Enemy at the gate

Omiros was incensed with indignation and he ordered the men to march twice as hard throughout the day and night. They rested only about 6 hours a day. By Omiros's calculations, he thought they would've already met the Abalonians after a three day march. However the scouts did not see any marching Abalonian army and there was no sign there ever was a marching army. Yet they were clouded by their wrath. After four days of heavy marching, they arrived in the region of Abalonia. The landscape had changed dramatically over the last few days as they marched east. They encountered deserts, thirsty forests, and dried up rivers along the way.

At the heat of day they descended on a village of Abalonia and to everyone's surprise, it was deserted. The villagers had fled in such a hurry that there were valuables all around the village.

Flavia was stoked when they encountered the empty village. His plan was unfolding nicely. He chuckled and bawled.

"Their army must have heard that our numerous fierce warriors are advancing and they ran back to their cities, these cowards."

"We will route them and put them to the sword."

The men roared clamorously as one voice, all chanting for the death of Abalonians. Their confidence was boosted by the empty village. They could already taste victory. After they plundered the ghost village, they swept through other villages on their way to Abalon until darkness crept in.

They were only half a day's march from the capital when they settled at the village of Suganuma and there they spent the night. They made sure not to eat or drink anything they found in the villages as they feared for food poisoning.

Something about this events were a bit strange to Omiros. It just wasn't adding up.

'How could a man like King Akimitsu act so stupidly yet he is regarded as one of the wisest kings to ever live?' He thought to himself as they were gathered around a large fire.

He marched against us, killed our delegation and retreated back to hide in his city? None of this made sense but he didn't know they were tricked into doing despicable acts to peaceful Abalonians. As he was deep in thoughts, Flavia stood up holding a jar of wine. There were jugs around but he decided to drink from a jar. That's how rapturous and buoyant he was.

"Our enemies saw our large armies and ran back to hide behind their wives, hoping they would protect them from us."

"They provoked us into a war and they have hidden inside their fortresses."

"What they don't know is, they have trapped themselves inside their city."

"We will surround and destroy them completely." He bawled like a mad man and the drunk men erupted into boisterous roars, spilling wine all over the thirsty ground. This loud cheers motivated him even more. He felt like an evil mastermind who couldn't be stopped by anyone.

"We will make their strongest warriors our slaves."

"Their women and children will serve us and we will take whatever is valuable to them."

"All their livestocks and storages will be ours to enjoy."

"Now rest for we have a long day tomorrow."

After his speech the men went to their tents while the high ranks lodged in the village houses of wood and grass thatching. They slumbered, thinking about cruelty they wanted to do to the Abalonians. Victory was just a sleep away.

As it dawned crisp and clear, the allied forces continued their march to Abalon. They had rested as much as they needed and by the long shadows of the afternoon they could see the city of Abalon. It's walls spanning as far as they could see.

Most of the buildings were made of wood except for th wall, the castles at the inner district, library, cisterns and a citadel. They were built of baked clay and mortar bricks. The King's castle was surrounded by smaller castles belonging to his bodyguards, valiant warriors, high officials and nobles.

The rest of the city had beautiful wooden houses rised slightly off the ground and had tatami flooring, sliding doors, and a ring of wooden verandas that encircled the houses.

The king of Abalon, king Akimitsu Gushiken had been reinforcing the walls and the city gates since he heard of the advancing army. He was distraught but he tried to do everyone that had to be done to keep the Allied troops from invading the city. The defense shinobi mages built magical barriers around the wall to negate any long range magical attacks.

At first King Akimitsu thought his unexpected guests were the reason behind the attack. Palesa and her royal family who accompanied her to Adonis fled to Abalon. They didn't have enough provisions to go all the way to Pilanesburg at the southern most part of the continent. They traversed to Abalon and just as they were about to leave for Botswania, the allied forces marched into the Abalonian territory.

She told King Akimitsu about how lethal the O toxin was, she vouched for its fast acting effect. She also told him the reason behind the war just as Alexis had told her. It was a valid reason but invading Abalon for the Botswanian princess whom they let escape was no reason at all. He knew they were after the food storages.

The bells rang across the city of Abalon as the allied forces took their battle positions. The Onisians were on one side with their red banners and the Adonisian on another side with their purple banners. The allied forces were as many as the grain in the Adonisian storages and whole city of Abalon was seized with fear. They had never seen such a large army. And it wasn't the size of the army that was mostly troubling them, the toxin in their blood was.

King Akimitsu was in his palace as the bells echoed throughout the city. He summoned his two sons, Daniel and Raphael, together with Palesa and her family.

There was also Alexis's little sister, Princess Leonor who had been sold to King Akimitsu by King Loannis. Her aunt, princess Victoria, the younger sister of Loannis, accompanied her to Abalon. She couldn't bear letting her niece go alone to a strange kingdom alone. She had taken care of her ever since in King Akimitsu's palace.

The panicked and shaken royal guests of Abalon and the two sons of King Akimitsu made their way to the living room. Fear was written all over their faces. Even a legally blind person could see it from afar.

"Don't be afraid of them." King Akimitsu allayed.

"The moment you let fear dwell in you then you're done for."

"Fear is the enemy, a greater threat than the men at our gates."

"Don't let it consume you."

Spoken like a man with wisdom. Fear is indeed the worst enemy. It drastically reduces the chances of survival to 0.

"And don't lose heart." He continued.

"Because you will all survive this as long as you follow my instructions.

"Haruki will lead you to the east tunnels."

"You will escape the city through the secret gate and head towards the mountains."

They took their provisions and Haruki and other servants led them to the tunnels at the basement of the palace. The tunnel led to a temple east of the castle. As they were inside the tunnels a loud thud deafened them and the tunnel violently shook. The massive blast and the shaking of the tunnels made them forget the speech King Akimitsu just gave them. They were terrified. Palesa couldn't help but feel bad for herself. Just a few days ago she was being married to a prince, then the prince died in her arms and they had to flee for their lives. The place they fled to, got attacked too and this time the chances of survival were way slimmer than before.

They could only speculate about what could cause such a huge sound and a massive shock wave that nearly caved in the tunnels.

Moments before they heard the sound, Abalonian warriors rushed towards the west gate to defend it. The army commander, Akinori, bellowed out loud.

"Today we fight for our country, we fight for our wives, we fight for our children."

"We will successfully defend our our city."

"No one will cross this gate."

Soon as he finished his speech, he raised his katana to the sky and the warriors shouted vociferously. As they quickly went to take their positions, Alan, one of the king's bodyguards sensed some slight energy from above and it was closing in faster than his mind could process. He swiftly jumped backwards while glancing up and a meteor narrowly missed him as it crashed on the gate. A loud thud echoed around the city and a cloud of dust covered the streets. The magical barriers could not stop the devastating power of the meteor, let alone slow it.

Alan was blown into the air by the powerful shockwave and he crashed into several wooden houses, all falling apart as he was cannoned into them. They had spent the last few days fortifying the gates and walls and now there was an enormous hollow hole where the gate was. And the gate watchmen perished together with it.

The cloud of dust was the perfect smokescreen for the invading allied forces. They charged into the city at once, intent on killing and destroying the city.

As the rest of the king's bodyguards joined in the battle, a smaller meteor hit the south gate, creating another massive hole. And another unit surged in the city. When the meteor hit, Daniel, Raphael and company were almost at the end of the tunnel. Earth poured down on their faces as the tunnels warned of a sudden collapse. luckily they reached the basement of the temple just in time before it caved in.

The tunnel connected the temple with the palace. Now they had to make their way through the streets to the secret gate. They made their way outside the temple and it was like they were in a different city they had never seen before. Besides the clouds of dust, there were dark smokes of burning houses and the whole city was in total chaos.

Haruki leapt up into the air and landed on the roof of the temple. He glanced towards the west gate, and within the dense smoke and dust, there were flares of fire and sparks flying all over, signaling intense fights in the streets. He looked towards the south and an army was sweeping through the streets towards the east wall like wild fire, where the secret gate is. He jumped down and landed next Daniel.

"We have to hurry or we will be overtaken by the enemy. There is little resistance from the south so they are advancing rapidly."

The already terrified group of kids, teenagers and a few adults humped towards the east wall. It wasn't too far but on this day it was as far as Onis. And the heavy provisions they were carrying, were an undesired added load.

They are high born so they had never carried such heavy loads before. They feared their knees could buckle anytime. The load coupled with fear was a recipe for disaster and they already looked worse than the servants who carried four times their weight.

The servants soldiered on because everything they had with them was worth toting to the mountains.

As the fights were raging on, they made their way across one of the main streets. There was great havoc and tumult, everyone was screaming and yelling in panic and confusion. The noises were as wild as their movements. There was no way to tell where the danger was as the people ran in all directions. Most of them though, were going north and east and so was the army that infiltrated through the South Gate.

Daniel and Raphael had never been this terrified in their lives. They were too young to fight and all they could think of was their father, whom they were leaving behind. They knew the city was going to fall. That is why they were vacating the city in the first place.

As Daniel was ruminating about this gloomy situation, 3 Onisian men appeared from the distant south, charging towards their position. They were clearly not Abalonians and it only meant one thing. They were out for blood.