The Raid, RP #1

[Shiro]

There was little sleep to be had with all the new requirements that came with Shiro's facade. Reports had been coming in from his scouts, and the army at Northpoint was receiving large shipments of food and weaponry from outside sources, presumably the other unfortunate villages under the bandits reign. They were preparing for war, and both Shiro and Xenith knew it. For now, steps had to be taken to insure they were still thought of as using poor Tanza as a refuse. Large fires were built in numerous parts of the Tanzan Woods to simulate multiple camps. These fires were to be kept alive at all times, which made sleeping a welcome gift rather than a way of life. The smoke stemmed high into the sky for all to see, Tanzan or not.

It was obvious that Shiro’s trick had worked, because not only had the assassonation attempts stopped, but the bandits were beginning to call forth more troops from other ends of the continents. These reports made Shiro wonder how many bandit strongholds there truly were. Either way, this was step one in what he hoped would be a swift campaign. The bandits had fallen for his plan, and that was more than he could ask for at this point.

A smooth breeze snaked it’s way through the trees as Xenith came walking into the clearing of their “camp”. He let out a huge yawn as he stabbed the blunt end of his spear into the ground, leaving the finely crafted blade pointing proudly into the air. He then collapsed onto the ground with the same yawn, eyes tearing with exhaustion.

“For cryin’ out loud!” he mumbled through the growl of his yawn. “Just attack us already! Seriously, the worst part is in the waiting. I do hate waiting, you know this.”

“Then you should have gone with Heatnix.” retorted Shiro, his meditation breaking as he opened one eye in Xenith’s direction.

Xenith just chuckled to himself before starting to doze off. Shiro had been relatively strict about sleep regulation, but he knew Xenith was in dire need of some rest. They had been through a lot, so Shiro took this moment to slip deeper into his meditation. It was then that another interruption plagued Shiro, only this one was far more desirable. When Shiro opened his eyes, he saw an all white hawk with a long black feather extending from the back of its head. It had a message attached to it’s leg, a message Shiro had been looking forward to for sometime. Shiro snatched the scroll, and began deciphering it as fast as he could. This was the answer he had been looking for….

[Truth]

Truth found herself in the middle of a clearing after almost four hours of walking, she only sat down now so she could get a better understanding of where her senses where taking her.

About a month before, she tried again, hopefully not out of vain, to try and find her brothers… any of them. When she searched for Xenith, it felt like she would walk into a brick wall. Not taking offense, but praising her brother silently for his ability to close his mind, she moved onto Heatnix. With this brother, all she could understand was an overwhelming feeling of warmth and happiness.
You know that’s great you’re happy, big brother. But where the hell are you?! Truth pulled herself out of his mind with a huff and paced back and forth across the floor of her room in the shabby but peaceful inn she’d been staying since the incident with Shroud. She’d been on the verge of giving up when she thought of something she couldn’t believe she’d over looked.
Truth sat back on the floor in front of the semi-circle of candles she’d set up and relaxed herself yet again to communicate, only this time with Shiro. She closed her eyes and tried her best bring her brother’s image into her mind’s eye. After what seemed like forever, she succeeded in getting flashes of red, blue, and green and realized he was stationary and brooding over something.
Success! She thought to herself smiling and not doing anything to break this connection she finally made. She dug a little deeper and tried her hardest to gain access into his mind’s eye so she could see something of substance to base a location on. Got it! Now let’s hope he doesn’t leave before I can get there. Why do I feel familiar presences?
Truth gathered all of her belongings and was gone from her comfortable room within ten minutes of that vision of where she hoped Shiro was and still fully intact. Why does my loving brother always have to surround himself with conflict?

She opened her eyes and one tear escaped before she had a chance to catch it. I have an hour left of walking before I get there… finally. Truth stood up and found energy she didn’t know she had and started to run in the direction that Shiro was leading her.

Less than a hour later, because of Truth’s jogging/walking stride, she came into a thicket of sorts. She walked slowly and then all of sudden stopped. He’s put up… barriers? She knelt down on one knee and put her hands flat on the ground; she closed her eyes and sent her second sight straight ahead and through the barrier until she found what she’d been looking for for so long. She brought her hands off of the ground and broke out into a full on run. When she reached where Shiro and Xenith were sitting and appeared to be resting, she couldn’t help herself and she tackled Shiro first. Held on to him for a few minutes, when she released, she smiled down at him and got up to do the same thing to Xenith. When she finally composed herself, she sat on the ground between her big brothers and waited for some sort of explanation of what was going on.

“I know I’ve been gone, and I’ll get to that later, but why all the hostility, Shiro? And why can’t I see you, Xenith? Why could I only penetrate Shiro’s mind to find where you guys were?” Truth asked finally catching a breathe.

[Heatnix]

Heatnix did not arrive back at the camp until late the next morning. "That's it," he said to himself. "Either next time I put three temporary contracts on my body, one for battle and two for transportation, or I just start carrying the damn scroll. It can't be that troublesome to carry it on me all the time." His means of summoning dragons up to this point had been to inscribe temporary versions of the dragon summoning contract into his rune markings so that he could summon one without a scroll. He also normally kept two on him for travel purposes, so he would have an extra for a return trip if necessary.

The problem was, he had forgotten to replace the marking the last time he had used a dragon in battle. And now he was paying for it by having to hike all the way back from Northpoint. For a good time, he wasn't even entirely sure where he was. There was much work to be done soon. He would definitely need to sleep again tonight.

As Heatnix finally reached the camp, he headed into his tent, leaving the flap open and headed straight for his hammock. He pulled down his mask and took off his battle jacket before laying down. He knew someone would be coming soon to ask him what had happened.

To his surprise, it was Alessa, not Geoff, who headed into his tent to ask him questions. Heatnix bid her to come in and she sat down in a nearby chair to tell him what had happened on the home front during the night he was gone.

"...and Geoff's pretty sure that Shiro and Xenith are losing the fight, because he sees signs of the village burning. He thinks we should go and fight-" At this Heatnix held up his hand for her to stop. Holding his hand over his eyes, he reached out his consciousness, feeling the kindred spirits of the fires that were in Tanza.

"No. The battle hasn't even started yet. Things are going perfectly," Heatnix said in a tired, yet comforting voice. "Shiro and Xenith started those fires as a means of confusing the enemy. The bandits are actually still gathering a good way from here. I passed them on my way back to camp. They're really mad from what I can tell. They want as many men as they can get in on this battle. Which is why we have to move out today."

"Wait, so we are going to fight?" Alessa said curiously.

"No, sorry, that's not what I meant," Heatnix smiled, opening one eye to look at Alessa. "And you can tell Geoff that, no, we are still fully intent on sitting this one out. What we're doing is far better, if a bit boring. We're moving out so we can take over the bandits' recently-abandoned base. That way, if any of them do turn tail and run home, we can wipe out the last of them from their home turf. They've got some shiny new cannons that should do just the trick. Which reminds me, could you do me a favor?"

"What's that?"

"Well, you speak all the languages our troops use. Would you do the honor of explaining to them what's going on? I'm sure they'd appreciate to know the plan at this point. I'd go and tell them myself, but I was hoping to rest a bit before we leave. Tell them to get their things ready so we can be gone by noon, please?" Heatnix asked.

"But noon's in fifteen minutes," Alessa laughed.

Heatnix smiled and rolled over in his hammock. "Two o'clock," he said.

[Lei]

Lei looked high into the tops of the large forest trees as he walked a slow but steady trot on the beaten path that he had been on for what seemed to be an eternity.

"I left the last town about 3 days ago. Am I walking in circles? Geez, i've never been good with directions. I probably should have taken a right at that fork instead of a left."

Disgruntled with his seemingly lost destination he decides to climb a rather large elder tree to get a grasp on where he is. He bounds leap after leap, branch to branch into the enormous tree till he reaches one near the top and can see out over the vast forest. A slight breeze brushes against his shaggy face as he catches a wif of smoke and jerks his head a little to his right where he sees a large cloud of it bellowing into the mid-days air.

His face turns to a slight grimace as he thinks to himself, "I don't like how this feels, but I can't tell if its a good thing that the smoke is just smoke and that I can't hear anything strange or if I'm just not catching the whole story in this strange feeling wind."

"Well, I guess if nothing else I'll find some sort of life in that direction so that'll be where I head. Good or bad, I don't think I could take walking aimlessly through this forest for much longer."

Lei decides to bound from tree to tree in the direction of the smoke so that he can an eye on his destination.

[Shiro]

"24 hours....", thought Shiro. "I'll need 24 hours."

Shiro had managed to sneak the scroll into his robes before Truth had joined them at long last. Xenith was still lost in his slumbers as he did so, but Shiro knew he could no longer keep his plans a secret from his comrades. Shiro looked at Truth, who's eyes were a very pale lavender. It had been ages since the two had been face to face and though he knew she needed answers to aid her sleep deprived nights, he also knew they would have to wait.

Shiro called forth to Xenith and Truth.

"I know I've been playing on your nerves with my silence, but the time for action has finally arrived. Thanks to the letters that keep coming from Heatnix, we know that the bandits have already started their march. I've calculated this, and this is about a 3 day march for such a high numbered regiment. The letter arrived about 2 days ago, so common sense would dictate that they'll be here in a day." Shiro looked up at the sun which was perfectly centered in the sky. "If noon is nay, they by noon tomorrow we'll be face to face with a league of 700 bandits. As you can tell, there are three of us. Such a feet would be hard for us to take on by ourselves. That is why I have devoted every effort of my free time to securing our trump card."

"Trump card?" questioned Truth.

"Yes. For the last 3 weeks, I have been in contact with Maria."

Xenith's eyes widened.

"You're kidding..."

"I am not." replied Shiro, his voice fading in volume.

"How is she? Is she coming to join us?"

"She's fine." responded Shiro. "And she won't be able to meet with us. It seems that the activity of the warring vampire covens have grown in intensity and she can't leave due to new developments on her front. She is, however sending a force of 400 vampiric soldiers to aid us."

"Vampires!?" asked Truth, surprised. "How did she manage that? Most vampire covens are far too headstrong to help humans. Why should we rely on a force that could be less than 100% reliable?"

"For the simple fact that that's our only option at this point. It's sad, but when it comes to putting one's life aside to aid the life of another, few people to this day will rise to the task. However, it has been rumored that there has been a vampiric force rising on our side of the continent. She managed to convince the vampiric regiment that will be joining us that this is part one of a larger scale mission. The only reason they agreed is because I am one of them. It's like you said Truth. They don't respect humans all too well."

"How will that effect our numbers when Heatnix's troops regroup with ours? The last thing we need is division amongst the troops." said Xenith.

"That is something we will worry about if we survive tomorrow." retorted Shiro. "Do recall that I mentioned the bandits arrival to be tonight around midnight. The catch is that Maria's aid won't arrive until 24 hours after the letter was sent. It will be my guess that at the rate of their movement as described in the letter, they'll be here by nightfall tomorrow. So that means that from noon to nightfall, we have to find a way to halt the bandit's from their attack."

"Easier said than done." snorted Truth. "How do you plan on working that out?"

"In all honesty, this plays out perfectly in our favor." responded Shiro. His words caught Xenith and Truth off guard. Shiro continued.

"The reason being, our force of 400 won't arrive until tonight. Normally, 400 men will fall to 700 men when there is little geograpic, and strategic value at hand as there is now. If the bandits were attacking from the south and had the Tanzan woods to contend with, not to mention the cliff as a last resort, this would be a different story. However, all that stands in front of Tanza is endless fields, making it very hard to gain any kind of advantage with the difference we have in numbers. But in this instance, we have to take into consideration that there are some vampires that can't stand the sun. Now, I seriously doubt that Maria would send a force of vampires that can't fight in the day time, but we have to take the worst case scenario into consideration. Normally, experienced vampires will adapt to the daylight, but they obviously excell at night. That is when a vampire is at his highest potential. Also, one vampire at night can kill many experienced human warriors due to the difference in stamina and strength. We just need to play upon our strengths. So if we can find a way to distract them until nightfall, we can perform a simple night raid. Remember that the bandits will have just arrived from a 3 day hike, and taking into account our troops increased strength and morale, a night raid will even the playing field."

"The way you put it, it makes us sound like we have a chance." laughed Xenith. "But if these terms of yours are going to make our forces equal, isn't there still a chance that we will lose?"

"There's always a chance we'll lose. We don't know anything about they're troops besides the fact that there are 700 of them. This is why I sent a reply to Heatnix's letter asking for 100 of his men after the capture of Northpoint. It's a 3 day march for a force of 700. If pushed, I'm sure that they can make it in less than two. After a few days of us battling it out, it will be a breath of fresh air to see more of our men coming over the horizon. That will give us the advantage because in all actuallity, the bandit's will probably realize defeat and retreat after seeing our reinforcements."

"Won't that leave Northpoint vulnerable?" asked Xenith.

"Yes." replied Shiro, his words cold as ice. "They will indeed be vunlerable. However, Heatnix knows this, and he and I have already discussed precautionary measures to be taken after Northpoint falls. The bandits are idiots, but they know how to pick their base of operations. Northpoint is geographically perfect for a fortress. That's why they will need all of their 300 men to take it, even though they have 100 men guarding it. I have faith in Heatnix, just as he has faith in us. What I need from you two is help with creating a diversion until nightfall tomorrow. Whatever it is, it needs to be something that will conserve most of our strength, whereas at the same time causing the bandits to lose all taste for immediate battle and elect to rest before they attack. That's when we'll enact our night raid....."

[Mochidzuki]

Mochi wakes from what seemed to be a dream.

What happened? Where is this place? That damn wizard. At least I still have my weapons. Now to find some way to get back.

With these thoughts, Mochi realizes movement in the forest behind him. Silently drawing his axes, Mochi turns to face his opponent, only to realize it was a mere rabbit drinking from the stream. Mochi smiles to himself and continues to survey the area. He finds his bearings and starts to head north, seeing smoke that seems to be coming from a campfire.

After walking for a few hours, he finds himself near a group of people and their camp. Cautiously he waits, although in the back of his mind he somehow knows that they already know hes here.

[Lei]

As he grows nearer to the bellowing smoke Lei sees that it is coming from within a town. The town itself doesn't seem to actually be harmed. Yet, there are random blazes started around it. As Lei begins to enter the town he sees a sign and written upon it in Japanese he reads, "Tanza."

By now he knows there is something very seriously wrong not only because of the random fires built within a seemingly docile town for no apparent reason, but also because of a somewhat strange feeling he's got in his gut.

"I've had this feeling before," Lei thinks to himself.

Lei closes his eyes and sees himself as a younger boy playing in the small village he grew up in. Then a vision of his father flashes before his eyes. A man no taller than he is now with extremely broad shoulders. His overly large muscular structure and square shaped head would make one think of a dwarf and it would be true if he were but a foot shorter. His face covered in a scruffy beard and his entire body covered in thick deep scars. An especially deep one slashing across his left eye. It seems as though it barely missed the eyeball. Lei thinks of his thundering laughs and no sooner that he did his memories flashed again. Now he's staring at his once peaceful village, now consumed in flames. He sees his younger self run into the village and pull one large person out. Looking down at his fathers face he almost begins to cry, but his father places his large hands upon his face and whispers that everything will be alright and that he wants Lei to grow up and become strong just like his dear ole dad. As he sees his father finally beginning to pass on, a large black seal, that Lei had only noticed once or twice on his fathers neck, begins to glow a weird purple. As it does Lei's neck begins to burn and as the symbol disappears slowly off of his father it reappears upon Lei.

Lei opens his eyes to see the town of Tanza once again. "If I had only known that he'd been fighting so hard and training to be the strongest just because of the evil he knew that would be upon us that day..." Lei thinks to himself. He runs his hand over the seal, "Now if only I can defeat this damn curse that plagues my family I should be okay. Somethings up around here though and it makes me feel as though something bad is coming." he thinks.

As he begins to look up he catches a glimpse of slight glimmer of light atop a cliff in the near distance. He looks around and decides that there isn't much left in the town for him to do. Lei begins to run toward to the cliff in hopes that he'll meet someone there and that it was not just something in his imagination.

As he approaches the cliff he decides to take the quickest route possible and kicks off the ground with all his might sending him flying high into the air. As he begins to slow he kicks off another minor cliff and another till he lands upon the edge of the cliff where he thought he had seen the flashing light.

All of a sudden he feels a chill and darkness consumes him. Lei begins to stand only to catch a slight blur of a figure moving toward him at immense speed and flips his rucksack over his shoulder just in time to prevent four small needles from puncturing him in the legs and arms.

Without waiting another second he yells, "Wait!" No sooner than he does a smoky figure seems to come into vision from out of the darkness.

"Your in charge here and that I am certain only because I'm sure you felt my presence coming up the side of the cliff, if not saw me coming before I had even barely left the town.", Lei says as he begins to stand back up and throws his rucksack back over his shoulder.

The new stranger still covered in much darkness chuckles slightly.

"Fairly enough you could assume me to be in charge here, but what interests me more is that you stopped my needles and although it seemed that you did it at the last moment... you could sense them almost as they left my fingers... couldn't you?", the stranger says.

Lei begins to laugh loudly, holding his chest with his free hand from the pain of not getting to do so in a very long time. As he does the darkness seems to slowly pull back towards the dark figure who seems to be chuckling a little himself. The sun shines down upon them now as bright and clear skied as it can be.

"My name is Lei Ling en. I have no intel, but I know something is going to happen here and you seem to need some help. If you did not need the help... you would not have attacked me yourself.", Lei explains.

"I am Shiro Gensai and your right. We do need all the help we can get and it definitely does not hurt to have someone with some battle tactics and some knowledge of imobilization fighting sense.", shiro says as he smirks at Lei and pulls a small hair sized needle from out of is left arm. "If I hadn't of moved at the last second you would've deadened my arm completely. Not to mention the three I deflected with a kunai before that one almost hit its mark."

Lei smiles, "So let me in on whats going on. I'm getting anxious to fight already."