Ten dark cloaked figures silently dashed from one shadow to another trying to hide from the sliver of moonlight that lit up the area which was quite hard in an open field.
They stopped some distance from a tall wooden weave fence that stood some distance in front of the settlement’s main wall.
“We need to do this quickly. Over the fence and up onto the walls next to the gatehouse so we can open the gate and then disable it. Don’t send the signal flare to the main force until we have completed this task,” said a screechy female voice.
“Skreemi, we know. Let’s just get this done and over with,” said another female in a dark cloak.
The group darted forward, running across the short opening that had been cleared out all around the settlement in front of the wooden weaved fence.
With nimble movements aided by their special boots and other equipment they wore, the group was able to silently reach the wooden fence and climb up and over the fence dropping down onto the ground on the opposite side.
Skreemi immediately froze, sweat appeared on her forehead in great quantity.
Several large dark furry bodies that blended in with the dark night were peacefully sitting around a young woman with furry cat ears and listening to her talk.
With the sudden appearance of a new guest showing up right next to them the large dark furry creatures stood up blocking Skreemi’s view of the young woman.
The large golden eyes of the dark furry creatures stared back at the new guests looking deep into their souls.
Along with the large furry creatures, a least two dozen heavily armored furry soldiers rushed forward to surround the young woman.
“Oh shi…” Skreemi could not finish her sentence. She looked down to see a pair of daggers sticking out of her chest from behind before she shattered into hundreds of light particles.
The death of their leader caused the rest of the dark cloaked people to start crazily launching attacks at the charging dark-furred creatures, who when lit up by the flying skills for a few seconds, looked to be frightening nightmare creatures which further distressed the cloaked guests.
Mileena used the body of a demigod she grabbed hold of to take the brunt of the attacks aimed at her.
“Stop! Don’t hit me, I’m wearing my rare gear!” shouted the female demigod.
The other demigods did not listen and bombarded the body hoping to get to Mileena.
With such a large barrage of skills, the demigod shield was turned into hundreds of lights leaving Mileena without cover for a few seconds which caused her to take a few hits.
“Yap!”
Luckily several of the skills were blocked by Fluffball’s large ice-armored body which slammed into the lightly armored guests and tore them apart along with the rest of the large furry nightmare creatures.
The sudden commotion erupting below the settlement’s town walls caused the guards and everyone inside to go on high alert.
***
“Why are they taking so long?” asked a male demigod as they waited far out of sight of the settlement looking at the sky for the signal.
“They better hurry up. We need to get this done while the settlement’s main force is gone.”
“Wait… Skreemi just died!”
“What!”
“The entire infiltration team was wiped out.”
“How? Isn’t the settlement supposed to be nearly empty since they sent an army towards the idiots?”
“I don’t know. We’ll have to send more scouts to see what is going on. The others died too fast to send us any information on the settlement.”
***
Akira and those that had gone with him on the bandit hunt, arrived back at the settlement as the morning sun was rising for a new day.
The fact that they had been running for nearly a whole day along with the short battle the night before meant they were not in the best shape to fight an all-out war. But with the help of the blue candies, they could ward off the sleepiness and aching muscles long enough to take care of whatever came their way.
Akira looked around and saw the settlement was still intact with no army surrounding it.
“Burrruuuu,” the goblin’s patrolling the top of the walls noticed Akira and his group and let everyone know of their return.
Akira went directly to the town hall building and sat down to listen to Mileena, Varbu, and Gobbers explain what had happened while he was away.
“I see, so it was the demigods again. It was lucky that we managed to take care of such a problem quickly.”
“Yap!” said Fluffball proudly.
“Yes, you did good,” said Akira, rubbing the miniature Fluffball’s head.
“We really need to do something about these sneaky demigods. I’ll have to have Klyn and the other shamen look into it.”
The four of them spent another ten minutes setting up plans for the defense of the settlement if and when it was attacked again by the demigods.
With that finished, Akira, the royal guards, and Orc warriors who were all exhausted, were able to take a short nap.
***
Akira was awoken by the sounds of war horns when the sun had nearly risen all the way to the center of the sky.
He hurriedly splashed some lukewarm water on his face from the washbasin next to his cot before he donned his cape over the armor that he had slept in.
He quickly made his way out of the temporary tent and headed towards the settlement’s gatehouse.
Dolph and Vilkas followed by his side along with Fluffball.
Mileena, Varbu, and Prince Gobbers were already waiting on top of the gatehouse looking out towards the open field.
“What’s going on?” asked Akira.
Mileena pointed to an approaching small group of mounted knights holding a white flag that was carried by a man in shining white armor that looked more ornamental than durable.
The small cavalry force stopped in front of the woven wooden fence and looked up to the gatehouse where several people had already gathered waiting to see what the knights wanted.
“I have heard that the leader of Kodria is here! I would like to speak to him!” shouted the white armored Knight.
“Who are you?” asked Akira.
“Ah… please excuse my impoliteness of not introducing myself. I am the Knight Roli Rover, and my fellow knight companions behind me are Ting, Ding, Ling, and Ming,” said Roli Rover, pointing out each of his four companions as he introduced them.
“Why do you want to talk to Kodria’s leader?” asked Mileena, who was standing near Akira holding onto his arm.
“Beautiful young miss, I have an important letter to deliver to him.”
“From who?”
“An old female friend,” said Roli Rover. He held up a neat-looking leather pouch and pulled out an undamaged white letter with a red wax seal.
Mileena wanted to pinch Akira’s arm but it was covered in armor. The only thing currently not covered was his face so she poked his cheek hard.
Akira motioned for Dolph to go and take a few other soldiers to receive the letter.
Seeing this Roli Rover made a guess that he was indeed Kodria’s new duke.
Nothing suspicious happened as the hundreds of goblin archers all had their bows pointed at the knights while Roli Rover handed over the letter.
Dolph brought the letter to Akira. He turned to the side and used a small dagger to open the seal of the letter. As he unfolded the letter the name at the top of the letter made Akira groan with dread.
“Jezebel? Who is she?” asked Mileena.
“A childhood friend that went crazy,” was all Akira said as he began reading the letter.
The first part of the letter shocked him as he had no idea how she had found out that he had married Mileena.
The rest of the letter was confusing to understand and a bit out there. It read like some teens crazy love fanfiction.
From what was in the letter, he gathered that she was mad at Mileena for taking Akira from her and she claimed that she was now pregnant with Akira’s baby.
Reading this Mileena became angry and kicked Akira in the armored shin only to hop around holding her sore foot.
“Hey don’t look at me like that! I told you she’s crazy! None of this is true! How could I have gone to the other continent while I have been here the whole time?”
Seeing this interaction between the two, Roli Rover said, “Comrade, I support your love!”
“What are you still doing here?” asked Akira unhappy at being brought such a bomb of a letter.
“I have one last message to deliver. The guild BenDover will be taking this settlement a half hour past noon. You may surrender now or face a full assault. We will return later.”
With that, the cavalry left the area carrying their white flag fluttering in the wind.
