CHAPTER 9 - I - THE BATTLE FOR HUIROT

 

We took the time to rest while we evacuate the civilians to the east.  The general strategy was to remove the people from the undead-infested areas, then slowly clear the population centers, as well as the trade routes.  The formation and slow march that we did was pretty tiring, so in the meantime, the soldiers took their time to pause.

 

But as a precaution, we posted a few of them on the walls just in case the undead suddenly began its attacks.

 

Griffyth came to me and reported, “The men were tired, and the evacuation was going slower than usual.  Some civilians insisted on searching for their lost loved ones before leaving.”

 

“Don’t let them.” I told him, “We need to get out of here and consolidate as soon as possible.  Have some men keep the corridors open.”

 

“Alright.” Griffyth then set off with my orders.

 

Once the mercenary captain was gone, my vice-captain, the Dame Atkins, also appeared with a report, “Kuro, walls.”

 

“Yeah?”

 

“Hole, west.”

 

“Damn…must be the work of the undead, that’s why Sir Simon and his men were forced to retreat to the keep.” I pondered, “Anyway, could you fix it at the soonest possible time?”

 

“Will try.”

 

“Okay, thanks.”

 

Then Dame Atkins went on her way.

 

“…”

 

Honestly, I don’t like the fact that we’re being slowed down by the evacuation of the civilians.  Time was of the essence.  Even though the men were resting, there’s no telling of when the undead would resume its attacks.  Plus, the magicians and Maddie were still recovering.

 

We’re pretty much unprepared for a resumption of the conflict…

 

 

Speaking of saints, we haven’t encountered Seirna for a while.

 

“Probably, she retreated?” Maddie suggested, “But then again, I doubt if she would.  Seirna’s pretty stubborn and tricky.  She could prepare a surprise for us.”

 

“Yeah, that’s what I’m afraid of.” I admitted to her, “Honestly, the men were still exhausted from fighting, and I doubt we could hold out well if we get attacked now.”

 

“!!!”

 

We suddenly heard a gryphon squawk overhead.  Then it circled above before landing in front of us.  Its rider turned out to be Sir Dane.

 

“Sir Dane!” I reached out my hand for a shake, “You and your men did great in bombarding that undead to smithereens.”

 

“Yes, thank you, Sir Kuro!” the knight seemed to be in a hurry, “However, I think we need to hurry with the evacuation of the civilians to the east.”

 

“Huh?  What do you mean?”

 

“My men scouted far from Huirot, and they saw large hordes of the undead swooping across the countryside and would converge here soon from the west and north.  Moreover, they were attacked by a flying lady who killed two of my men and let the other one escaped back.”

 

“A flying lady?” I asked, with an idea of who it might be, “Seirna!”

 

“Well, I guess we have to get going, Sir Kuro.” Sir Dane then tapped me on the back as he returned to his gryphon, “I’ll have my men rest for a bit since they were tired shooting off those magic spells.”

 

“What’s the problem, Kuro?” Maddie asked me.

 

“It’s Seirna.  Sir Dane from the Gryphon Knights told me she’s on the move once again.”

 

“And just when my magic’s still recovering.”

 

“In any case, let’s begin the retreat—”

 

I was interrupted when we heard three blasts of trumpets.  Then we could feel the ground shake as Sir Dane suddenly shouted…

 

“Sir Kuro!  It’s the undead, from the South.”

 

“What?  I thought they were still a distance away?”

 

“It must be Seirna.” Maddie quipped, “I suspected she’s preparing a surprise for us.”

 

The hissing and screaming of the zombies running towards Huirot struck fear unto the civilians we’re evacuating, and panic and chaos spread as we scrambled to man the town walls.

 

“Magicians to the walls!  Warriors to the front!” Maddie was quick to give orders, “Shoot the slashing wind spells and earth spikes at will!”

 

“Sir Dane, can your men fight some more?” I asked.

 

“We’ll try what we could do!” said the brave Chancellor before flying off with his men.

 

 

Soon, the skies were glowing once again from the fires of the incinerate spells being poured by the Gryphon Knights on the rushing zombies.  It would have been an easy fight, if not for…

 

“They keep on coming!  More to the south!”

 

“More of the undead to the west!”

 

“We need reinforcements here on the northern walls!”

 

Sensing that now was the time to use her ability, Lily put herself forward.  She collected a motley group of men, and they rushed to help defend the western wall—where a breach was earlier reported.  Sir Simon and the Prince of Stadtsberg, with a third of the army, commanded the southern defenses, while the rest of the men under the Duchess of Henristone defended the northern side of Huirot.  Maddie and her Paladin Corps guards took charge of keeping the eastern corridor open for evacuation.

 

I quickly headed west, where Dame Atkins and the other soldiers were helping in plugging the hole in the wall.  Griffyth and his Band of the Oak men were also doing the construction work.  They knew of the incoming undead hordes, that’s why they were rushing to cover the gaps in the wall.

 

“Griff!  Leave the work to the other soldiers.” I told them, “Order your men to the walls and bring out their demon weapons!”

 

“Alright!  You heard the man, demons out!”

 

At once, the mercenaries got their matchlocks out and marched outside the defensive walls, under the cover of the magicians and the Gryphon Knights.

 

“Dame Atkins, head back to the east and help Her Holiness command the defense there!  Tell her to prepare to leave once all the soldiers had retreated.”

 

The vice-captain immediately did as I ordered and disappeared into the crowd.  

 

The Gryphon Knights scrambled in the air to bombard the undead from afar, and the magicians attacked it midway.  The matchlock-armed mercenaries caught those who could get past the fire bombardment.

 

And Lily and her warriors protected the gunners, as well as their flanks, from the rest of the undead.

 

“Same as what I taught you in Gebrei!” I ordered the volley formation for the mercenaries, as we positioned ourselves just outside the western defenses, “Aim for the heads.  And once you fire, retreat immediately in 5 paces.”

 

“Kuro, Tarasca, and the others could deploy the magic traps, right?”

 

“Yes, deploy them in front and around the gunners.  We’re going to attract these bastards here in the western walls so that the east corridor would be safe!”

 

“Alright, here goes the zombies!  FIRE!” Griffyth quickly shouted his command, “Deploy the spikes!”

 

The first line of the charging undead immediately fell or got tangled on the earth spikes laid by Tarasca’s magicians.

 

“Five paces to the back, hurry!”

 

“Incinerate them!”

 

The magicians on the wall fired the Incinerate spells that got the second and third waves of the undead.  Then, the Gryphon Knights took care of the other successive waves, allowing for the gunners to reload their guns.

 

“FIRE!”

 

Another salvo felled the charging zombies before we retreated to the open gates.  The magicians posted on the walls, as well as the Gryphon Knights, once again chanted their Incinerate spells to cover our retreat.

 

I think the sounds of the guns worked, for most of the zombies shifted their attacks on the western walls.

 

 

Attracted by the sounds of the matchlock guns, the battle became focused on one point, the western walls of Huirot.  To the north and south, there were sporadic attacks, which the defenders easily took care of, while to the east, some soldiers kept the evacuation route open.

 

As for us who were fighting, we had to reallocate the steadily decreasing resources we had.  It was not rocket science that once a man was bitten by the undead; we had to kill him.  Maddie was working hard to heal those she could heal, but her magic was still recovering, and she was easily exhausted.  

 

Because of this, our formerly overwhelming numbers dwindled so long as we fight.  And the more of us who got killed, the greater the numbers of our enemies grew.  Things took for the worse when the Duke of Greene was gravely injured, and Kevin and Stephan were lost defending the western walls.

 

I had to kill them, for they didn’t want to become the undead after being bitten.

 

“…”

 

We have no time to grieve our losses.  Soon, it became apparent to us we’re about to get overwhelmed.

 

“Retreat to the Eastern Gates!” I finally gave the signal for the defenders to abandon our current positions.  Since the evacuation route lay to the east, I decided that’s where we would make a stand, while the others retreat to our original lines at Jeveneria.

 

“Kuro!” it was Winters, “We need someone to distract this undead so they won’t easily follow us!”

 

“I’ll do it!” the young girl of the Band of the Oak, Kashca, volunteered.  She showed us a trumpet which she took from an injured soldier.

 

“Right!  Kashca could move through the roofs of the houses fairly quickly,” Griffyth told me.

 

“Alright, please go!” I tapped Kashca’s back, to which she nodded in reply.

 

Soon enough, we heard her trumpet sounds—though it was terrible, it attracted the hordes to her direction.  The lull gave us time to escape to the eastern walls relatively unscathed.

 

 

**Madelaine**

 

The battle was turning in for the worse as hordes upon hordes of the undead were swarming the defenders of the town of Huirot.

 

“Retreat!”

 

“Run for your lives!”

 

“Don’t look back, hurry to the eastern gates!”

 

I would have made a difference, if not for my magic getting exhausted in erecting and maintaining that barrier to protect the eastern side of Chersea.  However, I still wanted to help, so I remained to defend the eastern walls of Huirot until Kuro and the rest of his men finally retreated from the western defenses.

 

After all, he said to leave once all the soldiers are accounted for.

 

With me were the Paladin Corps, headed by its vice-captain, Dame Sasha Atkins, as well as my friend, the 2^nd Prince of Nerfes, Simon Hugh Reed, and the rest of his men who remained to fight.  We were manning the eastern walls, towers, and the keep to the northeast, which we set-up as our main base.

 

“…”

 

We could hear the noises of battle from the west part of Huirot getting louder, a sign that it was coming near our positions.  Soon, the first wave of survivors had come running and hurriedly passed the eastern gates.

 

“Your Holiness!  Please run!”

 

“The Western Wall is being overwhelmed!”

 

“The battle is lost!”

 

“What about Sir Kuro and Princess Lilyhaven?” I asked.  I’m worried for them, for I knew they were the last to retreat and the most vulnerable to being overwhelmed.

 

“Milady, the rearguard is also retreating!” a soldier from the frontline called out from below, “I believe they are in there.”

 

“Fetch me a horse—” pulling out my sword, I was close to jumping from the wall and into the fray below.  However, my companions stopped me.

 

“Maddie, calm yourself!” Simon said, “If you wanted to go, then let me be the one to search for them instead.  You stay here!”

 

“Your Holiness, please don’t go!” Sir Lange pleaded, “It’ll be a big blow to our morale if we lose you as well.”

 

“Ah…y-yes.” Finally, back to my senses, I remained in my spot, waiting for Kuro, Lily, and the rest of the rearguard to appear, “Simon, please remain here.” I pleaded.  Though I wanted to check on Kuro and Lily, I didn’t want someone else to do it for me.

 

“Nah, it’ll be okay, Maddie!” he winked at me and patted my shoulder, and turned to Dame Atkins and Sir Lange.  

 

Both of them agreed to stay with me.

 

“Alright, thanks!” Simon then equipped his sword and went down the walls, gathering some men to search for Kuro and Lily.

 

I hope everything will turn out fine in the end.