Chapter 5
Town of Cragshell
"See anything sarge?" Private Furuta inquired quietly as he and Kuribayashi carefully approached the wood and stone bridge which crossed the Crag River to the North of their objective town.
"Nothing yet…" Kuribayashi said in a whisper back, knowing that they were tasked with the important task of crossing this open bridge and with examining it for any signs of sabotage or weakness that would preclude their vehicles being able to cross it, "But I'm getting a bad feeling about this."
This declaration got the attention of the leading private next to her, who knew her well enough to know that Kuribayashi's instincts tended to be on point more than most. He simply hummed quietly to himself his acknowledgement that something was indeed not feeling quite right. So he tightened his hold over his Japanese-production version of the FN Minimi with an ACOG mounted on the top optic rail. Furuta was likewise a very well-respected scout amongst Third Recon, having been undercover in the capital as a personal chef for Zorzal prior to being ordered to pull out when Zorzal began to evacuate. The reasoning was clear, it was too risky to send him out alone without any prospect of rapid extraction or support. He wasn't Ranger or SF-qualified, although the prospect of Ranger training had been brought up as a qualifier for all members of the Special Region's recon elements. It was a pretty easy justification for why he and Kuribayashi had been sent with the Americans, and after a quick briefing and planning session after seeing the bridge and its environs the American platoon sergeant was quick to lean upon the experience of his Japanese allies in respect to their knowledge of the local language and their familiarity with the local architecture and terrain.
They could see that the bridge was indeed wide enough for their vehicles to cross, and had three stone pillars holding it up with cross braces shaped from entire tree trunks with beams running between the stone pillars. Thick wooden planks covered the bridge's surface from one side to the other with stone abutments on either shore to protect against the effect of the rushing rapids below the bridge. The water was a pretty heavy torrent, possibly a Class-4 rapids with some steady drops downslope towards the town which was a couple miles downriver. On the other side of the bridge was a watermill with a tall water wheel presumably built into a large millstone on the inside of the wood and brick building. A trio of windows on a jettied upper floor were visible covering the lower ground floor with a deck running the entire outer perimeter of the building and leading to a large wooden granary on stilts next to the building. Across the road which ran parallel to the river on the far side were a few farmhouses and a barn. All of these structures with the exception of the granary had windows with their shutters closed but the telltale hints of candlelight on the inside, with shadows occasionally passing over these light sources indicating movement. The far side of the bridge appeared to have had a wagon pushed in front of it, blocking access with the inclusion of some barrels and boxes and bags while similar rushed cover being placed on the wooden deck of the watermill building. There were hostiles here, how many though was unknown, but as of now, Kuribayashi nor Furuta could see any of them. But they could not sit there and fret, soldiers were required to take action in the face of uncertainty.
"Coyote-7, this is Recon-3-4," Kuribayashi said as she tucked back behind the tree she was taking cover behind, "The road's clear to the bridge, no eyes on movement across the bridge, but the buildings across the river appear occupied."
"Roger 3-4, vehicles will begin to move on the road, time now," the American platoon sergeant responded.
Back behind Furuta and Kuribayashi the three vehicles, led by the American .50 cal-armed JLTV, followed by the Japanese Komatsu LAV, then by a Mk.19-armed JLTV. The section's JLTV armed with a TOW and an M240B was back up at the overwatch point where the rest of their task force was holding position overwatching with range as their ally. Four American troops escorted the vehicles down on foot, keeping security to the rear and to the flanks. Eight of the American platoon were with them, including one of the medics and the three-man sniper element had hitched a ride. The three vehicles had their engines off, but the vehicles on and shifted to neutral, with the only noise they made were the heavy-lugged tires crunching over the occasional rocks in the dirt road or sloshing quietly through pits of watery mud in the road. It was a tense few minutes as the rest of their element moved up, arriving just around the corner of a thick stand in an orchard. They arrived at the foot of the slope of the hill no longer allowed them to drift down without their engines.
The American platoon sergeant apparently chose to pop his head out, and heard the rushing waters of the river in front of them, and judged it possible to turn on their engines without being heard. The three vehicles, one at a time, turned on their engines and slowly crept over and then through a gap in the stone walls where a wooden gate was opened by the escorting American infantry. The Komatsu was ordered to a location beneath the shadows of the trees near the river, where its dark olive paint scheme and much lower profile would give it a degree of concealment which the two larger American JLTV's with their OGPK turrets were not going to mimic. The Americans positioned themselves up high, their weapons trained out at the obvious location of a potential hostile force and the drivers got out and got on line with their fellows, positioning themselves behind a stone wall overlooking the opposite bank
The wood construction of these buildings was not in the least bit considered proof against their weapons, not even their 5.56x45mm M992 "Black Tip" armor piercing rounds for the Americans and the Japanese J-3 12 gram high velocity steel and red brass rounds at their lowest end before they got to pistols. So, it was pretty obvious that the structures across the road would be torn asunder by the meatier M993 7.62x51mm armor piercing round for the M240B's, the Mk.211 armor-piercing incendiary for the M2 .50 cals, and the M441 high-explosive and M433 high-explosive dual-purpose rounds for the Americans' Mk.19 and Private Higashi's GLX-160 grenade launcher. This was to say nothing of their shoulder-launcher weapons like their Panzerfaust, an AT4, a LAW, or the possibility of pulling out their MAAWS like some sort of overkill hand of God type of resort before someone decided to lob a TOW from the hill overwatch position. Although, such use of high-explosive needed the clearance of their platoon leader, who in turn had instructions on the ladder of escalation for use of such munitions near to civilian dwellings.
So, needless to say, with all of this enormous firepower and history of easy victory it was no wonder that Kuribayashi was eager to get going, even though she was still uneasy as the American platoon sergeant scanned the opposite bank, verifying the previous report she'd made before he radioed over to her.
"3-4, this is Coyote-7, you are clear to push across the bridge, cover element is in position," the man said, to which Kuribayashi grinned to herself, finally able to move forward after, to her, sitting in one spot for too long.
"3-4 copies, moving up," Kuribayashi said on the radio, tapped Furuta on the shoulder for him to move up to the bridge first, his Minimi being quite a bit more potent of a covering weapon than her much newer Type-20 assault rifle.
The man moved quickly, scurrying along the road with his weapon down but ready to snap up to engage. He checked for potential booby traps in the road at the foot of the bridge where it connected to their side of the river. Seeing nothing, he then got into position, weapon raised towards their most likely source of contact.
"Set," Furuta said as he got up to the bridge's left side rail, which itself offered zero cover.
"Moving on your right," Kuribayashi called over the radio before she went forward, tucking her rifle to her shoulder keeping it up and ready as she moved at fast walk, scanning along the bridge and taking a knee at each pillar to check for signs of tampering, notably signs of someone taking a saw or an axe to the critical weight bearing beams. She even went to her belly, gingerly poking her head down to check with an IR flashlight attached to her helmet for anything amiss under the bridge.
The roar of the river's rapids was pretty loud now that she was here on the bridge itself. She couldn't quite make out any noise of creaking wood under her feet. Each step she took was pretty well-received with a solid thump of her boot meeting the well-constructed heavy and dense seasoned hardwood. 'So far so good' was her impression as she went to the middle pillar, next, examining it once more for signs of tampering and as before she found none. Kuribayashi then soundlessly waved Furuta forward, who bounded up, kneeling down behind the much more substantial vertical rail which the stone pillar below them in the middle of the river was built around. Furuta nodded to Kuribayashi who then, now much closer to potential enemy, moved more cautiously towards the final stone pillar holding the bridge up.
"Who goes there!" a call from the enemy side of the river called out, and from the ground level, merely forty or fifty yards away, came a pair of sentries in Imperial armor, one of them held a lantern in his hand, and the light was enough to illuminate Kuribayashi who was the closest to him, which caused her NVG to white out momentarily.
"It's one of them!" the second sentry called out, alarmed at the shadow on the bridge as he got a closer look and the two men fumbled around with their belts as Kuribayashi raised her weapon.
She adhered to strict JSDF rules of engagement, warning shots first when challenged or approached at a distance greater than twenty yards or if potential hostiles were not in possession of ranged weapons. It was a known factor that the Imperials didn't have firearms, and after inflicting such horrific death and destruction in one-sided engagements she knew that the Diet was under enormous internal political pressure to limit stacking the body count, but also this pressure existed in the UN. So, the policy was to give warning shots in the hope that a mere show of force coupled with the JSDF's reputation in the Special Region would forego the subsequent casualties. And so, Kuribayashi fired a single round over the two men's heads, sending a few splinters rocketing off the wood siding of the building and making the two men duck and then scurry for cover. She never got a look at what the two men had been grabbing for due to the white-out in her night vision.
"Contact! Two enemy combatants, warning shots fired!" Kuribayashi now broke the silence, and then remembered to speak in English, "Coyote-7, Recon-3-4, hostiles encountered, warning shots fired!" she reported.
"Roger that 3-4, there's movement in the building on your left, be careful!" the American NCO responded quickly, the tenseness in his voice upgraded a few notches after shots had been fired.
"Copy, checking one more bridge pillar," Kuribayashi said before a flash of orange caught her eye to the left where she had just warned off the two sentries.
This time though, it was a torch which had been pushed through an open window on the side of the building's second floor. She saw it was once more held by an armored soldier, who then tossed it down onto a pile of dry stray strewn with other incendiaries. The torch caused the pile of tinder-like material to burst into flames almost upon landing. The sudden bursting flame definitely illuminated the entire bridge structure, where Kuribayashi and Furuta stood out like sore thumbs where they were kneeling in the open and exposed.
But this wasn't the only purpose for this sudden fiery display. There in the middle of this pile of wood and straw and fuel was a long thin set of planks with a thin line of very fine black powder which began to burn ferociously, sending up a puffy white sheet of smoke in a definitive line which Kuribayashi saw as it reached underneath the bridge, and then onto another set of planks held in place on both sides of the bridge. It took her less than a second figure out what she was seeing, but it was gut-wrenching conclusion all the same.
"Run!" she called out to Furuta, and stood up and began to sprint away, as the line of smoke and fire beneath the bridge's beams and planks rushed for where she was standing at the pillar.
Waiting there were six twenty-pound barrels filled with black powder, each tied to the beams beneath Kuribayashi's feet. When the trails of burning powder reached their destinations the bridge's far pillar seemed to be evaporate at its top section and the bridge lifted and then shattered beneath Kuribayashi's feet, launching her forwards into the air as the bridge then dropped out from beneath her, the beams on the other side near Furuta cracking and snapping as the bridge's far section fell like a stone. The planks of wood splashed into the river, and Kuribayashi fell in with them, she had not been fast enough to outrun the effects of the explosion and the disintegration of the bridge under her. She went into the rapids, the strong current grabbing her and yanking her away into the water downstream, dazed and with ears ringing. Behind her, a gunfight now erupted for the first time between Zorzal's Imperial troops and those of Japan and America.
A wall of sparks, short-lived spits of flame and rolling cloud of white smoke erupted from several buildings and along stone walls around said buildings as the Imperial soldiers within fired their mixture of flintlock muskets and pistols. Heavy lead balls rained down amongst Furuta as he stumbled back, and felt a kick into the back of his plate carrier, lunging forward with a force that knocked the air from his lungs. The lead shot didn't have any real chance of penetrating the Level IV plate protecting him, but it knocked him onto the ground. A reply of fire came from across the river as the American troops opened up with a wave of semi-automatic and automatic weapons fire. Tracers eviscerated the opposite bank as the Komatsu LAV roared into life and surged ahead to the foot of the bridge, fifty caliber machine gun blazing and spitting red tracers across the river as sporadic other musket shots and answered the torrent of gunfire.
Leading Private Azuma, driving the LAV, flinched back as a lead ball struck the bulletproof glass of his vehicle's passenger side, pitting itself into the windshield as another pinged off the hood harmlessly as he grabbed the radio to urge Furuta to get off the bridge.
"Furuta, get up! We've got you covered!" he called over, watching his friend turn back, looking for Sergeant Kuribayashi.
"Where's the sarge?!" their gunner, Sasagawa, said from the turret where he now took notice that Staff Sergeant Kuribayashi had not emerged from the explosion, and now that he was closer, could see that the bridge's last thirty feet was entirely collapsed into the water.
Furuta lifted his Minimi and poured a raking back and forth burst of fire across the nearest buildings, flinching back as another shot from across the river zinged by his head and another impacted the ground at his feet, skipping and clipping into his shin, causing him to stumble backwards, and go to a knee. But he didn't stop firing back.
"Furuta!" Azuma yelled out, seeing his now-wounded comrade limping to get back, and made a split-second decision to leap from his vehicle, grabbing his Type-20 and ran to their SAW gunner's side and looped a hand up and over his shoulder and took the weight off of his friend's wounded leg and the two rushed back for the vehicle as Sasagawa laid on a long burst which exhausted the belt as they got to the vehicle.
Azuma ripped open the driver's side rear door and practically helped shove Furuta inside before turning, firing a few rounds from his Type-20, using the door of his vehicle for cover and flinched back as another round slammed into the door he took cover behind. On the opposite side, through the smoke now billowing up and away, they could see more shapes of hostile soldiers entering the battle. More smoky gunshots erupted from the opposite bank and more lead balls landed near and against the Komatsu. This caused him to jump back into the driver's seat as another shot impacted the windshield right in front of his face as Sasagawa rushed to reload, flinching as rounds zipped overhead.
"3-4, Coyote-7! Get your vic into cover!" the radio barked out, the Americans on the hill having been engaging with ferocity the whole time.
"Coyote, this is 3-4," Azuma grabbed the mike, "We have one wounded," he said and then paused momentarily, "And one missing, 3-4-Actual, we think she went into the water."
There was a pause on the other line, the weight of that declaration sinking in for all involved before the American platoon leader responded, the sounds of gunfire in the background. Missing one of their own was not a big deal, it was a huge deal. A common trait of the Americans and Japanese was that they didn't leave their own behind. They didn't write off anyone in uniform until they were found.
"Roger that, pull back, disengage, bring your wounded to us. I'll start coordinating a search. We'll assist the search for 3-4-Actual as soon as your casualty is handled. Start trying to raise your team leader on the radio in the meantime."
The explosion had already been heard, and then the chatter of gunfire was registered. The sounds were far enough away that it wasn't quite enough to wake the real heavy sleepers but many of the American and Japanese troops were quick to begin rousing. Then, came the radio call.
"Break, break, break!" the radios of the command net went off, "This is Coyote-7, we have made contact! Recon-3-4 has one wounded, and one missing, be advised it's 3-4-Actual who is missing. She went into the river, we're trying to raise her now, no answer."
"What?!" Itami said, leaping up to his feet, and shook their medic, Kurokawa, awake, "Top, get a hold of 3-4, and get their report," he pointed to Kuwahara and then looked to Lieutenant Killian who'd likewise heard it all himself.
"Hmm?" the raven-haired medic roused from her sleep, seeing as she was in her off-period while others took the watch.
"We have wounded! Get your bag," Itami ordered firmly, the tone of voice and simple declaration snapping the well-trained medic into action as she slipped her helmet on.
"Right!" she said and scrambled to snap up her weapon and backpack.
This in turn woke up Arpeggio, Tuka, and Lelei, although Rory was mysteriously missing from the back of the LMV. Instead, she was crouched on one of the stone walls overlooking the town. Her axe glinted menacingly in the moonlight as the crowd of soldiers began to rush about. What her own reality told her the radios had confirmed. A fight was underway, albeit a short and fierce one. So she was there, her lips dark violet, and she moaned under her breath but apparently was now showing a degree of disappointment as the shooting was petering away and ceasing. Itami listened into the conversation as the American platoon sergeant commanded the force that was now popping smoke and disengaging, and was unable to get a solid readback on the situation.
"Lieutenant," Killian said quickly, redirecting his attention, "I've got my team moving to the river, hopefully we can catch your missing sergeant before she gets washed to sea, or worse."
"I wasn't able to catch the last transmission, what did your sergeant report happened at the bridge?" Itami inquired as he saw Kuwahara getting the Japanese team mustered up as well.
"It blew up, just…blew up, two of your team advanced to scout the bridge for any sabotage but they were spotted, fired warning shots and then apparently explosives placed beneath the bridge were detonated. The bridge's far section collapsed and they were engaged from the far side. Your sergeant went into the river with the bridge section she was on. But…something doesn't sound right, the locals weren't reported by your people to have attained anything like gunpowder right?"
"No, they haven't, but it could have been magic, as difficult to believe as it is. I've seen what magic in this world is capable of. It could be mistaken for the effects of small arms or explosives," Itami informed him, not liking the implication of Zorzal's faction having figured out gunpowder.
"Either way, the bridge to the north is blown, we have one wounded and one missing. We'll prioritize that first once Coyote-7 has broken contact. Your wounded is light, just a flesh wound, walking wounded."
"I agree. Kuribayashi's pretty much the last person that I'd expect to have trouble with getting separated from the rest of her team, she is hell on wheels," Itami succinctly noted, but noticed something after a minute, the gunfire off in the distance had not stopped.
"Coyote-7, have you broken contact? I'm still hearing gunfire," Lieutenant Killian said as he looked out towards the northeast, the snap and crackle shots still being heard.
"Affirm sir, we're in defilade now and maneuvering clear of the river," the radio replied, "That gunfire is not ours, it's enemy."
"Enemy?" Itami said, and then picked up the radio, "Coyote-7, Recon-3, confirm? Enemy gunfire?"
"Affirm 3, enemy forces have small arms and have engaged us with them."
"We need to get to that river," Killian said with a face framed with worry.
"Yeah, if Kuribayashi went in and scrambled to the wrong shore then she's in more danger than she may realize."
Her helmet had most definitely saved her life when she first fell from the bridge and rolled into the water and collided with part of the wood blown free from the blast. Then she realized how cold this water was, causing her to break the surface gasping for air as the current tossed her down a slight but impactful drop face-first. She'd taken her first injury when her body was thrown the force of the fall and she rolled and hit a rock, causing her night vision to clam into her eye, probably leaving a shiner later on but also likely left a cut above her eyebrow. Kuribayashi's expensive night vision device was knocked free with that same impact as she only just managed to emerge again, now noticing that her rifle had not survived the fall, having been ripped from the buckles on her vest. But this too now began to prove itself more of a danger than a help as the heavy plates, ammunition, radio, grenades, first aid kit, and other equipment made her unable to paddle for long and keep her head above water with the constant buffeting of the water that zapped at her strength.
Without hesitation she unbuckled her vest as she went under again, her training telling her that choosing to preserve her equipment was a surefire way to drown in such water which she wasn't actually able to feel the bottom of very often. But when she did, it was her hitting and glancing off the side of or rolling over a rock with the same force as getting kicked and punched by a professional fighter. Kuribayashi fell again down another short falls and she hit another rock as she tried to brace herself and rolled into her shoulder, the water then spinning her, causing the young NCO to clock her right knee into the smooth stone which spun her and she screamed a long series of curses into the water before the force of water threw her off to the left and her head breached the water in time for her helmet, still attached to her radio got yanked almost free. The chinstrap, loosened and made slick by the water came up under her neck, and in a rush she popped the buckle and let the helmet loose, leaving her with only her uniform, her boots, and her belt which had her pistol and bayonet thankfully still attached. She could poke her head up now more comfortably felt herself riding into an eddy in the river, and saw the shore near to hand and swam for it, grasping onto rocks in the dark water as she got into the shallows. Panting with the cold, she realized she was approaching shock from hypothermia when she pulled herself from the water and rolled onto a smooth rock and then down onto a still pool of water with reeds growing at its edges.
Training and instinct told her what she needed to do next. Kuribayashi remembered her spat of cold-weather survival training in Hokkaido, including icewater immersion and what to do. For normal troops who had the bodymass to withstand some degree of the temperature loss she learned that she lacked that buffer before she lost some critical dexterity because of her petite stature. So, she figured a workaround. Kuribayashi carried plastic-wrapped pocket warmers in her zipped-up pockets, a half-dozen of them. It wouldn't keep her warm per se, but it would keep her from getting too cold to function. Digging into her pockets, barely able to keep from shaking so totally that she was unable to unzip the zipper while she kicked herself amongst the reeds Kuribayashi withdrew the pack and ripped them open and pulled one of the warmers out and began to knead it with both clammed-up hands and felt the warm rapidly begin emanating as she fought to control her shaky breathing. She got the chemicals in the package working, and with enough dexterity restored she slipped the packet into her glove she wore, and repeated this process rapidly, doing the same to her other hand, and it did the trick, keeping her hands able to more easily tear open another pack and knead its contents aggressively and stuck it beneath her armpit, and did the same to a fourth and then snatched a fifth, and sixth, activating them and sticking those to the inside of her thighs and clamped them between her legs. Just as her training said, getting warmth to her largest blood vessels was enough stave off the shock as she lay in the reeds, and silently came to the realization as she saw the lights of the town above her through the reeds.
She was on the wrong side of the river completely, enemy territory. Her mind was working overtime, as she now carefully withdrew her handwarmers from their places under her armpits and stuffed them into her pockets and made sure to zip them up while the ones in between her thighs she then quickly stuffed into her boots, which was needed seeing how her feet was numb entirely. So, she now set off towards figuring out her current problem, taking it step by step as her training told her.
'Shit, I'm in the exact wrong place, enemy territory, and I'm without my primary weapon,' Kuribayashi thought to herself as she now did a quick inventory of what she had, her mind sharpened by the warmth of her emergency kit and her own realization of the danger she faced, 'Got my pistol, got my knife, but…dammit!' she patted her belt, looking for her four spare magazines for said pistol, yet found not a one of them. Likewise, she found her canteen was gone, lost in the river. This sucked, and she knew it, so she checked her other pockets, feeling that she still had a couple of the small Skittles packets and a few Jolly Ranchers and Tootsie Rolls she'd traded from one of the Americans and kept in a plastic bag, a spare couple of earplugs, a protein bar that had been beaten to sludge in her lower pants pocket and probably was of no further use, her military ID and a small billfold was also in her back pocket and she was surprised to feel that she still had a packet of moleskin for her feet and some aspirin and in one of the small pockets on her pants she still had her water purification tablets intact and her water flavoring packets while on the other leg she felt that she still had a roll of paracord. Normally she also had her phone with her, but then she remembered she'd left it in the vehicle. That was all she could feel, which was not very much at all.
'I won't be able to outfight a large force, but I might be able to keep myself at a distance long enough to extract,' she then considered her next priority, get off the X.
She looked back, trying to gauge where the opposite bank was and what was between her and that safety. But she only saw white water, the lingering cold that was still a prominent danger to her was enough to dissuade her of going back into that water at the present moment. As it was now, she would surely die if she ventured back into that raging torrent. Likewise, her radio was long gone and she felt around, and didn't feel her flashlight either. So, she lacked obvious means of communication. That meant self-extraction via alternative methods, but that was startlingly stark as well. Only one bridge remained available, and it was going to be extremely heavily guarded by more soldiers than she had bullets in her single eight-round magazine. Plus, who was to say that bridge wasn't also going to blow sky high with her on it as well? She would likely be right back to square one. This required her to think tactically, and tactics was Kuribayashi's strongsuit.
'My best bet is to get clear of the town,' Kuribayashi thought to herself as she directed her eyes towards the town which she was right smack in the middle of, 'But that's going to be difficult if the enemy's now on the alert especially after…whatever that was. Was it gunpowder? Did Zorzal's cronies manage to figure out how to make gunpowder of some kind?'
This she thought to herself very carefully, and made her very incredulous about a dash for safety. She had ditched her plate carrier, and her uniform coat was hardly going to stop a shot from even a primitive firearm. So, she decided on a more carefully-considered option, and as she felt that she was still wet and on the brink of relapsing into shivering helplessness would need to lean upon staying away from the water. This onset of shivering she experienced made her consider taking one of the Tootsie Rolls and downing it, hoping for a sugar rush and get some internal heat, just as her training told her. After a chewing the cold and wet chocolate, Kuribayashi knew it was time to get going seeing as she was not doing herself any favors by sitting in the cold water.
Careful not to create too much slosh from the water she crawled out and felt the pain in her right knee. Hissing at the discomfort she knew there was something very wrong as any weight placed on her right leg gave a sudden shot of pain. But the young Japanese sergeant swallowed the discomfort and narrowed her eyes and drew her pistol and racked the slide just enough to check for potential malfunctions. Then, she crawled out on all fours, and made a quick dash to a stone fence which had some rows of freshly-tilled soil upon them with sprouting plants amongst them with the two-floor house in front of her. She carefully stayed to the fence, hoping to remain in the shadows, hands tucked to her chest and pistol aimed forward. It was a careful and measured approach, but she hadn't noticed that in the lot next to her, a dog had been sleeping. It was a sudden and unwelcome realization that she was no longer incognito when the dog began to bark in an alarmed and panicked manner, scurrying to the door of the house it was near and continued raising cane at her. Another dog nearby began barking from inside another house just to make things that much more obvious that an intruder was present. Then, with a sudden crack, a shot rang out to her right, and a lead ball shattered the wooden wall of an outhouse that Kuribayashi was next to.
"What the hell?!" she cried out, more to herself than to anyone in particular as she ran to the hedges next to the stone wall next to her and leapt up and over it and landed in a large mud puddle with some pigs now squealing in alarm off to the side. But beyond that, her knee was hurting even worse and she looked down to see her pant leg did in fact have a tear in it and there was
Yelling echoed from behind her in the direction of the shot. Kuribayashi heard at least a half-dozen voices, and then another shot pinged off the stone wall, and then a second as they began to move towards her. Now, dogs were barking, pigs were squealing, and people were heard all around her. And she knew that this was as close to a nightmare as she could have feared in her time here in the Special Region. So, she chose to make a break for it, and for her first move was to move in the opposite direction of the contact shooting at her. Another shot zipped over head as another one hit the stone wall to her left that was running towards and she ducked to the right, seeing an alley which took her to the street.
Bursting out onto the cobblestone road she hadn't heard the clattering of horses coming right at her. One of the horses in the lead bowled right into her, and knocked her into a roll onto her side which made her grimace from the pain from both her knee and from a new cut as the horse's chin had caught her in the cheek and then she landed and clocked her face against one of the paver stones. Kuribayashi knew that she'd managed to cut her cheek on top of the cut to her brow from the river excursion so had no doubts that she probably looked a mess now but didn't care as she heard the horses rear up and whinny in surprise as the men on them tried to get their steeds back under control. The first one to do so, saw Kuribayashi and drew his sword and approached her, only to be met with Kuribayashi's P-9 pistol and a 9mm FMJ round that punched into his upper chest and knocked him back and fell to her side as the horse rode by and she painfully got to her feet. Leveling her pistol she fired again at a second horseman who drew a flintlock pistol but she beat him to the punch and with a ping of a headshot against his helmet he tumbled from the saddle as she now saw that there were than just what she was seeing. So she ran, ducking through a gate across the street into another yard behind a line of houses, limp running as she went.
A gunshot rang out from behind her as one of the horsemen tried to get a shot off at her but it missed short as yelling came out, one voice giving orders to all the others.
"Stop shooting! I want that one alive!" the strong male voice said as the horsemen began to gallop about, splitting up to cut her off. She spoke enough local language to know what was said, and it frightened her more than the idea of them trying to actively kill her.
So, she ran as fast as she could, the limp being worse now, the pain less a sting and more of sharp shooting throb. It was all seemingly going in slow motion. Nothing was going right for her, dozens of soldiers were probably rushing about as she tried to find a place to elude their search and pursuit. Again, she was surrounded by vegetable plots, stone walls, the occasional outhouse, other craftsmen's buildings. Off to her right she saw another set of shadows beginning to clamber towards her from nearby, and they were far more numerous than the six bullets she knew she had remaining. But, she figured if she could just get out of sight then the chances of her dismounting an enemy horseman and maybe stealing a horse were doable.
With this as her plan Kuribayashi rushed as quick as she could resorting to skipping slightly to keep the pain in her knee down to a reasonable level. This led her to another gate which she burst through, and saw another trio of horsemen galloping her way at very close range. Lifting her weapon she took careful aim and fired, the first shot just impacting into the first man's shoulder which spun him off of his horse, the second shot impacting another man square in the chest as the third man, with lance in hand, lowered his weapon and made her dodge as he swung it at her. This sudden movement made her wince in pain, and she recovered in time to see her assailant spin about and come back. So she fired another shot, which hit him in the side, making him double over, not enough to knock him off his horse but enough that he retreated, wounded. Kuribayashi's training ordered her to lift and aim her weapon but sense dictated that she not pull the trigger as she looked to see one of the enemy horses behind her, now without a rider. So, she went for it. Knowing that she now had two shots left. On the horse though, she found a piece of good news for once, two flintlock pistols, loaded and ready. She looked over at the body of the man in the road she reached over and grabbed his lone pistol, and now felt somewhat relieved to have at least a few more shots and she had a horse.
Although the animal protested a bit at the unfamiliar rider she was quick to pull herself into the saddle, and looked around and now saw another column of foot soldiers rushing for her position and she pulled the reins of the horse left to gallop in the opposite direction. As bad as things were, she now considered the possibility of trying her luck with crossing the river again and turned her horse in that direction, but it ended up rushing right into another enemy trio who came at her on horseback with lances bearing down. Lifting her pistol awkwardly she fired, one shot missing or not badly injuring her pursuer but the second hit its target, and her pistol's action kicked back, empty. Trying to gallop away from these pursuers rushing forwards at her she pulled at one of the flintlock pistols and fumbled around, hoping to get its hammer back, and did so, reeling back confidently and aiming the weapon just in time for her to fire the weapon into the pursuer who was now reaching with a hand to yank her off her horse. The men spun off his saddle, and before Kuribayashi was able to savor this victory her horse was rammed by a larger beautiful white horse with an intricately-armored man in the saddle, who likewise grabbed hold of her by the hair, yanking hard causing her to yelp in pain but she managed to grab him as she was pulled from the saddle bodily, the big man being quite strong, but the weight of her to the side pulled him from the saddle as well.
The two tumbled to the ground at the walking speed of their horses and rolled onto the ground. Thankfully, Kuribayashi had fallen onto her back and only knocked the wind out of herself while her opponent rolled with the impact he had not expected, landing hard and knocking his helmet off. It revealed an angered but handsome face with black hair that she could barely make out in the light of the lantern above them. But Kuribayashi was not about to back down to an enemy, even if he was pretty cute to her eyes. So she grabbed for a nearby pile of firewood, the closest thing at hand and clubbed him onto the back of his fine armor, but it was entirely futile, just clanging off the strong man's back and hardly making an impression on the armor. But one blow was not all that she had in her and she kept hitting, and this time went for the head. The shot she got in felt good, getting a blow on the back of his head, which knocked some stars into him, but her opponent was getting angry and lifted an arm and caught the next shot aimed for his head as he stood to his knees. But this was caught by Kuribayashi who countered by lifting the man's outstretched arm and caught him in the chin with an uppercut that only partially landed but it was enough that she followed it up with a left knee to the man's face but his other hand came up as she tried to knee him again. His right arm caught her behind her left knee, pinning her leg to his chest as she ignored the numbing pain in her right knee and jumped up and looped her right leg around the back of his neck while she grabbed his left arm trying to assert control and begin a stranglehold over his neck to submit him by controlling and pinning both his arms. But she underestimated just how big and how strong this man was and her own condition caused her to overestimate what she was able to do here and now.
"Oh shit!" she cried out as the man roared and stepped up and stood up, grabbing her uniform with both hands in unbreakable locks.
It felt like she was swung like a bat, and was smashed into the side of the building that they were next to with enough force to make her grunt and force the air from her lungs and loosened her grip. The blow was repeated and she was loosened enough that one leg came off its locked position but she held the man's left arm firmly and tried to clamp down on his gloved hand which made him yell in pain. Kuribayashi snarled with barred teeth and he let go of her shirt and grabbed her by the jaw to try to get her to loosen her bite. But he did let go of her left leg, and reeled back and punched her square in the face. It didn't result in her losing any teeth, thankfully, but it impact enough that she was made to let go of her bite. But Kuribayashi was not going to give up. She much more fight left in her. Grabbing for her belt, she withdrew her bayonet and lifted it up but it impacted into chainmail armor, piercing slightly but not in a life-threatening away, but she was not done trying to stab him and hit him one more time before he let go by tossing her with a spinning throw of a disconnect and she landed with enough force against another building that her knife came loose. The man grabbed for the wound he knew to be there, and felt it to be a mere flesh wound and redirected his attention to Kuribayashi who now shook off the impact and saw her bayonet near her and dove for it with her left hand, the hand closest to it, but a boot landed on the top of her hand before she grasped hold of it causing her to reel upwards and launched her right elbow into the back of the man's knee making him flinch back and loosened his foot's hold on her hand and she rolled away, getting to her feet in time throw another punch as he came at her, but had her pinned.
A short sharp exchange of blows was made, Kuribayashi having to aim upwards at the man who made every effort to get in close and grapple, while she went for strikes and aimed to hope he made for a grab that would allow her use his own momentum against him for a throw that would give her the opportunity to go for the mount and finish this fight by snagging the dagger at his side. She saw it finally as she was getting tired, and blood ran down her face and the reality of knowing she would be closed in on again forced her hand. She dodged low as her opponent threw a left-hand jab and spun to grab his wrist and put everything into pulling him over her shoulder. But his right arm came forward as she made to grab him, and she felt the forearm curl in under chin and a short desperate struggle over momentum and leverage erupted as she fought to keep from being yanked back into him and pull him up and over. But the grapple was too strong, her airway was rapidly constricted and when she loosened just slightly his left hand twisted in her grasp as it came up, locking in his right arm and pulled hard, lifting Kuribayashi into the air. But she was not going to go out meekly as the black closed in as she put in this sleeper hold. The man had bent down to get purchase in this hold and knees bent just enough that her boot found enough purchase as it thrashed to help her snap her head back and crack him in the nose, drawing blood. In the end, it was a futile gesture as he tightened his grasp, and the young woman's thrashing ended as she passed out.
It left Axios El Sabina bloody, tired, and sore, bruises definitely on his face and a partially broke nose and a cut on his cheek. But he'd won. It was the most challenging single combat he'd ever had, and it had been with a woman, a woman who'd already been hurt and bloodied prior to him even laying eyes upon her. She'd killed a half dozen of his men, but as his men finally caught up and he lowered her to the ground, he certainly came to respect such fighting spirit. It was certainly not a prize he would disregard however, Kuribayashi's capture might just prove to provide a wealth of information.
"My lord, are you alright?" one of the men came over to him, and saw the young general bloodied by the struggle.
"I'm fine," he noted, waving the concerned soldier down, "Take this prisoner to the docks, bind her tightly and keep her under close guard."
"Yes, my lord," the man said as he smirked down at the unconscious woman, eyeing her up with eyes that declared less-than-honorable things. But he was snapped out of his lechery as a blade reached his throat in a lightning quick move as Axios lowered himself right into his face.
"No man is to abuse her. If any of you allows their perversions to take them over," he growled at the men around him, and then snarled at the soldier before him, "I'll skin you alive."
"Y-yes, my lord," the man said and obeyed his orders, a pair of men now very gingerly lifting their prisoner up, and took her to the docks of the town.
Big-time fight scene there, lots happening and it came out so good. I literally deleted three thousand words and re-wrote entire sections on more than one occasion and I'm glad I did. Hopefully, I'll have another chapter up soon as I'm feeling the groove and I hope you guys are enjoying it as much I am writing this fic.
As always, questions, comments, and concerns are always welcome, I'll see you guys next time!