Abiri and the soldiers were getting ready to leave the city gate. She mounted her horse and faced the soldiers before leaving the city gate. The cavalry and foot soldiers were all gathered.
"Today we will be the victors! They are nothing but a bunch of thugs. Our brothers at the border entrusted their families and this city to us. We cannot disappoint them. We have to fight for Nokor. We fight for our families. So, come with me and fight the enemy. Let's show them how real soldiers fight. Victory will be ours!" she declared.
The soldiers' morale rose as they kept echoing, "Victory will be ours!"
The arrows rained down while Abiri led the soldiers beyond the fence and faced the enemy. After almost half the arrows were spent, Abiri ordered to stop firing. She had already told Hernan to only shoot when the enemy crossed the fence. This made the fugitives think that their enemy had already run out of arrows.
"Charge!" she declared.
The cavalry led by Abiri charged forward followed by the foot soldiers. Hernan kept watching the battle that unfolded below. The battle raised the dust on the ground so high that it was hard to see what was going on. There were all kinds of sounds, like screams, clash of swords, muscle tears, bone crunches, horse neighs and hoofs and human cries. Although he heard a lot of battle stories from Conall, he had never seen one before. Because he was the Governor, he could never leave the city or go to an army camp. Even with low visibility, he kept his eyes glued on Abiri. The whole situation depended on her.
Abiri and the soldiers were obviously outnumbered but the fugitives did not have the combat experience of Abiri and the other soldiers. They fought fiercely. Abiri's horse was injured and she fell to the ground.
"Ah!" exclaimed Rya.
"Are you alright?" Lev asked her.
Rya and Lev hurried down the mountain on foot but Rya injured her leg and had to sit down.
"Mr. Lev, go without me. I'll be there soon," she said.
"No, I promised Abiri that I will bring you back, I can't go back on my word," he said, "Let me look at your wound."
"But are you not worried about her? I thought you loved her," she said.
"I do. I also believe in her. She will not be so easily defeated," he said while he bandaged her wound, "Besides, if she knew I left you here, she'll definitely chew my ear off," he gave a slight chuckle. Although he said so, he was worried for her. He was also worried for his parents and the city. "Wait for me, Abiri. Please don't get hurt," he thought.
In the battlefield, Abiri got up immediately. She fought the fugitives with all her might. The fugitives had underestimated the strength of the soldiers. Most of them heard rumours of Abiri's prowess in battlefield but did not really believe it because she was just a young girl. The soldiers managed to keep the enemy at bay. At first, there were some who tried to sneak pass the fence but they were immediately shot down by the guards on the walls. This misled the fugitives into thinking that they had more weapons and the traitor had misinformed them.
The fugitives soon descended into chaos. They could no longer hold on to battle formations or work together. The leader could no longer manage the frightened group. Some chose to run away while some chose to fight to their deaths.
"They are after all thugs," thought Abiri. She charged towards the leader.
Suddenly the leader screamed, "Kill Abiri Arlo! She is the leader. If she is dead we can win. We can live!"
All of them targeted Abiri. This brought some order in the thugs.
"Protect the 'little chief'," ordered Hernan and then the same words echoed all around her.
The soldiers tried their best to protect her.
"This is bad. We are being pushed to defensive. The soldiers can't fight and protect me at the same time," Abiri thought.
"Forget about me! Just fight! Stop trying to protect me!" she shouted.
But the soldiers were extremely loyal to the Arlos' and they couldn't leave her be. The soldiers and Abiri fought fiercely. There were just too many people who targeted her. She was exhausted. She had put the last of her strength in slashing one of the thugs but the other one came right behind.
"Is this it?" she thought almost giving up. But suddenly a sword blocked the thug. She looked at him. It was Lev.
"Are you alright, 'little chief'?" a voice asked from beside her. It was Rya.
"Rya! Lev! Are you alright? Are you hurt?" she asked.
"Let's talk after we are done here!" Lev said as he fought the thugs.
Lev and Rya's appearance boosted Abiri's morale. They immediately teamed up. Abiri ordered the soldiers to go back to fighting as Lev and Rya would protect her. Once again, the soldiers were able to turn the table. Abiri, Lev and Rya finally got to the leader. Abiri and the leader fought one-on-one as Lev and Rya kept other thugs from interfering them.
The leader was an ex-soldier. So he was definitely trained and was a decent fighter. In terms of strength, he was no match for Abiri, but she had been injured and exhausted from all the fighting, while this was his first fight since the battle started.
As they fought, the drums at the city gate drowned the sounds of the battlefield. Everyone including the thugs and the soldiers looked at the city. The city gate opened widely. A large group of soldiers on horsebacks were racing towards them. It was Conall Arlo, Aziza and his elite team of soldiers. Abiri sighed with relief but the battle was not yet over.
Abiri and the leader fought fiercely while Conall's troop eliminated the enemies. The fugitives tried to run away. They even abandoned their leader. But the troop chased every last one of them. Soon the army surrounded the fugitives. The leader surrendered and got down on his knees.
"Abiri!" Conall called out as he got down the horse and ran to her while Aziza followed behind.
"Father! You are finally here," she said with a weak smile.
"Yes I am! You did good! You did good!" he said while hugging her. She was about to say something when she noticed the leader. He took out a dagger and tried to stab her father. She immediately pushed Conall away. But she was not able to avoid the dagger in time.
"Abiri!" "Little Chief" she heard many voices calling her but she could not respond. Soon everything became blurry and then dark.