Chapter 3

Chapter 3 - The Band of the Hawk

Some say that "If you want to conquer the anxiety of life, live in the moment, live in the breath." Basically if one wanted to calm themselves down when they're struggling with life choices, they would have to 'live in the present' by not thinking so much about the past or future. He had heard of this saying once from one of the adults in the village, although he didn't bother to learn any specifics about him. Still, this quote indeed drew him in for some reason, but whatever that reason was he didn't really care. All he cared about was him 'living in the now' had gradually turned into a rule of survival, a means of helping him keep his head on straight and his toes firmly planted in the ground. Perhaps if he hadn't adopted that rule as one of his few for surviving in this harsh village, then maybe he would have perished long ago, despite the help his two friends had offered.

Though, right now as he stood atop a crate eyeing his first target as part of a bigger group of men in leather armour who occasionally sneaked discreet yet disdainful glances towards him (mostly his hair and skin colour, he'd noticed), Shiro began to wonder if he had deviated from this course of life a little bit. If he had, there hadn't been much he could have done at the time, given the circumstances, but right now he had to trust that rule once again, adding yet another tally upon an already large chart of tallies.

Currently, Shiro stood outside the ranks of the Band of the Hawk yet still within their camp, having been made to join them in their little circle as they planned out their next big 'heist' as it were. As it were, Shiro leaned on the back of a wooden support whilst the rest discussed the plan, arms crossed and a brooding aura around him, though considering what he had recently gone through it came to no surprise. Still, the fact that this guy had let him join their next mission turned out to be quite the surprise for Shiro, becoming one of many confusing opinions about that guy.

First of all, back when he had asked him to join the guy's group as one of his subordinates, Shiro had been quite literally gobsmacked, gaping at him whilst his eyes had screamed the words 'are you serious?!' to the ever smiling Griffith. Of course, this hadn't lasted long before he'd utterly refused the notion, claiming that he had lost his marbles for hiring an obvious kid for something which he wasn't supposed to. He just couldn't get what the guy had been thinking, but Griffith had been a stubborn guy, claiming that he wanted him as part of the Band of the Hawk.

Eventually, it had reached a point where Shiro demanded that they fight it out, and if he were to win not only would he be allowed to leave this place but he would also get the chance to take Griffith's life. Not something the other members of his group seemed to favour judging by the murderous glares that were sent his way by them, but contrary to his expectations Griffith had agreed. All too eagerly, if he had anything to say about it… although Shiro would end up being disappointed yet again when Griffith soundly defeated him without much effort, making use of him being a full-grown adult and him a child who hadn't yet even entered his preteens.

Thus, he had only one option, to be indoctrinated within the Band of the Hawk.

Thus, it led up to this situation which took place the following morning after some of the goons belonging to this group of thieves had decided it would be good to 'break him in'. Well, that's what he had heard when he'd woken up, but apparently they got into a scuffle with something since, all around him, Shiro had noticed that there were claw-like markings scattered around, something which honestly gave him a heart attack when he'd first seen them.

According to Griffith, they had been hired by one of the larger Orphanages to target another one's supply area, most likely some sort of rival or something, in order to get more recognition by the Elder council Shiro figured. The usage of thieves like this apparently was something that the bigger and stronger Orphanages did in order to get ahead of their adversaries, something which seemed utterly revolting to Shiro though he didn't think much on it afterwards, since this was just part of how the Village had been run.

"The enemy's main force is on a hill outside the village, about 2000 strong. The enemy believes that nobody will risk exiting the village borders to find their supplies, which will be their downfall, for that is where we will be holding our heist. Our job will be to raid the enemy forces present there, and set fire to their supplies, then make it back into the Village. We shall take a roundabout route through the forest itself and ambush them from behind under the cover of darkness. Guards shall be bribed to stay silent, so we don't have to worry about official persecution. We will commence the operation at sunset, so use this time to familiarize yourself with the plan, we will hold a last-minute briefing before the operation's start for any questions raised." Griffith declared all of this whilst making a drawing on the ground with the tip of his drawn sword.

By the time sunset neared, a last-minute briefing got held by the Band of the Hawk, with a list of questions prepared for their leader.

One such soldier raised a hand and asked a question to the white haired man. "Who's our support?" he asked, hoping that they would have more support than just political cover from their Orphanage client.

Though, in the next few seconds those hopes got dashed. Griffith, after closing his eyes and answering calmly, had been the one to crush those said hopes. "There is none, I was told that there's no might to spare for a night strike on the enemy."

"Ptfh what a bunch of cowards."

"They can't even spare one soilder to help us."

"They're probably too scared or afraid to even come."

Multiple different comments came from various soldiers, though judging by the expressions on the rest of them that had stayed silent, each of them had similar thoughts. Something which Shiro couldn't help but notice, as well as notice just how little they truly seemed to care about this situation. Like, just being by their leader alone would be enough for them, something which perplexed the lad. 'These guys…...they've got so much confidence in Griffith.'

Meanwhile, said man had been asked about their rear guard, something which would likely be a crucial role if not a suicidal one given the scale of the operation. After a moment's worth of thinking, Griffith's eyes fell onto Shiro's form, and a slight upturning of his lips formed. "The rear guard will be…. Shiro, you'll see to it."

Hearing this caused the said lad to blink a couple times like an owl, his jaw becoming 'o' shaped at the sudden declaration. "Huh?"

"Eh? the newbie?"

"Guess he had it coming."

"I know right?"

Yet, as he became stunned at the fact that he'd been given this role, several of the other soldiers expressed their contempt for the young boy, whilst the rest of them didn't verbally admit their agreement. They didn't need to since their eyes pretty much told Shiro everything, similar to an expression that he'd once heard from those kids who'd bully him: the eyes were the windows to the soul, he thought it went.

Yet, Griffith held none of that contempt as his gaze locked onto that of the small boy's with an even, calm one. "It will be a tough job, Shiro. You have to keep the enemy busy and protect the escape of your allies. It's a direct forest road but you'll still have to keep perhaps several hundred horsemen at bay while fleeing. This is a high risk of death." the man explained, although Shiro didn't make any verbal response, just stared him down.

"..."

"Are you up for the task, Shiro?"

"... That was an order, wasn't it sir?"

"... It might be."

"... I'll do it."

In the end, Shiro decided to do it. Since he had been indoctrinated into this crew against his will, he had no choice but to go along with this plan. Not to mention that should he succeed, perhaps he would get a chance to reunite with his companions back in his home orphanage, although Shiro almost gagged when he had to call that hellhole a 'home'. To him, home was where those who cherished him were, that had been something which he had learned shortly after befriending his two childhood friends. Therefore, anywhere could be considered home if they were there as part of it.

That, and at least this way he would be able to get away from that stupid, childish smile which Griffith had aimed in his direction. It almost disgusted him about how he could smile like that, especially since the last time he'd seen it was when they had fought for the second time and he casually just broke his arm.

"Thank you Shiro, now everyone gear up, it's time we settle this."

As soon as Griffith said that, things began to happen. First, everyone started to put on their helmets, since they likely will get bombarded by ranged attacks. Oh yeah, since this village's economy made it so that they couldn't afford to make firearms like automatic rifles and the like, they had to go with more… primitive means, like crossbows, plate armour etc. It had also been one of the Village's many traditions, somewhat making it look like the village was still in the medieval period. Second, they had set about drawing their weapons and preparing for the fight of their lives.

Thus, the departing, and the first ever battle Shiro would face on a grander scale, began.

Moments later, the Band of the Hawk proceeded to leave the village through the specified gate, confirming Griffith;s words when the guards had paid them zero mind. Currently, they have to walk through a big river to make sure that they didn't make that much noise with their horses, so that way they wouldn't get spotted by the enemy.

'Ugh, this river is more like an ocean…. I'll bet that the enemy doesn't think that anyone would launch a sneak attack from a swift current like this one. They're too busy lording over the fact that Orphanages wouldn't think that supplies would be coming out of the Village. But, one good thing is that it does hide the sounds of our combined movement. If we're attacking from the rear, we'll be dropping fire on them from withdrawal to boot. Just how did Griffith get a plan like this to be taken into account?' Shiro wondered from the back of the group. Not to mention that this was his first time riding on a horse, and so far he felt like he wasn't doing too terribly on it. For some reason the horse itself, although some men had said it to be one of their more troublesome ones, behaved quite well around him. It had even unnerved some of the men with previous experience with said horse, making them wonder how the kid had managed to tame it.

As Shriou was thinking mentally about how Griffith managed to get a hold of this plan, he snapped out of those musings when he heard one of the soldiers(a girl) quickly put a hand up, a hushed whisper escaping her lips that every other soldier in the group had picked up. Apparently, she had spotted a soldier holding two buckets kneeling before the stream with a bored look on his face, which made everyone assume that he must've come here for the water. They stopped as she took out her knife from her thigh's holsters, held it up and then threw it with excellent accuracy in Shiros' eyes, into the unexpecting soldier.

SCHULUCK!

"?!"

The knife hit its mark, entering the guy's neck deep enough to bury it's entire blade into him. As a result, the soldier's face twisted into one of surprise as his last expression on this world, before he then promptly died quickly, falling onto his side.

'...Damn this girl has some skills, I'll give her that.'

Shiro formed a surprised face when he saw her throwing the knife with such an excellent aim. For an adult, she had good skills, it made him wonder what she had been like as a young girl. Now that there weren't any guards or patrols they needed to watch out for, the Band of the Hawk got onto land finally, as Griffith got in first before speaking.

"We are almost to the Camp, everyone. be prepared."

Meanwhile…

Deeper within the forest, the Camp could be seen, lit up by lanterns and the like. It looked to be chock full of tents, with many Guards and crates all loaded with different supplies meant for the Orphanage that this Camp had been made for. Under the cover of darkness, none of these Camp residents held the belief that they would ever be noticed nor attacked by anyone from rival factions due to how far removed this Camp was…

Which would be their undoing.

One soldier near the rear borders, yawned with a dismayed grunt escaping him, moaned in annoyance with the fact that he had the unluckiest job there was in this place….. sentry duty in the night. Like there wasn't ANYTHING more life threatening out there waiting for him. "brrrr cold! What a crummy night to be in sentry duty at this time. I swear Not even any wolves are on a night like this." he moaned for the upteenth time this night, looking like he would be falling asleep at any moment. He was about to go to sleep as he then looked at something in the forest that caught his attention.

"Hmm? what's that….?" He wondered, now completely awake as he placed his free hand over his brow as if blocking light from his eyes to get a better look. In the distance, he could see what looked to be many orbs of golden light, bobbing up and down through the forest, causing a wave of confusion to overcome him. "Are those…. lights?"

The more he looked at the lights, the more puzzled that he became. Each of them moved closer and closer, which slowly started to worry him, before he had a clear view of the lights' sources. His eyes widened in horror when the impossible, to him, occurred when he realized that the lights weren't actually lights, but rather men and women in armour on horseback. Each of them looking quite armed too, already clueing him in to their purpose.

"Huh?! Enemies!"

As a result of seeing this, the soldier quickly called out to the rest of his comrades as loud as he could. However, this would turn out to be a pointless endeavor, for not a second later did Griffith and his men charge forth on their horses like a stampede of raging bulls, slicing through that Guard and reducing him into multiple chunks of body parts on the ground that would in the near future be some nicely prepared food for the ever hungry vultures who'd come by, dawn to the smell of a load of deceased.

But back to the battle that ensued…

It would become the first true taste of conflict that Shiro had ever tasted in his short life, for in seconds the entire camp practically lit up in response to the charge that Griffith had launched. The smell of iron began to tickle at his nostrils in much greater quantities than he had been used to, as a kid who fought in semi-official matches against older kids and sometimes adults for cash for his Orphanage. Security began to fight back against them whilst the rest of the guards, who had been resting all snugly within their quarters thinking that they had been safe, awoke to the sounds of combat, screams and metallic clashing which would have not been possible in their eyes. Some didn't even get a chance to wake up at all, for stray arrows and other projectiles would come flying through their tent flaps and kill them in their sleep.

Sounds of horses galloping would constantly fill his ears as Shiro, clad on his horse, rode with the adults and tossed out the torches that they had at various supplies, lighting them up and ensuring their destruction by the night's end. Some of the targets had been gunpowder, so when him and the rest of the riding soldiers had been able to set them alight massive explosions would follow that'd destroy tents and kill the defending troops by torching them, reducing their bodies to charred remains within seconds. If they didn't get blown to bits by the explosions though.

One such explosion nearly knocked Shiro off his horse, but he managed to retain his grip on the reins and ride on… though, out of the corner of his vision the boy thought he'd seen something move backwards into him, but soon thought little of it afterwards since there were more important things to focus on.

"Disregard the enemy! Break through in one go!"

Breaking out of his thoughts, Shiro glanced forwards as A call came out from Griffith who glanced behind him at his men, seeing that their riding had started to slow the deeper they had gotten into the camp. Yet, with that one order, all the men under his command began to increase their speed as they continued to charge through the growing soldier ranks. None of them had encountered the bulk of the infantry stationed here though, and if they did then they likely would have gotten wiped out since they didn't number even close enough to the amount needed to face them.

Hence, each of the soldiers quickly rode like the wind through the enemy lines which had been hurriedly assembled to halt their progress, each of the men and Griffith slicing and dicing their way through and immersing themselves in the dying cries of their enemies, their blades hacking their way through their flesh like they were going through tender meat. To the enemies, they looked less like actual humans riding horses and more like demons riding out of hell, eager to claim their souls and drag them down to the depths of crimson purgatory.

"Ride, double file! Now, let us escape!"

After seeing that they had pretty much destroyed all of the Camp's supplies, Griffith went and issued that order as the Band of the Hawk reorganized it's charge in order for them to begin their escape out into the forest.

Back in the Camp's centre…

"Sir!"

A soldier jogged up to a larger man in full plate armour, standing beside two men in similar getups who seemed to have the role of bodyguards. Although considering that the man hadn't done much to stop the Band of the Hawk, not like he could though, some of the men would have given him dirty looks had it not been for the man's tendency to execute those who didn't follow his orders. As the soldier stopped before the large man, he lowered his head and delivered his report. "It's a disaster, sir! All around the camp, our provisions and gunpowder reserves are burning!"

"I can SEE that, you idiot!" The man, obviously the one in charge of this camp, barked back resulting in the footsoldier quivering in fear before him. As such, the man growled under his breath in both confusion and frustration, glancing at the destruction before him. This attack had come literally out of nowhere, pretty much catching them with their pants down if one wanted to be vulgar about it. Whilst he wanted to know how the fuck this camp's location had gotten out to their enemies, but it had and as such they needed to get as many supplies as they could out of here. "Gather the remaining supplies and get them out of here!" The man barked.

However, the soldier had even more bad news to share. "But sir, the strong winds carried the fire further than we anticipated. If we're not careful, a tailwind will spread it to the mens' tents…!"

"Grk! Tch, that's it then! Men! Assemble the Cavalry! If we let a bunch of goddamn, flea-bitten lowly THIEVES do this to us, then our reputation will go down the drain! The shame will make you all commit suicide as penance!" The commander barked, and whilst some questioned his words in their minds, none of the soldiers dared speak up due to both the situation as well as the fear that they had of him.

GALLOP, GALLOP, GALLOP, GALLOP!

The Band of the Hawk, their mission completed, hastily retreated back through the forest along a dirt-covered path. Their horses hooves constantly stomped away against the gravel whilst they galloped, resulting in sounds similar to a stampede filling everyone's ears. Although, none of them had any illusions of this being over, oh no, what had happened before with the whole raid had been the easy part in everyone's mind, since it had been a plan thought up by Griffith of all people. That was just the extent of how much faith every soldier under him had in his ability. THIS here however would be the hard part, not to mention the most heart-pounding: getting back to the Village in time to lose the whole infantry garrison that would surely be chasing them down.

Furthermore, there likely would be a detachment of troops to be sent out after them, so they had to leg it as much as they could to get the biggest head start possible, that way they would be able to use their own knowledge of the backstreets and the hidden alleyways to lose them. The horses weren't expendable, but they would be picked up and brought back to the relevant parties, according to Griffith anyways, so nobody worried about the said creatures.

Meanwhile, Shiro just couldn't help but marvel at how well this operation had been pulled off, not to mention the way these adults acted without hesitation and had competent coordination with one another. Most of the adults and pretty much ALL of the children he'd fought against didn't have NEARLY as much as these guys, not to mention there didn't seem to be any sort of hierarchy in the group aside from Griffith being the Leader. Of course, Shiro bet there was some sort of official structure to this whole group, but in the end he doubted that anyone even minded considering what he'd seen today. 'Seriously… never managed to witness a sneak attack that quick before…'

GALLOP, GALLOP, GALLOP, GALLOP, GALLOP, GALLOP, GALLOP, GALLOP, GALLOP!

"?!"

Whilst he was thinking about this, Shiro's eyes widened behind his helmet when he heard the sounds of galloping… but not the ones coming from their horses. They came from behind him, so with a quick turn of his head Shiro glanced to their rear and found… a BUNCH of men in full plate armour, riding on horseback whilst being armed with swords and shields. Each of them had furious, if not downright murderous gazes like a pack of wild wolves on the hunt… and they were the prey.

However, Shiro just snorted as he reached back, grasping his sword as he proceeded to slow himself down and break off from the rest. Just like Griffith had mentioned before, since he was the rear guard, Shiro's task would be to delay the enemy from reaching them and catching the Thieves before they could escape back to the village. Not to mention that, as he viewed the rapidly approaching cavalry, gripping his blade with the odds stacked against him with the impending threat of fighting enemies beyond his size, it felt quite… familiar to him. Not to mention, Shiro felt a surge of… hunger…

Hunger for carnage...

Hunger for Bloodshed...

Hunger for warfare...

Hunger for slaughter…

'Well then… let me show these fuckers, why when you attack one wolf, you get the PACK!'

The galloping of horse hooves began to slow down as Griffith, along with the front lines of his men, returned to the Village, the gates opening up as if to welcome them back as war heroes from an epic journey although each of them didn't fool themselves into thinking of them as such. Though, this also didn't let the big grins on each of their faces diminish any since the revelations of their recent victory had been all too real, proven by the stains of blood on their armour plates along with the exhaustion running through them like blood in the bloodstream.

"Man, now THAT was a blast!"

"Yup, even though we had a full plan, my heart skipped a beat a few times!"

"Shit, we managed to give one of those big shots the middle finger! I'm so going to get laid tonight!

Things like these got heard throughout the Band of the Hawk, although they were said in hushed manners so as to not disturb the overall atmosphere they had generated. The sense of achievement could really be felt by them, since they had originally been nothing but petty thieves who stole just enough for their own daily needs. They would have been nothing but specs on the road if it hadn't been for their leader, who'd fell down into their lives like an angel descending from heaven itself.

Of course, they didn't expect to be greeted as such, since they were thieves and all instead of heroic knights valiantly fighting for their country. If anything only their cold, harsh reality would be waiting for them, but for now that was fine, since in the end, things would start looking up for them in the near future, as long as they would follow their leader to the very end. That thought process had been something which the men under Griffith's leadership had thought time and time again, with this one being no different from the others.

Once they all had gone and trotted through the village gate, Griffith who had been the sole nonchalant person in the group like what had happened didn't affect him at all, glanced around at the various hushly celebrating soldiers. His eyes shone like those of the namesake of his group, almost like they had been looking for something important, all before his powerful voice broke them out of their musings. "Our casualties?"

Another soldier, one who looked quite large for a thief whilst making people wonder how his horse had been able to carry him, responded to him. "Very little, minor injuries but nothing a bit of treatment and some rest won't fix. Thanks to our new rear guard, we were able to limit the casualties to that much." he explained with a blank undertone, although there were hints of amazement and respect for a certain someone starting to shine through.

"Where's Shiro?"

Upon Griffith asking this, a flash of brief surprise crossed through the entire group before each of the soldiers looked around, wondering why Griffith had asked about the newest member of their ranks. That allowed them to clue in to the fact that Shiro wasn't with them at the moment, like he had never been there in the first place. One soldier then came out with the following response, having seemingly been the only one who had any answers to the situation.

In the end though, that same large guy from before ended up answering him, gesturing to the gate behind him which had remained open, odds were that it'd only close for when they were gone back to their own hidey holes. "Back there. He told us to leave him behind whilst he took care of the enemy. Seems like he pulled it off, considering how low our casualties are." he explained, then noticed something flash behind Griffith's calm gaze. He didn't know what it was, but it did lead him into predicting what Griffith will do next.

Something which came true when the said man placed his helmet back on his head and began riding to the gate once more, signalling the large man and one other with a single gaze. "All men, return to base. Wait for when we return with our comrade, whether he be dead or alive." he ordered, much to everyone's shock and confusion. Yet, before any of them could have found their voices again in order to protest and question their leader's judgement, a rarity when it came to them and Griffith, the said leader had already begun riding back to the forest with his two chosen followers in tow.

It didn't take them nearly as long as the first time to get into the forest again, since they had simply re-traced their roots back to the one which the Band of the Hawk had used to flee from their enemy. Neither soldier had spoken to their leader and vice versa, with the two of them having seen the blank look on Griffith's face as he had rode slightly faster than they did. This allowed them to clue in on something which their leader must be feeling at the moment: urgency, there was something within this particular soldier, one Shiro, that resulted in Griffith seeing it as urgent enough to go back to the place which would likely be a warzone without his men, risking his own life in the process. Whatever that was, neither of the two knew…

But by the time that they had begun riding through the root however, it didn't take them long to start getting an idea.

The reason? Simple, because the deeper along the escape route they travelled, the more unnerved they became when they started seeing some… odd features gradually overtake the forest. Things such as scratch marks, splatters of blood, and the deeper they went the more gory things became since there were severed limbs scattered everywhere, some humans and others not (even a few heads could be seen hanging about on the trees, with expressions frozen into ones of horror and despair, much to the soldiers growing disturbance).

"Geez… looks like a goddamn masacre in here? You think the kid's going to be alright?"

"Not my place to say…?"

Still, despite their conflicting opinions regarding their leader's apparent faith in Shiro, the soldiers riding slightly behind him still couldn't help but question each other on what they might find here: either the corpse of their comrade in which case they would bury him like he had been an honorary member, or perhaps… something else. Something that they couldn't pinpoint the exact nature and identity of, and that alone sent shivers of dread down their spines. Shivers that returned on occasion whilst they rode deeper along the path, for as they got closer and closer to the camp, the more twisted and gory everything became with bone fragments littering the ground like some junkyard. They could even see body parts like muscles, torn flesh, eyeballs, teeth etc to the point where even GRIFFITH himself grew concerned enough for it to form slightly on his face.

By the time that they got to the camp, even though the two soldiers wished oh so desperately they didn't have to, they got treated to a sight that even sent Griffith into a state of pure shock, as evident by the widened eyes and the slightly open mouth that he sported…

For the entire camp just looked like it had been painted one simple colour: red.

Everything looked like it had been hacked to bits by some wild beast, with blood-covered weapons sticking out everywhere whilst body parts of corpses, some being left reasonably intact so they could be identified as guards for the former camp. Each face they had managed to see which hadn't been absolutely WRECKED looked exactly the same as one another: shock and horror, like something absolutely incomprehensible had been the last thing they had ever seen on this earth. Not to mention there were next to NO remains of the camo as they had remembered it, with no signs of fires or anything, it just looked like a herd of wild beasts had torn the place apart from the roots, and judging by the sight, they'd assume that there weren't any survivors left to tell the tale of what had led this place to this fate.

"Dear God…"

"Oh hell… is that kid still al… ah, there!"

For the first time, the large man pointed his weapon with a slightly alarmed voice: a simple black spiked mace, towards the centre of the camp, which could be seen much better from their point of view now that little currently obstructed it. The thing which he pointed towards however, turned out to be (much to their shock) a… completely INTACT Shiro. Said boy lay in the fetal position on what seemed to be the ONLY spot in the entire camp COMPLETELY free of any of the slaughtery gore. No blood, no guts, no nothing in a perfect circle around his form. As if he himself were the sole 'pure' thing about this Camp and nothing else, like the stains of combat could not even touch him. Not even the sword which had been embedded over him like some kind of gravestone had any splotches of blood and stuff, further enhancing the 'clean' image here.

However, whilst the two soldiers sat on their horses with stunned looks on their faces, Griffith became the one to recover first and then proceeded to dismount, having sensed his mount's displeasure. Not to mention that he only picked those two as a means of performing a hit'n'run tactics in case the boy had been about to fall victim to the enemy's blade, though considering the slaughter he had seen before him that seemed to have been an unnecessary action on his part. After he had dismounted his horse and heard the splash of blood on the ground when he'd impacted it, the leader of the Band of the Hawk strode on over to the unconscious boy, the squelches that had accompanied his boots stepping through the figurative ocean of blood being the sole thing that had filled his ears. 'This scene… I remember... it could have been the case before, too…' The man thought to himself, remembering when the two of them had fought for the first time after Shiro had fought off against the bullies who had been picking a fight with him.

Back then though, he had seen what had caused this destruction before him, and it had NOT been pretty…

Lets just say that Griffith had gone to great lengths to hide the injuries he'd gotten after subduing IT when IT had attacked him back then…

At that moment, the man had wondered what it would have been like if that… THING were to be let loose onto a massive population, how effective it would have been. Of course, this was just a passing thought, not to mention that if he had focused too much on that it would look like he favoured beasts more than men, which wasn't something which his colleagues back 'home' would have agreed with.

Still, he couldn't say it wasn't part of the reason why he'd taken an interest in Shiro, to the point of recruiting him like he had. Heck, him not drawing his sword had been a lesson he had learned when dealing with matters regarding that… thing...

These thoughts soon vanished however, once he had gotten close enough to the boy's unconscious form. Kneeling down on one leg, Griffith scooped the child up into his arms, making sure to grab his sword and rest it on the boy's frame. Unconsciously, Shiro's arms wrapped around it as his expression, which had shifted into a sense of discomfort when Griffith had picked him up, returned to a more relaxed one.

The kid seemed to be VERY attached to his sword…

Afterwards, Griffith made sure he had grasped Shiro in the correct manner before he walked back to his men, his eyes regaining that hard edge to them which made the said soldiers stiffen. They'd known that look before, having seen it on his person whenever he was explaining battle tactics or out on the field itself, therefore whenever they saw that look they would immediately be at attention, ready to listen to his orders whatever they may be. Orders which soon came to light when Griffith spoke in his 'commander' voice to them. "We will not speak of this. If anyone were to ask, you will inform them that we were able to scoop Shiro out of the enemy's hands in a hit and run strategy. Understood?" he declared firmly, his gaze that of his group's namesake.

"S-Sir, yes sir!"

Both soldiers gave their cries of affirmation, the domineering sensations they'd felt from that tone of voice used to address them making the two men shudder, though the large one did less of this. They knew well not to disobey their leader, since he had made an 'example' out of those who betrayed his trust. This had happened early into their formation as the Band of the Hawk, and only a few of them actively thought about it at this point since they had been so taken in by the man's leadership.

With that done, Griffith once again mounted his Horse (kind of hard to do actually, given the contents that he had to carry very carefully), before the trio then left with their cargo, leaving behind the scenery of absolute carnage.

"So… that group of thieves managed it after all… how terrible."

Deep within a dark corridor, a sole figure could be heard talking in a hushed voice under a dark hooded cloak. The figure's voice revealed his identity to be an elderly male, thanks to his voice being a bit croaky, something which showcased how long he had been living on this planet for. This SAME old man turned out to be the one who had handed Griffith his recent assignment, proof being the report that he had in his possession detailing events (although unbeknownst to him, they were altered by Griffith himself so that Shirou's condition remained unknown). "Despite this entire thing being one assignment, those crooks find it necessary to celebrate. Oh well, it IS a major gain for us, so I can overlook it this time…"

The figure remarked this whilst placing the report within his cloak whilst looking out a nearby window into the night, gazing up at the bright moon above them. The cloaked man remembered the look on Griffith's face when he had submitted the report to him, and shuddered. Even as he did his best to settle his nerves, the moon's illumination did little to help him ease himself, knowing just what Griffith and his Band of the Hawk's existence meant for this Village's future. "Yet still, what I find terrible, is that man's potential. To manage such an operation by himself, with next to no backing from the Church itself. Not only that, but to accomplish something so thoroughly...with his tactics and capabilities for combat… in addition to having the absolute devotion of his men… yes, he truly is a dreadful man." The cloaked man remarked, nodding to himself as he finally settled his nerves.

It wasn't very good for him to be on edge all the time like this, since his 35 year old wife and 2 27 year old sons had constantly told him. His body wasn't as strong as it used to be, so he could fall ill from stressing himself too much these days, something which the cloaked man scoffed mentally at. "Things will likely be changing in the future… yes, they will. I wonder how the others in the other Orphanages and the Council will take this."

The cloaked man hummed in thought to himself, stroking both sides of his jaw with his wrinkly looking left hand. While doing so, one could hear the sounds of scratching that came from raking one's nails along some facial hair, before the cloaked man stopped doing what he was doing and proceeded to head off back to his home, knowing that there will likely be a few changes in the near future, thanks to this man's merits. He had a feeling that someone like him would be climbing up the ranks in everyone's eyes quite quickly, stepping on plenty of hornets nests all the while.

Unbeknownst to him, however, the cloaked man hadn't been alone, for someone in a getup covered by a cloak had been nearby, watching him from the shadows. The cloaked figure hadn't done anything or said a single word, just watched the old man until he had left, before leaving as well to go inform his leader of what he had heard.

All in all, a raid was successful… despite the context surrounding it being a bit sketchy