Chapter 444: What happened

It happened ten days after Zaos had left his base. Milliendra and Aleni were in their room doing the training to control Milliendra’s power to steal mana. Alen suddenly got up when she felt the presence of one of the previous assassins approaching, and then she raised her guard when she noticed that it was Nakin’s presence, and he suddenly stopped at the entrance of the camp. Some of the mercenaries approached to see what was going on, and they found him bleeding from his left shoulder. Aleni left Milliendra in the room and went to check what happened before a commotion could take place. Still, soon she understood that it was impossible…

“Aleni… run, they are coming,” Nakin said.

Before she could ask who was coming, Nakin fell unconscious. The mercenaries quickly carried Nakin to inside the base and used some potions on him while others tended his wounds. Meanwhile, Aleni gave orders for everyone to stay on high alert since an attack was about to take place.

“Mommy, did something happen?” Milliendra asked.

Aleni wondered what he should tell to Milliendra, with Zaos away, things would get pretty complicated… still, she couldn’t let her get anxious.

“It is okay, just stay inside our room and don’t open the window or the door unless you hear my voice, okay?” Aleni asked, and then she smiled. “I will be back soon… don’t open the door to anyone, okay?”

Milliendra nodded, but she still looked quite shocked. She was a kid who had good instincts, after all. So, she could tell when others were nervous around here. The kids had just had their dinner, but Aleni could feel that they noticed that something was happening, so even though they should go to their beds, they began to look through the windows of their rooms to see what was happening. Getting angry and snapping at them wouldn’t help, but Aleni decided to increase the perimeter where the mercenaries would work. If a battle is going to start, it might as well start outside the town.

Things would have been easier if the former assassins weren’t scouting in the port towns and ready to work if some ships from Vezar appeared. Still, in the end, Aleni was certain that she could make it do with the five hundred mercenaries they had with them. After all, the number of enemies shouldn’t be high… the vast majority of the mercenaries were preparing for the war, after all. There was no way Drannor would succeed in making a large force invade without anyone noticing it… unfortunately, a large force came, and it didn’t come from another country.

“What is that?” One of the mercenaries asked when he saw people carrying torches coming from three directions.

Eventually, Aleni felt the presence and the approach of three armies of five hundred soldiers. Considering that they were coming from the west, east, and north, those numbers didn’t make sense those numbers… unless… they were mercenaries of the land.

“Use the magic crossbows! Don’t think of preserving the magic stones!” Aleni shouted. “We can’t let them approach the town!”

The odds were against them. A battle where the enemy had three times more soldiers wasn’t something that Aleni could plan on winning without making any sacrifices… not to mention, Zaos trained his mercenaries, but he never made them wage war. Experience-wise, they couldn’t be compared to battle-hardened mercenaries.

“I… can’t let them take Milliendra,” Aleni said and then grabbed two short swords that she carried but never used before. “I will have to return to the old days… I am sorry, Ameria. I am sorry, Zaos…”

Aleni could imagine what kind of life Milliendra would live if she were to be captured there… she would rather die than let that happen. Considering that the town was surrounded, not even Aleni could expect to abandon everything and run away with Milliendra… she will eventually find out about the burden that she received on her birth. Knowing that, Aleni clenched her teeth and began to emit a bloodlust that even made her allies flinch.

“August, Leo! Take one hundred men each and delay the advance of the groups in the west and east side!” Aleni shouted and then dashed toward the first group of mercenaries. “The rest of you: Follow me… we will have to fight some low-lives that betrayed the trust of our leader.”

It didn’t fit her fighting style to lead others. Still, Aleni did that for the first time because in Zaos’ absence, the mercenaries needed a figure to follow, even more so when the odds were against them. Fortunately, the enemies didn’t even bring horses, probably because they hid among the ordinary folk of many towns in the region, so Aleni would be able to show them something beyond insane. The mercenaries never heard that Zaos had a powerful female officer, so they underestimated the woman running without armor and with two swords in hand. Still, then when she was ten meters away from them, Aleni disappeared.

In the next moment, with her superhuman speed, Aleni cut the throat of three soldiers and quickly dashed toward the most powerful presence she could feel. The mercenaries saw the confusion among the enemies and pulled the crossbows, and made bolts rain over them. Aleni’s allies had two hundred magic crossbows, so they caused quite a lot of damage against the first army before their first magic stones needed to be recharged. In a couple of minutes, around four hundred mercenaries were killed. Still, then Aleni’s allies began to be massacred when the other two armies began to attack them from the sides. She had sent some soldiers to stop them for a while, but in the end… they didn’t last for more than a couple of minutes…

Following Aleni’s lead, the mercenaries fought until the last men… they felt like it was time to repay the favor to the people who gave them a new home and job. Still, only their feelings hadn’t been enough to grant them the victory.