Real battle I

"Stop him! Thief! Thief!" The whole group was standing before the hotel and they all turned their attention to the sudden female voice.

"Can I go? Can I? Please!" Us looked at Valis when he saw a man running on the other side of the street.

"Of course!"

"Wow! He looked so happy!" said Relf, while Us already disappeared from his spot.

"Well he was already bored here... this one was actually good luck for us, or he would get an idea to train again,"

"Oh, hope not,"

"Look, he is back already," Steve laughed, seeing the girl receiving her purse from him in fear.

"What did you do with the thief Us?"

"He is sleeping,"

"Phaha! You look like a kid getting candy!"

"It was nothing,"

"Hey! Did you moved from your position?" a yell could be heard from several meters away.

"Oh boy," Relf said, trying to ignore it.

"Are you retarded? You had your orders!" a guard with higher rank came to them and started to lecture them. They were all silent and let him yell. After all, they could not speak up to him and he wasn't that much higher, so just looking afraid was enough to make him happy.

"If I see this again..." he was already on his way when an explosion shook the whole street. In seconds smoke shoot out into the air several blocks away from them.

"What the..." they all shiver and looked at the smoke in disbelief.

"Attack?" Us smiled, while everybody else covered their eyes. People around panicked and run away.

"You two stay here, you two come with me!" the guard ordered them, but Velis was not listening.

"Steve, I saw you and master make something similar, but smaller... what is that?" he asked calmly.

"Probably a gun powder, If they had enough to make such an explosion they know how to make it and might have much more. It's a powder that explodes when it is lit by a fire," Steve replied, thankful for Velis's attitude.

"What are we going to do?" Relf asked.

"You are going to listen to me! Damn it! We need to go help the people!" the guard yelled now red with anger.

"Calm down, it wasn't a civilian area, it was a storage building! You should know that you live in this city longer than me!" Velis looked around.

"Relf, high ground! Give me a better picture!"

"Roger!" Relf turned around and run inside the inn.

"You! Do you know where other squads are positioned?" Velis asked the soldier.

"How dare to..." another explosion could be heard, but it was further away, so they only heard the roar of a collapsing building.

"It is an attack!" Us draws his big sword and slowly comes into the middle of the now-empty street.

"Just don't go too far away," Velis ordered.

"They will come here," Us replied and tighten his grip.

"What the hell are you doing? If this is an attack then we need to go to the barracks for..."

"Shut up! If they could attack two places like this then they have a lot of men inside already, barracks are not exactly hidden, the main battle should be there and..."

"The gate," Steve finished Velis's sentence.

"It doesn't matter, I am still your superior! You damn brats training under a captain doesn't make you better than us!"

"Fine, talk," said Valis, but he obviously wasn't listening to him and was lost in his own thoughts. Steve only checked his belongings and was ready to leave. He looked at his friends, but they were all busy.

"There are several fires. It looks like they attacked some random places," Relf yelled from the roof.

"What kind of places?"

"Storage buildings, one of the bridges, the smaller marketplace..."

"Oh god, there must have been hundreds of people there..."

"Bridge?" Velis asked after a few seconds of silence.

"Yes, the closest one,"

"They are coming!" Us said preparing for a fight.

"How many?"

"More than five," Relf yelled from the roof.

"Velis, we can't fight them!" Steve said worriedly.

"How can you tell all that?" the guard was really getting confused, but Steve was surprisingly calm, Velis was talking in his normal voice and everybody was in the same mood.

"Us, let's back of," Steve said to him and tossed a small ball that made a smokescreen on the street.

"But, enemies," he says disappointed.

"Let's go inside," Us listened to Steve and they locked the door behind them. Several citizens were inside and Velis ignored them.

"We need more information! I remembered the city layout, but I need the map!" he said.

"I'll fetch it!" Relf yelled from the staircase, meanwhile, the soldier started to explain to the citizen what was going on.

"Us, are you alright?" Velis asked his friend.

"Yes, but I cannot hear them now,"

"Be on guard, this is our first fight,"

"T-there is something I would like to share with you guys," Steve said awkwardly.

"Steve? What is it?" Velis looked surprised to hear Steve stutter.

"Master told me not to tell you, only when it is necessary, but the gun powder can be used to make guns. Weapons that are very much like crossbows, but they use a small explosion to shoot a metal pellet strong enough to go through plate armor,"

"What? Explain in more detail," Steve was glad, that Velis wasn't angry just curious. He told him quickly about guns and muskets. Meanwhile, the guard calmed the civilians and came to them not so angry. Relf also brought the map and told them what places were burning.

"You asked about troops' positions, right? Give me the chalk. They should be here, but after the explosions, they would move towards them.

"I see, it's too random," Velis said scratching his head.

"Don't force yourself too much, it's not your job to see the enemy tactics. Focus on surviving and helping civilians," Steve reminded Velis who nodded.

"I think they want us to move towards the explosions, so it is good we didn't," Steve added and took a wine bottle from behind the bar.

"Why the bridge though? It cuts our way to the market which was the only target with a lot of civilians, but the barracks are still on this site and the gate is closed to the second bridge anyway,"

"Diversion?"

"They are here!" Us yelled and soon several shots could be heard as they fly through the wooden door. Us wasn't stupid and listened to Steve talk about guns, so he was prepared and jumped to the side. He was still too slow, so they still bruised him and he fell on one knee.

Velis and Relf ran outside and both attacked with their sword before even thinking. However, the enemies were all further than they expected and now at least seven grown men in strange orange worn-out uniforms took out their swords.

"Seven enemies!" Velis yelled

"It doesn't matter!" the soldier ran past them and attacked the first enemy with his greatsword. The enemy blocks it and two others try to attack him but are both stopped by Relf and Steve. Steve just now realized what he is doing and it made him lose focus and the enemy kicked him in the guts.

"What are you doing?" yelled Velis and the enemy fall down after a dagger burrowed into his neck.

"Sorry,"

"Agh!" Relf killed his opponent, but the other four enemies rush them.

"We need to retreat! Let's..." Velis yelled and Steve was ready to use another smoke bomb, but a sudden roar made them all stop and let Us run at the staggered enemies. Like a raging bull, he ran through their rank and allows the soldier to see an opening on his enemy.

"Or not..." Velis was pushed backed by him as well and he quickly stood up.

Two enemies decided to aim their muskets, but Steve and Relf attacked them so one didn't have time to pull the trigger, and the second missed after they both got hit with the weapon. Since they both have to use muskets and not swords they were less comfortable.

Meanwhile, Us ran with his glaive to help the soldier, who got himself injured from now facing two enemies. He kneeled down and let Us swing with his long weapon and cut two enemies, who tried to block but were not fast enough. Then he turned and easily killed Relf's opponent by thrusting his glaive through his guts. That gave Steve the opportunity to slash his careless foe and watch, the giant scar on the man's face. He screamed in pain, only for a second since Relf quickly silenced him.

"We need to treat your wounds" Relf came to Us and helped him stand up.

"Let's go inside!" Velis ordered them, but the civilians started to protest.

"They are right, they somehow knew we went inside and prepared for us. We will leave after we take care of his wounds," the soldier explained to them after he closed the door behind himself. Us laid down on a table and Relf quickly came with the first kit. Velis came back to study the map, meanwhile, the rest started to build up a barricade.

"We should go to the barracks," said Velis, and the soldier only rolled his eyes.

"I just can't see what else we can do," Velis looked annoyed and Steve didn't like that idea. Going to the gate and leaving sounded much better.

"Velis, can I talk about something?" Steve looked around to make sure that nobody could hear them.

"I would rather leave through the gate..."

"Run? So soon?"

"You know why I joined the guardians... I don't want to fight,"

"Steve, stop that! How can I trust you If you think only about leaving?" Velis looked angry, but Steve expected that.

"I will stick with you since you are my friends, but I have no need to die for these random people,"

"I won't try to do anything stupid, don't worry," Velis argued back, but before Steve could reply Us stood up, his wounds treated.

"Let's go!"

"Can we use muskets?" Relf asked.

"I am not sure, they are hard to load..." said Steve, after they go around the corpses. He was nervous and the sting of blood moved his stomach. The scream of the enemy was still loud in his head.

"Let's move the corpses, so they are not so easily spotted. That smokescreen is getting sparse!"

"Do we have to?" Relf was also white, even more than Steve since he actually killed, but Velis and the soldier did that themselves.

"Steve, you said that we need to cover ourselves all the time, right? We will use that house there and come through it," Velis starts to order how they should move. The higher-ranked soldier was silent, he must have accepted Velis as their strategist. They moved through houses, or closer to walls. The streets were empty, people hide inside, but voices could be heard near the burning buildings.

"Stop!" Velis whispered to the rest. They were close to the barracks, but were in a small alley in front of them was too much open space. Steve looked there as well and saw a battle. Well more like a slaughter.

"What the fuck!" Velis backed off to stay hidden.

"T-that is impossible!" the soldier was in shock. Everybody started to sweat in fear and Steve barely forced himself to look at the battle once more. The number of corpses filled the air with the smell of flesh and blood. There were several gunmen on roofs around the barracks and dozens of men were killing the few guardians protecting the insides.

"We... we can attack the people on the roofs from below!" the soldier started to think of a strategy.

"It doesn't matter... we lost..." Velis sighed and looked at Steve.

"The gate will have a similar battle and it is more important than the barracks!" Velis said and ordered a retreat, but the soldier was not moving.

"No... I-I am going to help them," he responded.

"You have no..." Velis tried to convince him but was yelled at.

"Shut up! I lived here for years! You have no idea! No idea!" Velis turned to face him.

"At least find the scattered troops..."

"Yeah, Yeah I won't be stupid enough to go alone..."

"Good luck!" Us took both of the soldier's shoulders and shook them a bit.