Blackbeard; The Legend

The Attack

Not even a fraction of a second later had passed when a blinding flash of fire erupted in the distance, shaking the ground with the tremors of multiple explosions.

"What was that?" One of the family members asked. 

"You two," Asmund turned to the two soldiers, "Get this family to safety!" He ordered, pointing towards the treeline. "Hide in the forest and make your way to the city!"

"Yes sir!" The two soldiers saluted, before quickly ushering the family away. As soon as they had all fled, Asmund turned to Akahana, drawing out his axe.

"Come on!" He shouted, sprinting towards the source of the detonations. She followed after him, reading her sword as they ran away from the evacuated village. Suddenly, she skidded to a halt, her breath catching in her throat as she stared at the devastation that lay before them. Dozens of holes had been blasted into the ground, smelling of sulfur and flame. Her heart froze when she spotted them. Some were charred and intact, while others were missing arms or legs, and others had no-

"Akahana!" Asmund shouted, and she snapped back. "They need our help!" She turned to look to where he was gazing. Soldiers and pirates were engaged in rigorous fights, spears and swords clashing, as other soldiers protected the fleeing villagers. The other Vikings were there as well, fighting alongside the soldiers; Darby, Kanin, Maiken and Eira. They fought the enemy unrelentingly, but they couldn't defeat all of them by themselves. Akahana gripped the handle of her sword tightly and charged with Asmund into the fray.

"Took you guys long enough!" Maiken shouted as she slugged a pirate. 

"How many villagers escaped?" Asmund asked as he blocked a blow.

"Most of them made it out." Eira said, quickly drawing an arrow from her satchel and firing it. "I counted a couple of hundred."

"How many casualties?" He asked.

Eira paused. "About fifty." She murmured. Akahana's eyes widened. Fifty. Fifty lives lost. Men, women, and children. The people she was sworn to protect.

"Akahana!" Asmund yelled. "Behind you!" She turned just in time to see a pirate lunging towards her, and without thinking, she slashed forward with her blade. The pirate stumbled backwards, spluttering, and he fell to the ground, red gushing out of his neck. Akahana stared at the body for a moment, before the horrifying truth rushed to her head.

She killed someone. She had drawn blood, not of a monster, but of another person. It now dripped from her sword, once clean and silver, and she gagged.

"Hey!" Suddenly, Asmund was before her, shaking her. "You can't be a sitting duck out here! You have to keep fighting!" He yelled.

"O-okay..." Akahana replied shakily as she stood on wobbling legs. Asmund helped her up, a small glimmer of sympathy in his eyes as he watched her try to compose herself. 

"You have a right to feel guilty." He murmured. "But this is war." His eyes narrowed. "And these men are responsible for the death and destruction that you saw. You must steel yourself, understand?"

Akahana nodded. "I-I understand." 

"Good," Asmund stood up and hacked with his axe. "Darby! How many are there now?"

"Still a lot!" She yelled back as she swung her hammer in heavy arcs, sending pirates flying. "How did they even get this many? I though their camp was destroyed!"

"Maybe they got reinforcements from somewhere!" Kanin shouted as she chucked fireballs at their foes.

"What does it matter?" Maiken said as she slammed two pirates together. "Let them send a hundred or ten thousand! We'll defeat them, isn't that right!?" She shouted, and the soldiers responded with a hearty war cry, Akahana among them as she fought. She dodged an attack from a pirate and she sliced forward, opening a wound on the man's chest. She kicked him away and turned to face an incoming attack from another. She ducked as the pirate swung at her, and she swept him off his feet. She plunged her sword into his stomach, blood tarnishing the blade as she pulled it out. Some of it spattered onto her armor, and she braced herself against the dizzying iron scent. She couldn't get dazed out here. Otherwise, she'd be lying among the dirt.