Hey there folks, another update coming for Blackfyre. As before send a thank you to that man Aerylyx/Ragnarok. This wouldn't be written without his patronage.
Let's respond to a couple reviews. Primarily the one calling my integrity into question.
alsdjhfgljkwebgh said:
I like how you've practically abandoned this, even AFTER TELLING US SOMEONE PAID FOR ANOTHER CHAPTER ALREADY. WAY TO ADMIT YOU SCAM MONEY AND SHOULD NEVER BE TRUSTED
My response:
I haven't abandoned anything. The payment that was set to originally be for chapter three of this was instead changed to be for another commission from the same commissioner. He only paid for this chapter as of September 29th. The fact that I'm working on it less than a full week later (as of writing this) should tell you enough about my integrity. For those that read those other stories they saw me mention that he wanted those commissions done instead of this one at that time.
Valmanwei said:
Just plain garbage fic in fact just calling it garbage is an insult to garbage. The author jus mentions names from other fics with no personality just for the sake of the character to be there.
My response:
Well what can I say other than the characters included were asked for by the commissioner. I made them fit, and honestly I don't really get the no personality aspect of your review. Or the idea that they are just included for the character to be there. What would that even accomplish? Most can't even be placed in the tags since they are from other series.
Anyway for those that are interested in a community of readers and writers of fanfiction as well as perhaps commissioning a story yourself, links for a couple servers I am involved with can be found below.
Link→ /7x4YFstKcz
Link→ /auc4PQjVtz
Chapter Three
A Thirst for Vengeance
Quel'Dorei Encampment
Lands of Long Summer
They were late. In the time between encountering the small band of raiders and reaching their home, it seemed the main force of slavers had already assaulted the encampment. Thankfully it did look like the Quel'Dorei defenders, both the normal warriors and those that had been forced to take up arms to protect themselves, managed to drive them back.
The question was how long that would last.
Sylvanas and Liadrin both grimaced at the sight of the burnt and broken palisade and the handful of warrior corpse's lined up and draped in a rough tarp. Burials would have to wait sadly. There was more important work to do still.
"They broke through." Sylvanas hissed. Her anger was used to mask her worry for those she loved as best as she could.
Liadrin frowned at that fact. It was clear that the raiders had managed to make it through their main defenses and there was little chance that some of their people hadn't been stolen away. They faced much of the same with the Brindle men back in Sothoryos.
Both focused on getting back to Celebrien and telling her the news they had regarding the town of Burn and it's people, and rather peculiar leader. No doubt their friend and leader could use some good news. The guards cheerfully welcomed them back and moved out of their way as they rushed toward the ramshackle house that had become Celebrien's home for the time being.
The moment both women entered though a familiar scent assaulted their noses and both of them struggled to fight down the tears in their eyes. Not tears caused by the stench that permeated the small building but rather caused by what that stench undoubtedly meant.
When they parted the thin sheets of fabric that acted as a bedroom door they found their beloved leader resting in her bed. She was wide awake, and in clear pain from the combination of illness and deep slash across her stomach and left leg. She smelled thickly of infection and death.
"You're both fine. We thought the worst when the attack came. How did you escape the village?" She asked them.
"We didn't. The village hasn't been the one watching us. They tried to warn us about raiders and slavers working up and down the coast. They're even wanting to send fighters and builders to help us." Liadrin informed Celebrien, shocking the woman.
"Or so they say." Sylvanas hummed.
Celebrien eyed her friend sadly. She reached out weakly and Sylvanas approached to kneel by her bedside and hold her hand. She knew that whatever Celebrien had to say was not something that would lift her spirits. She had a sinking feeling that she likely knew what the other woman had to say as well.
"Sylvanas. I'm so sorry. Alleria and Vereesa were very brave. I saw them fighting along the camp's defenses. They both slew several of the raiders and rescued many of the people before they could be taken." Celebrien said sadly.
"So they have been…" Sylvanas stammered out, voice thick with emotion, all of it painful and raw. Her chest ached and watery eyes stung.
"Taken, not killed." Celebrien replied.
"An even worse fate then." Sylvanas practically hissed.
The older woman continued to look at her friend apologetically but they had much to discuss. THey needed to plan for the next time that the raiders would come. The first strike had been little more than a probing attack and it had already cracked through their defenses and allowed the slavers to make off with a handful of prizes.
"When will the humans that you say are to help us arrive?" Celebrien asked Liadrin.
Sylvanas answered for her. "Not before the raiders come again. We have to prepare."
The normally stiff woman used her sleeve to dry up her tears before standing abruptly. The other two stared after her as she began to leave the hovel.
"There is much to do and too many people standing about doing nothing." Sylvanas growled.
"Syl wait. What about your sisters. Maybe we can-" Liadrin began.
"I can't worry about them right now. I can't help them right now. We don't even know where the raiders are basing out of. You heard that old man, they could just have their ships beached a short ways away, or maybe they are a large encampment just out past the hills. Either way there is nothing we can do about it at the moment." Sylvanas ranted before storming out of the building and loudly rallying up the encampment to get to work on defenses and preparing for the next time the raiders came.
Liadrin and Celebrien shared a look with the older woman sighing in sadness. "Go, Liadrin. You can do nothing for me here and Sylvanas will need your help to lead our people in my absence. Something that will likely become permanent soon between my sickness and this new wound."
Liadrin bit back a sob and nodded at the command of her leader. She couldn't trust her voice to not break and send her into a weak moment of sobbing at the fate of her beloved friend and leader. Rather than linger, she did as commanded and spun on her heel to god and help Sylvanas get the encampment ready.
Naruto's Army
Lands of Long Summer
Naruto had not been happy in the last few days. He neared his objective. Would soon have what he wanted, but truth be told he was distracted. That aggravated him. He only partially blamed the distraction for it though. Much of the problem was his own fault. He was simply too curious for his own good.
Just as the man in his mind had said he returned the day after the first time he had visited. It was almost humorous the way he apologized for not having any substantial way to prove he meant no harm to Naruto. Beyond that he was very new to this odd method of communication and expected Naruto likely had all the cards in his hands.
Naruto never forgot to remind the man that he did not in fact have every card as he still didn't know the stranger's true identity. That had been something that the man couldn't argue but also one that hadn't changed. Naruto never received any details about his identity and honestly it seemed like he never would either.
Despite that, in time he had slowly come to interact with the man regularly. He cursed his own curiosity regularly because of it but really there was nothing else to be done about it. His life was now filled with oddities, and an additional voice in his head, well it seemed like it was on the lower end of things that was considered odd.
The young warlord in the making chose to focus on the tasks at hand. The preparations for the upcoming raid on the Company of the Crow encampment. They had scouted the region between themselves and the encampment out thoroughly. A few farmsteads and an old manor or two was all that stood between them.
The geography wasn't kind though. While population centers were not an issue, and the chances of an ambush were low, the landscape was rough here. The mercenaries had selected their place for an encampment well. Steep hills with narrow but surprisingly deep streams in the gullies and valleys between them. It would be hard to traverse for an individual, but for a force roughly one hundred strong it was infinitely more troublesome, especially factoring in the baggage train of wagons and carts that the group relied on to carry their food, water, and other supplies.
On top of that the mercenary band had purposefully commandeered the remains of a destroyed village and rebuilt it's basic defenses. It rested on top of a hill with a commanding view of the surrounding area. On top of its already steep and sandy hillsides, the encampment itself had a small sturdy wall erected. One that would give a defending force quite the advantage.
Any sort of assault would likely end up with most of Naruto's forces dead. Likely without any real success or taste of revenge against the people that he had dreamt of taking his vengeance against for years. That was unacceptable.
Sadly, unlike with Mantarys and even Nurn, this village had no underground catacombs or secret tunnels to try and use. It was rather limited in the paths that it could even be approached. Even fewer in the ways it could be attacked.
What was likely worse, was that the mercenaries would be ready for them. They had no way of knowing Naruto was bent on attacking them out of vengeance, but the path he and his group had been forced to cut along the way here had made it clear the route they were going, and plenty of word about his little war band's movements and actions had spread across the area.
Naruto had used that to his advantage in the past. It made seizing the supplies he needed from villages and farms easier and typically bloodless. However in this case it was a definite negative. The Company of the Crow would be waiting for them, and Naruto and his people didn't have the numbers or supplies to make a legitimate siege on even the pitiful wooden walls of the encampment.
He needed to figure out a way inside. That was why he had called his captains and lieutenants together today. A suggestion from that damned voice. One he hated to agree with but couldn't exactly argue with when it was so sensible.
Now Naruto stood beside them. Asher and Beskha had easily been his choices for his captains. His right and left hands. They didn't question his orders, but they weren't afraid to speak their minds to him either. On top of that they were still the most protective of him out of everyone else. The only people who perhaps could claim otherwise were his lieutenants. The group of gladiators he had rescued and healed back in Mantarys had begun to dwindle over time and through conflict, but those that remained formed his make shift officer corps. They all but worshipped the 'master healer' by this point and were chomping at the bit to take on a band of slavers, just as the vast majority of his fighters were.
What slave didn't want a chance to take the life of the scum that ripped them from their home and sold them off into their own personal hells?
The 'war room' was really just a round table meeting around the dying embers of a fire pit in the late evening before they would come within sight of the Company of Crows encampment. They had all eaten and drank their fill and most of the force had dispersed to either sentry duties, cleaning duties, or much needed sleep. Marching was rather exhausting after all.
"You all know by the scout reports what we're dealing with. The latest count of the Crows on that hill was less than thirty in total. Times have thankfully been hard on the rotten bastards but combined with their defenses and the rough ground, they could take on a force many times their number and these mercenaries aren't the normal run of the mill slavers." Naruto advised.
"They run slave catching jobs as a supplementary way of making pay. These guys are the real deal. They would make the soldiers back in Mantarys their sweethearts for a night just to say they had. We need to be smart here." Asher agreed.
"We always have to be smart. We'll always be the underdogs, so we'll do as we have always done and play it smart and keep faith in the master." One of the more devout lieutenants said surely.
"It takes more than faith to survive a battle. We need a strategy. A real strategy." Beskha reprimanded the zealotus talk.
"We do, thats why we are here. I trust all of you more than anyone else out there. More than the voices in my own head even." Naruto murmured the last bit, but the others took it as a joke and chuckled. He chuckled somewhat awkwardly with them.
"So what do you want to do then, Naruto?" One of the others asked.
The youngest of them blew out a breath and leaned back against the log behind him to stare up at the stars in the sky. He could recall lessons regarding the constellations by both Brachys and even longer ago by his parents and Lyssario. He missed staring up at the sky on warm nights with his loved ones and picking out the constellations. He doubted anything similar would ever really arise for him.
Instead he had to deal with problems for adults. Something he had become far earlier than he should have.
"I have a few ideas, but nothing we do will be easy. Everything we do will require some sort of trickery. No matter what though it starts with gaining an insider. At this point the encampment will never allow new people to stay within their walls. Not a chance. They know we are coming and are bunkering down just for us."
"How kind." Beskha groaned.
"But, they aren't all doing that. Every morning they send out five riders. Scouts that split up and head in different directions. They mostly just ride to various hilltops and look for us to be approaching. They probably spotted our own scouts yesterday. Thankfully our scouts have been surrounding the encampment, so despite knowing that we are coming from Mantarys, they can't be certain of the actual direction we'll approach their camp from." Naruto explained.
"So, what we swing wide and come in from the opposite side? They'll still see us coming." Asher pointed out.
"So they will, but it's more than just that." Naruto said before he stood up in front of the others.
"We'll need to start by snatching up their scouts with our own. I have a few ideas of what to do with them when we do." He continued.
"Magical stuff, boss?" One of the other lieutenants asked.
"You bet. Something to give us a real edge in a fight." Naruto replied.
"Once we've done that, we'll send the scouts back. Not alive of course, but we'll have a farmer transport them back. Say it's a show of us wanting to just pass the Company of the Crow by. As long as they take the former scouts back into the encampment, we have our inside men."
The group nodded along. They didn't truly understand their leader's abilities, but they didn't need to to have faith in his plan working. Especially when he seemed completely confident in it.
"That isn't everything though. For those that we don't plan to send into the assault on the hill, I want them to move around the otherside of the encampment. They'll be staying hidden behind the hills, but the ground is dry and sandy here. I want them to shuffle their feet and kick up as much dust as they can while moving. Then the night before I want each of them to set two fires. Meanwhile our main force will move into position in the night on our side of the encampment and we won't set any fires or light any flames." Naruto explained.
"They'll prepare to defend the wrong side of the hill." Beskha nodded with a smile.
"Plus they'll be exhausted, most of them will stay up all night taking turns to be on watch for a surprise attack, while the majority of our troops can move into position in the first part of the night and take time to rest." Asher pointed out.
"Exactly, and when the sun rises, we'll begin our advance. The sun will be casting us in the shadow of the hills until it is a good distance into the sky. We'll have shadows covering our advance all the way to the base of the Crow's hill." Naruto pointed out.
The group felt their excitement at the upcoming assault. If everything went smoothly they could be right at the mercenary company's door before they even realized how many enemies they had to contend with.
"How do we get in though, boss? I know you planned on the scouts being useful thanks to your magic, but if we climb up that hill, we might be climbing right into a wall of spearpoints waiting for us if we aren't careful." Another lieutenant pointed out.
"Have faith in me. I'll make sure that the side our people are coming up is ready for them. I'll be leading the way after all." Naruto confidently proclaimed.
The group murmured their agreement and Naruto dismissed everyone to head off to bed. He watched with a small smile as Beskha and Asher remained together at the fireside talking a bit longer than the rest. He could feel a small sliver of jealousy in his heart at seeing them together. Not jealousy for one or the other, but rather for them having someone and he himself being alone. He snuffed such an emotion out with prejudice. Asher and Beskha were closer to him than any other person in the world. They were family, and he refused to feel anything but happiness for them.
He did feel rather lonely though. At least until he felt the nudge in his mind of the stranger wishing to visit yet again.
"What is it you want now?" He asked as he allowed the stranger within.
"Ah, sorry, I am just hoping to see you again. I suppose I did wish to ask how your briefing with your officers went." The stranger said. He always seemed to try so hard to make himself out to be a friend for Naruto.
"Your word choice makes it sound so stuffy. Like we are nobles from Westeros. Hmm, are you perhaps from Westeros, stranger?" Naruto asked.
The man's presence seemed to stiffen and Naruto narrowed his eyes. So yes, or at least originally.
"So you won't share your homeland with me either. That's not surprising by this point. Westerosi for sure though. At least to an extent. Not much magic out to the west. From what I've heard anyway. I wonder how you managed something like this then." Naruto pushed on.
"I see you aren't really in the mood to talk tonight are you." The stranger replied.
"Oh I am actually. You're the one that always struggles to answer any questions." Naruto replied.
"What do you plan to do once you've taken your revenge on the mercenaries?"
Naruto huffed slightly at the stranger, ignoring his question once again. "I suppose you'll find out. Or maybe you won't. Maybe this will be the last time I allow you into my mind as a guest."
"Fine, I am westerosi, in a way."
"That is the best I'm getting tonight I suppose. Well then good night stranger." Naruto said.
"No, wait, you didn't answer my question though." The stranger argued.
"It's an aggravating feeling, I know it well." Naruto mockingly replied before forcing the man from his head and taking a moment to torture the soul of Brachys for a moment to blow off some steam. The damned old necromancer was responsible for most of his annoyances these days so he could feel a little bit of the heat from all of that. It was only fair.
Naruto laid down for the night. He wanted to get some good rest after all. The next morning would prove to be the start for a busy few days.
The first few steps in Naruto's plan had panned out nicely. As expected, in the morning as the sun was just beginning to come up the Company of the Crow opened its narrow gate up and let loose a small band of riders that took off in search of good vantage points to see the neighboring valleys and spot the force Naruto was leading.
Unfortunately for them, Naruto's scouts had been lying in wait for a few hours along the dirt paths that the riders used to traverse the hilltops. The fights were unfair and rather brief. They were killed and their corpses drug back to camp where Naruto awaited them with his foul magics spooling up for yet another dark miracle.
The spells came a bit easier to him now. The magic felt ever more natural and powerful as well as smooth in some way. Similar to Brachys before he allowed his magic to flow into the corpses. However, where Brachys had been alive, these men were empty husks. They made perfect puppets for what Naruto wished to do.
Those that followed him were still wary of such powers, but had grown to accept them from Naruto by now. Their enemy would provide their own way into the encampment. Naruto was happy for that. So were the warriors that knew it would be far less deadly if they had someone on the inside to give them an opening.
The five scouts were piled in a spare cart and lots were drawn among several of the lowest tiers of Naruto's fighters. A trio were selected and dressed up like farm hands before being set to carry the bodies back up to the encampment's gate.
As he had hoped, the trio were forced to leave, but the men inside kept the corpses for burial. They had at least some decency.
With that handles the small army split. A handful of capable fighters accompanied the non-combatants in circling around the Crow's encampment all while shuffling their feet just as Naruto had commanded. They kicked up a huge cloud of dust that made it look as if many times their number were on the march there, while Naruto had his men in the actual combat force carefully move their feet to keep the amount of dust they kicked up to a minimum.
Both groups maneuvered all day. Both stopping as the sun set and beginning their second set of directions. The decoy company began setting up as many campfires as they could along the hillsides. Soon well over a hundred points of light covered the hills and the defenders watched them in anticipation for a nighttime raid.
On the other side, Naruto and his warriors took some time to rest and collect themselves before they would advance to the far side of the final hills between them and the Company of the Crow. Most are some cold food, bread and cheese for the most part. Naruto himself refrained.
He felt a bit nauseous. Not at the prospect of fighting. He was an old hand at combat despite his youth. However the worry about the losses his men could suffer trying to scale the hill and walls before them did fill him with dread.
Even if everything in his plan worked out his best estimates foresaw drastic casualties. If the enemy figured things out too soon, they could pick Naruto and his people apart with bows and crossbows before they could even reach the walls. There remained a very real possibility of absolute failure. Something that more than likely would simply see himself and his friends dead along with everyone that had put their faith and freedom on his shoulders.
"Buck up." A voice whispered beside him as a figure took a spit to sit next to him.
"Asher, shouldn't you be spending a bit of time with Beskha. A fight like this could go any sort of wrong. If I had-" Naruto began only for his friend to cut him off.
"Beskha and I both know what is in store. We've both fought enough to know any could be our last, we could get through this unscathed and slip up while on the march and wind up dead from a bad fall." Asher lectured.
"Maybe, but don't you think it would be nice to spend what may be your last moments with the woman you love?"
"Woman I love? Listen kid, I care for Beskha but we're not like…that."
"No, your heart belongs to some Westerosi."
"Low blow, but no. I moved on from her. I'm never going to Westeros again anyway. Things with Beskha aren't what you think they are though."
"Does Beskha know that?" Naruto asked as he shoved Asher slightly.
The older man remained silent for a moment before shooting Naruto a look. He seemed to have realized that Naruto easily deflect the conversation away from what he initially intended it to be.
"As I was saying. Buck up kid. You have given us a better chance than we could ever have hoped for otherwise. It's a good plan too. It will work." Asher reassured him.
Naruto grinned faintly, thankful for the reassurance even if it did little to actually assuage his worries.
"We need to get moving soon. Pass the word along we'll be moving into position for the attack soon." Naruto said as he readied to advance his force in preparation for the dawn attack.
Asher stared after the young warlord and sighed slightly. He always worried about the boy more than he probably needed to. If anything, Naruto was probably the one that needed the least amount of worry in their force.
The westerosi warrior turned his eyes to peer through the darkness toward where he knew Beskha was rousing up and readying others in their force. The little chief's words rolled about in his head uncomfortably and he decided to press the issues that they brought up to the back of his mind for later. Hopefully there would be a later.
Then again, if anyone asked Asher, taking this hill was nothing compared to the miracle that they had managed to pull off back in Mantarys. If Naruto's plans could get them through that sort of madness, then Asher would trust him to see them through this as well.
As Naruto had expected, the mercenaries within the encampment were a bit sluggish as the light began to shift and the sun began it's work of ushering in the dawn. They were focused on what they suspected was a large encampment of former slaves camped just past the nearest hills.
The common hope among them was that the young warlord and his force would do as the apparent farmers had said the day before. The message had simply been to leave Naruto and his people in peace and let them pass by. It was needless to say that if that had been the true intentions of Naruto and his band the Company of the Crow would have been happy to let them continue on their way.
Some of them prayed that was the case but all of them suspected that it wasn't. Though they had no way of knowing that the encampment across from them was nothing more than a decoy. As the sun slowly crept upward, the shadows from the eastern hills darkened in contrast to the sun and slowly Naruto and his forces crossed the remaining distance to the base of the hill.
The plan had held so far, but as the warriors began following Naruto up the steep incline toward the base of the walls things changed. The incline was steeper than expected and far sandier than they had been prepared for. The climb took twice as long as it should have to climb and soon the sun had climbed high enough to begin reflecting off the shiny bits of metal they had on them.
The moment a guard spotted them, halfway up the hill, he began screaming with all his might to alert everyone within the camp. Naruto cursed under his breath before standing up and forging ahead as quickly as possible.
The loud jangling and thumping of the equipment and armor of the rest of his group told him that they were all right behind him as they tried to cross the last bit of open ground before they had some protection from the walls because of the angle. Sadly, the defenders had far less difficulty maneuvering and quickly began positioning themselves to rain arrows and bolts down on Naruto and his people.
The deadly hail of arrows fell upon them. Initially in an uncoordinated handful of poorly aimed shots, but soon enough it was the well trained and practiced accuracy and speed of career archers. They had become fish in a barrel on this hillside.
Naruto cursed as one of the men beside him let out a brief but loud scream when an arrow lodged itself into his eye and sent him tumbling backward down the steep hillside.
"Keep pushing! Their walls are poorly made, if we can make it there they won't be able to hit us as easily with the arrows!" Naruto bellowed out rallying his force.
Casualties were beginning to mount though and even as he, Asher, and Beskha made it to the shadow of the wall their force was spread out across the hillside and still at the mercy of the defenders. Something had to be done before they tried to break through the wall here, thankfully now was the perfect time for Naruto to use the weapons he had prepared before the battle had even begun.
Asher and Beskha knew to protect him while he appeared to be sleeping. Controlling multiple puppets was still difficult. His physical body would be vulnerable as long as he was using them.
Five sets of faded bland eyes opened and took in the interior of the encampment. All five of them had been placed under some sheets of fabric and laid out along the wall. No doubt in preparation to bury them when there was time. There never would be time now though.
Slowly and stiffly all five sat up and pushed the sheets aside. They awkwardly climbed to their feet and shambled along the interior of the camp. Nearly all of the defenders were arrayed along the short walls using bows while a smaller amount raced about with bundles of arrows to keep the wall supplied. A few still stood guard on the far wall as they were still worried another attack might come from the direction of the former slaves' camp.
'Good, now how best to ruin their defense and open up the path?' Naruto thought to himself until he spotted a rack of tools set alongside a tent. A few wood axes, hoes, and hammers. Perfect.
The corpses stumbled forward toward the rack. A handful of mercenaries raced past them only to freeze at the sight of the walking dead. They began screaming, gaining the attention of the others in the camp. Most of those present stood stock still in horror as the five dead men collected the tools and turned toward the wall where Naruto and his force was launching their assault. Slowly they began moving toward the wall causing some of the defenders to snap out of their shock and begin peppering the undead with arrows.
To their great dismay even when pierced by a half dozen arrows the five dead men continued on unimpeded. The blows only served to stumble them as they plodded along toward the wall. A handful of men decided that they had no choice but to charge them.
With a battle cry several members of the Company of the Crow rushed toward them, but the dead might have been stiff and walked slowly, they still swung with all the strength the men they had once been possessed. Only now they had no need to worry about the limits their body once possessed in fear of damaging themselves.
The first man to meet them in hand to hand combat found a hammer crashing through his attempt to block it and crushing the side of his face. He tumbled down onto the ground and the corpses advanced over the top of him, stepping on him as they went.
"Fucking monsters!" One of the men screamed as they tried to behead another of the undead warriors, only for his arm to be caught and yet another of the bodies to step up behind him and bury an ax into his back, crushing his spine and tearing a massive wound out of his abdomen.
"What do we do?" One of the others asked the more experienced members of the mercenary company, but he got no answer. Again the defenders on the wall peppered the dead men with arrows to no avail.
Naruto's puppets eventually reached their targets. The supports to the walkway that the majority of defenders stood upon. They wasted absolutely no time in attacking the thin wooden beams with all their might. One after another the beams snapped and cracked under the mixed assault of axes and hammers.
With the weight of so many archers standing atop it the walkway began collapsing almost immediately. By now panic had spread among the mercenaries and they attempted to scramble down off of the defenses to try and get to safer ground in the center of the camp.
That wouldn't remain safe for long.
As Naruto dropped direct control of the corpses and instead simply set them upon the defenders he came back to consciousness within his own body. Around him his men had managed to make it to the wall with the confusion he had sown among the enemy. Now they had taken to using axes of their own to tear openings in the enemy walls.
"You're back, looks like your insurance plan worked out for us, boss." Beskha grinned viciously. A bloody line where an arrow had narrowly missed embedding into her head ran along her cheek.
"I try not to disappoint. What are our casualties?" Naruto asked.
"Hard to tell right now-" Asher began to answer only to pause as their men let out a roaring cheer and forced their way into the camp as they broke through the wooden walls.
Naruto and his crew followed after them. Inside several of the defenders were already killed by his undead drones. While the Company of the Crow had managed to finally fell them by beheading them, the damage was done. The tide was turned entirely in Naruto's favor and soon enough those few that weren't carved up by his men were forced onto their knees before him.
Among them were the man he had dreamed of facing and a young woman that had clearly faced a lifetime of abuse as the leader's personal plaything. Naruto recognized her easily as well. The only other known survivor of those that had been taken away from Nurn all those years ago.
He glared down at the two of them as he contemplated just how to go about things now.
Alright and that is that. Naruto has the remnants of the mercenaries at his mercy and the girl that had sold out him and the other children so long ago. The question remains exactly how much does the mercenary know and will he be able to reveal the full extent of Naruto's enemies to him?
Anyway, I hope you enjoyed
Till Next Time