Well, it's been a long wait hasn't it? Sorry guys, i'd tell the story here but its a long one, but the important thing is that its up now, right? RIGHT? Ok, read and review


Operation Ghelsba

The review with the king had continued without Vexed for about twenty minutes, in which they discussed the possibility of an attack on San d'Oria by the Orcs of Ghelsba Outpost. The problem was brought into greater light by the fact that the Orcs of Davoi had attempted to ship several Orcish WarMachines into Ghelsba Outpost. A total of 30 Orcish Flamethrowers, escorted by 10 Orcs had been making their way through La Theine Plateau when a squad of Royal Knights had spotted them, the knights, being greater in number, quickly overcame them, and brought back the thirteen Warmachines that weren't destroyed in the battle as evidence.

However, the present commanders didn't learn much more because at that moment, Myloko, leader of the Third Shinsengumi Squad came skidding to a halt in the audience chamber, looking thoroughly ruffled, she had obviously run from the camp at top speed.

"Amand!" she gasped

"Mylo?" He said, turning to face her "What's wrong?"

"Amand… Vexed…kidnapped…Orcs…Noxes saw…It happen!" she gasped between breaths.

"What!" he yelled, and the commanders instantly left the audience chamber, accompanied by two royal knights, sprinting through the city back to West Ronfaure.

Amand came to a stop outside a large tent, the one belonging to Noxes, leader of the First Shinsengumi Squad and bellowed

"Noxes!"

Noxes immediately emerged from the tent, bowing to Amand

"Sir!"

"Noxes, tell me what happened to Vexed."

And so, Noxes recounted the story.

He had seen Vexed struck and carried off by two Orcs, he immediately gave chase, but they had been too close to the Ghelsba entrance to catch them in time, and it was suicide to enter Ghelsba alone these days.

"What of the guards that were supposed to be watching the Ghelsba entrance?" Amand asked, glancing in that direction.

"All slain." He answered, his voice low. "Most likely ambushed and overwhelmed."

"Damn it."

"I'm afraid it doesn't end there." He said. "The Orcs have sent us a message demanding the unconditional surrender of San d'Oria to the Outpost, and if they do not receive it by midnight tonight, they threaten to execute Vexed."

"WHAT?"

"Yes, and they've erected a large fortification to fend off any rescue attempts." Added Noxes.

"Damn it." Cursed Amand, now pacing back and forth in the grass.

After he had worn a distinct line in the grass, Myloko carefully broke the silence.

"Amand, your orders?" She asked tentatively.

He stopped and looked up, considering for a moment.

"Shinsengumi, prepare for battle!" he ordered "However, do not amass yourselves yet, we don't want to alert the Orcs."

And with that he disappeared inside his tent.

Amand spent nearly two hours holed up in his grand tent before he emerged, approximately four hours before the execution time. He held in his arms a small case, which held his armor, and a large rolled up piece of paper.

"Chster, Kiary, Zigg, Kadak, come with me to the war-tent, Shinsengumi leaders, with us as well, and bring with you your five best warriors." He said

"And Mylo, you stay here and manage the group."

"Yes sir." She said, bowing

And so they entered the grand tent, furnish to suit their every whim in the event of a long session. Amand stationed three guards outside the tent to be sure that nobody got close. For the first hour, unrecognizable speech could barely be heard, but in the next two hours barely anything was heard.

About an hour before midnight, Myloko made her way to the tent, fearing that they had lost track of the time, but as she pushed aside the flap, her jaw dropped in disbelief. The tent was completely empty except for a piece of paper sitting on a table, with a note scrawled on it.

She picked it up, quickly running her eyes over the note, her eyes growing wider with each word she read. After standing there, stunned, for a moment, she sprinted outside, shouting commands to the Shinsengumi through the darkness.

Meanwhile, thirteen Orcish Flamethrowers rolled to a stop in front of the Ghelsba Gates, much to the surprise of the guards, who immediately took up their bows in preparation. One Orcish Grunt, brandishing his spear, slipped through the gates to examine the Warmachines, and he was rewarded with a note attached to the lead machine. He slowly read the note, which was written in the Orc language.

In the common speech, it read:

"Brothers of Ghelsba Outpost, we of Davoi recognize your unfortunate situation, being in such close proximity to the arrogant inhabitants of San d'Oria and the newfound army of Samurai, and in realizing this; we have decided to send you all the reinforcements we can spare. However, upon our trek through La Theine, we were attacked by the Knights of the Elvaan city, and our reinforcements were decimated. However, our remaining forces are now distracting the blue-robed Samurai so that these WarMachines may be delivered to you, make good use of them.

-Davoi"

The Grunt considered for a moment, and then gave the magical command for the machines to follow him. He led them through the cave and into the first level of the outpost, where perhaps forty guards were stationed in various places. He led them off to the right and into a fenced-off enclosure, which was out of the way of the main activity in the area, and placed them near a wall in the back.

All around, the guards we speaking excitedly about the celebration that was just starting to rage on the above level and Orcs from Yughott Grotto were filing up one by one. Soon, even the guards began to abandon their posts, choosing the jovial celebration above over their boring guard duty. This continued until there were no more than ten of them left. The gatekeepers also began to leave their posts, judging by the small stream that came from the cave, there could be no more than six guards left.

It was then, with perhaps a half hour left that something very strange indeed began to happen. The back of the Orcish Flamethrower that had bore the note slowly swung open. And from it emerged a red-haired Hume, clad in black armor, and holding a Samurai Sword in his left hand and a Ninja's sword strapped to his back. Also attached to his back were a sleek bow and a quiver of arrows.

With a quick look around Amand crept to each Flamethrower and knocked lightly on it once, then moved on to the next. Soon, the various leaders and the five Shinsengumi fighters were huddled behind the Warmachines, which they proceeded to disable. Amand motioned to them without a sound then quickly ran to the opposite side of the enclosure. He then slipped around the outside of the fence and weaved through the trees back toward the exit.

He edged his way through the cave, and flattened himself against a wall, peering around the corner, seeing that there were exactly six guards, five on the ground, and one at the top of the wall. He took up his bow and drew back the string with an arrow. He drew in a deep breath then threw himself around the corner, letting his arrow fly.

His aim was true and the arrow pierced the neck of the Orc atop the wall, who then fell too the ground before the other five. They stared at his bloodied corpse for just a moment before turning to see who had done this, but their hesitation proved fatal: Amand already had his sword drawn, and by the time their eyes registered his presence, he had run the foremost Orc through with his sword.

Within seconds, every Orc was neutralized. Amand took this chance to grab a rag and wipe his sword clean of Orc blood. He then snatched a torch from the wall and scaled the wall with a single leap. H stood just to the right of the gate-crank and held the torch high in the air, waving it slowly back and forth. At the same time, he used his other hand to gradually crank the gate open.

Suddenly, what seemed like large mass of dark water began to flow toward the gate. It was the Shinsengumi, who had been lying in wait for the signal.

Once the gate was fully open, Amand dropped back down to the ground to await the Shinsengumi's arrival. As Myloko made it to him, he signaled them to follow him as quietly as possible. With that he turned and they made their way back through the cave, and only after Amand checked to see that the other ten guards had been taken down by Chster and the others did he allow them to move out into the open.

They had captured the first level of Ghelsba Outpost.

They were quickly made to spread out all along the area, careful to stay out of the line of sight, but making sure they were in range for the next attack. Amand called Noxes to him and whispered a command to him, they both nodded and he took five Samurai with him back through the exit to carry out these orders.

Amand advanced to the front of the group and took up his bow. The rest of them mimicked his actions as he lit his arrow on fire and prepared to fire.

Then, with all the force of Altana herself, Amand roared out his next order;

"FIRE!"

With that, and almighty rain of fire poured down on the Orcish celebration, instantly causing an uproar as several hundred were felled and quite a few buildings set on fire.

"CHARGE!" Amand bellowed, sprinting up the hill into the second level, the Shinsengumi surging behind him.

As he reached the top of the hill he took a flying leap into the air, and came tearing down into a group of scrambling Orcs, quickly tearing them up. His sword flashed again and again as Orc after Orc was cut down. Such was the skill of Amand that he had slain fourteen Orcs before the rest of the Shinsengumi even reached the new battlefield. However, come they did, and they immediately began to cut through to the center of the area.

For a moment, Amand found himself without opponent, so he took the opportunity to leap into the air and search the area for Vexed. As if on cue, he spotted the Orcs dragging her, struggling fiercely, from a hut on the left side of the compound. He floated gracefully to the ground, then, spring boarding off of a wall; he launched himself at the offending Orcs.

He landed, sliding to a stop, in front of the hut, taking two Orcs heads with him, then immediately sliced right through the back of one of the Orcs restraining Vexed, and he fell limp to the ground, not dead, but now powerless. Vexed, taking the chance, ducked and elbowed her captor in the stomach, and Amand used the distraction to send his head flying across the battlefield.

Vexed, now freed, leaped to the top of the hut, and Amand followed, both of them crouching low

"Are you okay?" he asked, seeing multiple bumps and bruises on her catlike body, forgetting the battle for just a moment.

"I'll be okay, but they have a large force in the back areas around here, we have to get the Shinsengumi out, they'll be overwhelmed." She said.

Amand nodded.

"Then let's get out of here, I believe this belongs to you." He said, handing her the sword that had been strapped to his back.

"Thanks." She said, smiling.

She tried to stand up, but was then her legs gave out underneath her.

"Ouch! I don't think I can make the run all the way out of here." She said, wincing.

"Well in that case, I'll get us both out of here." He took her in his arms and lifted her up, looking briefly toward the back; he saw that Vexed had been correct; a large number of armed and dangerous Orcs was now descending toward them from the higher levels of the Outpost.

Clutching Vexed tight to himself, he hurdled the battlefield, shouting the order to retreat to his warriors below him in mid-air, and landed lightly next to Chster, who he then transferred Vexed to.

"Get her out of here, I have to stay with my men." He said, and turned to cover the retreat of his comrades.

He ran, slicing through every Orc that impeded the retreat of his soldiers until it was him, fighting Orcs all the way down the ramp to the first level. As he reached the very bottom he heard Kiary's voice yelling.

"Amand! Get out of there!"

He turned his head to see that the Silver Arrows had taken their formation and were preparing to release a volley into the advancing Orcs.

With three quick slashes of his sword he slew the Orcs directly in front of him then threw himself to one side as a volley of arrows was sprayed onto the advancing Orcs.

Amand turned and ran straight for the exit, waving his arms, signaling them to run for it as the heavily armed Orcs were now pouring down the hill to the level he was on. Had he not been so wrapped up in getting everyone out, we would have noticed the piles of lumber and straw that was heavily strewn about. This had been what Amand had instructed Noxes to do, and it was to be the final step in this rescue mission.

The Silver Arrows had fled and were now waiting safely outside, and just as Amand crossed the midway point of the area, he saw a line of fire shoot past him on the ground, traveling along a wet line that was obviously some sort of oil, also lain down by Noxes. And just as they had planned, the Orcs began to fill the lower area just as the line of fire connected with the straw and lumber, which had also been heavily coated in that flammable liquid. The next thing Amand felt was an almighty blast of heat blow past him as he ran into the cave, and a billowing flame chased him the whole way through right up until he reached the gate outside. He threw himself through the open gates, the flames licking his heels he was given the extra boost of the intense heat and began to roll head over heels down the hill, stopping only when he collided with one of the old guard fences. Kadak and Myloko, being the closest to him, immediately rushed over to help him, but in a moment, he got to his feet.

They stood to see plumes of black smoke rising from the outpost, and the very tips of the large flames still shone now and again over the rock formations. The gate erected by the Orcs to repel attacks was also completely engulfed in flames and was beginning to fall apart.

In the end, the mission to rescue Commander Vexed of the Windurstian Faction of the United Forces of Vana'diel was a success, but it cost the lives of exactly eighty Samurai of the Shinsengumi. If any other good, beside the rescue of Vexed, had come from this battle, it was that over a third of all the Orcs in Ghelsba Outpost had been killed, and this meant that they would not be able to attack San d'Oria and have any hope whatsoever to win.


You like? I hope so, but if not, i understand, lol. till the next chapter...fare thee well!