CHAPTER
03 - Ambush
The villagers.
When Jotan said that, the first face that popped into my mind was Phili's. Phili
and her fiancé, Tim, were they alright? Jotan saw the worried look on my face.
"It's that
girl you're thinking about, right? I don't know what you like about her,
she's so tomboyish. Don't worry, she'll put up a good fight."
"That's what I'm afraid of..." I thought to myself as I followed Jotan to the side of the village. From there, we peeped in and saw the soldiers rounding up the villagers. I could see Dad being forced into the centre, where some of the others were already kneeling. Those who tried to stand or fight back were given a blow to the side of their head.
"There's too many of them," Jotan said, his eyes darting about rapidly, counting the number of soldiers that flooded the village. "We have to leave without being seen, or it will be the death of us."
I turned back to the village and my heart skipped a beat as I saw
a soldier bash the
side of Phili's head when she tried to fight back. Timsaamoorthy (now you know
why we call him 'Tim' for short) stood up, ready to fight
for his bride-to-be, but the barrel of a gun was forced into his back. I could
hear the soldier's voice from here as he shouted.
"Get back
to your knees, punk, or I swear, I'm going to blow your brains out!"
"Yea, I thought,
that's probably where Tim's brains were, in his kidneys." Tim fought back and a
gunshot rang out. Phili's shocked expression confirmed what had happened. Tim
had been shot in the back. He fell to the ground right in front of Phili.
"No!
Tim!" her voice rang out as she shook him, "Tim! No, don't die!
Please!"
"Serves
the punk right..." muttered Jotan, "Come on, we gotta go. They're
going to torch the place."
I grabbed
Jotan's arm, saying, "NO! We're not going to leave like this. We must
rescue the villagers."
"There's
just too many of them soldiers, Skyva. If we head in there, we're going to end
up just like that kid."
"Even so,
I cannot leave them like this. We must try," I pleaded with Jotan. He
looked at me, and gripped his weapon, "You try. I'll cover you."
I nervously
nodded as I planned my attack. Jotan lay prone on the ground, preparing to take
out the soldiers with his machine gun. I doubted he would run out of bullets. He had
collected enough magazines from the soldiers we defeated earlier. I guess this
was the best plan we could come up with. Jotan was more proficient with these
weapons. If I ran in there, all focus would be on me and he could take out a few
of them before they realized what was happening. As for the rest, maybe I'll get
lucky again.
I sneaked into
the village, dashing from cover to cover. With my trusty dagger, I had taken out
some of the guards who were unaware of my presence. Some of the soldiers had
already begun torching the houses. I could hear gunfire and the screams of my
neighbours as the merciless soldiers drove their souls from their bodies. At least it would drown out
the sound of Jotan's fire as he took out several more guards. But why? Why were
these soldiers here in the first place?
Our village
stood near the border of two countries, who had been at war with each other
for decades now. A recent movement had caused the ceasefire between both sides
and they were now working towards co-existing in peace. Melnir, the northern
state had initiated the peace movement and our country, the southern republic of
Kelsa had agreed to the truce. If these soldiers belonged to Melnir,
then it could mean the end of peace for us all, and war would resume once again.
Why would Melnir want to wage war again if they were the ones who wanted peace
in the first place?
Now is not the time.
The voice was
right, again. Now was the time to rescue as many of my friends as I could. Analysis of
the situation could wait till later. Something caught my eye, though. There was
a particular soldier nearby who was speaking into a headset. I strained my ears to hear
what he was saying.
"Sir, the
ambush went without a hitch. The village is being torched now and several bodies
with the uniform of Melnir's army will be left behind. This should be enough to
convince anyone that the destruction of this village was by the hand of Melnir."
Does this mean
that it is not Melnir who is behind it? Could it be a neutral party or could it
even be our own Kelsians who were behind it? I couldn't control my emotions
and I leapt out of my hiding place and confronted the soldier.
"Who sent
you?" I roared, "Who ordered the destruction of my village?!"
The soldier
waved his hand, ordering his bodyguards to surround me. They circled me,
pointing their weapons at me. I boldly continued, till I reached a wall of five machine
guns, all pointed directly at my head.
"That is
none of your business, kid." said the captain of the guards, "My
orders are to burn this village to the ground and leave no survivors. And that
is exactly what is going to happen here."
I was still
glaring at him when something wet landed on my face. I turned to face the guard just in
front of me. He looked horrified as his hand reached up to a dark spot on his
chest. He felt the wet spot and fell to the ground, his fingers stained with
blood. Jotan
was a bloody good shot.
"Kill
him!" ordered the captain. I think he didn't need to say that, because the
guards had already opened fire. I dodged all of the bullets. This, I have to
say, had nothing to do with my agility. Either the guards had extremely poor
aim, or I was a very lucky person that day. I kicked out at the nearest
guard, sweeping him off his feet. Rising, I elbowed another in the face, while I
snatched his weapon from him and slammed its butt into the head of the fallen
guard.
I swivelled
round to face the third soldier, my arm up and my palm facing him.
"Freeze!"
I yelled, pointing the gun at his head. Though I really wasn't expecting him to
do so, I definitely did not anticipate what actually happened. A blast of cold air
shot out of my open palm as a large icicle zoomed out and pierced the guard's
side, knocking him to the ground. I stared, not knowing what just happened and
before I knew it, the fourth and fifth guards were behind me, with their guns at
my head.
"I'm not
going to miss at this range," said one of them, trembling as he held his
machine gun.
As I gazed
directly into the eyes of the captain of the guards, I heard a sickening, wet
splat and blood splattered on his face. His eyes widened in shock as the two
guards slumped to the ground, dead. Jotan's aim was true. With one shot, he took
out the two guards who happened to be in his direct line of fire.
I brought my
weapon up and pointed it directly between the eyes of the shocked captain.
"Call off
your soldiers! NOW!" I ordered.
"It's too
late," the captain chuckled, "Your village is burning. You cannot save
it now. As for the people..."
A thunderous
rumbling sound could be heard coming from the centre of the village. I turned to
see a huge machine, shaped like an oversized crab, crawling towards
the captured villagers, spraying the area with liquid fire, burning
up all who were unfortunate to stand in its path. Many of the villagers
perished, and Phili was next in line.
"NO!"
I yelled, dashing over to her and shoving her out of harm's way. One of the
machines claws reached out to us and clamped around both our waists. It was too
powerful for either of us to break free.
"Crush
them!" ordered the captain, who was striding over. The machine acknowledged
the command and began to close its pincers.
"Skyva!"
(to be continued...)