Full Charge Ahead!

It wasn't even an hour after they left the village that they encountered some enemies. Kies' winds picked them up a half-kilometer from their location. Of course, that was pretty far, but Kies knew that it was the enemy because he sensed horses as well. It looked like several squads were dispatched to stop them from reaching Otane.

Kies informed the others about this since they couldn't just continue down the road. He estimated that there were just under a hundred soldiers and there was also a cavalry squad with them. They had no chance against that many soldiers so they will have to sneak around them.

"How can you tell?" Iris asks him. She looked around but couldn't see the soldiers that he was talking about. "Do you have super-vision or something?"

"That's one way to put it."

"Wow... I knew that you were special when I first saw you, but you can do a lot of things, can't you?"

"Hm? What do you mean when you first saw me? You had the same look on your faces as the soldiers when you first saw me. All of you were looking at me like I was insane. Don't you mean when you saw my sword?"

"Um... Yeah, maybe that was the switch. Anyway, is it another magic tool?"

"What?"

"Your super-vision, are you seeing them from another magic tool you have hidden on you?"

"No. Just because I have a sword, it doesn't mean that I have hundreds of them all over me."

"So you're telling me that your eyes are just that good? There's three of us here and yet you're the only one that sees them?" It was a little suspicious. They believed that the only way that Kies could do that is if he had a magic tool.

"If you don't believe me, we will see them very soon. We're coming upon them." The group walked for a few more minutes and they spotted a bunch of tiny figures ahead. They were so far that it took them some time to identify them as people and not as grass.

"Oh! You weren't kidding!"

"Sh*t! Look at how many of them there are. How are you going to get past that?" Sirks looks all around the road and sees that they're all spread out. Ahead of them, there was a lone traveler and he was stopped by the soldiers and frisked before being let through.

"We can't go around them," Iris observed. They had the entire road covered and also had people on horses riding around the grass. It was practically a wall of people that stretched across the plans. Behind them, Kies could see the plain begin to end. The grass behind them was more yellow and looked like a wheat field. After that, they still had to walk very far until the grass completely cleared up and the desert started. They really didn't want them to get close to Otane.

"Ugh... What do we do?" Sikes had no idea how they should go about solving this problem. They couldn't fight them or go around. They had no other options. Waiting until night and sneaking through is their best bet but it would take a huge toll on their progress and supplies. The village back there was very far outside of Otanian territory and so there weren't soldiers stationed there, but as they get closer, there will be more soldiers, or so that is what Iris told Kies.

"Doesn't your sister know about what's happening?" Kies asked the two princesses. There was no way that the queen wouldn't catch wind of what was going on if there were this many soldiers involved.

"Well, not exactly..." Iris calmly explained the situation to Kies. "Our sister is kind of... in a coma I guess?"

"In a coma?" This was the first that Kies heard about this.

"Yeah, some bad people poisoned her. It's not a dangerous poison that takes people's lives but it puts them out for a long time."

"Okay... And why are the soldiers chasing you all then? Did you do it?"

"We were framed. The real culprits put the blame on us because we would be the next in line for the throne if she dies."

"Ah." Politics... Just as annoying as always. "Why didn't you tell me all of this before?" All of this was important information and Kies didn't understand they didn't explain to him the entire story beforehand.

"Didn't want to scare you off. Also, we weren't completely sure if we can trust you, and we still aren't, but since you didn't make a move on us even though you were awake the entire night, I guess you're a little reliable."

"You knew?"

"What? Do you really think all of us would fall asleep like that when there's a strange man who doesn't want to reveal his face or identity alongside us?"

"Huh..." So they had been aware and wary of them the entire time. They just didn't show it. Looks like first impressions aren't everything. Iris is a lot more careful and cunning than he thought.

"So, now that you've heard the whole story, you're going to help us right? I mean, we can't fight the demons with how things are on Otane right now."

"Sure." There is no point in backing out now. Though, Kies had no idea either as to how they are supposed to get through or around the soldiers.

"Great! Now then, let's roll right through this problem in front of us." Iris cheerfully says.

"Sorry?" Was she trying to say, let's figure this out or something? If so, that was a weird way of saying it.

Iris looked at the other three and Sirks suddenly felt a shiver down his spine. "Wait... you're not thinking of doing what I'm thinking you are, are you?"

"Depends. Are you thinking of the classic solution to everything?"

The color drained from both Sirks and her sister's faces when they heard that. Only Kies had no idea of what was going on and just looked at Iris with a face full of confusion.

"What exactly are you planning?" Kies asks her, wondering why the other two looked like they were about to faint from whatever they're about to do.

Iris smiles and tells the plan to Kies. "We are..."

Kies' eyelids droop when he hears her plan. "Tell me you're joking."

"I'm not! Let's do this!"

Iris doesn't wait for anyone to say anything and runs off down the road towards the soldiers.

"You idiot! You're actually going through with this plan!?" Sirks ran off after her. As terrible as an idea it was, he had no choice but to follow as it is his duty to protect her.

Wompa watched her sister as she ran and also at Sirks who was chasing after her. She took a moment to clasp her hands together and pray that they will end up okay and then also chased after them.

This left Kies, who was still shocked to a point of disbelief and was standing there completely stunned by what he was seeing. Her plan was to charge in and hope for the best. Why the h*ll is that classic solution to everything. Kies took back everything he said about Iris before. She wasn't careful or cunning, in fact, she was the exact opposite.

She was an idiot who relied on brute force. Why did he agree to help them out?

Kies facepalms himself and contemplates for a moment if he should even run in as well. He looks up and sees that the soldiers have already spotted the three and were pointing at them.

"For the love of the winds..." If Iris died or got captured here, he would have an even harder time retrieving the fragment as it would fall into the hands of the army. He had no choice either but to run in with them.

Kies took a deep breath to prepare his mind before he started sprinting across the grass and road to where the soldiers were.

He quickly catches up with the other three. Kies couldn't see Iris' face as her long red hair was flying wildly behind her as she ran and covering her face, but he knew that she had a huge grin on her face.

As they continue to get closer to the soldiers, Kies looks around the grass and road to try to spot the strongest and weakest ones so he can figure out where to start the fight. But that is pretty hard to do when they all looked fairly tough and looked the same wearing armor. Instead, Kies had to make guesses based on the way the soldiers were holding their weapons. Experienced warriors and amateur warriors had different stances. Experienced ones are always on the edge and are careful, keeping their hands close or on their weapons at all times in case something unexpected happens and they require their weapons. Amateur warriors on the other hand just stood around with no idea of what was going on and just listened to orders given out to them. Most of them usually stand and try to look menacing.

Kies spots a group of soldiers in the center of the road that looked like new recruits and changed his direction towards them. The soldiers recognized the two princesses and were drawing their weapons and getting ready to capture her. A couple of horse riders also started to come their way.

Kies expected her to stop and tumble to the side to dodge the incoming horses, but she instead did something that he would never expect anyone in a million years to do.

As the horse was about to hit her, the rider stopped it and Iris took the opportunity to jump up onto the neck of the horse and kick the soldier off.

"Aaaah!" The soldier fell onto the grass with a loud crash as his helmet flew off along with parts of his armor.

"Get on sis!" Iris took control of the horse, turned the animal around, and had it start running towards her sister. She ran right past Sirks and when she got close enough, Wompa threw out her hand and Iris caught her and pulled her up onto the horse in one quick motion. Her sister sat down behind her and Iris then steered the horseback around towards the soldiers who were all closing in on them.

As they galloped by the fallen soldier, Wompa stretched out and reached for something in the grass. She grabbed something long from there and then returned to her original position. The two sisters then charged right at the soldiers who, in fear of getting run over, moved to the side and made way for her as the horse passed through.

Iris twisted her body around and waved at Kies and Sirks who were lagging far behind them. She opened her mouth and shouted something at them but they were too far away to hear. But Kies was pretty sure that the words she shouted at them were, "Good luck!"

"..."

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