Chapter 1 - To Slay Brigands (HoW)

Most of the other squires and apprentices from other squads turned around, wondering what was going on when the man barged into the training hall.

The panicking man kneeled before the knight.

“T...Tart Village has been attacked!” He said frantically.

“Attacked? By who?” Sir Gregory asked, surprised by the news delivered to him.

“A group of brigands! Scouts have reported there are ten of them. Two human archers, a human swordsman, two hammer bros, a magikoopa mage, two snifits, a human cleric, and an axe-wielding koopa! The swordsman might be their leader!” The man answered.

“Brigands? That cannot be good. Very well, me and my mentees will head out immediately. Although, I wish Gwydion was here.” Sir Gregory said. He then turned around towards Liam & the others.

“This will be a test of your strength, skill, and wits since we’ll be entering a real battle. Do not expect any mercy from your enemies and do not hesitate to kill unless you want to be vulnerable to any other enemy, is that understood?” The knight asked his mentees.

“Yes sir!” They all said in unison.

“Good.” The knight turned back to the man. “So it’ll just be the seven of us against the ten of them.

After Sir Gregory has finished talking, an experienced knight stepped in.

“I think we should come as well. My mentees are itching to show off what they have learned since the time they first arrived at the academy, so it’d be nice to have them participate in an actual battle. Plus, we’d outnumber the brigands as well, 13 against 12. Isn’t that right, boys?” The knight turned to his mentees, five squires, who all nodded eagerly.

“That’d be much appreciated, thank you.” Sir Gregory said, thanking the knight and the squires before continuing. “However, numbers won’t mean anything if we don’t have a good strategy.”

“I agree with you completely, Sir Gregory. It’s best if we split up so the enemy can break their formation as they have to deal with two groups, both on different sides, at once.” The other knight suggested.

“That’s a good idea! Quickly, we must make haste! We shall ride on the yoshis which will make the trip from Wimborne City to Tart Village much more quicker.” Sir Gregory announced. Both squads quickly made their way out of the training hall after getting their gear.

There was a village to save after all.

**(TART VILLAGE)**

Liam and the others have made it to Tart Village, which seems to be in chaos due to how there are buildings being destroyed, houses being burned.

The two squads led the yoshis somewhere outside the village where they’ll be safe from being seen nor harmed by the brigands. Afterwards, they split up, setting their plan into motion.

Sir Gregory led his mentees into the village, all of them hid behind piles of rubble where the enemy won’t be able to see them easily. The knight took a peek to see who they’re up against then quickly got back down.

“Listen up, lads. There is a mage and a cleric among these raider scum. We’ll need to take them out first since the mage can deal serious damage to us and the cleric can undo any damage we’ve done to them.” The knight said. He then turned towards the toad. “Eruza,  I want you to take out the mage.”

The toad in question nodded and took out an arrow out of his quiver and preparing himself. The knight then turned towards Freyja and Maryam. “Freyja, you take out the archer with whatever spells you know and Maryam, be prepared to heal us if we get hurt and try not to get into the enemy’s line of fire since you’re an easy target. Is that clear?”

The two girls nodded. Sir Gregory continued, “As for the rest of us, we will charge immediately once Eruza fires an arrow. On my mark…”

The moment the knight said “GO!”, Eruza instantly hopped on top of the rubble, aimed at the mage’s forehead which was right between his eyes and fired. A direct hit!

The magikoopa didn’t even react upon the arrow hitting his forehead. He slumped down to the ground, dead and forgotten, soon to be joined by his fellow brigands.

The other brigands were shocked to see one of their own die quickly.

“SHIT! WE’RE UNDER ATTACK!” The human swordsman cursed. The archer fires an arrow at Eruza, who hopped back down. Freyja then got up and casted a fireball at the archer, causing him to easily crumple to the ground. The cleric near him looked distressed.

“WE CHARGE NOW!” Sir Gregory commanded the rest of the squires. They left their hiding spots and charged towards the enemy.

“KILL ‘EM ALL!!” The swordsman commanded the other two brigands, the axe-wielding koopa and the hammer bro as they prepared to fight their charging foes.

The hammer bro threw his hammer at the black-haired squire charging towards him. It managed to hit her left shoulder, causing her to jerk back and curse.

“Gods damn it.. you LITTLE BASTARD!” Phoebe screamed out, losing her temper. The woman charged towards the now unarmed hammer bro, swinging her axe at him and cutting him down easily.

The cleric moved towards the downed hammer bro in order to aid him before being cut down by Phoebe as well. The squire then sighed.

“That’s two down.” She said, looking at the corpses of the hammer bro and the human cleric. Phoebe then turned around to see Maryam running to heal her while Freyja and Eruza were both waiting for a moment to strike.

“Thank you, Maryam.” Phoebe said, sighing in relief as the blonde girl started to heal her wounds. Maryam did not say anything and smiled softly.

Meanwhile, Kameron and Sir Gregory were both fighting the axe-wielding koopa while Liam dukes it out with the brigand leader himself. They were all locked in an intense battle.

Liam raised his buckler to block the swordsman’s incoming attack before swinging his sword at him, only for it to be blocked as well.

“Don’t think you can win this easily, little boy.” The swordsman snarled before swinging his sword again. Liam parried with his own sword. What he didn’t expect was a sudden kick to the chest from his opponent. The young squire let out an audible “Umph!” as he was knocked back.

Upon recovering, Liam saw the swordsman going in for another swing and raised his buckler. However, he did it a bit too late as the swordsman managed to cut his arm.

“Agh!” Liam stumbled back. He took a quick glance at his wound, blood dripping from his arm. He was shocked, will he die here by the blade of a brigand..?

“LIAM! MOVE!” Freyja’s voice cut into the squire’s thoughts, causing him to snap back to reality. The man jumped to the side before his opponent could finish him off.

The last thing the brigand leader saw was a fireball heading straight for his face before the world around him burst into flames..and then it went black.

Liam looked at the leader’s corpse as it fell onto the ground, sword and shield by his side, face burned really badly.  He was thankful that Freyja saved him from impending doom.

The squire turned to the apprentice. “Thanks!” He shouted to her before turning around to see how Kameron and Sir Gregory were holding up.

The koopa laid dead before the squire and the knight. Yep, they handled it pretty well, being a 2v1.

Sir Gregory looked around now that he was no longer in danger and he noticed something on some of the enemies’ corpses.

It was all too familiar to him. The color of their armor and the emblem….

The brigands they fought and killed were part of a dangerous and likely a more organized group.

The Deadly Serpents.