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Needles sighed, busy restringing her longbow-- an ill-timed bandit's swing had severed the string and nearly broke her weapon toward the end of the fight; Needles had only survived the encounter because he had failed to wear a codpiece, and before she stabbed him with his own sword, she'd kicked his testicles up into the approximate territory of her lower intestine.

Once her weapon was back in working condition, she joined her fellow Captain, weaving among her troops, whom she had ordered to search for any Penthean survivors in the households, and to see them fed and given safe passage out of the city until it could be secured.

"Mmm," he sighed, listening carefully to Deborah's idea. "... Yeah. I can get archers up on the walls to deal with most of the first wave, which means we'd be holding the lot of you in here doing nothing while the second wave got ready to hit us hard. I'm just... I'm also concerned about the planning," she muttered, thumping her boot against the cobbled street. "Mordache couldn't get all these bandits to work together, could they?"

"A-hem," said a voice from behind them. Ganon was doing his best not to loom, he really was-- but he was failing miserably. "I... may be able to shed some light on that. I spent a couple of weeks in a bandit stronghold a few years ago, in the cells. Very interesting story, actually," he added, instinctively plucking a few notes on his guitar, but he forced himself to stop, pressing his palm gently to the strings. "The bandits spoke about a group that sort of... governed all the others. They were griping about the tribute they had to pay... I believe they called the leader of that group the Serpent's Fang." Ganon had a good memory-- it's necessary when you make your living telling stories. "I don't know his real name, and I doubt they did either. But if anyone could get the bandits all together..." He closed his eye.

"I'd guess it's him. Which means we're dealing with... not just his bandits, but any group he could force to join his ranks along the way here. Given that Sentria is basically in a constant state of war between hundreds of bandit groups... we could be vastly outnumbered here."

He paused for a moment and added, "That said... I'd like to go into the desert. You'll need my support."

Hours passed and Drake's group had finally appeared in the distance, just close enough for soldiers in the towers and on the wall to see. The trueblade stepped forward with Viscen and looked out at Pentheus. The Learanians had been preparing for them. Their archers were on the lookout and had probably spotted them already. The exit that the kid had made had been blocked by debris, along with the gates that had been blown. Drake smirked. This was going to be a lot more of a challenge than it was the first time.

"Line up, bowmen!" he shouted. The bandits with gaudy bows fumbled about and lined up as quickly as they could. They knew it was bad to keep the Serpent Fang waiting. Drake looked over at Viscen and raised a brow. "That means you too, kid." When all the bowmen were ready, Drake paced down the line and returned beside Viscen, then looked back toward Pentheus. "Slaughter em'."

The bandits began to charge forward so that they could get in range to fire their bows. The axemen and nimble knife users followed behind and would charge at the entrances, then force their way passed the debris.

Drake patted Viscen on the shoulder. (he knew the kid would see it as a sign of approval, even though it wasn't) "You handle these guys for a while. I'll see ya later." Drake turned and began to walk away, followed by a good number of bandits.

It seemed that he was leaving the battle, after just arriving.

Needles stood, arms crossed, at the top of the highest sentry tower facing the desert. Pentheus was finally getting organized; she had put Crow and Large in charge of evacuating the few remaining civilians, and a dozen guardsmen were accompanying the fleeing citizens on the road to Eyris. Anyone who could fire a bow was lined up on the wall, and they had emptied the Pentheus armory of anything the bandits hadn't taken in order to equip them all. Down in the streets, men were boarding up holes in the wall, tossing furniture into shoddy, hastily-constructed barricades, and doing their best to block off streets and alleys the bandits could use to flank. Unfortunately, due to the Learanians' previous tactics used to get inside, simply lowering the portcullis on one of the gates was no longer an option. Needles was concentrating her forces at the western and northern gates.

She turned away from the desert, watching as furniture piled up in the streets, blocking off access routes in order to keep bandits on the main roads. She wanted to be sure the enemy was fighting on her terms. "One of two things will happen," she murmured to Lieutenant Cross, a recently-promoted halberdier. "I'm sure they'll try bows first, try to shoot over the wall and kill people on the other side. We've got the high ground on the wall, though, so our longbowmen can start hitting them first, and we'll keep our infantry up against the wall to keep them as safe as possible." She closed her eyes and exhaled slowly through her nose.

"After that, they'll try to come in. Bandits usually aren't too smart, but they're acting unusual, so I'm guessing they'll try both gates. Now, either... they'll send a large force to the north gate, since it was busted open, or they'll send their first wave to try and break through the west gate and try to get us to pull troops away from the north gate to deal with them."

"I... see, Captain." Lieutenant Cross shifted nervously. This whole business was new to her.

"I want you to oversee the north gate, along with Large." Technically, Needles should have used his real name in this situation, but more people recognized him as Large. "Archers on the wall as they approach, then down to the rooftops when they're nearly inside the city. Have pikers at the gates, with swordsmen spread out behind them. Understand?" She was leaning on the banister, once more facing the desert, watching as the mass of bandits gradually approached.

"Y-yes, ma'am!" Lieutenant Cross nervously saluted, then ran down the stairs, onto the top of the wall, and dashed along the ramparts on her way to the northern gate.

Needles closed her eyes. The bandits were getting closer, and were now nearly in range for the longbowmen.

"Ready, archers!" she shouted as only a drill sergeant can, letting her voice carry down to the eastern wall and watching as her men picked up their weapons, drew arrows from their quivers, and waited, watching.

Needles was pleased to see a large chunk of the bandits break off and turn back into the desert. "On my signal, you may fire at will!" she shouted before dashing down the stairs three at a time. She came out onto the wall and quickly climbed onto the arch above the west gate. In a matter of seconds, the expert sniper had her longbow drawn and strung, and nocked a heavy steel-tipped arrow.

The Amazonian guard captain waited as her troops fell silent, and the bandit horde resumed its march toward the city.
"Let not one of them through," she murmured, then raised her voice until all could hear her. "We will hold this line! For Learania; for her people! Let them come, and let them die in the sand like dogs! Our brothers fell reclaiming this city!" She was shouting at the top of her lungs now, over the dull, chanting roar as troops throughout the city prepared themselves for the coming hell. "They have not died for nothing! When night falls, we will hold this city, even if it must be awash in Sentrian blood!"

She could no longer be heard. The entire city was a roar of anticipation, and suddenly Needles lined up her bow to the sun, drew her arm back until the arrowhead barely passed the bow itself, and loosed her first shot into the air, arcing high over the earth, gleaming brightly.

With the heavy thump of hundreds of strings snapping at once, the sky above the bandit horde was filled with a deadly rain.

Learania was ready for another attack all along. When the bandits get in range, they all fire their long bows at once. That sucks for the Sentrians.

Bandits line up and fire their own volley and charge quickly forward. The back and middle of the charge have to worry about the arrows raining down on them. The outer edges haul a** to barely dodge the arrows. So archers are mostly fine. Quite a few sword and dagger users go down. Viscen protects himself with the flat edge of his board headed axe. The other axe wielders do the same but some aren’t as lucky.

They finally reach the gate and eventually break through the barrier. Their numbers took a seriously huge hit. Only a third of Viscen’s group of thugs makes it into the city. "s**t. This isn't good." Viscen and a handful of his best men go to take out the archers and their leader on the western walls. They take the stairs or something. Ladders and ropes put them too much at a disadvantage.

Meanwhile Drake and the bandits he originally took come back attack the port part of Pentheus. The young warrior hears the screams of Learanian soldiers coming from that way and can only think that Drake’s back to give him a hand. He’s happy which boosts his confident making more deadly.



((Crew, use your editing magic to make this shitty post meet your standards. I have no idea what the hell I'm doing.))

It was bad enough that the tiger was injured and was forced to flee from the Mordachean army without any stop to rest. But when he and the others came back to Pentheus to see bandits inside, it made him wanted to roar in curse.

Damnit! He thought that whoever was left in charge at Pentheus would be able to handle the first wave. How the hell did that happen? Whoever was in charge of hiring the officers in those positions did a terrible job. However, that was not his concern to complain about. Right now, he needed to heal his injure and then deal with these bastards inside the city.

His ears gave a twitch when he heard one of the soldiers gave out an order. Oh, yeah. The other didn't know about the Mordachean army. Eh, let someone else deal with it. Besides, it wasn't like he was part of an army or a messenger. He just volunteered to fight.

Although the soldier ordered those who were injured to continue heading toward Eyris, the tiger's wound was just nearly healed up. So show he just do what the guy ordered him or do whatever he was pleased?

...

Eh, someone give him some healing portions, he needed to let his frustration out. Sure, it would slow him down a little, but at least now he was able to fight.

He asked one of the injured soldiers if he had vulnerary. Luckily, the soldier was carried an extra one. Heh, talked about luck. The tiger asked the soldier to apply the vulnerary onto his back, seeing that he couldn't reach his injure. After the soldier applied it onto his back and handed him the vulnerary, the tiger thanked him and headed out to follow those who were readied to fight.

If they ever came across bandits down the path, he would be the first one to strike. Being unable to fight in his true form after his injure made him anxious and pumped up.

AND NEEDLES WAS LIKE "OH s**t GUYS, WE BETTER GO" AND SO LIKE THEY LEFT AND STUFF, BECAUSE DUH. ಠ_ಠ

(This post will be improved tomorrow.)
(It appears you have been lied to.)