A Tale of War and Almost Romance

Catapults pelted the walls of the city of Wotonia with large boulders found in the fields surrounding the besieged city. The attacking army had broken down the main gate and a catapult had created a large hole in the wall a couple hundred feet away. A traitor, Teh Furst Knite, had killed my second in command, Electra. Teh was subsequently killed by nearby soldiers. I had left my secret weapon alone in the woods nearby, and had charged into the midst of the battle. The flow of soldiers allowed me into the city walls without being noticed. I had rounded up several of my men (actually, they were all women) and they followed as closely as possible. I found an empty street and turned to address my followers.

"We have to find King Quater and take him out. The city will fall easily into our hands once he is gone. Spread out and hunt for him. Danni, Jitsu, and Shiin, you go back into the fighting. If you find him, use one of your hanabi to show us where you are. Claud, you hunt the castle, and Sabaku, the city streets. I'll search the walls. Keep an eye out for the signals!"

I spurred my horse on as the five agents departed in their ninja-like manner. I plunged back into the battle, my sword and warhorse, Dakkunesu, lashing out at opponents who stood in my way. Finding the path to the wall, I leapt off Dakkunesu and raced up the stairs. Reaching the top, I nearly fell back down the stairs.

"General Yurii!" Banouin exclaimed as he dragged me to my feet. "I am so sorr--" I slapped my hand over his mouth to hush him and dragged him along with me as I ran along the top of the wall.

"It's fine, just be quiet and..." I paused to shove a couple soldiers off the wall. "Help me find Quater."

"Not King Quater?" he asked sarcastically as he dodged a bow being swung at his head.

"Shush, boy," I muttered, stealing the bow and hitting its owner over the head with it. "Come here." I grabbed his elbow and dragged him behind a stack of barrels. I then used my stolen bow to shoot a hanabi into the air.

Banouin joined me on the edge of the wall. He was practically vibrating with excitement. I glanced up into the air and noticed that Meika was somehow still gliding around. My secret weapons were Banouin, Meika, and Aichu. They had special capes that could be used as wings, almost, when they were in the air. They had been tossed toward the city using my trebuchets, thus allowing them to sneak into the city. Not many people looked in the air while they were fighting. An interesting thing to note about the situation were the flames that engulfed her. I was amazed when two white-hot swords flashed through the air into the battle below, and the young woman plummeted to the ground. I had to wonder who the genius was who placed the entire city's store of black powder on the flaming crash landing area. I would have to remember to thank them later.

The explosion was spectacular. Flame leapt so high into the air that I had to look up to see the top. I noticed for the first time all the different types of catapults lined up within the city. A shame they were all on fire, now. "This will be such a pain to clean up, later," I muttered, scanning the damage. "You guys ready?"

"Yes, general," four voices responded.

I turned to look at my assassins. "Where's Danni?" Banouin elbowed me and pointed at the flaming individuals on the ground near the fire. "It just figures that he would die by the flames and chaos caused by his wife. Let's go." We raced along the top of the wall towards out goal.

We found him kneeling with his back to part of the wall. His quiver was empty and his helmet was on the ground a few feet away, an arrow protruding from it. A cut on his cheek bled freely, proof that he had been fighting as hard as the dead soldiers around him.

"You realize," he said, one end of a cloth in his teeth. He was making a crude bandage on his upper arm. He pulled the knot tight and sighed. "You realize that my death won't stop any of this. I'm not worth that much.

I knelt to avoid the arrows still flying over the wall. "We'll see." It was all too easy. Quater, king and general, was alone in the middle of a battle.

"Yes, you will." He dropped bloody halves of an arrow and picked up his sword. He struck out quickly at Sabaku, who blocked clumsily. She had been caught by surprise by the sudden attack. Quater caught his bow with his foot and swung it around with such force that Sabaku fell. A quick stroke of his sword left her huddled on the ground, her life draining quickly.

Shiin and Jitsu moved forward, small daggers flashing in their hands. The poison on the end of the blades would kill their victim within minutes. Quater now had his bow in one hand and his sword in the other. He used them both as skillfully as his opponents used their weapons, but his opponents were uninjured. This exchange would have lasted some time had the ground not disappeared.

The catapults were being fired periodically, still. One of the projectiles, a surprisingly large boulder, had hit the portion of the wall below our miniature battlefield. The wall collapsed with all six of us on top. By the time I could see through the dust, I had heard screams of shock, cries of agony, and a grunt or two. Jitsu was nowhere to be found, Shiin and Claud were on either side of Quater, who had lost his bow, and Banouin was digging himself out of a pile of rubble. Quater dispatched my remaining assassins and stepped toward me.

A flurry of activity sent me sprawling in the dirt. All at once, Abbey tackled Banouin who had shoved me to "save" me from Quater's flying sword. His sword had flown from his hand when Aichu tackled him from behind.

"Good grief," I muttered, spitting dirt out of my mouth. "Do I not get to fight? And, Bano, why do you keep knocking me down?"

Banouin and Abbey were grappling for her sword. "Because it's fun," he grunted. Knocking the girl unconscious, he grabbed her sword and ran at Quarter, who had caused Aichu to disappear. The two young men grinned rather evilly at each other.

All I could think to do was sigh and race into the fight that had ensued. I was almost certain that Banouin growled at me when I blocked an attack from Quater, but I did not care. This was my war and I would battle as I saw fit.

Another earth shaking blow to the wall rocked our position, sending us to our knees. Dust and debris rained down on our heads. Blinking through the dust, I saw Quater climbing to a flatter, steadier portion of rock. It was part of the wall that had been knocked askew by the last catapulted stone. I raced after him, Banouin at my heels. Out three-man fight continued for some time. We all suffered various wounds, but not enough to stop us. I could hear the catapults being launched at the wall occasionally. I was beginning to wonder why they had not stopped when our soldiers had entered the city.

Another boulder stuck the stone near us, shifting our platform, sending us to the ground. I clung to an outcropping stone in the new hill of stone. Weight on my foot told me that someone had grabbed my leg to keep from sliding off the edge. Quater was nowhere to be seen. Sliding cautiously down the slope, I look over the edge of the broken wall.

"Well," I began, suddenly preoccupied with climbing back up the slope. "We don’t' have to worry about an angry army. They'll be quite satisfied."

"How so?" Banouin had a confused look on his face. Sudden understanding changed his expression. "But that means that I didn't get to help!"

I pretended to shove him off the rocks. "He's not dead, yet, but he does have to face down an army of angry soldiers on his own."

"I still didn't get to help," he pouted as we climbed.

"Oh, shush. I have a world to conquer. I don't need your pouting to distract me."

The Wotonians had lost their leaders to death and to my side, and had little option but to surrender. The Webs of Inter, a group of powerful cities in the country, fell not long after Wotonia. The country of Acirema was held together by the Webs and was simple to conquer. After the fall of the largest world power, the rest of the world was even easier. Being the loved dictator of the world was rather cool.