The fugitives reeled from shock. The leader finally found his voice.
"What if you are here? That guard of yours already told us you don't have enough soldiers. Brothers don't be scared. Even if she is here, we can still win," he said.
"Who said only soldiers of this city can fight? Every citizen of Nokor had trained in military combat. I don't think you ruffians can handle us!" Abiri said. More people showed up on the gate as she said this. All of them had their bows pointed at the enemy.
"I'll give you one last chance. Retreat now and you might live to see another day," she warned.
No one made a move. The army of fugitives and Abiri's soldiers were in a stand-off while the fugitive leader was discussing with some of the other thugs.
"In a battle, as unfavourable as this, demoralising the enemy plays a crucial part in deciding the winner. Also we have to hold them off till Conall's troops make it back. So she executed the traitor in front of them and also continued to warn them. It was like hitting two birds with one stone. This would hold them off for the time being and also demoralise them. Abiri really has a talent in war strategies," thought Hernan.
"It's a good thing that they are just a bunch of fugitives who don't know much about wars," thought Abiri, "If it was a veteran army, they would have already seen through my bluff."
During the stand-off Abiri wondered where they got the idea of luring her away and attacking the city. While she was deep in thought, the leader came forward once again.
He smirked. "I don't believe that mere farmers can fight us. Attack!" he ordered.
The army of fugitives raced towards the city gate.
"Archers ready!" she commanded. There was a fence placed further away from the city gate. The archers were ready. She waited till the thugs reached the fence and then ordered, "Shoot!"
The archers aimed at the enemy and were also guarded by a wall of shields. Hundreds of arrows rained on the enemies. The fierce battle had started.
In the mountains, after Abiri left, Lev and his team had reached the place where they saw the light last night, but stayed a good distance away. If Abiri's logic was to be followed, it was most likely a trap. So, they hid themselves and observed for any movement.
After an hour they heard footsteps. They saw two thugs going somewhere and they followed them. They led to a small cabin. There were a total of seven thugs and they seemed to be guarding the cabin.
"Are you sure the 'little chief' is coming? We received the message long back, she should have reached by now," the thug said.
The other thug replied, "Yes you are right. But we don't know her she might be hiding somewhere here."
"Maybe she really doesn't care about her guard captured by us," wondered the thug.
"But didn't we already receive a message saying she is coming? Let's just wait," the other thug said.
This conversation confirmed that Rya was there. "Even without Abiri, there are five of us. And these soldiers are decent fighters. But the thugs were able to subdue Rya who was personally trained by Abiri. We can't underestimate them. After all, their motive was to capture Abiri. We cannot act rashly," Lev thought to himself. They waited behind the bushes. The thugs on guard were talking.
The thugs were getting tired of waiting. After another hour of hiding, Lev noticed that the thugs were getting tired. They planned their attack. Lev and soldiers attacked from all directions. Haimi attacked fiercely with her bow and arrows. Being the only woman, the thugs mistook her for Abiri and tried to attack only her. Lev managed to kill one of the thugs and entered the cabin. Rya was indeed there. She was bruised and tied up.
Lev was about to untie her when he saw that she was already working on it. She almost tore the rag that held her hands. He helped her remove the gags.
"It's a trap," she said urgently, "Is the 'little chief' already here? She has to leave. You shouldn't have come."
"Relax, we already knew it was a trap. Abiri is not here. We have to go now. I'll explain later," he said while untying her legs.
As they came out of the cabin, one of the soldiers was dead, another one was injured. One thug was killed by Lev earlier and the other was taken down by the rest of the group. Only Haimi and one other soldier were fighting five thugs. The group was soon surrounded by the thugs.
"Can you still fight?" Lev asked Rya.
"Absolutely!" she said as she grabbed the sword from the dead soldier.
It was a fierce and bloody combat that lasted a long time. By the time they were done, dawn had already broken. All the thugs were dead. But the group suffered injuries too. Luckily the wounds were not fatal.
They sat down to take a break, but they soon heard the war drums. The group was surprised. "They really did plan on attacking the city," Lev said.
"We don't have time. We have to go back now," Rya said.
Haimi was ordered to return slowly with the injured soldier while Lev and Rya hurried back.
Meanwhile, the war was proceeding in full force. The thugs rushed towards the city walls but the archers of the city managed to hold them back. Apart from combat, Abiri had also taught the citizens how to use bows. It was effective to force attackers in backing away and it was also easier to learn for someone who was not really talented or strong enough for combat. The citizens, a mix of woman and men, she selected were good at aiming and shooting but at the same time, they could put up a good fight. `
The battle was going as Abiri had predicted. The arrows were keeping the enemies from approaching the city walls. The arrows from the enemies were deflected by the solid shield formation. The fugitives were forced to back down and defend themselves. But the fugitives already knew that Abiri's army would soon run out of arrows so they just had to back down and wait.