"We did it!" Some of them said as they jumped for joy.
Truly we emerge victors but, that last discomforting scene sent the chills down my spine. I could even see the perplexed expression that was worn by Jack's face. Although, it wasn't obvious.
Was that brutal attack from Jack? Or if not... Who could it be?
Even before I could mentioned his name, He muttered succinctly. "I have nothing to do with that, it wasn't me." He took short breathers during his statement, due to the fact that he was still finding it difficult to regulate his heartbeat, so I tried to avoid questioning him any further.
I was quite relieved that the other soldiers didn't know what had really happened, as all of them were still on the seventh heaven, celebrating their miniature victory as they approached. So based on the look of things, only I and Jack had seen the gory scene.
"He did it." One of my men echoed, while balling his fists, and punching the air concurrently to emphasize happiness. Thereby; causing a loud noise of celebrations to follow thereafter.
"He really did it!" Another exclaimed with a shrilled voice.
"Whoa! Awesome, Jack's insane." Several comments flooded in, and in no time, the atmosphere was full of Jack's praises.
At least he deserved it.
Didn't he?
However, Jack was hardly paying attention as he focused on trying to stabilize his breath.
"Rush Jack and Denki to the nearest hospital!" I ordered. "Now!" I hollered, raising my voice a little, after noticing that my order wasn't taken serious initially. I was so worried about the duo's health, that I couldn't risk waiting to get to the barracks before they got treated. Although getting to the barracks was much safer and faster than before but, we never know how much longer they could last.
Jack was still awake but, I clearly knew he had entered a subconscious state as he struggled to remain composed. He was barely standing on his two feet; hence, his health was on the last thread of hope.
Few of my men, splitting themselves into two, walked towards Denki and Jack respectively to aid them to the nearest hospital. It won't be difficult to find one though, since we were near to the capital that was surrounded with quite a few numbers of hospitals and rehab centres.
After checking the surroundings for any clue or hidden things, in which there was none, I turned to my soldiers.
"Is this all that managed to survive?" I inquired.
"No sir, the others are still chasing and collecting the spoils." A middle aged man replied.
Spoils? I thought we talked that over? tssch!
"Let's go and meet the others!" I said, urging my men to follow me in the fastest way possible. The blood and damage we've caused was just enough.
Speaking of damage, I've been wary of the nearest city to sangotaro. That's were the bandits attacked from.
But, raiding and destroying the entire city, would just lead to a bigger trouble. Neighboring cities in that country, or even neighbouring countries might react negatively to it.
Destroying it was the plan at first but, after some immersive thinking, I decided that raiding and collecting spoils, would not be a very good idea in this situation.
After few minutes of walking under the scorching sun, we could now see the city ahead, as we walked. There were no vehicles since it wasn't an actual war.
However, I could smell burnt houses even from our distance. As we got closer, I noticed that my men had already started with their attack minutes ago.
"Quick, spread the information to the soldiers, let them stop their attacks." I ordered.
Defeating them is enough, killing thousands of souls is out of bounds. If it spreads to other nations, it might turn into a war and we'll be at a great disadvantage.
-----------------------------------------
Most of the building in the cities were already burnt down, numerous lifeless bodies could be seen on the floor, loud cries could be heard from afar off. Were we to late already?
"Damn it!" I muttered with bitterness, as anger was already taking it's momentum in my emotions as I promised to punish whosoever brought the idea up after I had decided against it in the first place.
Luckily they hadn't gone much further into the city that had the ambiance of an ancient village. It looked like the message was already disseminated to a few of them, as loud cries became thinner and dead bodies rarer to find, as we progressed further.
I tightened my grip on the little sack I was holding that was full of gold coins. I had stumbled upon it like a few minutes ago. I then looked towards the sky, with a slight sigh following thereafter.
Suddenly I heard a loud scream from afar, and it sounded like the voice of a young child.
I quickly dashed towards the voice's direction, so as to prevent any further bloodshed.
When I arrived to the scene, one of my soldiers was about to kill a young girl. From my point of view, the girl would be around the age of six to eight years.
This made me even angrier as I bellowed in rage.
"Stop!!!"
"What do you think you're doing? You'll be willing to behead an innocent child?" I asked, trying my best to suppress my fury.
"But sir?...." Before he could defend himself, I interrupted him with a strict order.
"Evacuate the city!" Still noticing his hesitation, I repeated my statement with vigour. "All of you evacuate the city ASAP!" (As quick as possible).
"Yes sir!" He salutes, before turning and going further with long strides that ate all meters of the road on his way, to inform others also.
My body system was still trying to cool down, before I remembered the little girl was still sitting with fright as she begged and screamed for her life.
As I walked closer to her, she screamed even harder. She probably thought I'll kill her also. Huff!
As I bent down, I reached for her head with my right hand. She tries to defend herself with nearby stones and few punches. However, without further ado, I drew her closer to my chest with my hand and gave her a light pat on the head.
"That hurts, don't cha know?" I rhetorically asked in the coolest way possible.
She was finally calm at last, hugging me tightly as her eyes moistened, before a rainfall of tears began to flow down her cheeks.
"At least she trusted me finally." I said inwardly, before freeing her gently from my embrace, as I beamed with a radiant smile.
"I understand your pain, I'm sorry." I whispered. Albeit, It seemed like she was much more interested in my hospitality, as she hugged me tightly.
***
After series of consolation, I stood up to take my leave. I then reached for the sack that was full with gold, and gave it to her.
She looked at it in awe, then started crying again.
"Jeez! I don't m... mean t.. to..." I was now confused, and I was also short of words.
"Thank you sir!" She said with a smile, as she was now wiping the tears of her face with the back of her palm..
"Here!". I threw a white handkerchief to her.
"Big girls don't cry." I said with a smile that conveyed a deeper meaning, as she reminded me of when I was younger
"Thank you sir!" She bowed her head slightly to show her earnest gratitude.
"It's no big deal, don't mention!" I spoke with a broad smile, as I turned around to go. I waved my hand to her as I walked away.
"See ya beautiful!". I said in a funny manner.
As I walked a few steps forward, I saw most of the people alive in the city were now walking out of their hiding places. Were they planning an attack?
No! Their faces doesn't look like they wanna kill me or something. As I was still deliberating, a young man in his youths, walked hastily to me and bowed down slightly, therefore breaking my reverie.
"Thank you sir!" He echoed with alacrity.
I could see beads of tears forming at the corner of his eyes. This pained me to the core.
In every single battle, one side celebrates the joy of war; the other, pain and destruction.
"Who's the leader of this city?" I asked.
An old man walked up to me.
"It's I sir!" He muttered, taking his statement one after the other
"Got any representatives?" I asked gently.
"Yes sir, I am!" The young man that bowed earlier uttered with a firmly rooted stance.
"Follow me, I'll send compensations to you all later." I ordered.
"Whoa!!!"
"Thank you!"
"Thank you sir!" Greetings surged from left and right as I left the city. Looked like they weren't hot headed like I thought.
As I walked upfront, I saw my men waiting for me at the border.
"See y'all later, you can wait here, I and this lad would take our leave.
"It's Kira sir!" He corrected
"Whatever!" I said alongside a smile.
Almost immediately, I felt a tight grip on the lower part (hem) of my cloak. It was the girl, who I gave the gold.
"Thank you mister!". She showered her appreciations on me for the umpteenth time today. She seemed to be over the hills and far away.
"Oh! No problems, just be a good girl." I replied, patting her forehead gently. She was now giggling.
After bidding our goodbyes, they kept waving at us till we got out of the border.
-----------
As I and kira walked a few feet behind my soldiers, I used the opportunity to talk to him.
"You know why I asked you to follow me,
Don't you?" I knew he didn't know but, in just decided to ask, to ease up any breeding tension.
He strikes his chin, then he shakes his head in defeat.
"I see..., well you're following me to collect your people's compensation of course!
And to have some further discussion on certain things, that's all." I talked to him in the friendliest way, to eliminate any negative thoughts brewing up in him.
"Oh! I forgot to ask what the young girl's name was." I said slightly disappointed, while I rubbed my forehead.
"Oh! You mean Priscilla?" He asks in confirmation to my question.
"Y... Yes. Priscilla, that's a nice name." I added. "By the way, what about her parents?" I asked inquisitively.
"Well....They're dead. They were killed during the attack."
"Today's attack?" I asked, forcing a smile, that eventually turned into a smirk as my brows creased.
"Yes!" He confirms in a low tone.
"I'm sorry." I apologised.
"It's okay, everything's over now". He reassured.
"Of course it is, but never leave a girl to die alone. Or even a single human being when you're attacked. As far as y'all are still alive, that's the more reason to keep fighting.
Don't go into hiding. Especially when one of your people is about to be murdered." I uttered with full seriousness as I tackled his grey eyes with my eyes.
"Yes sir!"
-----------------------
Everywhere was dark, only lamps which were burning could be seen, and shadows plotting.
"It seemed they didn't go beyond the city's half." A deep voice echoed.
"Phew! A bigger fight could have ensued." Another voice said.
"Looks like Tora is dead."
"Despair not, this is just the beginning. The path that gets us to the light. Soon.... Soon, soon enough."