These Hidden Burns

~ Chapter 12 - The Battle ~

Laurence's POV

The village was dead silent.Everyone had been evacuated the previous day and it...hurt to know that it had came down to this.It was sad to see Aphmau,a lover of peace having to fight to protect her people,her village,and herself from being manipulated and having Phoenix Drop taken over by O'khasis.

Garroth seemed more distant than ever on the fifth day.Like he held no consideration or pride towards this village anymore.He looked dead or rather empty of any life as we approached the gate,Aphmau standing in the front of us four.Angela was oddly quiet too...for a reason unknown to me.

The Lord Of Scaleswind stood at the gates,a look of frustration on his face.However,it was obvious he hadn't slept in awhile."Where is my daughter?"He exclaimed,Aphmau hanging her head for a moment in sorrow.We were unable to find Nicole,despite our efforts.However,Emalyn and Kenmur were still searching.

Irene bless them for their determination and their bravery.

Both of them had stayed behind to help with of the search and their help was greatly appreciated by Aphmau."I will ask you one more time.Where is my daughter?"The man spoke in a firmer tone as he looked at Aphmau.

Aphmau finally broke."I don't know!We exhausted all of our resources to search for her."She replied before she looked over at the wicked man we all know and 'love',Zane."Zane,please...I...I will marry you if you stop this.Please."She begged,Zane simply smirking.

"Maybe after our battle if you survive,I'll consider taking you up on your offer~."He replied,while I was gritting my teeth.That bastard,doing all of this for his own entertainment and then forcing Aphmau to break down to the point to where she was begging him to stop this petty war.

If I could without being killed myself or causing a ruckus,I would open the gate and go kill Zane myself for all that he has done to this village and it's people.However,I held both my tongue and myself back.

~Dante's POV~

Zane was a disgusting person.His cruel and snakelike ways made me sick.Aphmau was breaking and Angela seemed to be empty and vacant of any life,along with Garroth,despite the fact that both of them were breathing.Something must have happened between them or something along those lines.

At this point I wasn't sure of anything.The male who was Nicole's father seemed to be fuming with frustration and anger."Men...CHARGE!"He exclaimed and the gates were closed in an instant as soon as the order was drawn out to the enemy's army.

We were all thrown into heavy action.Angela simply jumped down from the gate,landing on her feet,but stumbling a bit.I honestly was a little bewilder over how she managed to land on her feet from a jump as long as that,and not injuring herself.

Drawing my blades,I noticed Laurence,Garroth,and Angela did the same.Our weapons gleaned in the sunlight.However,an explosion broke a large hole in the gate.

One of the mages had broken the gate with magic.

Now guards were charging into Phoenix Drop.Great.

Aphmau too,had taken out her sword and began to fight off of the somewhat large army that was coming into the village.

Our army was already attacking,Angela having had sprinted towards the tower to the left of the main gate.Other soldiers were trying to break in by having a Mage blow up another part of the wall.

Another explosion rung out and I could only hope none of our army or Garroth,Laurence,Aphmau,or Angela were hurt.

The battle wore on for a while.Hours of endless fighting and exhaustion,until Aphmau and the lord of Scaleswind demanded that we ceased battle and moved to the plaza.

The O'khasis guards remaining were tied up and propped up against a stand in the plaza.

However,Angela was no where to be seen.She had came up earlier and said that she saw another O'khasis guard near the gate and ran off to go bring the fool to the plaza.

Once a slightly loud yell rung out,Laurence and I ran immediately towards the direction of the yell.

It was Angela.She was underneath the bridge leading to the gate and had been stabbed by a bandit,that had been knocked out personally by Laurence.Angela stumbled a bit,placing a hand on her right side.Laurence put the bandit in a golden lasso before he then put an arm around Angela to stable her as we moved rather swiftly back towards the village.

She was silent the entire time,her sword sheathed after we found her.It was obvious that her pride had suffered,for being unaware of the presence of a bandit.The idiot must have snuck in through one of the gaping holes in the wall.

Once we reached the plaza,she managed to walk over to the few werewolves that were there.Angela had became friends with the group that was here and once they took notice of her wound,they took her to Kiki's barn to get patched up.

Garroth was the only person no one had seen since the beginning of the battle.Laurence was worried.It was obvious.

~ Aphmau's POV ~

Word managed to get to me that Zane was still here and hiding.It was time for him to get what he deserved,after doing all of this.Nicole and her father both agreed that Zane needed to be found and taken care of.

Not that we were going to kill him.
Rather,he would be spending the rest of his life behind bars.

Garroth and Laurence were nowhere to be seen.We were planning to go find Zane now and we needed Laurence and Garroth now.I was going to ask Dante to stay behind and keep watch over Angela,who had been injured rather severely.But she acted like she was perfectly fine.

Garroth and Laurence were like that sometimes.When they were hurt.

Snapping out my thoughts,I found Laurence,knocked out near his departed friend's grave.Waking him up gently and him stating that Garroth took the pendant was how it..pretty much all started.