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Last of the Shadow Foxes: 8 Apathy

The smell of pink violas mingled with the scent of blood. The battleground unfolded on the plains below him. The El Nath Resistance was fleeing to his left, pursued by mobs of Dark Apostles. The supply caravan that the Resistance was meant to be attacking halted at the side of the road, waiting for its soldiers to return. Tame Kargo snuffled softly in front of their carts.

Emerson wasted no time. He had to save as many of the Resistance as possible for his sister was out there. As every person died, the chance that his sister was alive diminished. In a flash he was at the bottom of the hill, Kumbis at the ready. The outraged assassin closed in on the nearest group of Apostles, whom were harassing a group of Resistance. The Resistance was poorly equipped, as mentioned earlier, most of them were peasants.

The first star whipped across the throat of one swordsman, the second impacted into the chest of another and the third severed the crossbow of an archer. The Resistance continued to retreat, without showing recognition to Emerson’s actions. But Emerson did not care. Within close proximity, he had no time to throw his fourth star so he used it like a dagger, punching the archer in the face with kumbi. Three down, two go. He sidestepped a swing from a Viking sword and elbowed the attacker in the face, breaking their nose. Emerson finished the swordsman off and flipped over a stunned archer’s head. As the archer swivelled around, the assassin performed a palm thrust to the archer’s face, crushing her nose into her face.

Emerson relieved the dead archer of her battle crossbow and her quiver of arrows. He saw several peasants holding out with a variety of weapons ranging from bamboo swords to Diao Chan swords. With them were a chief bandit and a dragon knight. They were preparing a stang against a pack of cavalry – Crossbowmen mounted on armoured Kargos. The crossbowmen took aim with their Rowers as they approached firing range.

A fusillade of steel arrows peppered the defence and several peasants went down. The two third job Resistance held against the deadly volley. Emerson struck the pack side on. He fired his stolen crossbow so close that the crossbowman went flying off his mount. Emerson reloaded as he dodged the charging Kargo. His distraction allowed for the remains of the Resistance to reform. The dragon knight used dragon fury with his eviscerator, which chewed through three Kargo and their riders. The chief bandit used assaulter with her strange Dragon Caesar. Followed by Emerson’s now rear attack, the crossbowmen broke and scattered, their depleted pack returning to the convoy.

Obscured by trees were several glaive throwers. A massive projectile weapon, which fires either a single giant shuriken or a cluster of smaller ones. Obviously the Resistance were planning to use them on the ambush. The dragon knight saw Emerson and beckoned to him.
“Nice work kid, I don’t know who you are but you’re on our side and that’s what matters.” He panted, wiping his brow. “You see that glaive thrower there, camouflaged by those trees? It’s prepped to fire, we need a diversion while we organise a fall back.”
Emerson glanced at the artillery piece and nodded. The dragon knight smiled and scanned the battle site.
“She will accompany you, she knows how to operate it.”
The chief bandit adjusted her Dark Canal hood before motioning to Emerson to follow.

Ophelia surveyed the scene below her. Charity, Purity and Verity flanked her. The guild leader could not see the assassin and sighed softly. The ranger motioned with her hand and in near perfect synchronization, the rangers lifted up their White Nisrocks and drew a steel arrow back. The bows whistled as the arrows were released. Four Apostles collapsed dead. The rangers drew back their strings for another salvo.

The chief bandit and assassin scurried through the battlefield. The cries of the wounded filled the air and Emerson wished it would stop. Missiles flew past from both directions and the pair had to drop flat to avoid being hit. They reached the concealed position in what seemed like a hour but was probably only a few minutes. The chief bandit ran checks on the weapon whilst Emerson stood guard, uneasy. The chief bandit’s pale amber eyes locked with his.
“Position it and keep it steady while I launch it. This baby has huge recoil. We usually have a four person team working it but…” She trailed off and rested her hand on the lever. Emerson adjusted the trajectory of the glaive thrower and aimed it at one of the carts in the convoy.
“When you’re ready.” Emerson muttered, steeling himself for the expected recoil. The chief bandit tensed and pushed the lever. There was a shudder as the huge star arced through the air and tore through the cart and mincing the Kargo attached to it.
“We got time.” She told Emerson, hefting another shuriken onto the thrower. This one was different. It was composed of dozens of smaller stars linked loosely together. The force of the catapult would break those links. Emerson glanced back at the plains to see a knight leap at him. The assassin rolled and dispatched the knight with a kumbi. But more knights were coming, about a dozen or so. The glaive clicked as it was loaded. Emerson turned to the thrower and rotated it so it faced the incoming knights.

Ophelia released her twentieth arrow and watched as Gavrilla and her gang, which had arrived a few minutes before, descend on the Dark Apostles like vultures on meat. The ranger notched her next arrow and focused on a group of knights. Suddenly a rain of metal shredded the knights into a bloody pulp. Ophelia eased the bow and zeroed in on the source of the attack. Somewhere in the undergrowth was a Resistance artillery piece. The guild leader turned her attention to a fire/poison mage and tensed her bow again.

Emerson watched the knights fall before facing the chief bandit. She was deep in thought and looked up at the assassin.
“We’ve overstayed our time here, let’s go.” She decided and with a flick of her Dragon Caesar, severed the system of the glaive thrower.
“We don’t want them using it.” She explained and motioned for Emerson to follow. The pair melted into the forest. Just as well, for a few seconds later, another pack of cavalry burst into the vicinity and secured the disabled weapon.

Gavrilla struck a cleric in the back and watched the woman fall. The hermit flicked the loose hair strands across her face and regained her posture. Their intervention had allowed the Resistance to make a clean retreat with minimal losses. Gates and Raynard had switched to the guild characteristic maple weapons, in this case, Maple wagners. The paused to watch the infantry and cavalry retreating back to the road, having sufficiently denied the Resistance any chance of a counter attack.

Ophelia kept firing arrows, one shot, one kill until the Dark Apostle convoy started to leave. There was a flash of light behind her and Rune, Jiro and several of the Resistance appeared. Jiro was pale but the bleeding had stopped. Clarity moved aside as Rune approached Ophelia. Rune was dressed in the battle attire of a sniper. His Marine Raven hung loosely off his back.
“Silver Fire X? And those others were Maplejutsu?” He queried, checking several scrolls in his hands.
“There’s also a Shadow Fox. How did you know?”
“Trade secret. Good job by the way, held them off. Loses were acceptable. We shouldn’t have attacked the same place twice, they were probably waiting for it.” Rune mused. Ophelia swivelled to face Rune.
“Who are you anyway? I’m Ophelia, guild leader of Silver Fire X.”
“Forgive me, I am Rune, Commander of MAB East One.”
“MAB East One? What is that?”
“Main Alliance Base. We have three bases in the east, two in the west and main headquarters in the south. Can’t tell you specifically where though, that’s need to know information.” The commander cocked his head at the ranger.
“And you don’t need to know.” He added.

Gavrilla came stalking up the hill with Fortune and the rest trailing behind. She had obviously heard the conversation and gave a quick salute to Rune.
“Have any of you seen Emerson?” Gavrilla questioned, pulling her glove off her hand and flexing her fingers. Verity shook her head. Rune just shrugged. A peasant whispered something in Jiro’s ear and the crusader’s eyes went wide. Both Rune and Gavrilla raised their eyebrows. Jiro wiped his face with a bandaged arm.
“Reports just in. The good news is that Captain Sapphira is not among the dead, and neither is your boy Emerson.”
Jiro blinked and wiped his face again.
“Bad news is, scouts have reported seeing the Dark Apostles load up prisoners into some of their carts, not just ordinary people but some skilled Resistance too. Unconfirmed but there is speculation that there are a few rogues and warriors captured as well.”

Ophelia turned around, shocked.
“Emerson…” She breathed.

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Last of the Shadow Foxes: 10 Paradox