Unsurprisingly, Kai was greeted by expressions of shock and horror at the hole in his shoulder. It must have been quite the surprise for them, to see him dragging himself through the front door with an arrow wound when they were expecting him to be breakfasting, where he would be under significantly less threat from stray arrows.
"Silverwood, what happened?"
"I-I finished my breakfast quickly, so I went home to tell my family why I wasn't there." Kai began, forcing the words out of his mouth with significantly more effort than usual, "I went through the woods, and I got shot. I found the man who did it and kicked him in the head a few times and stabbed him through the ankles. I think he's still alive. He was wearing Garian uniform, and I thought it would be best to come back here before I ran into someone with a better aim."
"Lady Mortimer, tend to Mr. Silverwood's injury. This structure is big and sturdy enough to hold the population of the village, so it will need to be fortified as soon as possible. "Kai, remain here and help barricade the Abbey once your injury is attended to. Sir Valka and I will make sure that your family finds their way here safely."
While the abbey was the strongest structure in the village, Kai had his doubts about how good an idea it would be to round up the entire village into it. Wouldn't that just make it easier for the Garians; they would have the whole population village in one place, making it far easier to slaughter them all. Then again, the alternative was uncontrolled chaos, so Kai kept his mouth shut. He didn't say anything to Flynn's request either, he just nodded weakly.
Before Kai was entirely sure what was going on, Phile had slung his left over her shoulders and shoved her hand into his shoulder wound. He winced and recoiled slightly from the pain of having something shoved into the wound again, but he trusted that Phile knew what she was doing. The pain gradually began to numb as her magic began to mend the wound, and he hobbled along towards the centre of the abbey with more ease as the wound began to close.
By the time Kai and Phile had reached their destination within the abbey, Kai's wound had now closed. A dull pain still lingered in his shoulder and he hadn't regained any more blood, but at least he wasn't losing any more.
"Thanks." Kai smiled to her, "I'm sorry for all the trouble I've caused you this morning; your comment earlier was justified. If we're not all slaughtered, I'll try to be less of a nuisance in future."
As Kai walked over a rug he felt a tile press down beneath his foot. While it wasn't too uncommon for tiles to press down a bit when stepped on, this one felt like it was sinking in. Kai pulled his foot back and placed it where it was gingerly. The carpet sank in far too much, there was obviously a hole there now. Confused, Kai knelt down and cast the carpet to one side. There was definitely a hole there, and it looked like it went down quite a way. There was a ladder leading down, as well. A spark of hope ignited inside Kai's heart; maybe there was a large cellar in which the villagers could hide! Without thinking about it, Kai went down the ladder to see what was inside. It was only just light enough to see, and that was only from the light coming in from above. The floor was hard, damp and slightly slippery, and water could be heard dripping from the ceiling. Kai pressed his hand to the smooth, bumpy wall and squinted into the darkness. This certainly wasn't a cellar; this was a natural underground tunnel! Perhaps it lead out of the village; salvation was at hand! Kai hurried back up the ladder to Phile, reeking of excitement and hope.
"There's a tunnel down here!" Kai told her, "Maybe if we can round up the villagers we can get them out through here!"
Not waiting for a response, Kai hurried towards the exit of the abbey.
As Kai came out of the abbey's front door, a stray musket round smashed into the wall next to him, far too close for comfort. Keeping his head down, Kai hurried closer away from the abbey and towards Iridian and Flynn. Not feeling particularly safe, he picked up the battleaxe of a recently slain Garian soldier and clutched it tightly in both hands.
"Flynn, Iridian!" Kai called out as he drew closer, "I've found a tunnel in the abbey that might well lead out of the village! By the looks of it, it's our best bet for reducing casualties, if we can get the villagers out through it."
"A tunnel, you say?"
Kai turned around to see the captain of Ley's guard standing behind him, clutching a sword in one hand and a shield in the other. He was a tall, stocky, grizzled man in his late forties with dark skin, thick stubble and a slightly aged face. However, despite his post in Ley, he wasn't lacking in experience. Kai simply nodded in response to his question.
"Sound's like you're right lad, we'll keep casualties to a minimum if we evacuate the village." he continued, "Iridian, round up everyone you can, and get as much help as you can in doing so. You two can help him. While you're doing that, I'll buy everyone some time. And I don't want a single word of protest from you; now, follow your orders!"
With that, the captain returned to the heat of battle. Kai, following the captain's orders, hurried off to the edge of the village to alert as many villagers as he could, shouting at them to get to the abbey as he ran.
In the meantime, the captain had made his way to the centre of the village.
"HALT!"
The man's voice was so forceful and commanding that the battle ceased for an instant. Eager for it not to spark up again, he continued speaking.
"Where is your commander? If he is half the man he ought to be, he'll come out and face me, man to man!" the captain bellowed as he brandished his sword.
From amongst the ranks of Garian soldiers one soldier rode forward. It was immediately clear that he was their commander, as he dressed far more lavishly than the others, two garments that made him stand out particularly were his mantle and a magicite encrusted gauntlet that covered the entirety of his right arm. What was even more surprising was that he did not carry a weapon. He dismounted his horse and walked confidently towards the captain of the guard; a sneer playing across his face.
"Well then, let us get on with it." he smirked, before withdrawing slightly.
All stopped and remained silent as all eyes turned to the captain and the Garian commander. He beckoned with his gauntleted hand for the captain to make the first move. And make the first move he did. Raising his sword, he charged towards his opponent and swung his sword down in a powerful arc. The Garian commander simply raised his gauntlet slightly, creating a thin, mirror-like screen in front of him. The captain's sword made contact against it, breaking his sword into two and badly jarring the shoulder of his sword arm. As the two made eye contact, the captain lost the little hope that he had clung onto, but he wasn't going to surrender. So, the Garian commander lunged forward, and grabbed forcefully onto the captain's scalp. As he tightened his grip, the captain's eyes rolled back into his head, spasms convulsed through his body and blood frothed in torrents from his mouth. Once the spasms stopped, his body was cast aside like a child's toy. However, instead of lying dead on the ground, he got up and began to move, his eyes still rolled back into his head and his mouth still wet with his own blood. He approached one of his men, staggering about like a drunkard. Instead of an act expected from a leader, he swung his broken sword into the man's neck, severing his jugular vein and killing him. The Garian commander began to laugh hysterically at the scene and ordered his troops to return to their work. The Akharians, both guards and civilians, fled in terror as the Garian military laid waste to their homes.
By this point, Kai had reached his home on the edge of the village and had sent many villagers of to the abbey. He was blissfully ignorant of the carnage unravelling the village centre. Kai arrived to find his father clutching a hatchet so forcefully that his knuckles had turned white. His mother and twelve-year-old sister were cowering behind him.
"Kai, where in blazes have you been?!" Mr Silverwood snapped, "We thought you were dead!"
"Da, it's a long story, I'll tell you later. Kai replied, "For now, we need to get to the abbey; I've found a safe way out of the village."
"It had better be a damn good one!" Mr Silverwood grumbled and proceeded to follow Kai.
Kai clutched his sister Alice's hand tightly as the family ran towards the abbey as fast as their legs would carry them, Kai leading the way. As they ran, Alice suddenly let out a loud scream and fell down.
"Alice, what's wrong?" Kai asked as he knelt down beside Alice, who had now fallen over.
"M-my leg..." Alice stuttered through a stream of tears, "Kai, I-I've been shot!"
"For the gods' sake, we do not have time for this!" Mr Silverwood complained as he hoisted up Alice and continued onwards, "We'll see what we can do about your wound once we're at the Abbey."
So, the family pressed on, Mr Silverwood carrying his wounded daughter in his arms.
The Silverwoods were by no means the first to the abbey, many villagers were piling in through the doors and being directed through by the clergy. Alice wasn't the only wounded one, either. Mr Silverwood swore under his breath, but proceeded through as calmly as possible. Fortunately, people were fairly eager to get to safety and so moved rather briskly. Alice continued to sob in pain and terror despite the kind words her family offered her. Kai just hoped that they would reach Phile soon.