All Adventure Begins with Tragedy

Chapter XXVII: The Kryan incident

"Get to cover! Get to cover!" I was screaming at the top of my lungs, ordering my men to get to cover. The soldiers hurried to the eastern wall, where it looked like the enemy was shooting from. They pressed themselves to the wall, burying their heads in their arms and waiting for relief.

I myself jumped down from my perch just in time. A kinetic projectile- the military term for rock- slammed into the place I had just been standing. Explosive shells were flaring up everywhere, in the air, on the ground, after slamming into a group of soldiers. I sprinted for cover.

"Hello sir. I was not aware that the enemy had artillery."

A young man, by the name if Dove I believe, was sitting next to me.

"Neither was I. It must be a recent installment."

"Yes. Only thing is. I don't think they are Hammerites firing on us."

"What?"

"You see sir, I served in the Kryan army for quite some time. Our artillery unit prided themselves on being the only military to have explosive rounds. I seriously doubt the Hammerites suddenly got a whole bunch of explosive rounds."

I stared at the young man. "For real?"

"Yes."

I slumped down against the dirt and stone wall. We were being bombarded by friendly fire.

"Sir! Sir!" I young soldier, looking like he came from the Ibnaharga scouting corp came sprinting up.

"Sit down solder." I gestured to the place next to me, then handed him my water flask.

"Thank you sir." He drank slowly and carefully, as they were taught to do in training. "I was sent to you to give you word of the enemy. They are flying the Kryan flag."

I sighed, resigned to the truth. "Thank you soldier."

"So what now?" It was Dove again.

"I don't know, soldier. Let me think."

"Sir?"

"What scout?"

"We have a Ibnaharga flag in our ranks. There is a flag pole in the center if the village that has not been destroyed. We could try to fly it."

"Yes. Yes, that's what we'll do. Its our only hope. Let's move!"

The scout nodded and handed my water back. Then we sprinted into the open.

The explosive shells still exploded all round, hitting with deadly accuracy. Most of the soldiers were hiding against the east facing wall, but not all.

I locked onto the flag pole in the center of the village. That's  where we needed to get.

The scout turned and sprinted towards a flag lying on the ground. He picked it out of the mud and held it up for me to see. It was a HDC flag! He was shot through with an arrow.

"Holy crap!"

His horrified face reflected his astonishment. He had been hit from the back through his heart.
I sprinted over to him and grabbed the flag. No time to help him. Behind him was a small squad of Hammerite archers. They looked at me and raised their bows.

"Fisc!"

I sprinted towards the flag pole. Left. right, left, right, back and forth, jump now, duck now. Strafing was key. The arrows were flying thick around me. One narrowly missed my skull, then another hit right next to my foot.
A large explosion sounded from behind me. I turned around to find that an explosive shell had taken out the archers.