The War of the Isles

1. Ursula

I could not see what was ahead of me. The smoke was baffling. It all had happened very quickly. The enemy's advance was obvious. I could hear cannons creaking through the mud.

This makeshift trench was a pretty useless strategy if you ask me. Treches were never useful in these kind if battles. I had warned Seargent Horst about everything but he had refused to believe that it was only a strategic withdrawal. Nevertheless, I said nothing and moved forward. Mila being behind me. The best with the crossbow, that Mila. It kept me sane in the face of a plausible death. She could do the heavy work and I could plot an escape.

Before you further confuse yourself on the context of whatever was happening, let me just state for the record that I am a poor storyteller. If you want someone to paint a better picture of war, you should possibly try finding a poet who was somehow drafted into this mess. Good luck finding one though. If you intend to stay for a while, you're stuck with me. Because you see, poets do not survive wars, soldiers do.

So where were we...? Right! The enemy was advancing and I was stuck in this disgusting trench with Mila. She was a chubby fourteen-year-old from Yenburg who belonged to the Smaha tribe. The Smahan people were known to often chase their prey as they hunted with commendable endurance, but Mila being too efficient with the crossbow limited her efforts to only aim and shoot. She was known to have a good sense of humour but she knew that battles were not won by telling jokes. At that moment, with her flaming red hair neatly braided under her helmet, her eyes searched for targets coming in our direction. 

Amidst the sound of cannons, I suddenly heard footsteps coming toward us. We could not see much through the smoke but Mila fired towards the sound. The footsteps died. Target hit. The best chance we had now was to move through the trenches, and with luck, we would reach the stream. With most of our comrades dead, it made no sense for us to advance. The battle was lost. Best save ourselves and find soldiers from other divisions as soon as possible. 

I was just waiting for the smoke to clear enough for some visibility but not so much to let ourselves be seen. If that didn't work, we should then have to wait for the nightfall and that would be more difficult with limited arrows to bide out time. 

Out of nowhere, I saw a bright light flash ahead of me. Then I heard a roar. Dragon. That was unexpected. Were they ours? Not possible because ours were killed in Vynock.

"Not ours," said Mila. "It's a Red Wentallion. The Achmans captured Wentally about two weeks back. Took over the dragon base too."

"WHAT?" I turned around. "But certainly not with The Forty Second!"

"I have just told you what I heard that man from the seventy-seventh say. The Forty Second have lost their dragon base. I think the cavalry and a few ships remain though."

"If the Forty Second have suffered damages, then we stand no chance. I -"

The air cleared, and I could see my way. Now, the trenches were very confusing to navigate, but I pride myself on being able to navigate any place in Irodara 

I nodded towards Mila who immediately understood. We started making our way westwards towards the forest. The noise from the cannon fire was increasing as we moved but that was a risk we had to take.

Suddenly an Achman soldier pounced from somewhere with his crossbow. I did not hesitate a moment to shoot from mine. Luck was on my side as the Achman fell on his knees and gagged with his hands holding his neck where my arrow had pierced. 

As we moved further we encountered two more Achmans but Mila took care of that. I turned right, then left, and then right again, trying to keep my direction westwards but also trying to avoid the parts of the trench where we may encounter enemies. By the time the smoke cleared, we had made our way to the edge. It was about a few hundred yards to the forest. Towards our right, the cannon fire grew louder and louder, and the noise of the Achman march made the ground vibrate. We were doomed.