jobs because of me?” She answered his question. “We all joined your squad because we think you can do better than Timber. Because what he is doing isn’t the right way, as you said it yourself power isn’t the only answer. By choosing to do that, we all have a target on our backs. But it’s wort it, in the last few weeks I learned more than all those years in Timber’s squad. Trust me after thousands and thousands of pushups I have had it.” Tillie smiled at Ace. “Thank you” she said. “For what?” “Being my friend” Ace looked around to make sure no one could hear him. “I will always be your friend, even if I still think that you being here is stupid.” Tillie rolled her eyes.

The group stopped at Timber’s sign. The soldiers lined up in their squad formation to listen to the explanation of their leader. “Soldiers, we are here for the monthly competition, this is the first time the fourth squad will participate. And to make things interesting the loser does all the chores. So now you all know what’s at stake. First squad, we are blue, Second squad green, third brown and fourth yellow. As always if your color band is ripped off, you are dead in the game.” Timber explained. It was silent for a second. “Are you so afraid of us that we get the most revealing color?” Robert shouted what the whole squad was thinking.

Timber took a threatening step in his direction, Tillie quickly moved herself between the two men. Timber looked dead serious in her eyes. “Move Breaker” He commanded. Tillie didn’t want to she had to stop him, if he would punish Robert the whole squad would be punished and she didn’t need that right now. “He is right you know” she said. “Whining about playing fair again? Aren’t you capable of comping up with a good strategy to win? Guess you are not used to actual achieving anything yourself.” Timber laughed. “Excuse me?” she asked “I can imagine that everything in live has been delivered to you on a silver platter, using your body as a bargain.” He said. “Excuse me.” Tillie turned angrier by the minute. And then she felt a hand pulled on her shoulder. “Don’t” Valen tried to calm her down. “I would slap you for your words, but then it will be less satisfying when I do so during the game.” She fired back. “You will be below me in seconds, maybe then you would finally know your place.” He retorted. “Not if I beat you to it.” Makin smirked. “Seriously guys?” Valen tried to pull them apart as the eyes of all the soldiers were pointed at Tillie and Timber. Tillie huffed and turned around with her squad.

When the squad arrived at their part of the site Tillie took her time to listen to their insecurities about the plan, their thoughts and ideas. Tillie had listened to her squad, who had given her the knowledge of her enemies. Timber would likely attack with brute force, counting on wining the fights. Makin would just go for it without thinking about it. Valen was the hardest to place. “So none of them will be focusing on one squad?” Tillie asked. “No Timber even has a system where whoever frees the hostage gets a free pass on doing the tasks. He will probably include a bonus for taking you out.” Ace said while looking directly at her. “Valen was the only squad leader who had a bit of a strategy, but it’s hard to beat the brute force of Timber.” Robert said.

There was a moment of silence and then Tillie thought of something. “There aren’t any rules about keeping your hostage in one place?” she asked. “No there are not.” Ace answered. “So if we would move together as one squad, taking our hostage with us, that wouldn’t be against the rules?” she looked at her men. “I guess not.” Ace answered. “But if we move together we would be easier to spot.” Louis noticed. “Not if we create a distraction.” Robert remarked. “So we have to give them something worth the chase.” Tillie said and smiled, she was proud of her squad for coming up with the idea together.

“They all will come after you, just to prove themselves.” Louis said. “So the three fastest runners are with me.” Tillie looked at her men. “We will move separately from point to point, hiding as much as possible” Robert suggested. “We’ll keep in touch over the earpiece we all brought, it isn’t stated in the rules that you can’t use it.” Ace added. “No matter where we end up, I am already proud of the things you guys have accomplished over the past few days, chose your battles wisely.” Tillie encouraged them with a smile.

As the game started Tillie separated from her men, she started to run in the opposite direction of her other squad members. Ace, Carlos and Henry followed her, they were the fastest runners of the squad. Tillie wondered if they could keep up with her. She smiled at the thought, she didn’t know what the day would bring, how many fights she would have to face but she felt a strange kind of excitement. “We’ll move over to the higher grounds, we have a better view over them there. There was a tower as well I think we can use that to look over the grounds.” She suggested. The guys nodded and followed Tillie. As she reached the remains of a tower, Tillie easily made her way along the brick wall upstairs. She carefully hid behind the remains of a window and looked out over the battlefield.

“Are they close to the rest of our team?” Ace asked. “No, not yet.” Tillie replied. “Can you spot our hostage?” Henry asked. Tillie looked over the grounds, if she would use her magic she would know immediately but this was neither the time nor the place for it. She saw the hostage of Timber’s team, luckily that wasn’t their man. Valen and his team moved around the terrain in a more structured way. She saw how Timber soldiers moved in Valen’s direction and in them hiding she spotted the hostage, but he wasn’t wearing a yellow band.

“Makin has our hostage.” Tillie concluded. “Northwest of the playing field, by that fountain we studied. The hostage is hidden behind that big willow. Five guards directly at his side, the camp is guarded by another five people.” Tillie shouted over towards Ace. “Are they moving in the direction of our camp yet?” Ace asked. Tillie looked across the field, within seconds she had found the one she was looking for. And no surprises there he was exactly moving as they had predicted. “Timber and a group of his soldiers are. Makin is also moving in the direction of where our camp is supposed to be.” She said. “No surprise there.” Carlos expressed their thoughts. “What is Valen doing?” Henry asked. “Taking advantage of the stupidity of Timber.” Tillie replied with a smile. “Again no surprise there.” Carlos grinned.

Tillie began to climb back down. “So guys ready for a good diversion, let’s lure the bear out.” The guys laughed as she rejoined them back on the ground. As per Ace’s instructions the rest of the squad had moved in the direction of Makin’s camp. She had to lure the others far away from them, giving them a bigger chance at succeeding. Tillie and the guys ran back towards the outside of their camp. The rest of her squad had already disappeared as she saw movement at the edge of the trees. “They are here.” Henry said. Tillie smiled: “Show time”. She positioned herself so she was easily detectable and stared straight ahead. “We need to start running now.” Ace said. “Go ahead, I just want to see his face right before I start.” Tillie replied with a wicked grin. “Are you going to poke the bear some more? He was already fuming.” Carlos asked.

She signaled her guys to leave and the three of them took off. The soldiers clearly came out the woods and showed themselves as they saw Tillie there all alone. Timber was running with them at the front of the group, wearing his handsome jet arrogant smile. Tillie planned on whipping that smile of his face.

“We have to lure them to our first set of traps. ” Ace’s voice filled her ear. “I am on it.” Tillie replied. She blew a kiss at Timber and the rest of his soldiers before she turned around and disappeared into a denser part of the woods. She started running faster than she had done when moving with the guys over to the towers, she had to challenge her chasers. The soldiers tried to keep up with her but in doing so they were largely blinded to their surroundings. Tillie and her team had set traps with ropes all over the forest, catching an aw full lot of the soldiers. The ropes wrapped around their legs or pulled them up into the threes. She made a sharp left turn and jumped down off a hill in the woods. She slid down the hill in seconds as she reached the other guys.

“Ready to break apart?” Carlos asked. Tillie heard how the soldiers where jumping down the hill as well, a few of them getting trapped in wooden cages at the bottom. The team had already defeated more than half of the soldiers that were chasing them. Tillie nodded her head. “May the best rabbit win.” Carlos grinned. As they split up and ran farther into the forest Tillie immediately knew who was chasing her. She looked over her shoulder when she saw Timber accompanied by two other soldiers. “It’s over for you sweetheart.” He smiled with a Cheshire smile. “Save your breath you will need it.” Tillie retorted. She smiled as she approached her goal. Timber was about to grab her when she jumped off a small cliff right into the water.

Timber felt how his anger was rising and without thinking he jumped after her. Tillie had counted just on that, because over the past few weeks she had quickly discovered that when Timber got angry, he stopped thinking and just acted. The water was wild and only with the right training one could easily progress in it. Tillie thanked her lucky stars for the lessons of Nobleman. As she approached the shore she knew that she had quite the advantage over Timber and the other soldiers. She left clear footprints as a diversion on the shore and climbed on a few rocks to hide. A couple of minutes later she saw how Timber emerged from the water. He was exhausted from the swim. He was followed by another soldier, who collapsed on the beach not moving any further. As Timber dragged himself along the sand, Tillie saw her chance. She jumped out of her hiding spot and straight onto his back. Within seconds she had wrestled him to the ground, straddling his neck with her arm. Before Timber could react she had pulled the band of his arm.

“So below me, do you now know your place?” she asked with a smile. Timber looked fuming at her. He gathered all his strength and flipped her over. Making her back hit the sand and not in a gentle way. Tillie looked up at him the attraction raging through her body. His wet hair dripped down his forehead and she felt how her fingers itched to wipe the drops away. Without realizing what she was doing she gently licked her lips, all aroused by how close he was pressed against her. Timber pressed against her harder and she could feel that he too was aroused. His eyes had darkened and were looking only at her lips. Timber’s fingers itched as he looked at the beautiful girl trapped beneath him, her clothes clenched against her wet body, accentuating her luscious curves. How he wanted to tear those clothes, how he wanted to devour her body. He pressed himself closer to her, watching how her pupils dilated. But then his senses came back when he saw the band wrapped in her hand. His hand moved over towards her band as he still looked into her eyes.

“You are death aren’t you?” Tillie questioned, not sure if he would play it fair. Timber looked at her as he was debating what to do and suddenly he heard how the soldier who been stranded with him on the beach coughed. Within seconds he had pulled Tillie to her feet and wrapped his arms securely around her, caging her in. Tillie quickly caught up with his plan. “You are cheating” she yelled. “Am I?” Timber answered. “I make the rules of the game sweetheart.” His hot breath fanned her ears, leaving goosebumps all over her body. “So you have to play dirty to beat me?” she asked him even more defiantly. “Lucas get your ass up and make yourself useful.” Timber commanded. Tillie kicked and struggled against Timber’s hold, but somehow he was able to hold her in his arms. She couldn’t let him beat her like this and so she did what was necessary. She punched him hard in the groin causing him losing his grip.

But that only fueled Timber’s anger more and before she could run away he had pinned her back to the ground. He pressed his elbow hard against her shoulder and shoved her head into the sand. Tillie could taste the sand in her mouth. Lucas walked over to them and tore the band off her arm. Tillie was fuming. “We have our trophy boss” Lucas replied with a grin. “Yes I think the game is over. How can they win without their precious leader.” Timber smiled. And right in that moment a loud signal went over the field. Indicating that someone had freed his own team member without losing their hostage. Timber tied Tillie up with her colored band. “You have some sand on your mouth sweetheart.” Timber tried to brush it off with his thumb but Tillie turned her head to the side, not giving him the satisfaction. “How old are you five?” she asked.

He smirked as he pulled her back up flat against his chest. He breathed into her ear sending goosebumps all over her body again. “Behave yourself” he said. “Or what?” she challenged. “Try me.” He teased. She tried to hit her head against his, but he let her fall into the sand. With her hands tied behind her back Tillie landed flat on her face. Timber pulled her back up. “I think I have made my point. Or do you want another demonstration?” he asked. The walk back was a long one and Tillie fell a few times by accident always at Timber’s hands.

When they finally had reached the other soldiers everyone fell silent. “So I think we managed to capture the real trophy here.” Timber smirked. “But Timber you are dead.” Valen noticed right away. “You should have seen us, it was epic. The boss sacrificed himself so I could take her band.” Lucas immediately supported the story. All men stared in awe at Timber. Valen looked suspiciously from Timber to Tillie. He saw that she was fuming by now. “Okay let’s see who the winner is this time.” Valen said.

And to the amazement of the soldiers, Robert stepped forward. “We are.” He said as he pushed the hostage of Tillie’s team forward. “That can’t be possible, where is your team member? Where are the rest of the soldiers?” Hugo stepped forward. “They freed me from Makin’s camp.” “Most of the soldiers are still trapped somewhere I believe” Ace smirked. “You weren’t playing fair” Timber pointed accusingly at Robert. “We weren’t?” Tillie looked challenging in his eyes.

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