Pyrus: War

Retaliation

My eyes flutter open as the morning sun rises, and as I adjust my eyes, I see River sitting at my desk, staring at me. I jump.
  "What the hell, River?!" I yell, aggravated. Quickly calming down, I more patiently say, "What are you doing in here?"
  River, obviously taken aback my my outburst, recovers from her shock before speaking. "The scout team is back. Hawk has the results up in the meeting room." I nod gratefully. She salutes, grinning, then walks out.
  I quickly change into some robes and dash upstairs. Hawk is indeed waiting for me. "What's the report?" I ask.
  He smiles. "Ah, good morning, Pyrus!" he exclaims. He flashes me a quick smile, then continues. "We found one. A small camp. A couple of the guys' dragons reported smoke and, sure enough, there's a camp. Couple hundred of the regulars, and one full-blown warrior." He grows thoughtful a minute, then adds, "Oh, and we have officially dubbed the regulars 'scouts' and the warriors, big surprise, 'warriors'."
  I nod. "Thank you, Hawk. There will be a meeting later to discuss this. Noon. Make sure everyone knows."
  Hawk smiles then exits. I breath deeply, satisfied with how things have been going.
  Noon roles around faster than I would have liked. As my council starts pouring in, I prepare my...talk, I guess. When everyone is seated, I serve lunch; soup and bread.
  After allowing everyone a quick moment to take a few bites, I begin the meeting. "As some of you may know, a dark camp has been located not far from here. A bunch of scouts and 1 warrior. We are here to discuss our next course of action."
  "Kill them. Right now," Gale says dryly. River beams at her approvingly.
  Flora, however, disagrees. "I agree we should kill them, but not yet. Why not spy on them, watch what they are doing, and then storm their camp?" Sky nods enthusiastically.
  "We have the advantage. We should strike now," Shark reasons. "The longer we wait, the better chances they have of discovering us."
  "Ok, what's the deal with people not supposed to be able to see the Sanctuary?" I ask while the topic is fresh.
  "There is an invisibility spell on the walls. Only people with magic can see it," Dolphin explains. I nod.
  "Maybe we should attack, but take a couple of prisoners to, uh, interrogate," Rocky suggests.
  "I like that idea, but we'd have to be careful not to torture. We'd be no better than them if we did," adds Lilly.
  "True, but this is war. Honour, mercy, chivalry. What good are those going to do us? Our enemy won't show them in combat, so why should we?" Quake argues.
  "Guys, guys, calm down," I say, standing up. "I have made my decision." I take a deep breath and bite my lip. "Gale is right. We should attack now, while we still have the advantage of surprise." Gale beams approvingly at me.
  "A wise decision," she says, winking.
  I nod. "Alright. We all leave at once," I command.
  Gale lets out a whoop. "Now THAT'S what I'M talking about!"
  Dolphin shakes her head. "Is it wise to send the entire council? I mean, whose going to lead?" Sky and Flora look relieved.
  Gale cocks her hip and looks exaggeratedly thoughtful for a second before saying, "Good point. Why don't you adults stay behind, and we kids will have the fun!"
  Hawk stands up. "Absolutely NOT! You are way all too inexperienced." 
  Gale takes a step back, stung. "Oh, and I'm sure you're SOO much more experienced in dealing with people who didn't really exist while you were alive!" she counters sarcastically.
  Hawk turns red. "So what? I'm more experienced in combat than you!"
  I step in between them. "Cut it out, you two!" I demand. "The last thing we need is to be fighting each other!"
  Hawk takes a deep breath. "So then what do we do?"
  Gale glares at him. "I still say you adults stay. After all, we kids aren't NEARLY as experienced, and you can't have inexperienced people leading a city," she mocks viciously.
  Hawk stands up, fists clenched, and strides menacingly towards Gale. "Why you arrogant little bitch!" he snarls, fist raised.
  "ENOUGH!!" I interrupt. "Hawk, I expect better from an adult. You are acting like a child. Same goes for you, Gale."
  Hawk and Gale both look down, embarrassed, and mumble an apology.
  "Hawk, you and the rest of the teachers are staying here. The..." I pause, unsure of what to call them.
  "Wraiths?" River suggests. "I don't know, I just heard the term somewhere and I know it means something kind of evil."
  "Sure, Wraiths. The Wraiths won't be expecting kids to attack, so they'll be less prepared," I finish.
  "Uh, Pyrus?" Rocky asks meekly. "Could I stay back?"
  I nod.
  Rocky sighs in relief. "Thank you! I just really don't think I'm strong enough or-"
  I cut him off. "It's ok, Rocky. I understand that this might be a little much for you."
  Gale taps her foot impatiently. "Can we go now?" she asks, annoyed.
  I sigh. "Alright, let's go. Lilly, Sky, Gale, you guys wanna call your pets over? They will be a great help." The girls all nod and call for their little friends.
  Flora clears her throat. "Would I be able to bring Gust?" she asks quietly.
  "Uh, sure. What is he? Or she," I reply.
  Flora smiles. She sticks her head out the window and hollers for her pet. Almost immediately a flying horse comes soaring towards us, white wings outstretched.
  "Whoa! Flora, that is awesome! Where did you get a Pegasus from?" I exclaim.
  Flora just beams at me.
----------------------------------------------------
  A couple hours later, I am crouched behind a bush, staring at the Wraith camp. Hunched beside me is Gale.
  "You ready?" I ask. She grins and cracks her knuckles in response. I shoot a small beam of fire upwards, signalling the others to do their things.
  I light a small fire on the ground beside me, and Gale creates a small twister inside it. Working together, we slowly create a giant, flaming tornado of death, which we then unleash on our unsuspecting opponents. Four scouts are sucked up immediately, there charred bodies flung to goodness knows where. The twister rages on, sucking up about 50 more enemies before a black stream of smoke smashes into it, and tornado and smoke dissipate. From one of the tents, an armour-clad warrior steps out, sword drawn. He looks around furiously.
  I curse silently. I was hoping the twister would last a little longer. I just hope River, Lilly, and Sky will have enough time. Judging by the darkening sky, though, I doubt they'll need much longer.
  I look over at Gale and raise an eyebrow and she nods. It's time to call in the air strike. "Now!" I yell. As the scattered scouts begin to collect themselves, a blast of fire comes flying out of the sky, followed by a hail of ice. I look up as our pets fly by. Firebolt leads the charge, shooting balls of fire at the startled scouts. He is followed by  Frost, who is also bombarding the scouts, and Ash and Fluffy, who are swooping down to claw our enemies. And bringing up the rear is Flora, riding atop Gust, launching rocks down at the Wraiths. Gust snorts and dives low, bashing scouts with his hooves. The scouts are scattered once more, aimlessly firing arrows at our air support.
  Gale and I suddenly dart out of our cover and attack. Fireballs come flying from my hands, and blasts of wind carry scouts a hundred feet in the air before they smash back down. I smile. Revenge feels good. Pretty soon, we are able to whittle our opponents down to about half their original size. But there are still a lot left, and our initial surprise is gone.
  I watch as a scout grabs Ash and throws the bird to the ground, and stomps furiously on him. I cry out, but Gale just looks at me like I'm an idiot. Of course. Ash is a phoenix. He can't be killed. Permanently, at least. Arrows fly our direction, and Gale and I have to use our magic to deflect them. The black arrows continue coming at us, forcing us on the defensive. We are being slowly overpowered, and I don't know how much longer we can last. Frost and Firebolt don't have much left to give, and Fluffy has been captured. Gust took an arrow to the leg, causing him to crash, putting him and Flora out of the fight. I can only hope that the others can hurry up.
  Suddenly, the scouts ahead of us part, and the warrior walks towards me. He grabs an axe from his back and draws his sword. I look over at Gale beside me. She has a look of grim determination on her face. I turn back to my enemy. He runs at us, taking a swipe at each of us. We both dodge nimbly, and I produce a sword of fire, and Gale creates a windy axe. We rush the warrior and weapons clash as we duel. The warrior is laughing the whole time. Suddenly, he spins around. Upon facing us again, he stomps his foot, and a black wave comes rushing at the two of us. I am just able to put up a fire wall to shield us, but my powers are weak compared to his, and the shockwave created in the impact knocks us off of our feet, causing our weapons to disappear. Gale groans beside me, badly hurt. I try to sit up but can't. The warrior laughs again, and raises his weapons. That's when the bolt of lightning comes flying out of the sky. It strikes the warrior right in the head, and he shudders, his armour amplifying the already deadly voltage. Then the shaking stops and he clatters to the ground, dead. More lightning comes shooting down, striking groups of scouts. They are all killed instantly. I watch a couple get reduced to ash by one bolt.
  The onslaught is over almost as suddenly as it started. The Wraiths all lie dead at our feet, except for 2, who are bound tightly by an invisible force. The dark clouds part, revealing the shining sun. Sky, River and Lilly step out of the trees. Sky has one arm pointed at the two scouts, holding them still.
  I manage to sit up. "Talk about perfect timing. That's the second time now I've been saved at the last second," I say to them, mustering up about as much of a smile as I can. I think my right leg is broken, as are a couple of my ribs.
  Lilly shakes her head. "Well, stop putting yourself in these situations. Your luck'll run out eventually, you know."
  I try to stand, but my leg screams in protest. Wincing, I lie back down.
  River rushes over. "Are you ok, Pyrus?" she asks, concerned.
  I nod. "Yeah. I'll be fine. I'm not sure about Gale though."
  "Ugh, I'm good," Gale groans. She lifts her head up then plops it back down. "Man that did not feel good."
  "No kidding," I agree. "Though it probably would have hurt more if the wave had hit us."
  "Yeah, probably," Gale says.
  Out of the corner of my eye, I see Flora stand up, Gust lying beside her. Blood pours from the hole in his leg, but his breathing is steady. He must be asleep. Firebolt and Frost come flying down beside me, and Fluffy breaks free of her cage. Ash springs forth in a burst of fire and soars over to Gale.
  We did it. We won the rematch. I'd let out a whoop if my lungs weren't on fire.  Then I get an idea.
  "Hey, River?" I ask. She looks over at me. "My right femur is broken. Can you see where?" She nods again. "Great, I want to try something. Using your magic, I want you to try and push the two pieces together, so that they are one bone again. Do you know what I mean?" Another nod. Putting her hands near my leg, she closes her eyes in concentration. I can feel the two halves reconnect.
"Great! Can you make that permanent? Like an invisible splint? The nurses can fix it up when we get back. Then do the same for my ribs and Gale," I instruct. She does, and Gale and I are finally able to stand, with the assistance of Lilly and Sky. We all hobble back, our pets flying overhead.
  When we are finally back inside the walls, I am so exhausted and sore, I just collapse. Gale slumps down beside me, grinning. Geez. She really must have enjoyed that. I don't blame her though. They did kill Richard. My grandfather. I can't believe that he was my grandpa all this time and I never knew.
  A strong arm lifts me to my feet. It's Quake. Shark helps Gale up, while Hawk and Dolphin try and keep the growing crowd back. Quake helps me to the sick bay, and nurses lay me in a cot beside Gale. One pours a spoonful of tasteless liquid down my throat, causing me to shudder. There is a strange feeling in the breaks of my bones, almost the they are being welded together. After placing a meal of thin soup and bread on my lap, the nurses leave me to peace.
  "Well, that was one hell of a something," Gale says to me.
  I look at her. "Ya think?" I reply.
  She chuckles. "Not entirely sure I want to do that again. We need proper combat training."
  "Not a bad idea."
  "I get them every now and then."
  "Yeah, fighting with Hawk was definitely not."
  "Hey, in my defence, he insulted you, too!"
  I hold up my hands in surrender. "Okay, okay, I know! I'm just pointing out that we can't be fighting each other. Save it for the Wraiths."
  She nods. "Yeah, probably best." She grows silent for a little before smiling. "But did you see the shade of red his face got to? He looked like a tomato! Heck, he looked like a beet!"
  I just sigh and shake my head, but can't help a chuckle. Then I drift off.