"Go." Ryan said standing in front of them.
Louis moved first with Amalia following behind him. The sudden emergence of a new group of people shocked the people of Velstrit but nonetheless they were happy that more trained fighters were on their side.
The battle went without much attention to those that newly arrived. *cling* The sound of swords colliding rang throughout the battlefield, there was no clear way to tell who was winning. A citizen hit a guard on one side and on the other three guards came for one citizen, it was not a fair match, but 'nothing is fair during war'. Mothers held their children near, but it seemed like there was no humanity left in these guards; coming for a mother and her children, no one was spared.
Louis looked around for the count of the territory, he wasn't anywhere nearby. 'Braize, where is the count of this territory', 'He's not in the territory, he left with his wife and kid...?' Braize announced in a confused manner. 'One of his children is here fighting with the people of Vel-whatever....' Louis tilted his head before ducking as a sword flew his way with precision. He looked over to where it came from, one of Ryan's swords was the one that flew his way though not on purpose, he held one of his swords with both of his hands holding it against a guard's own. Louis ran over and kicked the guard with force. "You needed help, Ryan?" he smirked at his brother. Louis picked Ryan up and gave him back his sword, "I'll watch your back big brother" making Ryan smile.
The battle continued slowly but to the fighters on the battlefield, it was going way faster. When someone strikes, across the war zone another falls; that's just how war is, and Louis has come to live by it, though he doesn't want to see his group fall to the ground. Louis looked around, everyone was spread out; Amalia was near Kamali and Sheelah held Caspian and Bowen near her.
He was distracted. That was the first mistake he made. "LOUIS!", Ryan's voice sounded out to him like it was from a long distance, but he knew Ryan hadn't gone anywhere. A pain surged through his shoulder, he clenched it and then felt the red sticky substance...'blood...' He turned around still clenching his shoulder, Ryan was struggling against someone and probably the person who caused the injury to his shoulder. Holding his sword in his left hand, he rushed forward to the two and joined the fight. This person was well skilled in the sword, making it harder for Ryan who had never been in any real battles until around last week. He wasn't wearing anything along the lines of the guard's uniform of Velstrit, his outfit was more expensive. This was one of the counts children.
The fight against Velstrit counts son was getting slower; the former precise attacks were reduced to tired harsh attacks. His hands flailed around tiredly; he was not able to stand in proper defense form and then he fumbled. He fell to his knees. His whole stance crumbled as he dropped his sword to the ground too. Ryan didn't know what had happened, but he felt familiar with this person, not like he knew who he was, but he felt like he had felt what he was feeling. "Your father, the count has left with his wife and your sister," Louis directed the comment to the guy on the ground. He shook; a minute after Louis said something, he registered it. His head fell lower. "Theon don't waste your time feeling sad that your father left you behind but feel sad that your father left someone who could protect him and his immediate family the best," Ryan stood in front of the boy with his arm stretched out warily. Patting his shoulder, Theon tilted his head up to see Ryan and Louis.
Theon Velstrit, first son of two children of Count Velstrit. He had blonde hair; it was a rumor that he was the son of an affair between the countess and a commoner. The rumors started because of his different hair and eye color; with that he was mistreated by the nobles in the territory.
Looking down at the boy, Louis could only see Noah- and not Louis in the boy. Ryan clenched the boy's shoulder, "Join us and you'll belong with people who won't judge you and belittle you." "Trust me," Ryan said and then removed his hand. He turned to face his younger brother, "He's not stable, I'll stay with him for the time being. Protect yourself Louis." Louis nodded, he turned around and faced the rest of the war zone. It had calmed down since before his focus was on Theon. Amalia was doing well, and she had a professional guard covering her back and blind spots, Kamali.
Kamali was one of the youngest guards but one of the oldest in the Bragi brigade; at the age of 15 he was in the brigade and had been for 7 years. The boy had peach hair and lime green eyes, a smile was always on his lips and his loyalty to the county could be perceived from afar. But the matter at hand was that he was still smiling up till now. Never once did his endearing smile turn into a scowl or a frown, this was alarming. Any person with a large family- heck a family at all would be worried or there wouldn't be a smile on their face. This comes back to Kamali and the sweet smile that doesn't fall from his lips, it's only a matter of time until a sudden shift in his emotion leaves him in a mindless state. An uncontrollable thirst for anything; blood or a safe place to hide himself from what he has being hiding himself from.
With a few more slashes and the sounds of weapons clanging against each other, it was clear the battle had come to an end. The citizens had won but at a cost; so many people lay on the floor lifeless, fallen citizens and guards. Those that were breathing didn't move at all. It was like a portrait, like the ones Louis used to look at when he went on high school field trips. Louis looked back to Amalia and Kamali; Kamali helped Amalia up from the ground and they started talking about something, Amalia seemed giddier than normal. After checking on the two, he turned his attention to Ryan and Theon; Theon laid asleep on Ryans thigh, and they were in some sort of transparent shield. 'That's probably Sheelah's magic', Louis thought and turned towards where Sheelah was meant to be protecting the children of the group. 'They're there, thank the gods,' he looked at them with relief washing over his face, it was like Sheelah had been watching him since they left for the battle. She waved at him with a bright smile pointing at Caspian and Bowen who had dozed off in the comfort of her shield.
Everyone stood looking at the boy that slept on Ryan, apart from Caspian who Kamali generously took her off Sheelah's hands. Some unappealing stares and some thoughts such as, 'I know he's hurt but he must get off of Ryan!' Their stares eventually woke the boy up and was met with so many gazes. Gazes of fear, anger and those who seemed too tired to react in anger or discomfort frowned. The boy saw all of them, but he was fixed on one thing; the touch on his head. "Let me...go..." Ryan didn't keep him down and went with it, leaving the boy to stagger standing up. He backed away with short steps and it was then that Louis realized that this person was shorter than him, 'thank the heavens!!' a silent celebration on Louis' part. Ryan was now in front of him as he stepped back from the boy, "You...", the voice of someone defeated rang in Louis' head as he looked up at the person pointing at him and the person in front of him. *thud* Theon dropped to his knees aggressively, "I'm sorry for what my father did, he told me I should protect the county...I know he's gone, I shouldn't have trusted him, please forgive me, not my father, not the count, not me as the count's son but as Theon." He didn't raise his head after the speech, but it was clear he was crying, the way his back shook unsteadily. His speech hurt some people, those that their judgement was not clouded by the wrong his father did look at him with pity but unfortunately, that was only little.
Someone moved forward from the crowd steadily as to not startle the boy, it was only normal to be wary around someone as unsteady as him. "You're okay, everyone goes through something, some worse than others and because you were manipulated by the count doesn't mean you are any worse than him, but it doesn't mean you are any better either. Show the people you are nothing like him." Louis concluded his talk to the boy and retracted his hand only for it to be stopped by another hand on his, "Thank you.... please what is your name, I'll serve you and your group, please!" This wasn't request but a plead, dark blue eyes glazing over staring straight at him. Again, the sight of a younger him flashed his mind. It was nostalgic but also disturbing, he didn't like it but wanted to make sure this person didn't end up like him. "Get up, I'm Louis Bragi of the Bragi territory and that is my group. Follow me." Louis said and walked towards his group, Theon quickly following behind him. "Sheelah, can you help him?" Louis asked, "Of course I can", she raised her chin and moved towards the boy. By then, all other citizens of the county walked away to look at the damage and what they could do to fix up; thankfully the damage was not as bad as was expected from a civil war.
Still in Velstrit territory, the group sat in a circle at the side of a bakery, thankfully the Viscount territory did not see need to change their currency and left it as the one the high empire had set all those years ago, the same as the Bragi county. They were able to buy a few pastries that were shared among themselves but the elephant in the room remained unsaid. "Excuse me, are we bringing mister Theon or not...?" Kamali asked no one in particular. "It's to him if he wants to come with us or not, we can't force him," Ryan said while licking his fingers, quite unbecoming as a future count. "That slice of pie was delicious, was it not, Ryan?" Sheelah jest like she was an old friend of the noble making some members of their group gasp, Ryan chuckled then nodded. Louis smiled at the group that smiled even with the disasters around them, 'Louis, you haven't been talking to me!!', a loud voice dragged him out of his happiness, 'I'm busy, what do you want stupid?!', he held a frown on his face. 'You haven't been talking to me since, it's boring in here', Braize said with a bored sigh at the end, 'You're some kind of overpowered being and you're telling me your bored, where I'm from, I'd call you '바보', meaning stupid.' Louis could imagine the expression on Braize's handsome face with the loud gasp that echoed through his mind, a smile crept onto his face; there were storms coming clearly but he was sure he could do anything with these people he surrounded himself with.