Chapter 39: The Battle of the Shrines!

Stephanno had divided us into three contingents. Dominic and Stella were nowhere to be found. I hope that at least that they were hiding somewhere safe. Given Dominic’s shock , he was in no position to fight. That moment when I told him that I needed a divorce, he looked like I had just pulled his entire world away from him. I shook my head, then got on my black horse.

Stephanno already stood there in the front in his white horse, his sword in one hand and a spear in the other. I nudged my horse and soon I was standing there right next to him. He turned and gave me a brief nod before turning back to his second in command, Ronald to ready the cannons. The ships were almost at the entrance. Stephanno raised his arm and immediately every single one of the men fell silent. He blew the whistle, which was hung around his neck in a black thread sharply and immediately a large thud erupted. The cannons had started firing. The barricade was not removed so I couldn’t see what was happening outside but I hoped that our cannons at least hit one ship. How the hell did he train his army to respond to his whistles?

Everyone stood there, holding their breath. Ronald caught up to us and winked at me. Oh right, he was the general of Stephanno’s army, of course he should be at the forefront.
“Never had a dull moment since you appeared sweetie” he said, then raised his hammer into the air and gave out a deafening, earth shattering growl. The guardians responded it to with their own valiant shouts.

Everyone quieted down when we heard the noise of something hitting our gates. I think they were hitting it with tree trunks by the sound of it. The barricades gave away after the fifth hit and everyone got ready, their weapons raised. The tree trunks hit the the gates once, twice, thrice, then it fell open with a bang. Twelve men in red emerged, carrying a huge tree trunks in their hands. They dropped the tree trunk into the ground and let out a cheer as they realized they had succeeded .

As I peered closely, I saw around twenty more men emerging after them. That doesn't seem right. I looked at Stephanno confused. We had seen a huge fleet of ships…..they didn’t need that much ship to carry twenty to thirty people.
“Some have already sneaked in” I said to Stephanno who nodded back at me, apparently having drawn the same conclusion.
“The woods”, both of us said at the same time.
He looked back and forth torn.

“Go, the shrines are important too. Ronald and I have got this….Gooo” I said.
Ronald bowed to Stephanno ,acknowledging his approval. Stephanno held my eyes for a split of second before taking off like the wind, an entire legion following after him.


I guess, he was worried about me but I was not worried about him at all. He was a god when in battle, invincible. I had no doubt that he would be holding up fine. I sighed ,then locked in on the men approaching us with their swords raised. I kneaded my horse, urging him to move forward just as Ronald and the others did the same. Divide and conquer…..Dividing us was a pretty smart move by the Blood Sect. Even when I looked at them I felt no ounce of sympathy for them even though they were actually my people ,technically.

I ducked in the nick of time as a spear flew right over my head and hit the guy behind me. I winced. One man down already. I took out my knifes and started throwing them , making sure that each one hit its mark. I had left the Urumi behind because of my dad’s warning that if I use it before I was completely prepared , I would just end up hurting myself rather than my enemy……Speaking of my dad, I don’t see him anywhere. He is not the type to sit out a fight. What if we come across each other in battle? I am not sure if I can fight him…after all he was my dad…


The man in the red robes who wore dark black eyeliner on his eyes, was giving me the stinky eyes as he threw his lasso at me. I desperately nudged my horse to jump, but in vain. The lasso caught hold of one of my horse’s legs and we flipped over. I hit my shoulder hard on my way down . I winced as I got back up, rinsing the sand of my pants. I looked back at the horse with pity. I don’t have enough time to take care of it. Three guys were already ganging me up. I looked for Ronald and I saw him having a one on one with a huge block.

I narrowed my eyes at the guys circling me like vultures rounding up their prey. All of them were much bigger than me and I had lost my knifes. I swore out loud then it stuck me. I still have a dagger…the one on my wrist. I gently touched the red ruby in the middle and it glowed as it unwrapped itself from my hand. I have never used this before. Well, first time for everything.

But before I could aim, the whimsical dude leapt at me with his sword raised, I immediately raised the arm holding the dagger in self defense. I braced myself for the incoming hit. Its okay, I will be healed in a couple of minutes anyway. But the hit never came. I looked up in surprise and saw my surprise mirrored in his face. His sword was melting from the point where it touched my dagger. I grinned. Clearly my crystal and gold dagger which I thought was of no use had certain tricks up its sleeve. He let go of the sword with a yelp, then kicked me in the shins. I groaned as I felt the full impact of the hit. The other one hit me with his hammer, just as I was getting up. I felt blood dripping down to my face and swore.

The guys loomed over me smirking. One of them bent down and gripped my neck tightly. I immediately kicked him on the back of his head and he immediately rolled over me wincing in pain. I got up and for a few seconds I was lost cause everything was blurry. I couldn’t make out anything. The guy’s smirking faces were slipping in and out. I blinked my eyes rapidly as I felt the pain in my head slowly heal and my vision gaining its focus back.

The tall one clearly mistaking me to be dizzy, came at me straight without keeping his guard up. I ducked his punch and hit him right in the stomach. The one whose sword melted earlier raised his leg, aiming a kick but I blocked it midway and plunged my dagger into his leg. He howled into the air as I saw his flesh sizzling where my dagger had been plunged. He immediately fell to the ground clutching his leg in pain.

“Jessica save the kid. I got these two”, Christopher yelled at me as he took in my place and started parring with the other two. The kid? What kid? I looked around and I saw a small boy around eight years old right in the middle of the battle. What the fuck? Stephanno had already evacuated the citizens to the Earth Sect. How did this boy end up here?

I immediately rushed towards him.
“Hey, little guy, what are you doing here? Where are your parents?” I asked him in a soothing tone, trying not to scare him off.
“My friends…my friends…they took my friends, my little sister too” He sobbed .
His baby hands clutched my hand tightly. It broke my heart as I saw the tiny eyes well up with tears.
“Who took them?” I asked.

“The red people blocked our car on our way to the safe place……Mum....my friends all were taken. They killed my daddy…My daddy told me to hide so I did” He wailed into my arms.
I let out an audible gasp. One of our cars had been blocked on the way to the Earth Sect and the people in it were being held hostages? Damn the blood sect and their conniving tricks. They had already split us. We can’t afford to split again to search for the villagers.

“Jess, what’s the matter?” I looked around saw Christopher, wiping out his blood on his sleeve while peering at the kid curiously.
I saw that he had already taken care of the two men. They were laying on the floor dead. I looked at the kid with panic. All this bloodshed was not the scene for a kid. I took the kid in my arms and I took Christopher’s arm in my other hand and made my way out of the battle area. Christopher raised an eyebrow in surprise but without a word followed me. As we reached the mansion and was way out of the battle area I quickly filled Christopher up on what had happened.

He bent down and asked fondly to the little boy, “Do you know where they took them?”
The little boy shook his head and I sighed. How are we gonna find them?
“Follow me” Christoper said and we went into the mansion.

An elderly female came running at us. I guess she was a nurse from the infirmary who had stayed back to nurse the wounded. She immediately dragged me, scared out of her mind seeing the dried up blood in my face but I was already healed. I gently took a step back out of her embrace, then gave the boy to her.
“Keep him safe” I said stoically.
She nodded frantically then both of them went towards the infirmary. I turned to look at Christopher and said, “I am guessing you have a plan?”
"I have good news and bad news" He said, wiping the blood of his sword.
"The good news is that Dominic had made me put a tracker in the vans. He doesn't trust anyone....."
"And the bad news?" I asked, a queasy knot forming in my stomach.

"We have to go back to the Fire Sect....where the Blood Sect runs its main operations from .........We will be walking right into a trap..............."