Harumi was surrounded by a small group of men while the devision led by Hidemasa was getting ready to departure. They had asked for Harumi to ride a horse, but she was still to scared. She would visit her own horse every day to say hello but didn't dare to come close unless someone was with her. So riding a horse was out of the question. Her platoon consisted of some of the strongest men who were still at the castle. At first she was against it, Harumi wanted that the commoners were more protected than her. Hidemasa and Nagahide were against leaving their lady unprotected and they simply gave her an ultimatum; Use the best men we have or don't go to battle. Harumi knew they couldn't do anything officially, but they could just lock her up somewhere so she caved.
"Gentlemen." Harumi spoke to the small platoon of around ten men. "As soon as the first division has departed and made contact with the enemy, the second devision will depart. We will blend in with the second devision, but they will go to the west, while we go to the east. It is not your job to kill the enemy, but to break down the heavy weaponry they have. We will fist destroy the few slingshots they have. After that we will split into two groups and destroy their cannons. Are there any questions?"
"Ay ay lady Nohime-sama!" The men yelled in unison while saluting her.
"And please be save, watch out for each other." Harumi said with a small shake in her voice.
"Of course my lady! You have nothing to worry about, we will keep you safe!" One of the men said.
"Yes!" Another one yelled.
"We are very proud of you lady Nohime-sama!" Another one said proudly. Harumi started to blush from all the praise she got what made her a lot less nervous.
Sooner than expected they heard the signal what ment the enemy was going to attack, what ment that the division leaded bij Hidemasa departed. The next moments flashed by in a blur for Harumi. Before she knew it the opened up the reinforced castle gate and the first division stormed out. As soon as the first division left, the second devision, leaded by Nagahide took their place at the gate. In the middle of the division was a small space for Harumi's platoon. Her heart beat so fast and hard she couldn't hear anything else. She was happy that she couldn't hear anything exept the beating of her heart because she knew that if she heard the cries from the battlefield she would be to scared to move forwards.
Somewhere far away Harumi heard a sound of some sort of trompet. Everything went in slowmotion as the big gate opened again and she could see the battlefield for the first time. The crowd around her began to run and took her with her. As soon as her legs began to move, her head became clear again.
"Don't think, just do." She whispered to herself. She knew that if she though to long about the fact that she was on a battlefield and that a lot of people probably would loose their lives here, she couldn't accomplish her task anymore. Soon she saw the slingshots they were going to destroy first. The bigger group went left while Harumi's small platoon went right, right at the heave weaponry. At first she had thought that they didn't need so much men, but now she was happy that Nagahide and Hidemasa forced her to take twelve men with her. The slingshots were heavily guarded by some soldiers. Harumi didn't even have to give orders. Half of the platoon went in a protective formation around Harumi while the other six guys went ahead and started to fight with the upcoming soldiers. Harumi unsheathe her own sword, even though she knew she couldn't really do anything with it. She had been practicing with the sword and she still sucked. And that was without all the heavy armor she had on now. Although she couldn't really do anything with it, it gave her a little bit peace of mind. The six soldiers that went ahead were clearly stronger than the enemies soldiers. They made a pathway for the rest of the platoon to reach the first slingshot. As soon as Harumi reached it some of the soldiers attacked the operators of the sling while she used her sword to cut trough some of the thick ropes. The damage was easily done and hard to fix. But for safety measures one of the men from her platoon set the big wooden object on fire. Even before they were done they had attracted a lot of attention and more soldiers were coming their way. They didn't have time to make sure the slingshot got burned to the ground and moved on to the next one. They only had tree operating slingshots with them so they were done pretty fast. Harumi had to use her sword only a few times to defend herself. She didn't actually had to fight anybody because as soon the enemy came close to her one of the members of her platoon stepped in and protected her.
"We will take the cannons over here, you six take the ones over there!" Harumi yelled over the sound of the battlefield to her platoon as soon as they destroyed all the slingshots. The small group of soldiers immediately split into to and ran in two different directions. Someone in the castle had told her how to demolish a cannon fast. The easiest way was to remove the firing pin. The only problem was that Harumi had no idea were the firing pin was located on a cannon. When they arrived at the first cannon some of the men started to fight with the enemy while Harumi and the other men went over to the cannon. One of the men easily broke the firing pin of the cannon. At least nog she knew were it was and Harumi could do the next one herself. The Togashi clan had brought a lot more cannons that slingshots along and when they were finally done with destroying the third one most of the enemies army knew Harumi was on the battlefield. More and more enemy soldiers came their way, in the hopes of capturing the lady of the castle. Luckily a lot of their own fighting forces came too, to help defend her.
"Why wont this stupid thing come loose?" Harumi yelled angrily while she tried to remove the firing pin from the fifth cannon. All the men of her platoon were fighting of enemy soldiers so she had to do it alone. Furious she kicked the firing pin and it came loose. Quickly she picked it up and put it in a pouch with the rest of the firing pins.
"I got it, lets go to the next one!" She yelled as soon as she was done. She turned around to her men and saw an archer from the Togashi clan aiming at one of the men in her platoon who was fighting a soldier. Before her brain registered what she was doing she leaped forwards to one of her soldiers and knocked him on the ground. The arrow had missed the men in her platoon, instead it had hit her in the back of her left shoulder. She rolled on the ground and yelled in pain. The arrow had hit her directly between the protective arm and back plate and had cut trough the chain mail. She tried to pul the arrow out but couldn't reach. Every time she moved she could feel the metal from the arrowhead scraping against her bone. It hurt so much she was scared that she would pass out from the pain.
"Lady Nohime-sama, please lay still!" One of her men yelled. Harumi bit on the inside of her cheek until she tasted blood while the man pulled out the arrow. Instantly Her shoulder began to bleed. Luckily the rest of her platoon had fought off the enemy for now so she had a moment to compose herself. With her right hand she angrily wiped the tears away and tried to stand. Immediately two of her men came to her aid and supported her.
"We will take you back immediately lady Nohime-sama!" One of the men said.
"No!" Harumi yelled. "It's only a small wound and we first have to destroy the rest of the cannons." She ordered. The two men who had helped her up gave each other a questioning look. Not sure what to do, but they couldn't ignore her direct order. They didn't have time to just stand there. The enemy was closing in on them and they had to move to the next cannon. Harumi began to ran, closely followed by the rest of her platoon. With every step she took her shoulder hurt but due to all the adrenaline rushing trough her body she didn't really feel it.