Chapter 73: An Army Unified
As the soldier lunged forward, Marix dropped his net of coconuts and dodged. He and the rest of the Viraaz soldiers pulled out their swords.
Vasis citizens screamed as they bolted away, avoiding the conflict.
The air was full of the clanging of metal and the thud of supplies being dropped as chaos ensued.
"You dared to attack our home!" The Solan soldiers screamed as they attacked aggressively, their arms flailing as they swung their blades this way and that.
"Spreading propaganda, huh?" Marix said with a laugh as he parried them easily.
"We could say the same for YOU!" Nascor yelled with a grunt as he shoved one soldier back.
"Sola would be crazy to go up against the Viraaz army! Who would believe such a thing?!" Another one of the Solan’s screamed as his blade was blocked by Etil.
"Which is what makes it such a good coverup!" Etil strained against his teeth as the soldier threatened to overpower him.
Another Viraaz soldier tackled the Solan who was attacking Etil, shoving his shoulder straight into the enemy’s abdomen.
"OOF!" The Solan grunted as the wind was knocked out of him.
"Nascor! Watch out!" Etil yelled as he threw down one of the barrels of their supplies and kicked it, sending it hurdling towards Nascor and one of the Solans.
Nascor managed to jump over it, but it sent the Solan soldier flying like a bowling pin.
Marix tutted as the brawl ensued and called out to his allies, "Remember the instructions I gave you! That is the priority!"
"Yes...SIR!" They grunted as they continued shoving the men off of them.
One by one, some of the Viraaz soldiers were able to break apart from the group and head back to the docks.
"Don’t let them escape!" One of the Solan’s yelled, but Marix and Nascor cut off the path, stopping them from their pursuit.
Eilownia stood, leaning over the side of the ship as she stared towards the pathway that the soldiers continually ran down towards the ship.
The ones that had already arrived had informed those on deck what had happened back on shore.
She chewed on her bottom lip as her eyebrows furrowed painfully, sending a throbbing ache across her eyes and her forehead.
A few minutes had passed, and then some more. Everyone except Marix had returned to the ship.
Finally, as she saw him running towards the ship, she released a breath she hadn’t even known she was holding.
Yet, just behind him was a group of Solan soldiers.
She ran down to the lower deck and yelled, "He’s being followed!"
The group rushed up with her following closely behind them.
As they made it to the top deck, Marix made it on board along with a few Solan soldiers. Meanwhile the crew was working on raising the ramp to stop anymore from coming aboard.
The Viraaz Army rushed them, allowing the ship crew to finish raising the ramp and depart from the Vasis docks.
"RAISE THE ANCHOR!" The captain yelled with a gravelly tone.
"AYE AYE CAPTAIN!" The crew screamed back as they got to raising the anchor and unfurling the sails.
Meanwhile, the brawl continued as the Solan soldiers fought to stop the Viraaz Army from departing, their swords clanking in the air once again.
Eilownia slowly started to back up as chaos broke out on the deck. She knew she needed to get back to the lower deck, but her path was blocked by the fighting.
As she searched for a way over, a Solan soldier approached her.
She let out a scream as he swung for her, ducking just in time to dodge.
Marix hissed at the sound of her scream, unable to look over to check on her, his body tensing as he worked harder to push his current opponent off.
Etil slashed the man who was attacking Eilownia in the back and shoved him to the side, sending him overboard.
Marix finally was able to turn to see Etil standing in front of Eilownia, defending her.
"Good work, Etil!" Marix yelled as he shoved his opponent away.
"It’s my job!" Etil yelled as he swung his sword at yet another soldier who dared approach him.
Finally, the Viraaz troop got the situation under control and threw the Solan soldiers overboard as the ship departed the Vasis docks.
Marix cursed to himself as he looked at the supplies. Some of them had managed to grab a few things before they bolted from the church in Vasis.
The net of coconuts survived, along with a bag of rice and a bag of onions.
He ran his hand down his face as he huffed.
There wasn’t another stop between Vasis and Norain.
He approached the Captain and pulled him aside as he quietly asked, "Is there a way to make the ship go faster?"
The Captain shook his head, "No sir. This is as fast as she can go."
He rubbed his chin and turned to the soldiers before clearing his throat.
"Attention!"
The men immediately turned to him and stood tall.
"Unfortunately, most of our restock was left at Vasis. Given the circumstances, if any of you wish to depart the ship and head back to Vasis, I won’t fault you. I will grant you emergency leave."
The group was silent for a moment before they barked out, "No thank you, sir!"
"We’re staying with you General!" Etil shouted.
A small smile appeared on his face before he quickly squashed it.
"We have dwindling food supplies and our water supply isn’t much better off. Staying here would mean you’re practically dead men walking."
They hesitated a moment before saluting him.
"Sir! We aren’t leaving just because the going gets tough. We’ll ration our meals and catch fish as well!" Nascor spoke up, leading the rest of the group to nod in agreement.
"Water is our biggest issue." Marix shook his head.
"Sir, we still have quite a bit from our stop in Azuka! We can make it! We’ll figure it out!" Etil yelled causing the rest of the soldiers to pipe up with "Yeah"s and "That’s right!"s.
Marix rubbed his face again and took a deep breath.
"I am asking for a group of you to leave. Our water supply won’t last until Norain."
"Sir, what if we wait off shore for a few days? The Solan soldiers are only in Vasis to collect more people for their army. Won’t they leave soon? We can return then to buy some water and then leave!" Another soldier suggested.
Marix shook his head, "Now that the Solan Army has seen we’ve dropped out supplies and know we are seabound, they may wait for us there in hopes that we will return, or come after us in their own ship. The best option is to go onwards to Norain."
"But Sir, if we separate now.....that’s practically handing Sola a victory. Our best bet is to stick together. Don’t you think?"
"Do what you want." Marix huffed as he headed to check on Eilownia. He knew they were right, but the situation felt impossible at the moment.
That night, Eilownia sat rocking back and forth, fiddling with the ears on her rabbit plush.
"What’s wrong? Are you feeling unwell?" Marix asked as he grabbed her wrist and began to massage it.
"No. Well, not that kind of unwell. I’m worried about our supplies. Will we be okay? Are we going to starve to death? What about the baby?"
Marix sighed and wrapped his arm around her, pulling her close against him.
"Don’t worry about anything. I will take care of it. You just stay relaxed and trust in me to take care of you."
She looked up at him with a nervous look and he leaned down and kissed her forehead.
Not too far away from them was Aleiza who was dabbing Tryde’s sweat.
Marix glanced over at the small bowl of water she was dunking the cloth into.
"Aleiza. After that batch, don’t use anymore water to dab his sweat. We need to save it to drink and to clean wounds."
She nodded solemnly before smiling as Tryde opened his eyes.
"Tryde! You’re awake!" She gasped as she threw her arms around him.
He groaned and weakly lifted his arm to rest across her back.
"General," He coughed, "Let me go. It’s one less wound.....you have to waste water on.....one less person to waste....supplies on."
Aleiza shot up and gently smacked his shoulder.
"What are you talking about! Don’t say things like that!"
Tryde stared at Marix with a weak look in his face, "I’m of no help....like this."
Marix held his hand up to stop him.
"Until Dr. Lein tells me that you have no chance of survival, then I will give you a peaceful death but until then I will not give up any of my men like that. I will think of a solution. Rest assured."
The next morning, Marix approached Whimble who was sipping from a coconut.
"Whimble," He said, sitting down in front of him, "would you be able to figure out a way to make the seawater drinkable?"
Whimble smiled, "A challenge...I think I could...slrrrrp....think of ssssssomething."
"Good. Begin work immediately. You may be our only hope."
Just then, the ship crew let out a scream.
In the distance, approaching at surprising speed was a ship double their size. Large red flags with skulls on them waved high in the sky.
"Izka! Izka Pirates!"
