“Can’t you do anything Amelia?!” Almecho screamed.
“I can give him the antidotes that I found in Arnold’s pockets. I can slow down the spread of poison but I can’t save him,” Amy answered in a solemn tone.
“Do it! Anything!”
“I would only prolong his suffering!” Amy shouted back.
Almecho grabbed her by the shoulders and stared at her with tear-filled eyes. “Seth is dead Amy. I can’t lose my father too. Please.”
“Son,” Ilalka said in a hoarse voice. It had been several hours now; his left shoulder down to the abdomen and his left hands had become a dark blue. “Shouting at poor Amelia will not help.”
“Father, you mustn’t speak.”
“Let me. I don’t have much time left.” Ilalka raised is right hand to silence Almecho who was about to speak. “In the end, everyone dies son. I have lived my life. I was hoping to live more but I guess that ends today.”
He beckoned for his son to come closer.
“Vacate the village,” Ilalka said. “I trust Arnold and I trust the news that he brought us, especially after what happened here today. Head through the swamp and over the hills to Goldwall. Our people can navigate through the swamp. It’s safe to assume that the army heading here, should they choose to pursue you, cannot.”
“But the village–”
“The people are what make this village son. Save them and you will have saved Raganad.” Ilalka reached out to touch Almecho’s cheek. His hands then dropped down the amulet hanging from his neck. “Keep this amulet safe. It belonged to your mother.” He smiled. “Your mother would have been proud to see the man you have grown up to be. I am proud of the man you have become.”
“Father…” a single tear dropped from Almecho’s eyes.
“Don’t cry now,” Ilalka managed to chide his son despite his worsening condition. “Tend to the village first. With me dead, the people will look up to you. You are now its Chief and the task of protecting Raganad falls into your hands. Once it’s safe, you may cry all you want.”
The dark blue bruise was spreading across Ilalka’s legs and slowly crawling up to his right shoulder.
“Start giving the orders son. You’re the leader now.”
“Sir, I can see them on the horizon!” an archer atop the wall yelled.
“Are you sure your plan will work?” Amy asked. “They are supposed to have two thousand soldiers and we are merely two hundred. That’s one of our own for ten of theirs.”
“We have the advantage,” Almecho replied. “They come expecting us to be in chaos and defenceless only to be greeted by arrows. The wall will be difficult for them to scale up to and the west-gate we can hold with Xalo’s ability.”
“What if they break through?”
“Then I hope what Xalo has in mind works.”
“So Arnold did manage to bring the medicine for Somya,” Almecho commented. “If we get through tonight then I will make sure he is rewarded heavily.”
“Do you think the assassin is still in the village?” Amy asked.
They, the Twelve, and the rest of the guards at Ilalka’s house were going from house to house telling the people to leave everything behind and leave the village. Those who had been present at the house when Alaiza had begun her attack on Ilalka had complied immediately. The others Almecho had to personally appeal to, to leave their homes.
He arrived at the place he was dreading the most. Seth’s home.
Someone must have been looking out from the window as the front door opened before Almecho could knock on it. He was greeted by the smiling face of Seth’s mother.
“Almecho! Dear, what happened? What’s all this raucous around the village?” She looked past him, looking for her son only to see the village doctor standing a few paces behind Almecho. “Oh, hello Amelia. Where’s Seth?”
Almecho felt his stomach drop.
“Sharla, Seth is … he’s dead.”
“Pardon me?” Sharla blinked in surprise, not really understanding Almecho’s words. Her son dead? She would give Seth an earful for such a horrible joke.
“Who is it Sharla?” a deep voice boomed from within. Seth’s father Nilada came into view as he walked up to and stood behind his wife. “Is that you Almecho?”
Sharla wasn’t paying attention to her husband. “Stop this stupid joke right now young man. Now go and tell Seth that I am very cross with him–”
Almecho brought forth his hands, holding the burnt cloth that Seth had been wearing. “Sharla … Seth is dead,” he said in a quiet tone.
The words took a moment to sink into Sharla. And when she dead, she let out a wail before her eyes turned white and she keeled over into Nidala’s arms.
“What is the meaning of this?” bellowed Nidala. He gingerly lay his wife on the floor.
Almecho took in a deep breath. “Your son is dead Nidala. He was killed by the same assassin who took my father’s life tonight,” he said, hoping that revealing the fact that his father had been killed too would help Nidala empathize.
“How … where …” Nidala choked and dropped to his knees. His eyes had reddened; the man was crying. Almecho looked at this man whom he had been scared of all his life just crying. He wanted to cry too but he had responsibilities to his people to fulfil first.
“I have him buried beside my father at our orchard. I wish I could bring his body to you but …” Almecho held back his tears, remembering the sight of his friend’s dead body had almost overwhelmed him. “… I could not bear to have Sharla see him Nidala. Sorry, I just couldn’t.”
“My only son … dead …” Nidala whimpered.
Almecho grabbed Nidala by the shoulders and pulled him up. “Nidala, there is something very important I need to tell you. The assassin who destroyed our families tonight – her army is headed to Raganad right now. They will kill all of us if we don’t leave now.”
“You want us to leave?” Nidala asked. First the news that his son had been killed and now he was being told that he had to leave the village. Leave his home.
“Yes Nidala. Everyone must leave, including you. The assassin killed your son; you wouldn’t give her the satisfaction of killing you, would you? Or Sharla?”
Nidala looked back at his unconscious wife.
“No,” he mumbled. His face grew red as rage boiled within him. “No.”
“Then you must leave now. You know the swamps better than anyone in the village. Can you lead the villagers through it?” Almecho asked.
“Yes. Yes I can.”
“Good. I want you to head up to the north-gate and meet with Gauld. You and he will lead the villagers through the swamp to Goldwall over the hills.”
“What about you?” Nidala asked.
“I will stay until everyone has left,” Almecho said. “These are my people. You are my people. And I won’t leave until everyone else is safe.”
“Are all the gates closed?” Almecho asked.
“Yes sir. We have barricaded all the gates with furniture from all the nearby houses. Also,” the guard’s voice dropped, “what is that knight made of? He hauled two oakwood beds by himself, a bed in each hand.”
Almecho still felt uneasy about trusting the red haired man and comments like these made the feeling worse. He was not used to seeing people with strengths equal to his own and Xalo was clearly as much as if not slightly more stronger than him. Could he be a first order? But he had claimed to be from the east and Almecho knew Easterners were no stronger than a fifth order human.
“Sir, the preparations are ready in your home like you ordered,” a guard spoke, snapping Almecho out of his thoughts.
“Good job.” Almecho turned and looked up the wall. “Status on the army?” he yelled.
“They are approaching fast. They seem to have spotted us!” an archer yelled back.
“You should go up there to direct them,” Amy said.
“And you should go wait at the northern gate.”
“I’m not going anywhere until it looks like they’ve breached the west-gate. If the archers or the guards up there get injured, send them down. I’ll doctor them,” Amy replied. She moved forward and gave Almecho a brief hug. “Good luck Chief.”
Almecho nodded. He walked to a rope ladder hanging from the wall and climbed up, reaching the top of the wall in seconds. He looked out to the desert. Sure enough, he could see a large mass of dark red and black heading towards Raganad.
“Lord Rachhas’ army.” It was Xalo who had walked up to beside Almecho. “And this is only a third of the fraction that came to this land from the eastern shore beyond Lahamrab. To think a double of this force is headed to Sherman.”
“Do you think Sherman will survive?”
“My master and my friend went to Sherman to warn them of the incoming attack. If they prepare themselves like you have then they should survive.”
“We are outnumbered one for ten. I am putting my faith in you to help us survive this.”
“Don’t worry. A half of their numbers will be dead before they break through the west-gate.”
“Where are we going?” little Somya asked.
She was being carried by Almecho on his back. He noticed that her fever had gone down considerably.
“You will be going with everyone else to Goldwall sweetie,” Amy, who was walking behind them both, answered.
“But I don’t want to go,” answered Somya.
“Some bad people are coming to Raganad,” Almecho said. “So, we need to leave the village until they go away. We will be back, I promise.”
Somya pouted her lips, not entirely convinced.
The evacuation had taken several hours. The sky was beginning to redden in the east. The sun would rise soon.
They arrived at the north-gate where Gauld was waiting for them.
“Has everyone left?” Almecho asked. He transferred Somya unto Gauld’s arm.
“Yes,” Gauld answered. “Only you, the Twelve, and the guards are left.”
“How was Nidala doing?”
“He didn’t speak much.”
Almecho nodded. “He just lost his son.”
“And you just lost your father,” Gauld said. “You need not burden yourself like this Almecho. Go and catch up with the people. I will follow behind with the Twelve and the guards.”
“No, you go catch up with the people. They may have listened to me now but I believe they trust you more than I to navigate them safely through the swamp. Don’t worry about me, I will be fine. Take Somya and Amy and go. I won’t be too far behind.”
“If that is what you wish Chief,” Gauld said. He bowed to Almecho and turned to leave.
Suddenly, a horn sounded across the village, the sound amplified by its empty and quiet streets.
“The assassin!” Almecho exclaimed. He put on his cuff blades. “Go now!” he shouted to Gauld and Amelia. Before either of them could protest, he had run off into the dark streets to confront the girl that had killed his father.
The dark red mass grew larger. Almecho could see tall and broad furry creatures he had never seen before walking alongside humans wearing dark red armour bearing a strange insignia.
“The creatures you see are called Iteys. Their species is normally peaceful. However, these ones were raised from kidnapped Iteys in Lord Rachhas’ kingdom. They are fuelled with hate against those who oppose their Lord,” Xalo explained.
“And the insignia belongs to Lord Rachhas I presume.”
“Yes,” answered Xalo. He peered into the quickly approaching army. His expression grew worried. “No…”
“What is it?” Almecho asked.
“I see orcs in between them.”
“Orcs?” Almecho stared at the army himself. Sure enough, in between the tall Iteys and the humans were bulky humanoid figures unlike both of them. Their heads were covered by helmets which was why neither Almecho nor Xalo had noticed them in the crowd before.
“You call them Hesh,” Xalo said.
Almecho cursed. Hesh were reportedly the savages that lived on the northern most end of the land. Their strength was far superior to that of a normal human; a single Hesh could rival Almecho in terms of strength.
“We stay true to our plan,” Almecho said.
“Well, we’re too late to come up with a different strategy anyway,” Xalo commented.
Almecho felt his heart grow cold. Orcs – Hesh in the army would mean they could now break through the west-gate easily. And when they did, he was not sure if Raganad’s guards could fight against them. They were already heavily outnumbered to boot.
“Arrows up!” Almecho shouted. Behind him he could hear Xalo jump down the wall to help the guards ready their slingshots. Half the archers dipped the tip of their arrows in the poison Amy had provided them. She had initially collected them to make antidotes but now they saw a different use against an army en route to destroy their village.
The other half dipped their arrows in oil and set them ablaze.
“Ready!” yelled Almecho.
All the archers lifted their bows up.
“Fire!”
The arrows left the bow and death rained down on Rachhas’ army.
ns 15.158.61.16da2
