RE:volt! Chapter 44: Bandit Raid or Night Raid? 

Screams. 

Ark could hear them loud and clear, the sound of an attack, people running, racing out of their cots, trudging through their fields. Immediately Ark raced up the side of his barracks, climbing the wall until he exited through the hole in the roof he used as a skylight to confirm his worst fears. 

The fields in the far distance, the area where the field hands lived, they were burning. The Constantine Estate was under attack.

But by who? Why? The estate was located hundreds of miles away from the border, sequestered between two other baronies that were armed with heavy infantry and their own compliment of knights. So who was it that were attacking them?

Thirty-Three and Thirty-Four soon joined Ark, the duo flabbergasted at the scene playing out before Isa and his crew had also joined the trio thanks to the racket of their rapid movements waking them up.

“We’re under attack… we’re actually…” Axel muttered, his eyes wide as dots began to rush out of the flames. 

Although dots to the others, Ark could see them clearly as horsemen, mounted black-clad soldiers with spears and swords carrying torches that they were using to burn the-

“WAKE UP! WAKE UP! TO ARMS! TO ARMS!” The cry of a helper interrupted Ark’s train of thought.

*DING!!! DING!!! DING!!!*

A bell was rung, a bell Ark had only heard once when several saurians had approached the perimeter of the Estate. It was the emergency bell, alerting all militiamen, slaves, helpers, and overseers of an ongoing crisis.

“To the center! All Battle Thralls! Arm yourselves! ARM YOURSELVES!!” 

Ark’s eyes turned to several helpers rolling out wagons, carts filled with weapons that were usually only brought out during regimental training sessions when they were made to practice in unison.

“ON YOUR FEET!! ON YOUR FEET!! GET THE FUCK UP NOW!”

Immediately the doors of every barracks opened, Ark’s was no exception, every slave rushing out to the familiar call of the helpers as the screams and sound of battle began to grow louder and louder with each second that passed.

Ark and his entourage lept off the roof, racing toward the cart where they each grabbed a hold of a spear and were made to line up in formation.

Was this real?! Were they being attacked?! Who were these people?! What was going on?! 

Standing in line with the other slaves, Ark grimaced, the curtain of flames rising higher and higher as the blaze began to engulf and extend all across the manor.

“Stay in formation and prepare to march as you’ve been trained!” A helper barked as others rushed out in mismatched armor and gear, the defenders completely caught off guard.

“We’re… we’re really going into that?” Ark heard a slave murmur with another elbowing him and telling the kid to shut up. 

Truth be told, Ark didn’t blame the kid. Ark could see their aggressors in the distance. From their garments and lack of banners, they were either raiders or a night a raid, Ark betting on the latter being true due in part to the cavalrymen’s tactics. They weren’t running down fleeing people, but rather just setting fires to things before rushing out to make their presence known then doubling back to their main body. 

Raiders didn’t behave that way, meaning this was a coordinated attack by an army or some form of an official force. Immediately Ark turned his head to the left, eyeing the two sisters in formation who looked back at Ark, worry clear in their eyes. 

Ark gave them a determined nod, If worst came to worst, he knew what would have to do.

“MARCH!” 

As rehearsed, the unarmored slaves in their formations turned and began marching out of the barracks area into the main road, following the guidelines and instructions from their helpers. 

To his left and right, Ark could see the teens nearest to him shaking, their arms quivering as they did what they were trained to do despite their legs telling them to run. 

Suddenly a whistle sounded out from a distance, a loud whine that came from behind Ark’s formation and made his eyes widen. 

An enemy attack! This was a night raid! 

Ark spun, bumping into the unaware kid behind him as dozens of horsemen broke from the treeline and began charging toward them. 

“ABOUT FACE!” A helper cried in a shrill panic, signaling the slaves to turn, but between the formation of kids peeling into the road to avoid the fences, and the surprise attack, the reaction speed of the inexperienced child soldiers wasn’t enough to correctly respond to the sudden calvary rush. 

Pandemonium ensued, the riders in their toughened deerlings of war crushed through the ranks of the slave army, batting them away and driving a wedge straight through their mishappen formation. 

Most kids fled when faced with the prospect of a thousand-pound deerling bearing down on them, Ark was no exception. Oddly however, those that stood their ground whether due to bravery spurring them to hold their position or for fear locking their legs, both were spared, the horsemen seeming to be only interested in scattering the slaves and breaking apart their formation.

“FORM A SQUARE!”

“FORM A SQUARE!”

“FORM A HEKSUIO-”

The helpers began to rattle off, attempting to regain a semblance of order from the demoralized children running in every direction. However the helpers that made too much noise were targeted, cut down by the horsemen which only served to cripple the slave army’s morale and terrify the children. 

Suddenly Ark felt a tingle, an odd sensation in the chaos as if someone had wrapped him in a wet blanket.

Ark’s eyes widened, recognizing the sensation, someone was using a spell on him! A location spell judging from the way it wrapped around him.

But why?!

Immediately his eyes darted left and right, attempting to find the culprit through the flurry of flames, children screaming, and heavy calvary riding back and forth. 

“Six-two-six! Six-two-six!” 

Ark turned his head, facing Thirty-Four who led a group comprised of Axel, Isa, and her sister to his position. 

“We have to get out of here! Come on!” Thirty-Four yelled, grabbing Ark’s hand to lead him away as several men in armor bearing the symbol of Constantine rushed towards the unknown assailants.

“Where are you all going?” Ark asked as he was dragged along with the teen rushing from the pandemonium. 

“Anywhere that isn’t here!” Isa yelled, his voice barely audible over the sounds of crying, panic screams, and metal clashing against metal.

Suddenly, a massive flame shot out into the open sky, dying what little remained of the blackened night sky orange and stopping Ark’s group in their tracks as they watched the Big House, the mansion that Lord Constantine called home suddenly explode from an unknown attack. 

“Roland above.”

“Oh”

“No way”

“Th-th-you’ve- youve got to be kidding me.” Thirty-Three let out along with the rest of their group, the girl in shock that the building that had been like a natural landmark to the slaves had suddenly gone up in flames. That was where the master lived. Where he kept all his riches and secrets with only a select few slaves having the honor, nay! The privilege of serving the master in his home.

“NO!” Ark screamed, his jaw agape as he watched the building that was not only home to the man known as Baron Constantine, but also the home of Ninety-Nine and Fifteen being engulfed in flames that were too big to be non-magical. 

“NOOOOOOOOOOO!”