THE EAR ARCHER Part 1 (Completed) #wattys2022

TEARS OF THE MORNING

"we have to return to our mission" Sefth began,
"we have enough meat to last a month but the climb to the peak is only two days so.. "
"we rest and continue our mission tomorrow " Gob cut in with authority.
Both men glared at each other, tension illuminating the atmosphere.
Rutherford felt the discomfort and tried to clear the air.
"I like the resting part, we're all tired, let's get some rest".
Grudgingly, both men disentangled stares and sought out where to sleep.
"an enormous amount of peasant, inadequately trained despite our efforts at introducing weapons to them "
Kurifiko waved at his guard dismissively who in turn bowed after finishing his report. 
Here he was in the huge hall of the military headquarters with Dalian.  Both knew they were but trying to catch lighting in a bottle.
"let the women and children make a head start for the castle by morning while we attack the enemy " Dalian suggested.
Kufiriko nodded, he was well aware  his foolishness would kill everyone but they couldn't remain behind the walls for ever.
"they have the evening to say their goodbyes, tomorrow we attack ".

It was the period of The full moon, the silver moon shone in its glory aiding the finger blistered men to keep climbing up to the peak. Each man kept emitting grunts resulting from the strained climbing.
Dalian walked around the military headquarters, no,  it was more like pacing. The moon had mutated her long shiny dark hair into a near silver -like color so she strode under the dazing effect of the moon.
The evening breeze joined the symphony as they danced around the mystic creature raising her gown and dropping it.  Even in a maid's robe she was still the princess her father brought her up to be.
The evening was meant for farewells.  So in her little way she bade her own farewell, images of everyone who mattered to her rolled by, her dead mom and brother, her first love, Gob and as much as she hated it, her father Yart.

The cock was yet to crow, the cold air of the morning punished the three half with men. Sefth was in front followed by Gob then Rutherford. Only this time,  Gob didn't care about hierarchy.
All night they have been crawling, scratching and bleeding.  He was tired, in fact when he thought about it,  there was absolutely no reason for him to be going through such grueling tests. Xan wasn't his homeland and honestly it wasn't his responsibility to keep it safe.

He was snapped out if his thoughts by sefth's screams. Gob sighed angry,  they were probably being attacked by some mountain beast, a scenario he was in no mood for, he could as well jump down to his death.  He was totally fed up with the entire picture. But something in his heart leapt for joy when he heard sefth's lyrics.
              "we're here "

Kufiriko distributed the rusted blades to the commoners. The few betters swords found their way into the hands of better fighters.
Dalian was weighing her rusted blade when Kufiriko walked up to her handing her one of the "better" swords. He spoke in a whisper, so low even his guard had problems hearing it,
"you're fighting with me,  side by side"

The cock had crowed twice, Gob, Sefth and Rutherford scrambled unto the platform that was known to be the peak of the deadliest mountain in all of Xan.
All three men collapsed in the snowy surface not minding the cold.  What they didn't know was they were the second group of people to arrive the peak of the mountain and in every twenty minutes more men arrived.
Two hundred men had volunteered to undergo training, one hundred and twelve survived long enough to reach the peak,
Yart,  Paul and a handful of guards, the first group to arrive the mountain sighed in content.

Kufirikio as a baby was taken away from his parents as payment for the huge taxes his parents couldn't cough up.
The king of Xan had that year seized over three thousand babies.
He had these babies distributed to his generals somehow, kurifiko ended up in the possession of the high commander Yart which said a lot about his fighting skills. In fact,  he was the only one I. The military headquarters besides besides commander Paul who could boast of going toe to toe with Sefth.

He and Dalian hacked bandit after bandit. Kufriko fought using the street fighters style,  giving out what he could and dodging what he could. Dalian on the other hand fought like a pro, the peasant provided back up. 
The military headquarters was more or less a fortress. Gaining access forcibly through the huge copper gate was a tasking exercise.  Is phenomenon worked in advantage for kurfiko and Dalian. Because it helped funnel the bandits.
Dalian and kufuriko fought almost solitarily. In fact it was more of a gladiator fight than an actual war because most of the peasants did was cheer them on.
If Dalian and Kufuriko could keep up without feeling tired,  they could annihilate the enemy. All was going smoothly up until the unnamed walked through the gate closely followed by his loyal commander,  Hawk who carried his signature weapon, an axe

Sorry for the delay pals. Was on vacation