Taking A Stand

The group of refugees from Merwindolyn arrived in Kalldrun just before evening. This was the largest town in Belray Barony. For a group as large as theirs, introducing themselves to the local lord was expected, so they made their way to the town's keep.

"...so, now you come before my town, and my Barony, bringing your conflict right upon my door," Lord Belray intoned, as he paced at the head of the great hall. Most of the refugees were out in the courtyard with a representative group in the hall to give their recent history and present their proposal.

"My Lord, you've provided aid to the resistance movement before, and I hope you haven't changed your loyalties now," Jun spoke on behalf of the group. "Many good people stayed behind to buy us time to make it here. Now, more than ever, we need to stand together."

"Perhaps," Lord Belray allowed, "or alternatively, with the Emperor sending out the dogs, it might be safer for my land and my people to lay low and give them what they want."

Akiko and Keiko bristled at his words before Akiko spoke up forcefully. "If you give us up now, then all you will have done is delay the inevitable. You're going to give the Emperor everyone who resists him piece by piece until there's nothing left? Your only real chance is to stand together!"

"And who is this?" Lord Belray demanded.

Jun and Hiroshige paused briefly before gesturing, "This is Akiko Fujiwara and Keiko Chiba, who have joined our group. Sergeant Takeda believes Fujiwara-san is... the one from the prophecy and so does our Emperor."

Lord Belray gave Akiko a more careful look. "Y-You're Captain Akira Fujiwara?"

Just then, one of the keep's guards ran into the hall. "My Lord! Empire soldiers are approaching from the northern gates!"

Lord Belray pointed at the group. "This is on you and your group!" he snarled.

"That can't be!" Jun insisted. "We came from the west through the woods between your land and Roark."

"Well, regardless, if they find all of you here, they'll hold our town responsible!" Lord Belray insisted. "I can't allow you to stay here; you'll need to seek refuge elsewhere!"

"So, what now, we keep fleeing?" Akiko demanded and turned to Jun, Hiroshige and Lord Belray. "All of you have said that this Empire is holding you under its boot, and you're looking for some prophesized warrior to lead you. I don't know for sure if I'm that warrior or not, but what I do know is, you'll never know if all you do is run away at the first sign of trouble!" She turned to the keep guard. "How many soldiers are we talking about? What type of attackers? Are we talking about wyvern or ground troops?"

The guard was momentarily caught off-guard, hesitating until Lord Belray reluctantly gave his silent assent. "Ground forces ma'am, a reinforced patrol from the look of them. Probably a reconnaissance in force."

A patrol, so probably a dozen men, if I remember Sergeant Takeda's teachings correctly. At least one senior officer and one support mage, with the rest being regular troops. She turned to Jun and Hiroshige, "If we can get them in a good formation, I think I can handle their leader if you guys can back me up." She turned to Keiko. "You said the few spells you've been taught were defense and illusions, right? You ready to give those a try?"

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At the front gate of the town, the Empire patrol came to the gates. The sentries immediately blanched as they rang the town bell, notifying everyone in the area to be ready for hostilities. The patrol's leader banged on the gates, "Open in the name of the Emperor!"

On the other side of the gate, Akiko, Jun and Hiroshige got into position. Looking at the group, they were spread vertically in pairs. Fortunately, there had been no effort made to conceal the mage nor the commander... that was something that would cost them dearly if this was standard procedures in the Empire, Akiko thought. Of all of them, the mage concerned her the most, because of the unpredictability he would bring to the fight; she would have to deal with him first, then the officer-in-charge. She hoped she could get at least some of the rest of the patrol to surrender; the idea of killing so many bothered her on a personal level, even though she knew deep down that if this was going to be a revolution, they would only be the first in a much larger number. She could only hope she would be able to live with herself with the fighting stopped.

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"Turn back now," Jun ordered, with his bow at the ready, with a handful of town guards by his side. "If you stay, you'll find nothing but death here!"

"Fools!" the patrol leader shouted, drawing his weapon, with the rest of his unit following suit. To his side, the magician pulled a pair of crystals he had prepared from his pouch, held them in front of him and began to murmur a formula.

Now...! Akiko thought as she leaped from a second story perch to the rear flank. Hope this crazy magic stuff works... she thought. Behind her in the house she just left, Keiko had just finished casting an enhancement spell to boost her speed and agility, allowing her to make the leap, but the rest was up to her... or more accurately, up to Akira.

Sensing her approach, the magician almost managed to turn around but was interrupted as twin blades sliced him across the chest and arms, dropping him almost instantly. The rest of the patrol froze for just a moment, giving Jun, Hiroshige and the town guards time to fire their first arrows. The patrol sought protection from the arrows behind available cover.

Just then, Akiko felt a searing hot blast fly past her, almost singe her face. She glanced in the direction of fire and immediately saw the patrol leader holding a crystal he wasn't displaying prominently before. Shit... it didn't occur to her that some warriors would also practice magic, and it was only dumb luck he didn't fry her right there and then. He was almost fifteen meters away, way too far to close quickly. If she tried to charge him, he'd likely get another shot and she couldn't count on another miss, which left one option. At that distance, she couldn't risk a throat or head shot and she knew his chest plate would have his strongest armor, so stepping forward, she threw one of her swords, landing the blade into the patrol leader's upper left thigh, slicing open his femoral artery.

OK, good news, he'll be down in a few seconds, she thought. Bad news, there's nine soldiers left and I'm down to one weapon, unless I can get them to surrender, so let's see if my reputation carries any weight here. "Your leaders are down! Surrender and you won't be harmed! Don't throw your lives away for an empire whose days are numbered!"

"Surrender to a child?!" one of the soldiers snarled before charging her with his weapon ready to attack.

Great... so much for my previous life's reputation. All they see is a teenage girl, Akiko thought as she parried his first strike and immediately countered with an upwards strike against his strong side wrist, sending his weapon flying and rendering his hand useless. She caught the flying weapon with her off-hand with a reverse grip and stood ready. She could feel the extra weight, OK, this blade isn't magical, but it can parry a weak-side strike against me just fine.

Two more soldiers stepped forward, trying to approach her from both sides at the same time. Akiko coolly watched as they swung hard against her... they're counting on the fact that I've got no shield and very light armor. It made their attacks wild and uncontrolled. She timed their swings, stepping between them and delivering strikes through the unprotected seams of their armor, dropping both men. Turning to the rest of the patrol, she restated, "I have no wish to murder those who are willing to see the Empire what they truly are. I know it seems like the only game in town, but I'm here to offer a better way."

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"We have the remaining seven soldiers in our custody, My Lord," the town guard reported to Lord Belray.

The Baron sighed and looked at the resistance group. "This hardly a victory. When they don't report back, their commanding units will send out a search party. They won't go down quite so quickly as this group..."

"Every revolution starts somewhere," Akiko declared. "All of you have said how terrible things are under the Empire and how the common people are being crushed under the Emperor and his rule. Well, none of that's going to change, so long as you all you do is hide behind your scrying protection, hoping that today won't be the day the Emperor's men show up and there's nothing you can do to stop them. That's not living, that's hiding. Sergeant Takeda said it was going to take more than brute strength and he was right. He gave himself up so we could get all these people to safety, and because he believed in a better way. That means the rest of us need to step up and take a good look at ourselves. It's time to make a choice..."