First Defeat

Another installment...

The Phoenixfire Chronicles
Entry #008
Year 10496 BR
Logged by Jeena Kethala

"INCOMING!" someone cried as a high pitched whistling sound was heard overhead.  Oddly enough, it could be heard over everything the entire body.  It drowned out the screams of dying men, the sounds of magic attacks being launched, even the other explosions were drowned out.

The Phoenixfire Mercenary Company was now in the middle of a battle, one of the worst they've seen yet, bloodier by far than anything else they'd been through.  Ryth Fyreathada, the Vice-Captain of the company, was currently crouched down behind a ditch in phoenix form.  His flaming wings fluttered occasionally as he waited for the opportunity to loose the mage-powered arrow that was currently notched and ready to fire in his legendary bow.  He took a brief moment to exchange glances with Jeena, his partner and lover of a year and a half, who was crouched beside him.

"Ryth...this isn't looking good," she said hoarsely, her voice was almost gone.  She was bleeding visibly from at least a dozen slices and cuts all over her upper body, her flaming wings, identical to Ryth's, fluttered rapidly.

Ryth could only nod at his lover.  "I know...we've lost more men in this one battle than we have in the last year---"  he was cut off by an explosion that erupted only four feet away from where he was crouched.  Dirt and shrapnel sprayed out in all directions, hitting him, Jeena, and several others in the ditch.  He simply shook his head, ignoring the new cuts he gained from the explosion.  It was at this moment in time, that Ryth took the opportunity to stand and loose the arrow.  At a speed much too fast to be seen by the naked eye, the arrow pierced the heart of sixteen enemy soldiers at once.

"RYTH!"  Gorta came running up to them, keeping low to the ground as arrows and explosions flew and erupted all around.  He reached their position in only thirty seconds.

"Report."

"We've broken through their main defense, but we don't have enough men to advance."  Gorta was bleeding more horendously than Ryth and Jeena combined.

Jeena sighed and shook her head.  "We'll have to retreat, Ryth, we can't push through, our forces have been cut in half by that ambush."

Ryth sat there for a moment thinking.  She's right, we have to call a retreat.  Loraina's force already did so...and she's wounded....Retreat it is.  He nodded.  "Order the retre--"  Another explosion cut him off, this time, it was accompanied by a volley of arrows.

The sound of blood splashing from wounds and hitting dirt and rock was heard all around them as at least twenty-five Phoenixfires fell dead.  "S**T!"  Gorta cried.  "INCOMING, DRAW YOUR SWORDS FOR CLOSE COMBAT!"  He drew his blade and was rewarded with the sound of still-several-hundred more blades scraping against their sheathes.

"CHARGE!"  Ryth cried.  He and Jeena immediately dashed foward, their body flames flaring as they both launched two massive energy blasts that took out the entire first four enemy lines.  Now it was an even fight.  But they would still lose.

This was confirmed once the two forces collided and the clash began.  All around him, Ryth noticed more of his men dying than enemies, this was bad.  "RETREAT!" He cried and sent another energy blast at the enemy before scrambling out of the madness with Jeena and Gorta both still at his side.

Now running from the enemy was a force that contained a mere ninety-seven mercenaries.  But they were outrunning the enemy by a fairly decent margin.  Once they all reached the checkpoint where they had left their horses, they immediately vaulted onto the backs of their mounts.  Within another second, the remainder of the Phoenixfire mercs under Ryth's command were safely retreating back toward their town quarters.

The PhoenixFire Mercenaries had been defeated for the first time in over a decade, and Ryth was ashamed of himself.  He led four thousand brave men and women into a battle...into something they had trained and took pride in, and only ninety-seven of them were coming back.  This was intolerable...and it would not look good for the Phoenixfire mercs when it came time to recruit.  What was worse...recruiting would start immediately...first thing tomorrow, and it would not be pleasant.

No...not pleasant at all.

Author's Note

This once is obviously really short.... obvi bro...