Chapter Forty One

The Battle of Mon Solrak

MELODY

Watching Eleanor and the sentries at the gates, Melody deflated considerably. So this colonial outpost hadn't heard about the new emperor yet. Good.

"Ever heard of a surprise inspection?" Eleanor snapped in Exonite. She motioned at the gate. "You just going to let me stand out here?"

"No! Apologies, Ma'am," The sentries hurriedly began unlocking the gates for her to enter. "Welcome to Mon Solrak."

She looked around haughtily and sniffed. "Who's in charge here?"

"Lieutenant Rusvelt."

"Get him here now."

One of the sentries went sprinting out of sight while Eleanor stood in the middle of the street with arms folded. So far so good, Melody watched intently. Keep it up, keep it up.

Before long, an officer in the standard muddy red uniform came running. He saluted, quivering at attention. "Your Imperial Majesty!" He barked. "Lieutenant Rusvelt, sixth company, at your service!"

Eleanor sized him up and down with disdain. "I expected someone more commanding."

"Sorry, Ma'am."

There's only one company stationed here?"

"Yes, Ma'am."

Good. Melody couldn't help but nod a little in approval. Eleanor had just confirmed that they only needed to face a single company of soldiers and nothing more.

"If I may, Ma'am?" Lieutenant Rusvelt asked cautiously.

"What?"

"Where are your escorts?"

"Left them in the valley. I don't need you fools clambering all around me every minute of the damn day." Eleanor snapped.

The lieutenant swallowed hard. "Of course not, Ma'am."

"Round up your men for inspection. I want to see for myself how incompetent you lowlifes are at your jobs," Eleanor looked at him condescendingly. "Take too long and I might just lose my patience, lieutenant."

Evidently the officer was aware of what Eleanor's impatience might entail. Saluting, he scurried off to gather his men. Within the span of ten minutes, an entire column of soldiers filled the snow covered street. Melody counted roughly two hundred of them, armed with muskets but without their bayonets attached. They were formed up five abreast, the long edge parallel to the houses that lined both sides of the streets. Standing at attention, the soldiers all looked straight ahead, avoiding eye contact with the volatile Empress for fear of being vaporised or disembowelled. Little did they know she was powerless and dethroned.

"And this is all?" Eleanor said in a loud voice, expressing her disdain.

Lieutenant Rusvelt gulped. "Yes, Your Imperial Majesty."

"A pathetic show of force." Eleanor screeched. "And you thought you could keep the peace here? You thought this was enough to keep the villagers cowering in fear? They will rise up and destroy you!"

Melody sprung to her feet and vaulted through the open window. The couple followed through their front door a moment later. As Melody ran, she lifted her voice and raised her bow. "Forward!" She screamed, though she was certain most of them wouldn't understand her. What was important was the signal it sent. "Take back your homes!"

People poured out from their homes on both sides of the streets, charging straight at the packed column of soldiers who had no time to load their weapons or fix their bayonets. Many of the locals held pitchforks, bamboo poles, shovels, kitchen equipment, wooden chairs, fence posts and a whole assortment of "weapons". They collided with the soldiers' flanks from both sides, effectively sandwiching the Exonians and giving them no room to react or fight back.

Melody charged into the mass of humanity, singling out the enemies in red. She slammed the riser of her bow into the nose of one of the soldiers, and ducked as another attempted to club her to the ground. A middle aged villager lunged at her would-be attacker and dragged him to the ground with a determined cry.

Getting to her feet, Melody navigated her way through the flurry of arms, legs and splatter of blood as soldiers and villagers tussled for control. The sounds of melee combat, roars of determination and cries of agony filled the night. Slipping between two villagers, Melody dropped low and kicked a soldier's leg out from underneath him. She sprung up, delivering a jaw-crushing uppercut that snapped his head backwards as he fell.

At the sidewalk, some of the Exonians had managed to free themselves from the column of tightly packed comrades, and were hurriedly trying to load their muskets in the midst of everything that was going on. Melody slid beneath the wild punch of another soldier, threw her elbow into his spine which floored him, and kept sprinting towards the Exonians at the sidewalk. They never saw her coming.

Her momentum sent one crashing into the wooden wall of a house, and Melody landed on her feet in a crouch. Instinctively, her hand went to her quiver and drew an arrow. Nocking it, she pulled back the bowstring, aimed and let fly. Although her aim was still off, at such a close distance she couldn't possibly not hit something. One of the soldiers screamed as the arrow struck his thigh and he fell.

Melody's hands trembled and she restrained herself from instinctively nocking another arrow. Trying her best to ignore the tremors, she closed her hand tightly around the riser of the bow and swung it at the nearest Exonian's wrist. The man dropped his musket with a yelp, and she threw her fist straight into his stomach. As he doubled over, she vaulted over his back and delivered a spinning heel kick to another's jaw. Dropping low, she struck the last man standing behind the knee and felt him buckle. Pivoting on the balls of her feet, she brought the limb of her bow crashing down on the back of the man's head and felt him go limp.

Her heart was beating a little too fast and she had to prop herself up against the wall to calm her breathing, hoping that no one else would attempt to attack her just yet. Body quivering and cold sweat running down her cheek, she glared at her hands. They were still shaking, rendering her archery useless once again.

"Your new friends seem to be giving the Empire a good ass-whooping," Maui leaned his gigantic frame against the side of the house they were beside.

"Not now." Melody gritted her teeth. "I need to focus."

"Focus? Oh, right," Maui whistled as he watched the fight in the streets unfold before him. "You might want to get to Eleanor. Something tells me she isn't trained like the rest of us."

Hooking her bow across her back, Melody took a deep breath and started running in the direction of where Eleanor had been standing. Bursting through the sea of grappling humanity, she found Eleanor tussling with two soldiers in red. Evidently, as Maui had said, she hadn't taken self defense lessons as a princess. A running knee from Melody threw one of Eleanor's assaulters off balance, and she landed in the snow on top of him. Before the soldier could react, she slammed her fist into his nose, putting him down for the count.

Getting to her feet, she whirled to find Eleanor being forced to the ground, with a bayonet in the other soldier's hand gleaming against the moonlight. "Help me, damn it!" Eleanor screamed.

Melody raced towards the man's flank, pulling him sidelong and using her momentum to grapple into a chokehold while still in mid air. As the both of them fell to the ground, she hooked her legs around his body like a serpent and tightened her grip around his neck and head, feeling the soldier's struggling grow more feeble till it stopped completely. Releasing her hold, she scrambled to her feet, ready for another enemy to strike from behind. At the moment, there was none.

Standing at the edge of the war zone, Melody surveyed the battle. The soldiers were evidently on the losing end, with the enraged villagers putting their heart and soul into the fight. Despite the fact that they were armed with inferior weapons, they were showing their stunned oppressors that they were a force to be reckoned with. Together, they were slowly whittling away at the numbers.

The soldiers who'd managed to escape the tight column were engaging the villagers in guerrilla warfare, some firing their muskets at the locals and raising clouds of white smoke as villagers fell and others continued to race towards the soldiers. The battle had devolved into a skirmish as urban warfare often did, and the soldiers were desperately trying to stick together to fend off the angry villagers. But it was apparent that it was only a matter of time before the battle was over.

"Are you just gonna stand there?"

Melody turned to see Eleanor still lying in the snow, panting hard in exhaustion. She reached out and offered a hand to the former Empress, pulling her to her feet.

"Seems you followed through on your word," Melody said.

"Don't get all weepy about it. We're not friends." Eleanor waved a hand dismissively. "I'm just doing what needs to be done to get what I want and - look out!" She suddenly shrieked.

With catlike reflexes, Melody dropped to the ground as a soldier swung his musket like a club which would have taken her squarely in the back of her head. The soldier ignored her and went straight for Eleanor.

"Traitor!" He snarled in Exonite, lifting his musket.

"Shit!" Eleanor swore, backing away in fright.

Scrambling to her feet, Melody spread her arms and barrelled into the man from the back, dragging him to the ground. As he hit the ground, he dropped the musket but quickly fumbled for it.

"Eleanor!" Melody shouted.

Eleanor swooped in and kicked the musket out of reach. Then, she lashed out with a vicious kick to the man's face which sent blood spraying into the snow. As the man ceased his struggling, Melody clambered off him and backed away, heart pounding sporadically.

"Thanks," She managed, though Eleanor was already staring at something else. Melody turned to see what it was. Her heart sank. Three more Exonians were sprinting straight at them, blood running down their faces and covered in sweat and blackpowder.

"Run!" Eleanor screeched, taking off in the opposite direction.

"Wait!" Melody called after her, then groaned. She turned and ran too, knowing that Eleanor needed defending, and she wasn't going to last very long against three of her own soldiers.

Eleanor rounded the corner onto another street between another two rows of houses, empty and free of fighting thus far.

"Stop!" Melody shouted after her. "Stay close to me!"

Eleanor obeyed, whirling round with a wild look in her eyes. "You need to do something." She hissed.

"Whatever you do, stay behind me," Melody gritted her teeth, feeling her blood pumping in her ears. Raising both fists, she watched as the three soldiers pursuing them rounded the bend and began advancing towards them.

"Nowhere to run!" One of them barked triumphantly at Eleanor, ignoring Melody. That was his mistake.

As he got within range, Melody lashed out with a short jab, pulling the reeling man back towards her. As the two others tried to clobber her, she pushed him into them, staggering them all backwards. Hurdling over the first man, she slid on the snow covered ground, keeping her body low.

One of the two men regained his balance and tried to make a grab at her. She caught his wrist and sprung up inside his guard. Driving the back of her elbow into his chest, she felt the air go out of him. Still clutching the man's wrist, she used all her might to throw him over her shoulder into the man still lying on the ground.

Her vision went blurry and full of stars as something collided with the back of her head. Everything spun, and she blinked hard, doing her best to keep her balance. The third man threw himself into her midsection, pulling her to the ground. A bayonet flashed in his hand, and Melody barely saw it through her fuzzy vision. On pure instinct alone, she grasped the sides of the blade in the palms of her hands, squeezing them together to prevent the bayonet from sinking into her chest.

But it was a losing battle. In her dazed state and her lack of leverage, the man was winning. Suddenly, his grip loosened and he fell to the side. As quickly as she could, Melody scrabbled away and forced herself to her feet. Groaning, she tried to see straight.

Eleanor stood before her with a musket in hand. "You're welcome," She said loftily.

"Thanks," Her own words sounded muffled. Shaking her head, Melody tried to fight back the pain.

She'd barely recovered when six more soldiers turned the corner. Muskets levelled, they began to close in around Melody and Eleanor.

"Do something!" Eleanor hissed.

Melody froze, her breath growing fast and sporadic. All the fight suddenly seemed to go out of her, and her hands quivered more violently. Cold sweat drenched her face and she found herself unable to move. Rooted to the ground with her legs and arms feeling like lead, she stared down the barrel of one of the muskets.

"Do something!" Eleanor screamed again, but her voice sounded distant in Melody's ears.

Maybe this is the end.

A ring of fire surrounded Melody and Eleanor, rising out of the snow. The flames billowed outwards, forcing the soldiers to backpedal furiously, shouting as the fire licked out at them.

Both Melody and Eleanor looked up to the rooftop. There, standing with her back against the moonlight was Deirdre with her arms outstretched and her blonde hair flying in the winter breeze. Focus written all over her face, the fiery sorceress lifted her hands and threw them wide.

The fire that surrounded Melody and Eleanor erupted outwards, sending a heatwave riveting towards the six soldiers. Their weapons began to melt in their hands and they threw the muskets away with shocked cries. Deirdre raised a hand and twitched her fingers.

The uniforms of the six men burst into flames, lighting up their immediate surroundings as bright as noonday. They screamed and threw themselves to the ground, trying to roll across the snow to put out the flames, raising thick black smoke in the process.

Deirdre jumped down from the rooftop, breaking her fall and landing rather gracefully, the way Melody and Janus had taught her. She ran over to Melody and Eleanor, fire dancing in her eyes.

"You both alright?" She asked.

"Yeah," Eleanor said gruffly, and turned away.

"Melody?" Deirdre looked worriedly at her. "Are you alright? You froze there for a moment."

Melody shook her head. "I-I'm fine,"

"You don't look fine," Deirdre stared at her. "You're pale."

"We can discuss this later," Melody drew in a deep breath and squared her shoulders. Her fists tightened to mitigate the tremors, and she tried hard to steady her breathing again. "We need to finish this now."

Deirdre glanced at the battle which was almost over, the remaining soldiers trying to form square in desperation and failing poorly, while many others were routed. "Shouldn't be too much of a problem now."