Chapter four: Fire in your eyes
Location: Mount Lampdragon-White Tiger Village (Flashback)
(Notes: This chapter contains slightly violent scenes. I think that I'm supposed to give some kind of warning before a chapter chockfull of gore, so here it is. Don't pester me if you think it's a little on the overkill side.)
---
Fumi and Koyu arrived at the village, the silent sounds of evening surrounding them as the sounds of chirping crickets filled the village from almost every direction. The two kissed weakly as they parted ways, each going to their respective sleeping quarters to rest up for the night.
I slipped into my bed, which was across the bed of a half-drunk Gijimu and remove my shirt; slipping underneath the thick cotton blanket, I fall asleep without any trouble.
And the day ends... Tomorrow is another day; a day filled with possibilities and so many hopes.
Yes, today is over... All there is now is the anticipation of a new day.
I fall asleep... and dream.
* * *
(I can't get to sleep... No matter how hard I try, I can't get to sleep...) The boy with dirty blonde hair thought to himself as he lay there, staring at the ceiling in an almost hypnotic way. It's almost been an hour since he and Koyu went back and still he couldn't get the nagging guilt out of his head...
"Maybe... a drink of wine... would help?" He mumbled as he slowly stood up; his mind slightly groggy due to lack of sleep. He walked, bare-footed, through the village. He walked towards the small bar that Lo Wen had put up as the start of a dream she wanted to fulfill.
"Thank god it's still open. Lo's probably asleep, though... Better make sure not to wake anyone up." He opened the wooden door and quietly made his way to the storage room to pick up some wine. He opened yet another door and before him, lay dozens of crates filled with wine.
"Wonder what kind to drink? I wonder what it was that Gijimu likes to drink a lot? Never mind, he'd probably drink cat piss if it could get him drunk." He fumbled through the different crates, inspecting the labels and from where they came from. The first one was from...
"Kanakan? I've never heard of a place like that..." He mumbled as he pulled one bottle out from the crate. He uncorked the bottle and breathed in the luscious scent emanating from the newly opened bottle. It smelled like a fruit that he had once tasted... Fruit that came from the central-state Jowston region... Grapes? Was that what they called it? Yes, I believe that's what they called it. He took the bottle and a simple goblet and went out of the storage room. He sat down, lit an undecorated wax candle, and began slowly pouring the deep purple liquor. The vessel filled, and he brought it to his lips, sipping the wine slowly. He was never quite accustomed to wine or ale but he found this one pleasant and delectable.
His head rested on the table's wood, his eyes focused on his goblet.
Was he doing the right thing? Was falling in love with Koyu the right thing to do in spite of how he felt? If he was to follow his heart, how would the rest of the world see him? He was a boy that loved another boy and he knew that there was something wrong with this feeling.
He knew that he shouldn't continue loving Koyu like he's always been doing.
The world would always look down on both him and Koyu. They would be viewed as people who were, in the nicest possible way to put it, freaks of nature. It wasn't in a human's basic programming to love someone of the same gender, society had been sure to put limitations on how far they could get with freedom of expression...
He wasn't afraid for himself and the persecution of all the people around him... He was worried for Koyu.
Koyu would have to live as a person outside of society's care. He knew that Koyu wouldn't be able to handle taking life in stride like this, he sure didn't. Almost all of the bandits were disgusted by him, Lo Wen was one of the more sickened ones. She didn't like the idea of a boy being Koyu's lover. She didn't like homosexuals in the first place, much less someone that was obsessed with your younger brother.
Why did he and his kind have to be looked at in such a perspective? Weren't they human beings like you and me? What made them so different from the rest of us human beings? Was it because they weren't afraid of showing how much they love someone?
Wasn't he being courageous enough to stand up to the standards imposed upon him and the rest of the world by today's society? Shouldn't he be given some credit for his bravery? No, they didn't give him anything in return other than their scowls and contempt.
Now, the entire world was clearly saying that to be in love was something to be abhorred. What was the difference in loving a man instead of a woman? Isn't love the same thing through everyone's eyes? If you could love a woman, why can't I love a man?
The world was crazy, and maybe this was why everyone else loved alcohol. He took yet another drink, and filled his cup over and over again.
Soon enough, he found the bottle empty. And just as soon, he was asleep.
* * *
All I can see is red...
The crackling music of wood on fire echo throughout my surroundings, echoing in a hideous orchestra of omnipresent death. The heat seemed to be everywhere, wrapping in it everyone and everything that dared defy its anger.
And all I can see is dead...
People lie on the ground, burnt black. Some even lie on the ground, their clothes and bodies still in flames...
And now a new sound... The sound of one that seeks battle...
A war cry; the blaring trumpet of blood.
Then people that bear no faces begin to surround me and all that weren't consumed by this inferno. Unarmed women and children die as steel meets flesh and the dying screams play a new instrument in this polyphony of savagery.
I see people I know, swords being thrust into them and with blood flying everywhere.
I see people I know, their eyes staring blankly nowhere as they lie on the floor.
I see people I know... dead.
And now, the men without faces walk towards me, bloodied swords in hand. I could feel the hot breath, like that of dogs relishing in the thrill of the hunt.
...One lifts his sword above his head...
...Brings it down in my direction...
And I feel the pain of a thousand killed surging throughout my body.
And then I feel nothing.
* * *
"Koyu! Get the hell out of that bed!" I awoke to feel my face crash onto the cold stone floor. I tried to look up and all I remember seeing was the ice blue battle robe that I recognized solely as Lo Wen's own. Beside her, she held the Falling star in both hands, its small yet heavy, iron weight dangling in front of my face. I felt her pull my hair and onto my feet and I felt her slap me several times to knock the sleep out of me.
"Hurry up you sleeping idiot! The village is on fire!"
Fire... Fire... Fire...
F...I...R...E...
Just like in that dream...
Lo Wen threw me my clothes and embedded the axe on the floor for me to pick up later. I pick up my fur and leather guard-robe and hastily begin to clothe my self in preparation of a battle...
A battle in the center of a blazing inferno...
Picking up my axe, I run out of the sleeping quarters, only to be met face to face by a Tinto soldier. He slashes horizontally as I bend my back beyond his swing, flipping quickly in order to prevent him from making a second swing. My feet collide with his jaw, sending him stumbling several feet backwards. Before he could regain balance, I separated his shoulder blade from the rest of his body with a quick hack, and then I quickly twist the edge so that the blade is angled slightly downwards. I follow it up by separating his torso from his legs in one swift movement. He falls to the ground and lies there, not even breathing.
And then a small, circular object falls from his tightly clenched hand.
"Hey... What's this? A battle orb?" Yeah, I think it's a battle orb... Battle orbs are similar to runes but in actuality, are far more similar to Magic scrolls. They lack effectiveness and are usually limited in use but they require no meditation or spell memorization to be used in battle, which also makes them highly useful. They also release no form of energy whatsoever, which makes it even better to...
...Use in stealth...
DAMN! This guy must be the one who torched the village! Or could there be more of them?
I pick up the battle orb and panic. If there are more with these weapons, then we don't stand a chance if they use them!
Except for...
* * *
Noise...
Lot's of noise...
And now screams...
Screams that could wake the dead...
Or perhaps, wake a certain drunken thief from his booze induced slumber.
He moved; his right hand still wrapped around the neck of the green wine bottle. His eyes opened up, vision blurry and head dizzy.
"Sleep... Let me get to sleep, dammit..." Fumi moaned as he struggled to remove his plastered face from the oak table. The door violently swung open, revealing several armed men that weren't in typical bandit garb. They charged towards him, and the leader thrust his spear once towards Fumi...
Only to feel it's blade embedded on the table which once was Fumi's pillow.
"I may... be drunk..." Fumi rammed the table with his shoulder, toppling the leader as well as the two other soldiers behind him. They stumbled onto their backs, the leader pinned under several pounds of furniture. Fumi jumped on top of a soldier and smashed the wine bottle on his face, knocking loose some teeth in the process. Shards of glass then found new homes on the face he attacked as permanent bloody decorations.
"...But I can... Still..." He spun around clockwise, his body limp due to his state of drunkenness (Authors note: Is there such a word?), the bottle shearing another face; blood flying towards the wall to his right. He then jumped on top of the table that pinned down the sergeant and promptly broke his bones under the weight of his repeated leaps.
"Whip your ass...!" He slapped his left hand across his face and threw down the crimson-tainted bottle, shattering it into tiny, uncountable pieces.
(Shit... Gotta get a hold of myself... I feel like throwing up.) He tried to fix his blurry vision, but his head throbbed with the most hellish pain he could ever have imagined.
(How does Gijimu do it?) He then ran out of the bar and took hold of a wooden mop, the head broken probably by the kids that play with it on occasion, and ran towards his quarters to get his weapons and armor.
* * *
"Where in the hell is Fumi when you need him!?" Gijimu yelled out loud as he tried to fight off two different attackers all at once. Lo Wen intervened and struck down one of them with a neat blow to the back of the head with the iron ball. Two of them were pressing Gijimu down until he pulled out a small knife from his pocket, thrusting it into the chest of one of the attackers. The man slumped downwards but was flung back a good two meters as the stocky bandit pressed all his weight forward in one powerful lunge. The bear like man then dropped to his knees, breathing heavily as he looked back at his right arm. His arm that was bleeding from a blade wound...
"Of all things, why'd it have to be my good arm?" He tried to take the pain but he felt like throwing down his axe in exchange for some kind of comfort, but he knew he had to fight.
"Hey, tubby! Are you okay?" Lo Wen asked as she knelt beside him, looking at the horrible gash that hindered Gijimu's fighting skills.
"Whaddya think, pumpkin? I can barely move it, much less fight with it... How are the others?" The two of them stood up as they noticed four more soldiers surrounding them, this time, they carried spears instead of short swords.
"Koyu's doing fine but he's more intent on looking for Fumi. Fumi, I have no idea where he is right now but I don't think he's dead." Husband and wife were pressed back-to-back as they awaited any kind of attack from their opponents.
"And the others?" Gijimu's arm was trembling feverishly as the nerves in his right arm twitched uncontrollably and this made him even more apprehensive of his encircling foes.
"All the non-fighting survivors have been told to get as far away from the village as possible and have been told to rendezvous at Tigermouth village."
(Ronday-what?) Gijimu thought but let it pass due to his preoccupation with battle.
"The total count of our capable warriors have fallen nearly to a half of the previous numbers and more are reported wounded." Lo Wen slowly swung the Falling Star in a circle as to get some velocity before the attack, although she was more afraid for Gijimu's safety other than her own.
"And what about the Tinto soldiers? Are they receiving more reinforcements from home base?"
"... Unfortunately... yes." The four soldiers then charged simultaneously; three going for the axe wielder and one bent on distracting Lo Wen. Lo charged towards the advancing spearman, jumping up and beyond his thrust and wrapping the chain around his neck. She then proceeded to twist the metal chain until she heard a crack in the man's spinal column. She unwrapped the chain, declared him dead, and ran to the aid of her husband. Gijimu had already disposed of one but the two others were continuously battering Gijimu. Lo Wen swung the weight and smashed the head of one man's spear. Gijimu quickly followed up by an explosive and quite audible punch to his enemies face. Gijimu then grabbed the other man by his helmet, and collided his forehead with the soldiers nose, three times in a row. Gijimu's axe then fell from his fingers as soon as his enemy had made contact with the earth. From a burning building then emerged Lo Wen's brother, Koyu, who was carrying the crying body of a little girl, Yuki.
"Sis, there's no one else in the village. I've already told the others to get out as soon as possible, for their own safety. We're also being surrounded by Tinto troops from nearly all sides. I... I don't think we can win." He got Yuki onto her feet, but the girl just kept on wailing and wailing. Koyu himself wanted to cry in desperation but he was thought more than that.
He was a bandit.
They all were bandits.
And bandits never cry in battle.
"There, there Yuki, don't worry. Just stay with us and we'll all get out of here safe." Yuki then ceased her bawling and held tightly to Koyu's left hand. Lo Wen turned to Gijimu, who was struggling to stand up and keep his axe on his hands.
"We can't win, Gijimu. We've got to fall back."
"I won't! For the name of the Lampdragon bandits and for my pride, I will never run away!" Lo then took a quick look at Koyu and then looked at Gijimu straight in the eye... In that cold, scary way of hers...
"DUMBASS!" A swift kick to the balls was all that she needed to knock some sense into her erm... love.
"Y..es... Dear..." She then lifted him up and dragged him as far as the pain stayed. Once subsided, all four of them were running out of the burning village...
Only to be met by a wall of soldiers with bandits dead at their feet. Crossbows were then pointed at them and fired. The three fighters then ducked behind some concrete homes, Yuki being held by the hand by Koyu.
"Brother Koyu..." She sniffed. "I'm scared!" She began to cry again as more arrows flew.
"Don't worry... I won't ever let them hurt you. I promise... I promise that we'll get out of here alive." He searched his pockets and picked a small green battle orb, and held it tightly.
(Here goes nothing...) Koyu then crushed it and his fist began to glow a slight neon-green; sparks of lightning flickering from his fingers. Swiftly spinning from behind the house, he then brandished his sparking, open palm.
He yelled out the strongest battle cry that he could muster as he watched countless trails of lightning fly from his once normal hand. Each trail then struck down soldier after soldier, all the water being evaporated from the inside. The lightning disappeared and all that was left were charred corpses and burnt-black armor. Gijimu and Lo Wen came out from hiding, staring dumbly at what Koyu just executed.
"What the hell... was that?"
"No time to explain." Koyu took several glances around him and noticed that the village was practically empty except for the blazing houses. "Where's Fumi?" He asked, only to be interrupted by even more soldiers carrying even more crossbows coming from behind.
"We've got no time to do a body search! Let's get out of here!" Lo Wen exclaimed as she picked up Yuki and carried her on her back.
"But what abo..." Gijimu then delivered a sound punch to Koyu, and then lifted him up from the ground and proceeded to run alongside Lo Wen. His axe was nowhere to be seen.
They kept on running... and running... and running...
And finally, it was safe, and they stopped. Both of them heaved as they tried to catch their breath, putting both children down on the uncultivated land. There were only several trees that gave them a safe place to hide but it was as safe as anywhere was it this time. The two of them looked back..
And witnessed the largest fire that they have ever seen.
"So... this is the end of White Tiger Village, huh?" Gijimu thought out loud as he ripped off his right fur sleeve to make a temporary bandage.
"Don't say things like that..." The woman then turned around and overlooked an unconscious Koyu and a sniffling Yuki. Although he was asleep for the entire scene that had just occurred, his axe was still in his hand... hardened blood coating it's deep gray blade. Now they have to leave a place that Koyu knew as home and now they had to leave everything behind...
Where could they all go home to now?
And other than that...
What ever happened to Fumi?
They never found out... And maybe, they never will. But who's to say? No one, other than time, destiny and fate.
- End Chapter four -
Location: Mount Lampdragon-White Tiger Village (Flashback)
(Notes: This chapter contains slightly violent scenes. I think that I'm supposed to give some kind of warning before a chapter chockfull of gore, so here it is. Don't pester me if you think it's a little on the overkill side.)
---
Fumi and Koyu arrived at the village, the silent sounds of evening surrounding them as the sounds of chirping crickets filled the village from almost every direction. The two kissed weakly as they parted ways, each going to their respective sleeping quarters to rest up for the night.
I slipped into my bed, which was across the bed of a half-drunk Gijimu and remove my shirt; slipping underneath the thick cotton blanket, I fall asleep without any trouble.
And the day ends... Tomorrow is another day; a day filled with possibilities and so many hopes.
Yes, today is over... All there is now is the anticipation of a new day.
I fall asleep... and dream.
* * *
(I can't get to sleep... No matter how hard I try, I can't get to sleep...) The boy with dirty blonde hair thought to himself as he lay there, staring at the ceiling in an almost hypnotic way. It's almost been an hour since he and Koyu went back and still he couldn't get the nagging guilt out of his head...
"Maybe... a drink of wine... would help?" He mumbled as he slowly stood up; his mind slightly groggy due to lack of sleep. He walked, bare-footed, through the village. He walked towards the small bar that Lo Wen had put up as the start of a dream she wanted to fulfill.
"Thank god it's still open. Lo's probably asleep, though... Better make sure not to wake anyone up." He opened the wooden door and quietly made his way to the storage room to pick up some wine. He opened yet another door and before him, lay dozens of crates filled with wine.
"Wonder what kind to drink? I wonder what it was that Gijimu likes to drink a lot? Never mind, he'd probably drink cat piss if it could get him drunk." He fumbled through the different crates, inspecting the labels and from where they came from. The first one was from...
"Kanakan? I've never heard of a place like that..." He mumbled as he pulled one bottle out from the crate. He uncorked the bottle and breathed in the luscious scent emanating from the newly opened bottle. It smelled like a fruit that he had once tasted... Fruit that came from the central-state Jowston region... Grapes? Was that what they called it? Yes, I believe that's what they called it. He took the bottle and a simple goblet and went out of the storage room. He sat down, lit an undecorated wax candle, and began slowly pouring the deep purple liquor. The vessel filled, and he brought it to his lips, sipping the wine slowly. He was never quite accustomed to wine or ale but he found this one pleasant and delectable.
His head rested on the table's wood, his eyes focused on his goblet.
Was he doing the right thing? Was falling in love with Koyu the right thing to do in spite of how he felt? If he was to follow his heart, how would the rest of the world see him? He was a boy that loved another boy and he knew that there was something wrong with this feeling.
He knew that he shouldn't continue loving Koyu like he's always been doing.
The world would always look down on both him and Koyu. They would be viewed as people who were, in the nicest possible way to put it, freaks of nature. It wasn't in a human's basic programming to love someone of the same gender, society had been sure to put limitations on how far they could get with freedom of expression...
He wasn't afraid for himself and the persecution of all the people around him... He was worried for Koyu.
Koyu would have to live as a person outside of society's care. He knew that Koyu wouldn't be able to handle taking life in stride like this, he sure didn't. Almost all of the bandits were disgusted by him, Lo Wen was one of the more sickened ones. She didn't like the idea of a boy being Koyu's lover. She didn't like homosexuals in the first place, much less someone that was obsessed with your younger brother.
Why did he and his kind have to be looked at in such a perspective? Weren't they human beings like you and me? What made them so different from the rest of us human beings? Was it because they weren't afraid of showing how much they love someone?
Wasn't he being courageous enough to stand up to the standards imposed upon him and the rest of the world by today's society? Shouldn't he be given some credit for his bravery? No, they didn't give him anything in return other than their scowls and contempt.
Now, the entire world was clearly saying that to be in love was something to be abhorred. What was the difference in loving a man instead of a woman? Isn't love the same thing through everyone's eyes? If you could love a woman, why can't I love a man?
The world was crazy, and maybe this was why everyone else loved alcohol. He took yet another drink, and filled his cup over and over again.
Soon enough, he found the bottle empty. And just as soon, he was asleep.
* * *
All I can see is red...
The crackling music of wood on fire echo throughout my surroundings, echoing in a hideous orchestra of omnipresent death. The heat seemed to be everywhere, wrapping in it everyone and everything that dared defy its anger.
And all I can see is dead...
People lie on the ground, burnt black. Some even lie on the ground, their clothes and bodies still in flames...
And now a new sound... The sound of one that seeks battle...
A war cry; the blaring trumpet of blood.
Then people that bear no faces begin to surround me and all that weren't consumed by this inferno. Unarmed women and children die as steel meets flesh and the dying screams play a new instrument in this polyphony of savagery.
I see people I know, swords being thrust into them and with blood flying everywhere.
I see people I know, their eyes staring blankly nowhere as they lie on the floor.
I see people I know... dead.
And now, the men without faces walk towards me, bloodied swords in hand. I could feel the hot breath, like that of dogs relishing in the thrill of the hunt.
...One lifts his sword above his head...
...Brings it down in my direction...
And I feel the pain of a thousand killed surging throughout my body.
And then I feel nothing.
* * *
"Koyu! Get the hell out of that bed!" I awoke to feel my face crash onto the cold stone floor. I tried to look up and all I remember seeing was the ice blue battle robe that I recognized solely as Lo Wen's own. Beside her, she held the Falling star in both hands, its small yet heavy, iron weight dangling in front of my face. I felt her pull my hair and onto my feet and I felt her slap me several times to knock the sleep out of me.
"Hurry up you sleeping idiot! The village is on fire!"
Fire... Fire... Fire...
F...I...R...E...
Just like in that dream...
Lo Wen threw me my clothes and embedded the axe on the floor for me to pick up later. I pick up my fur and leather guard-robe and hastily begin to clothe my self in preparation of a battle...
A battle in the center of a blazing inferno...
Picking up my axe, I run out of the sleeping quarters, only to be met face to face by a Tinto soldier. He slashes horizontally as I bend my back beyond his swing, flipping quickly in order to prevent him from making a second swing. My feet collide with his jaw, sending him stumbling several feet backwards. Before he could regain balance, I separated his shoulder blade from the rest of his body with a quick hack, and then I quickly twist the edge so that the blade is angled slightly downwards. I follow it up by separating his torso from his legs in one swift movement. He falls to the ground and lies there, not even breathing.
And then a small, circular object falls from his tightly clenched hand.
"Hey... What's this? A battle orb?" Yeah, I think it's a battle orb... Battle orbs are similar to runes but in actuality, are far more similar to Magic scrolls. They lack effectiveness and are usually limited in use but they require no meditation or spell memorization to be used in battle, which also makes them highly useful. They also release no form of energy whatsoever, which makes it even better to...
...Use in stealth...
DAMN! This guy must be the one who torched the village! Or could there be more of them?
I pick up the battle orb and panic. If there are more with these weapons, then we don't stand a chance if they use them!
Except for...
* * *
Noise...
Lot's of noise...
And now screams...
Screams that could wake the dead...
Or perhaps, wake a certain drunken thief from his booze induced slumber.
He moved; his right hand still wrapped around the neck of the green wine bottle. His eyes opened up, vision blurry and head dizzy.
"Sleep... Let me get to sleep, dammit..." Fumi moaned as he struggled to remove his plastered face from the oak table. The door violently swung open, revealing several armed men that weren't in typical bandit garb. They charged towards him, and the leader thrust his spear once towards Fumi...
Only to feel it's blade embedded on the table which once was Fumi's pillow.
"I may... be drunk..." Fumi rammed the table with his shoulder, toppling the leader as well as the two other soldiers behind him. They stumbled onto their backs, the leader pinned under several pounds of furniture. Fumi jumped on top of a soldier and smashed the wine bottle on his face, knocking loose some teeth in the process. Shards of glass then found new homes on the face he attacked as permanent bloody decorations.
"...But I can... Still..." He spun around clockwise, his body limp due to his state of drunkenness (Authors note: Is there such a word?), the bottle shearing another face; blood flying towards the wall to his right. He then jumped on top of the table that pinned down the sergeant and promptly broke his bones under the weight of his repeated leaps.
"Whip your ass...!" He slapped his left hand across his face and threw down the crimson-tainted bottle, shattering it into tiny, uncountable pieces.
(Shit... Gotta get a hold of myself... I feel like throwing up.) He tried to fix his blurry vision, but his head throbbed with the most hellish pain he could ever have imagined.
(How does Gijimu do it?) He then ran out of the bar and took hold of a wooden mop, the head broken probably by the kids that play with it on occasion, and ran towards his quarters to get his weapons and armor.
* * *
"Where in the hell is Fumi when you need him!?" Gijimu yelled out loud as he tried to fight off two different attackers all at once. Lo Wen intervened and struck down one of them with a neat blow to the back of the head with the iron ball. Two of them were pressing Gijimu down until he pulled out a small knife from his pocket, thrusting it into the chest of one of the attackers. The man slumped downwards but was flung back a good two meters as the stocky bandit pressed all his weight forward in one powerful lunge. The bear like man then dropped to his knees, breathing heavily as he looked back at his right arm. His arm that was bleeding from a blade wound...
"Of all things, why'd it have to be my good arm?" He tried to take the pain but he felt like throwing down his axe in exchange for some kind of comfort, but he knew he had to fight.
"Hey, tubby! Are you okay?" Lo Wen asked as she knelt beside him, looking at the horrible gash that hindered Gijimu's fighting skills.
"Whaddya think, pumpkin? I can barely move it, much less fight with it... How are the others?" The two of them stood up as they noticed four more soldiers surrounding them, this time, they carried spears instead of short swords.
"Koyu's doing fine but he's more intent on looking for Fumi. Fumi, I have no idea where he is right now but I don't think he's dead." Husband and wife were pressed back-to-back as they awaited any kind of attack from their opponents.
"And the others?" Gijimu's arm was trembling feverishly as the nerves in his right arm twitched uncontrollably and this made him even more apprehensive of his encircling foes.
"All the non-fighting survivors have been told to get as far away from the village as possible and have been told to rendezvous at Tigermouth village."
(Ronday-what?) Gijimu thought but let it pass due to his preoccupation with battle.
"The total count of our capable warriors have fallen nearly to a half of the previous numbers and more are reported wounded." Lo Wen slowly swung the Falling Star in a circle as to get some velocity before the attack, although she was more afraid for Gijimu's safety other than her own.
"And what about the Tinto soldiers? Are they receiving more reinforcements from home base?"
"... Unfortunately... yes." The four soldiers then charged simultaneously; three going for the axe wielder and one bent on distracting Lo Wen. Lo charged towards the advancing spearman, jumping up and beyond his thrust and wrapping the chain around his neck. She then proceeded to twist the metal chain until she heard a crack in the man's spinal column. She unwrapped the chain, declared him dead, and ran to the aid of her husband. Gijimu had already disposed of one but the two others were continuously battering Gijimu. Lo Wen swung the weight and smashed the head of one man's spear. Gijimu quickly followed up by an explosive and quite audible punch to his enemies face. Gijimu then grabbed the other man by his helmet, and collided his forehead with the soldiers nose, three times in a row. Gijimu's axe then fell from his fingers as soon as his enemy had made contact with the earth. From a burning building then emerged Lo Wen's brother, Koyu, who was carrying the crying body of a little girl, Yuki.
"Sis, there's no one else in the village. I've already told the others to get out as soon as possible, for their own safety. We're also being surrounded by Tinto troops from nearly all sides. I... I don't think we can win." He got Yuki onto her feet, but the girl just kept on wailing and wailing. Koyu himself wanted to cry in desperation but he was thought more than that.
He was a bandit.
They all were bandits.
And bandits never cry in battle.
"There, there Yuki, don't worry. Just stay with us and we'll all get out of here safe." Yuki then ceased her bawling and held tightly to Koyu's left hand. Lo Wen turned to Gijimu, who was struggling to stand up and keep his axe on his hands.
"We can't win, Gijimu. We've got to fall back."
"I won't! For the name of the Lampdragon bandits and for my pride, I will never run away!" Lo then took a quick look at Koyu and then looked at Gijimu straight in the eye... In that cold, scary way of hers...
"DUMBASS!" A swift kick to the balls was all that she needed to knock some sense into her erm... love.
"Y..es... Dear..." She then lifted him up and dragged him as far as the pain stayed. Once subsided, all four of them were running out of the burning village...
Only to be met by a wall of soldiers with bandits dead at their feet. Crossbows were then pointed at them and fired. The three fighters then ducked behind some concrete homes, Yuki being held by the hand by Koyu.
"Brother Koyu..." She sniffed. "I'm scared!" She began to cry again as more arrows flew.
"Don't worry... I won't ever let them hurt you. I promise... I promise that we'll get out of here alive." He searched his pockets and picked a small green battle orb, and held it tightly.
(Here goes nothing...) Koyu then crushed it and his fist began to glow a slight neon-green; sparks of lightning flickering from his fingers. Swiftly spinning from behind the house, he then brandished his sparking, open palm.
He yelled out the strongest battle cry that he could muster as he watched countless trails of lightning fly from his once normal hand. Each trail then struck down soldier after soldier, all the water being evaporated from the inside. The lightning disappeared and all that was left were charred corpses and burnt-black armor. Gijimu and Lo Wen came out from hiding, staring dumbly at what Koyu just executed.
"What the hell... was that?"
"No time to explain." Koyu took several glances around him and noticed that the village was practically empty except for the blazing houses. "Where's Fumi?" He asked, only to be interrupted by even more soldiers carrying even more crossbows coming from behind.
"We've got no time to do a body search! Let's get out of here!" Lo Wen exclaimed as she picked up Yuki and carried her on her back.
"But what abo..." Gijimu then delivered a sound punch to Koyu, and then lifted him up from the ground and proceeded to run alongside Lo Wen. His axe was nowhere to be seen.
They kept on running... and running... and running...
And finally, it was safe, and they stopped. Both of them heaved as they tried to catch their breath, putting both children down on the uncultivated land. There were only several trees that gave them a safe place to hide but it was as safe as anywhere was it this time. The two of them looked back..
And witnessed the largest fire that they have ever seen.
"So... this is the end of White Tiger Village, huh?" Gijimu thought out loud as he ripped off his right fur sleeve to make a temporary bandage.
"Don't say things like that..." The woman then turned around and overlooked an unconscious Koyu and a sniffling Yuki. Although he was asleep for the entire scene that had just occurred, his axe was still in his hand... hardened blood coating it's deep gray blade. Now they have to leave a place that Koyu knew as home and now they had to leave everything behind...
Where could they all go home to now?
And other than that...
What ever happened to Fumi?
They never found out... And maybe, they never will. But who's to say? No one, other than time, destiny and fate.
- End Chapter four -