Honoka lifted the shield and sword, finding a solid balance, remembering everything that she had been taught over the years. Nozomi and Honoka were preparing to finally leave the scene of the attack, they had burned the bandits and buried Honoka's family and their guards, and had taken what they could, packed it in satchels ready for the journey that lay before them.
There was a slight breeze on the evening air, as the burying had taken the rest of the day, and the sun had begun to set.
"Are you ready?" Nozomi asked Honoka.
Who was going through some basic attacks, regaining her form from the last time she had practised. "Yes, let's go" Honoka said enthusiastically.
With her approval Nozomi turned and began to walk in what Honoka assumed was the direction of the village in which they would find Nozomi's friend.
"How far away is it?" Honoka asked the woman in front of her.
"About 3 day's journey" Nozomi replied calmly as she continued to stride onwards.
"3 DAYS!?" Honoka blurted out.
She knew that it would be hard work to defend people, but she hadn't realised the scope of the job at hand.
"It's not so bad, along the way we can talk through the organisation of the unit we hope to form" Nozomi said cheerily to try and lighten her companions mood, though to little avail as Honoka just grunted in reply.
"Well, from the number of villages, there will be 9 members, do you know anyone that would be fit for our purpose?" Nozomi asked without looking back.
"I know 2 people that would be invaluable, Sonoda Umi, from the village of Klyon, and Minami Kotori from the village of Tessen" Honoka said after thinking for a few minutes.
"Can we stop for rest yet?" Honoka asked, slightly out of breath. "We haven't even been walking 5 minutes? We are just walking?" Nozomi replied slightly shocked at the girl's lack of stamina.
"Well do you have a spell that can speed up this journey?" Honoka asked, eager for the walking to be over.
"No, but I have something that can increase your stamina" just hold still a second Nozomi said, stopping and turning round. She raised her hand and muttered something under her breath and her eyes glowed.
Honoka felt the change immediately, as if she were filled to bursting with energy. "Wow.. I feel so.. Wow" Honoka said, look at her hands and all around her, look of wonderment on her face.
"We good to continue now?" Nozomi said, a slightly strained smile on her face?
"Hmm? Oh, yeah, sure" Honoka said, recovering from her momentary lapse.
Nozomi turned and continued walking on, with Honoka following behind her.
"So, tell me about the first one, Sonoda Umi." Nozomi said, eager to start working through their business.
"She's my age, long blue hair, brown eyes slightly taller than me" Honoka said, a thoughtful expression on her face.
"No, I mean, tell me about why she would be a good addition to our unit." Nozomi said, an air of irritation beginning to form.
"Ah, well, you'd be stuck trying to find anyone more skilled at archery, I've seen her hit the centre of a target blindfolded. She says she can interpret the wind currents or something, all I know is she's very skilled at it." Honoka replied.
"And what about the other, Minami Kotori?" Nozomi asked.
"Why is she fit for our group?" She clarified.
"Kotori-chan isn't the best fighter, but she knows how to use a hammer, and not just on the battlefield, her family is an old blacksmithing family, all their wares are of excellent quality, having her would give us very reliable gear. Speaking of armour, what is your armour that you're wearing?" Honoka queried the Mage.
"In my village, we have access to a vein of Auralite, a very rare, and strong black metal, though not skilled in armour craft, we have been able to mould some pieces out of it. If we have Kotori in our unit, I could get her some of the Auralite, could she make us armour?"
"No one would make it better, it will be both strong and lightweight."
"Good, this armour is some I moulded myself using magic, and it's quite heavy. So, aside from the 2 of them, do you know any others that may be suitable for our group?"
"No, sorry, they're the only ones I know, what about you?" Honoka sked Nozomi, showing as much of an eager interest in the work.
"Well there's the one we are going to see, who is gifted when wielding two swords, and she's very agile.. and flexible.." Nozomi said, again smiling to herself.
"Anyway, then I think in a southern village, there's someone else my age who I hear is very good at dagger play, but I haven't encountered her when I have visited their village of Nazil" Nozomi continued.
"Hmm, well after we have gone to Seran, we can move in a counter clockwise motion, and that way we should get 3 of the 4 fighters we already know and find others in the other villagers" Honoka said, laying out a clear plan.
"That's good idea then we ca- Wait, how did you know we were heading to Seran?" Nozomi asked, quizzical look on her face.
"I had a sense of direction from the cart, and looking up at the sun, I can tell we are heading west" Honoka said triumphantly.
"Ok, I'm impressed" Nozomi said, a smile playing at the corners of her mouth.
There was a snap ahead of them, and the sound of muffled movement. Instantly Nozomi was alert, staff raised and eyes lit up, whilst Honoka brashly raised her shield.
Stillness filled the night.
"Wait here" Nozomi commanded, her eyes flashed and she moved forward, but her footsteps made no sound, and the silence remained unbroken. Honoka hunkered down her shield still raised in front of her. A minute passed.. Two.. Then there was a dull thud followed by a small whimper.
Honoka ignored Nozomi's previous command and moved forwards, as quietly as she could. She reached a bush line and peered through. Ahead of her were 2 people crouched over Nozomi, who lay unmoving, though that was all Honoka could discern at this distance. She followed the bush round to a slight opening and moved through.
She paid attention to all movement around her, but there was only the two in front of her. She moved forward whilst staying low and closed the gap. She could now see that Nozomi was still breathing but her eyes were closed.
The 2 people, who Honoka could tell were a man and a woman were knelt over Nozomi taking quietly. Honoka couldn't tell if the people were friend or foe and didn't want to attack any innocent people unless she could help it.
She moved in closer behind the two people and tried to listen in to their conversation.
"- We should kill her now, if she wakes up, she'll slaughter us"
"Where's the fun in that though my love? Let us keep her, just for a while, I'll tie her up, you get the knives, we can have a bit of fun."
Honoka had heard enough, she snuck up behind the woman that spoke of knives and pulled her by her hair into standing and placed her short sword against her throat. The man stood and turned to face her, hands raised slightly, showing there were no weapons in his hands.
"Wait, there's no need to hurt us, we are just farmers" The man said, fear evident in his voice.
"Two farmers that managed to take out a mage that just this morning crushed a dozen bandits against the floor using her mind? I don't think so" Honoka said, digging the blade further against the woman, who began to shake with fear.
"P- Please, we didn't do it on purpose, she snuck up on us and we reacted out of fear, there are many bandits in these parts as you know." Honoka thought for a moment before replying.
"Simple farmers that take out strong mages and talk about having fun with knives, I don't think I believe you." Honoka said coldly.
"Oh well" The woman said, all fear in her voice and the shaking stopped.
Then, before Honoka could react, she grabbed her wrist and tore it away from her throat. She shifted and loosed herself, flurrying round, spinning out from Honoka, and in the process drew a long dagger, whist the man produce a broad sword.
"You're outnumbered and outmatched, so looks like there will be more people to play with." The woman said, an evil grin filling her face. Now Honoka could have a clear view of them, and she eyed them as they circled around each other, with Nozomi in the middle.
The man was taller than the woman and had light brown hair, and was clearly in shape from how his clothes hung off of him. The woman was quite short, with short blonde hair, which flicked up in the centre.
The woman got bored of the circling and lunged forward, whilst the man held back and watched apprehensively. The woman came in with a stabbing attack, which Honoka redirected with her shield. Honoka then brought her own blade round to strike, but the woman ducked and rolled under the swipe.
Honoka turned and faced the woman, expecting another attack, then she realised this was a distraction as the man was still behind her, she rolled to the right and faced where she had been and was met with the man having his sword plunged into the space where she was.
He withdrew his sword from the ground and faced back to Honoka. She eyed the woman on her right, then lunged for the man swiping the sword above her head, he deflected and swung in the other way, but Honoka raised her shield and bashed off his attack, she then went to cut at him, but the woman had run up and grabbed her arm. Honoka turned her head and swung her shield round, in an attempt to hit the girl, barely missing her own face.
She missed, but caused the girl to lose her grip. She tore her arm out and immediately slashed back, cutting through the woman's throat, and getting splashed in her blood. The woman's eyes went wide and she gripped her ruined throat.
Honoka's vision went blurry, a ringing in her eyes, where the woman had been, stood Yukiho, grabbing her cut throat, but she was as white as ice, eyes glazed over, she fell back and when she hit the ground, Honoka's vision cleared. She wiped the tears that had formed in her eyes and wheeled back on the man, a renewed fury filling her actions.
She jumped, her sword coming down in an arc and struck and the man that was on one knee after he tried to get up. He barely raised his sword in time to stop the attack. Honoka did not stop and she struck again, and again, the man just held his sword and took the attacks, hoping for her to lose her breath, but she did not, she just kept swinging.
After a minute of continuous striking, Honoka brought her sword down and the man's defence broke, her blade knocked his sword down and went down, through his skull and continuing, stopping just at the bottom of his neck. Honoka pulled her sword out using her foot to push the body off, and he crumpled to the floor.
She wiped her sword on his clothes and put it back in her sheath.
She then turned and went over to Nozomi. She was still out cold, so Honoka pulled her over and leaned her against a tree. She then turned and moved the bodies into a small ditch just behind the bush they had emerged from and left them there before returning to Nozomi. She didn't know what to do, she wasn't well versed in medicine. She looked around, but only saw trees.
She sighed and sat, all she could do was wait for Nozomi to regain consciousness. She decided she would check the bodies of the man and the woman and then have a look round the area, try and find wood for a fire. She went back over to where she had ditched the bodies and checked their pockets, but only found a 6 coins between the pair of them. She pocketed the coins then stood and peeked back into the clearing making sure Nozomi was still there, and she was.
She then turned and walked around the clearing, looking for any wood that could be used for a fire. She spent about 10 minutes looking and found a patch of dead grass, some small sticks and a few larger pieces of wood. Content with her collection, she returned and sat next to the still unconscious mage and began building the fire. She then reached into her satchel and produced 2 pieces of flint.
She started to rub the together, trying to produce a spark.
"That's not how you do it" A quiet voice next to her said.
"You're awake" Honoka exclaimed, dropping the flint and turning to the mage who now watched her wearily.
"Give" Nozomi simply said, indicating to the 2 dropped stones.
"Oh sure, here" Honoka said picking them up and handing them to Nozomi.
Nozomi looked at them, then just tossed them aside, flashed her eyes and the small fir Honoka had made lit up. Nozomi smiled smugly at Honoka.
"What happened?" Nozomi asked Honoka, pulling herself up the tree more so she was more comfortable.
"Well, after you went through the bush, I heard a sound and a whimper, so I went to look and saw 2 people stood over you, talking about hurting you, for fun. I snuck up and spoke to them whilst holding the woman hostage, but she broke free, after a fight.. I killed both of them, they're through there" Honoka said, pointing through the bush.
Nozomi noticed how Honoka's voice got emptier as she talked about killing them.
"Thank you, for saving me, I went through and saw a woman on the ground, I went to check here, then I was hit on the head or something, next thing I know, you're sat next to me messing with flint" Nozomi giggled.
"Well not all of us can light fire with a flash of the eyes you know" Honoka said a little defensively.
"Have you got anything to eat? I'm starving" Nozomi said, making Honoka realise how hungry she was too.
She looked through her satchel and produced a loaf of bread.
"I've only got a few loaves of this and a few water pouches." Honoka said, breaking the bread in half. She handed piece to Nozomi who slowly started pulling pieces off and eating it, whilst Honoka wolfed down her half.
She finished hers before Nozomi got half way. She leaned into the warmth of the fire, the sun had gone down and there was a bite to the chill in the air. As Nozomi finished her piece she too leaned in.
"So, tell me about this building that we will live in" Honoka said, staring unseeing into the fire.
"Well, it's in one of the warmer regions to the south west, and is nearly a ruin, there is a large courtyard which will be good for training, it's walled off, and easy to defend if need be, and the main building has a barracks in the lower part and a large room, perfect for a strategy map to be set up, along with storing all of the weapons and armour." Nozomi said.
"What's in the area around it? How will we access supplies?" Honoka asked.
"Nearby there is a small community of farmers, that I know are plagued by thugs, we help them, they will offer to help us, and there is a river just north of the compound." Nozomi explained.
"What was this building originally built for?" Honoka asked curiously, looking up.
"As far as I know it was a training ground for an army that was to be built, but it proved too expensive and people would rather save a few coin and risk attack than pay for protection" Nozomi replied, and Honoka picked up a hint of disgust in her voice.
"Anyway, time for sleep, we will have to push on tomorrow, get some rest." Nozomi said before Honoka could question further. With that she turned her back to the ginger girl and went to sleep instantly. Honoka went back to staring at the fire for a few minutes before she too went to sleep.