8. War—
From the forts serving as bases for Kiro's party's distant explorations, it was three hard days' ride by chocobo back to Corneria. Along the way, they would acquire news of the campaign by letters at each town on their route. This northern kingdom, Doma, was sending small parties harassing and destroying trade routes between Corneria and her neighbor cities. In fact, as the distance closed, Kiro could sense that Hulma was becoming less worried and more disgusted. It was becoming clearer that this was no all-out attack between some evil empire upon an innocent town. Corneria had been extending its influence and control ever northward, engaging in exclusive trading contracts with villages and townships along the way. The kingdom of Doma was, therefore, losing trade revenue and, rather than engaging in dialogue with Corneria, Doma decided to attack these new trade routes to assert its dominance of the region.
An adventuring party with two years' experience would be a tremendous asset in the battle, and, regardless of how they may have felt about the war, each of Kiro's party had pledged their allegiance to Corneria before they ever formed their party. All of their hometowns were, in some way or another, duty bound to send troops to assist in the raids.
Agrias and Ahmad seemed excited at the high stakes of the battle ahead, at least on the surface, but Hulma and Kiro were more uncomfortable. Hulma barely veiled her distaste for both countries. Corneria was, in her opinion, being belligerent in the way it established exclusive trade routes to the north without negotiating with Doma, though she was more disappointed with Doma for resorting to violence rather than diplomacy to first resolve the problem. Kiro felt similarly, but both mages kept their emotions in reserve since, the only clear thing was their duty. The facts of the matters could always be distorted across such great distance, and things are often not as they appear.
The party's mission was to assist in the defense of Maranda, a small village to Corneria's northwest, from bands of Doman soldiers. The village was at peace when the party arrived, but it was clear that the Domans had done some damage in the past. Several circles of rubble and ash existed on the northern outskirts of the town, where once there had stood small huts. Whether they were residences, stores, or guard posts was impossible to tell, now. Deeper into the village, several homes showed signs of repeated patchwork to repair damage from multiple attacks.
Kiro's heart went out to the residents of the village. They were likely not involved in the greater conflict in which their village stood as a pawn. These people did not deserve to have their livelihoods threatened because of some bickering between kings in distant castles. Through this compassion, Kiro came to understand that there was a certain nobility after all in being called to protect them from further attacks.
Agrias was to meet with the leader of the small local guard and receive the party's orders from him. Kiro examined the middle-aged leader of Maranda's small town militia. He was somewhat slight for a soldier, and appeared to be a little bit past his prime. His armor was made of inexpensive materials, and was showing the wear and rust of many years, though it did not show much evidence of having been struck in battle. This made it all the more clear how Agrias' party was needed for the town's protection. These people were farmers and merchants, not warriors. Though they were still young, Kiro and his comrades had great experience in the field of battle against monsters and the like that well outshined the battle experience of these people. Still, the fighters guarding Maranda were determined not to allow any more damage to their homeland, and while they were anxious about their chances in the next battle, they were nonetheless stalwart in their resolve.
Agrias was told that the members of her party were immediately enlisted into an inner guard and patrol position. Were any enemy to breach the outer patrols, it would be up to the party to stymie the enemy progress and to defend the town hall, which, besides being the seat of government for the village, housed the town's meager stores of grain and gold, to be used in case of emergency or drought. It was indeed a strategic target. Were it to fall, there would be little assurance for the villagers that they could continue were any further pressure to be exerted against them or any misfortune to befall them. They may have to abandon their homes and retreat to a better protected settlement to the south.
Corneria sent word that they were preparing a new squadron of soldiers to arrive and decisively secure Maranda, but it would take time. It would be at least two days before they could be completely organized and make the journey.
On the third day's watch, the reinforcements had still not arrived, and the moment came for which Kiro's party had been summoned. The fourth outer patrol of the evening failed to return on time, and security was heightened. It was not long after that before a group of three battle-wearied Doman soldiers managed to use the dim twilight to sneak past the rest of the patrols and find Kiro, Agrias, Ahmad, and Hulma guarding the town hall.
Kiro immediately cast a protection spell, surrounding his three comrades. Hulma cast several spells to sharpen the weapons and to improve the reflexes of Agrias and Ahmad, and Ahmad began to distract one of the enemy rogues while Agrias attempted to finish the two remaining enemy knights.
The enemy knights were already wounded from their battle against the outer patrol they had defeated, but still they fought. They were outnumbered against Kiro and his friends, but still they risked their lives to take the town hall. Ahmad used his swiftness to get around the rogue he fought, and slit his throat without much difficulty. Ahmad then turned to where Agrias was fighting to watch for an opportune moment to strike.
Agrias was holding her own surprisingly well for being outnumbered. Few hits landed upon her armor, and fewer still pierced it. Kiro quickly healed Agrias each time when she felt the sting of Doman steel slash across her sides, and Hulma gathered her remaining energy and cast a fireball at one of the Doman knights. The Doman receiving the fireball was wearing armor that resisted igniting itself, but the flames still danced around the surface of his armor and helmet, inflicting great pain and causing him to flail wildly, desperately trying to see through the smoke, and at that moment Ahmad took the opportunity to throw one of his knives at the flaming soldier's leg. Once down on the ground, Ahmad used his other dagger to slice the victim's neck, just as the flames were dying down.
This left Agrias against one remaining knight. Kiro's magic had been spent, and from the looks of it, so had Hulma's. Rather than chanting a new spell, she stood further back just behind and beside Kiro, clutching her rod in a defensive stance. Ahmad had suffered light burns tackling his last victim. Agrias stood in her battle stance and, as the knight charged forward, his blade outstretched, Agrias gasped and attempted to parry with her own sword. The Doman blade was shoved aside only slightly, continuing on to come within an inch of Agrias' neck, and cutting a tear into her red braid over her shoulder. At that moment, the enemy knight seemed to falter briefly, and Agrias took advantage of the opportunity to bring her sword back forward, slicing through the enemy knight's armor, causing a deep gash, from which a profuse amount of blood issued forth, before the knight fell dead.
So, I finally wrote some action. I gave Agrias a very close scrape with death, and I hope it was an enjoyable ride. If not, please let me know and give me some guidance I might use to improve my writing in future chapters. I always appreciate reviews with constructive criticism (outright praise, if honest, is nice too). I would also like to hear from multiple reviewers so that I can get a good sense of what a broad crossection of people have to say about my writing.