CHAPTER IV
"You. Come here and help me." Mikan said, pointing at the youngest of the two guards and gesturing towards Ayame. "We need to get her out of here."
He stepped up, visibly trying to compose himself, and Mikan understood him. He had seen things he hadn't seen before, whether it was just the faces of the enemy as they marched on his people or the death of someone he knew, Mikan didn't know, but that didn't matter. Whatever he had seen had been enough to freeze him. Mikan had been like that too, once.
Kogin stormed away into the foyer with the older guard at her feet, calling for the rest of her soldiers awake to rouse their brothers-in-arms and prepare for a battle that had already begun. Mikan's guard pulled Ayame into his arms, and followed after Mikan as she led them out into the foyer and off through a corridor to the right.
"Mikan!" Kogin shouted after her. "Stay safe and join me as soon as you can!"
Mikan nodded without turning and hurried her steps even more as she paused in front of a door a bit into the corridor and listened. Hearing nothing, she threw the door open, revealing another empty corridor.
"Where are we going?" The guard asked as she took the vanguard through the new corridor.
"You're gonna get out of here with Ayame. Go into the forest, and find the old Mill. Ayame knows where it is. Then you leave her there and look for other survivors in the forest and take them there too." She explained as she halted in front of another door and checked the location of the daggers sheathed to her utility garter belt.
"Huh?"
"That is your orders, soldier." Mikan snapped. "Now, get ready. We'll exit through this door at the back of the mansion, and it won't be too far to the woods. I'll go first and scout the area - take down any enemies if they've made it this far already - and you'll run when I tell you to."
Mikan didn't wait for his answer before she spun around, threw the door open and threw herself outside.
The backdoor opened inwards and didn't provide any cover as Mikan rolled across the dry grass and behind an overgrown hedge. Trying to stay as low as possible, she poked her head up and surveyed the area. There was no human in sight, enemy or ally, but few deers raised their head from where they'd been grazing and disappeared into the woods.
The floorboards of the threshold creaked as the guard moved to cross it, but Mikan threw her hand up to stop him as she crept across the garden from overgrown hedge to overgrown hedge. Satisfied she was alone, she poked her head up and was about to gesture for Ayame and the guard to get going when she heard it.
The wind shifted unnaturally and she threw herself away from the hedge she'd been hiding behind just as an arch of compressed air cleaved the thing in two.
"Go!" She called over her shoulder as she tucked her feet under her and rolled away from another windblade. She shot to her feet, darting towards the teenage with the Wind Alice who'd just rounded the corner of the mansion and nearly killed her. He threw another windblade her way, but she rolled under it and unsheathed her longest daggers during the roll, and was back on her feet just before she pummeled into the teenager, thrushing her daggers into his chest before he had time to call the wind to his defence.
Blood splattered across her face as she pulled her daggers back out of his chest and turned to face another Eldwrynian rounding the same corner the teenager had. She sheathed her daggers at her hips and reached into her boot for one of her throwing knifes, flicking it into the man's throat before he had time to react. He dropped, and Mikan exhaled as she rose from her crouched position and cautiously eyed her surroundings, the corner from which the two Eldwrynians had come from in particular.
She relaxed slightly when she didn't spot any other enemies around, and crept around the corner of the mansion, pausing only to make certain both Eldwrynians were dead and not suffering on the brink of it and taking her throwing knife back.
She made it down to the village proper without meeting anyone else, and was sprinting down the street where the blacksmith and baker lived when someone yelled her name. Spinning towards the sound, she spotted the baker's only son fearlessly swinging his mother's huge, wooden peel at three soldiers in Eldwryn red as his two younger sister hid behind him.
Mikan cursed and changed direction. She threw two of her throwing knifes towards the soldier furthest from the children, but one completely missed and the other only grazed his shoulder as he turned towards her. She slammed into him much as she had slammed into the boy with the wind Alice, but without her blades in her hands. Still, the sheer force of her body weight toppled him over and he slammed his head against a cobblestone sticking up further than the rest and then remained unmoving.
She was back on her feet just in time to get a dagger into her hand before the second one cleaved her in two. Twirling away from his long sword, she plucked one of her throwing knives off the ground and flung it at the one still swinging his sword at the baker's children. It hit slightly to the left of his spine, and burrowed all the way to the hilt. He screamed, and took off down the street, leaving his comrades and the children alone.
Once he was alone, Mikan made quick work of the last soldier, disarming him, knocking him out and tieing him up with a string of rope one of the baker's daughters fetched for her. Once she was finished, she turned to the children and smiled.
"Mikan!" The boy cried, relieved, and flung himself at her.
"You did well protecting your sisters, Kinoe." Mikan smiled and patted his head as his sisters followed his lead. "But you can't stay here."
Familiar blue darted past the alley they were standing in, and Mikan untangled herself from the children in time to get the soldier's attention before they turned around another corner.
"Mikan-sama." The leader of the soldier bowed his head to her, the rest of his squad - the scouts excluded - following his lead.
"Kobe-san." Mikan answered, recognizing the red headed soldier from her nights at the tavern. They'd both lost against the mindreader on numerous times before they learned their lessons. "I have a favor to ask of you."
"Of course, Mikan-sama. Anything."
Mikan waved the three children forward. "We need to evacuate all the civilians. Kogin and I have prepared the old Mill in the forest with the necessities - food, water and bedrolls. I want your squad to take these three there, and then guard the civilians until Kogin or I, or Minoru, comes for you."
Several members of his squad seemed relieved at the news that they wouldn't have to fight, which was completely understandable, as most of them were young boys who'd just been "drafted."
Kobe glanced at his men and agreed, sending off the more seasoned of his soldiers and scouts to join other squads and inform them that Kobe had pulled out to guard civilians and wouldn't be arriving anywhere as reinforcement.
Mikan hugged all three of the children before they left, and with the three soldiers Kobe had lent her guarding her back she watched them until she was certain they would be safe. Then she turned to her soldiers and signaled with her fingers for them to follow her.
It was time to show what a Hidden Blade could do.
