The New Era Chapter 11

IN THE FIRST YEAR OF THE NEW ERA
Kile's right fist landed on the jaw of his opponent. It was quickly followed by his left and then his right again, sending his opponent to the ground. The opponent got back on his feet, and ran away. Kile, Jot, and Drusus had been attacked by three of Blanka's men. Each had fought one of the men. Kile looked to see how Jot and Drusus were doing. Like Kile, Jot had also put his enemy to flight. Drusus' opponent lay dead by his feet. Sighing with relief, Kile picked up his sword from the ground where it had been knocked out of his hand in the course of the fight.
"Someone is coming," Jot said, his teeth bared and his hair bristling.
Kile squinted at the figure. "It's okay, that's Pericula." The three ran to meet her.
"Are you okay?" inquired Drusus, a question that was probably pointless since she looked perfectly okay, at least physically.
"I'm fine. I got my computer pad, and I also found Kirtten, or what's left of him."
"He's dead?" Kile asked. Pericula nodded. Kile shook his head, holding back the tears. "He was a good friend."
Jot growled. "We need to avenge his death."
"Believe me, I have every intention of stopping Gaius immediately," Pericula said. "He can not be allowed to kill even one more person."
"Agreed, we need to stop Gaius or die trying," Drusus affirmed. "We should also split up. If we stick together, Gaius could kill us all at once. Separated, if he kills one, the other three can still have a chance of defeating him." The four quickly dispersed and ran into the camp.


Blanka was fuming. Not only had Drusus defeated him in combat for the second time, not only had Drusus escaped him, but Drusus had defeated or escaped every one of his men he came across. Even worse, Drusus had also protected all his comrades from Blanka's men. The only senior officer killed was Kirtten, and he was killed by Gaius. If Gaius successfully killed the rest single handedly, then neither Blanka nor his men would likely receive a reward, since all they did was get in the way of things, not defeating one single officer. Blanka cursed himself, determined to earn his reward.
Moving swiftly and silently, low to the ground, Blanka traversed through the rows of tents like a snake. His sword has by his side, his bow was in his hand, and several arrows hung on his back. Blanka heard the sound of a fight and quickly moved toward it. One voice was shouting, a voice he recognized as one of his own men. The other was growling and barking, unmistakably Jot. Blanka arrived to the scene just in time to see his own man, bloody, bitten, and beaten, flee from Jot. Staying low and hiding behind a tent, Blanka remained unseen by either.
Triumphant, Jot continued on his way. He wasn't quite running, but going faster then jogging. Knowing he must act quickly, Blanka fitted an arrow to his bow. Springing up from behind the tent, he fired the arrow. The arrow hit Jot in his right front leg, when he was in mid stride. Jot fell over, and tumbled a bit until he regained his balance. Facing Blanka, about to charge him, Jot got hit by another arrow in his chest. He fell to the ground and, after writhing around a bit, died. Blanka triumphantly went to retrieve his two arrows.


Blanka wasn't the only one who heard the sound of Jot fighting. Kile also heard it, but unlike Blanka, he was unable to pinpoint who the other voice was. For all Kile could tell, the voice could be that of Gaius himself, and if Jot was fighting Gaius, he needed to help. Kile ran in the direction of the sound. The sound died out before Kile could get to it's location, but by that time he was close enough to follow where he had last heard the sound.
Rushing on to the scene just in time to see Blanka retrieve his arrows from Jot's body, Kile was filled with rage. For their greed, these killers had first murdered Kirtten, and now Jot, both good friends of his. Kile charged forward, sword drawn, yelling in anger. Blanka immediately drew his sword and turned around to face Kile. The air was soon heavy with the sound of clanging swords.
Blanka, by far Kile's superior in combat, was surprised to find himself on the defensive. Kile fought with anger and motivation, and soon Blanka was looking for some way to turn the tide of the battle. Keeping himself calm, Blanka bided his time and waited for the right moment, the moment when Kile left himself unguarded just enough for Blanka to land a well placed kick in his stomach. Kile stumbled backwards. Blanka charged forward, pressing his advantage.
Kile was able to parry one of Blanka's thrusts to his chest, but not another one which pierced his shoulder. In his pain, Kile let down his guard even more, and Blanka was able to give him a dangerous cut in the side. Using his left fist, Blanka knocked Kile to the ground. Blanka was about to kill Kile when he heard the words, "Leave him alone!" Blanka looked up to see Drusus advancing towards him.
Blanka smiled. He walked past Kile, who lay moaning on the ground. "So Drusus, now are you ready for a little rematch?"
"You bet I am!" The two clashed swords, and soon were in a rapid fight. Blanka had the upper hand, gradually gaining ground on Drusus, forcing him to repeatedly step back. Drusus, to engaged in the fight to realize what was going on, did not realize Blanka's plan. Blanka backed Drusus up against a tent. As soon as Drusus felt his ankles rub against the tent side, horror filled him. He had no more room to back up, his mobility was extremely limited. He had suddenly become very vulnerable to Blanka's attack. Several wild thrusts by Blanka forced Drusus to significantly lean back, sacrificing much of his balance. Blanka, seeing his chance, punched Drusus in the jaw. Drusus was knocked of his balance, and fell backwards onto the tent. Already unstable, the tent collapsed on top of Drusus, completely covering him under it. Drusus thrashed about to try and get up, but soon realized he could not get out soon enough. Hearing the sound of a sword cutting through the air, Drusus moved like lightening, rolling over to avoid Blanka's sword.
Drusus was counting on his ears now more then he had ever done before in his life. He heard what he interpreted as the sword being buried in the ground. He then guessed that the following sounds were Blanka trying to remove the sword. Shooting his leg up in the direction of the grunting sound, Drusus was delighted as he felt Blanka's head being hit 'head on' so to speak. Drusus kick was quickly followed up by a second that sent Blanka away long enough for Drusus to cut his way free with his sword.
Emerging from the tent, Drusus was met with the pleasant surprise that he now had the advantage. He was armed while Blanka's sword was still stuck in the ground. Blanka quickly grabbed on of the fallen tent poles. Drusus did not have time to contemplate the ironic reversal in roles before he was dodging a swing, and then another. Though far from as deadly as a sword, Blanka and Drusus were finding out that a tent pole made up in long range what it lacked in deadliness. Another swing hit Drusus' head, knocking him to the ground. When Drusus stopped sliding, he was a few meters from his original position. His head ringing, he realized with horror that his sword lay where he had dropped it when he was hit.
Drusus rolled over just in time to avoid being struck by the tent pole for the second time. He leaped to his feet, and grabbed the pole while Blanka was preparing to swing it again. Both he and Blanka struggled for the pole, each trying to pull it away from the other. Blanka tried to kick Drusus. Drusus kept clear of the kick, and while Blanka was on one foot, Drusus pushed hard. Blanka was knocked off his balance and fell to the ground.
Letting Blanka hang onto the pole, Drusus quickly grabbed his sword. Blanka, getting to his feet, before he had a chance to swing the pole had to deal with Drusus coming down on him with his sword. As Drusus had planned, Blanka had no other option then to use the pole to stop the sword. The sword cut clean through the pole, slicing it into two useless halves. Drusus pressed his sword against Blanka's neck. Blanka dropped both halves and held up his hands in surrender.
"It appears I am at your mercy," he said weakly.
"That much we agree on. Blanka, you have betrayed your own countrymen for greed. You deserve death, but I'm going to give you more then you deserve. You can have your life, as long as you leave and never return. I never want to hear of you creating trouble again anywhere. If we meet again in battle, next time I won't be so kind."
Drusus turned away. Blanka sighed with relief. He went to his sword to pull it out. "Leave your weapons where they are, just get out," Drusus warned. Not listening, Blanka gave a big pull and removed his sword from the ground. Drusus moved quickly, and before Blanka had time to use his sword, he had Drusus' sword sticking out of his chest. He collapsed to the ground dead. Drusus removed his sword, actually sort of glad he had been forced to kill Blanka. He wanted revenge for Jot's murder.
Drusus went over to where Kile lay on the ground. He was bleeding heavily, and the ground around him was red. Losing some of his common sense in a crisis, Drusus asked another dumb question. "Are you okay?"
Kile moaned and clutched at his wound. "Drusus? Drusus?"
Both of Kile's eyes were closed in response to the pain, so he could not see who was kneeling by him. "Yea, it's me."
"Oh Drusus, it hurts. It hurts so much."
Drusus examined Kile's wounds. Though far from a physician, Drusus could see the trouble Kile was in. Both wounds were serious, especially so the one on Kile's side. Ripping his own shirt, Drusus used the fabric as a bandage. "Hang on Kile, your going to be okay." Drusus was not so sure though. He knew he had to get Kile to a doctor as soon as possible. There was no telling where the army physicians had run off to, but hopefully most of them were in the nearby town. The town itself probably had at least one doctor. Drusus had to get Kile to the town, it was only about one mile away. Stopping Gaius would have to wait. As Drusus got a stretcher from the medical tent, he wished there was some way of contacting Pericula. He would hate to have her face Gaius alone.
Drusus worries about Pericula were soon over. She found him, and he related recent events to her. The two of them carried Kile on a stretcher into the town.


Hans wasn't used to feeling helpless, but watching Gaius on the monitor had successfully produced that feeling. Bakes was trying as hard as he could to get the city doors back open, so Hans was left to contact Gaius. He had tried several times, but Gaius had ignored his computer pad each time. The whole city was following Gaius' exploits closely, but no one could do anything about it.
Hans had thought about contacting Pericula several times, but he knew she was busy enough dodging lasers. He didn't have anything real important to say to her anyway, just keep up the good work, we're working on the doors, see you when you get back.
Hans desperately wanted to stop Gaius, to get outside of the city and put an end to his maniacal deeds, but he was stuck inside. Horrifying thoughts flew through Hans' mind. What if the city doors could never get opened again? Then who would stop Gaius?