Smoke and Daggers

Amidst the smoke many figures moved around as if trying to find their way out.

Most continued to move forward while some the less built people began to change direction during the chaos and run down hill once more in order to escape.

Two figures bumped into the other that recognised each other as people from the village, suddenly one of the people lifted their hand facing forwards to the other.

The placement of their hand was so that two index fingers were raised as if making a peace sign.

The other person saw the sign and merely responded by making a peace sign which then changed by clutching their hand into a fist and then raising their index finger pointing upwards and pointing their thumb outwards making an L shape.

The two people nodded to each other and then disappeared in the smoke together once more.

In another location within the smoke another two people came to meet each other, one of them lifted their hands making a peace sign upon seeing them.

The person opposite raise their hands to wave at them half heartedly and walked towards them. "Hey, how are we supposed to get out of this smoke without being killed? If we go uphill we may face more enemies. If we travel to the side we don't know what could be waiting for us. How about we go back down and escape? You will come with me right?"

The other person walked over and patted his shoulder and turned his body facing it towards the bottom of the hill. "Let's escape, this is too much for us right now. At first we were supposed to invade this place but we were told that it would be easy to do. We never expected this much resistance."

"Hmm.. let's go." The person who waved after seeing the sign turned his back on the other person and began to head down expecting them to follow them.

Suddenly a hand came around from his back and blocked his mouth and suddenly a blade pierced his throat.

His eyes flashed with panic and betrayal before turning lifeless.

The person who killed them wiped the dagger on the persons clothes before coldly walking back disappearing into the smoke.

In another location someone encountered the group from the blood sect, the group walked together with the village head while trying to protect themselves from attacks and then met a villager.

The villager noticed immediately who they were so joined them. "What are your orders? How do we solve this problem?"

The village head shrugged. "Just keep going up obviously."

"Indeed, if we stop now those deaths would of been for nothing. We are so close so cannot give up now." The leader of the blood sect said while clutching a fresh new wound that he received during the last arrow attack. "We need to regroup and make sure that we make it to our goal. They have stopped shooting arrows but we don't know what to expect upon reaching the top."

The man nodded and his body lowered in a servile manner but deep within their eyes they were filled with despair. 'I should of just ran away when I had the chance.'

Another villager approached the man from within the group among that had gathered with the blood sect members and began to make a peace sign as he grew closer to the new entry.

The new addition to the group did not respond to his actions and nodded his head to greet him.

Soon followed was the villager whistling as he stood in front of the new villager, within the smoke and fog it was difficult to see his actions when he suddenly raised his weapon to pierce the man's chest in the location of their heart.

After he whistled several people within the group began to turn on their companions inflicting fatal wounds upon either the villagers who were the most easy targets before running away and disappearing in different directions within the smoke.

One of the attackers did manage to inflict a wound on one of the men from the blood sect but it was not a fatal one.

The men from the blood sect quickly attacked them since they were the closest to the group, several weapons pierced into their body without having much time to escape or counterattack.

Their eyes contained a look of regret which slowly turned lifeless as their body fell to the ground and the final thoughts went through his mind. 'I should of played it safe like the strategist said and targeted the weaker targets. I should of listened to his words but at least I did manage to wound one of them. I hope it helps…'

The body lay coldly on the ground before the group of blood sect members and the few remaining villagers within the group, there was a smile on the mans face which was witnessed by everyone as he lay dead before them.

The blood sect group leader revealed a look of irritation and kicked the corpse. "Everyone gather up together, all villagers are at the front and begin to walk up the hill. I want no more hesitation or any more attacks on anyone within the group or you will be the first to join this person. As for the others we will find them later, the smoke seems to be thinner now so it's slowly clearing up."

Everyone nodded upon hearing his words but some of the villagers revealed fear in their eyes upon witnessing the sudden assassination upon their people.

One of them within the group was too scared to move forward. "I don't want to do this anymore. I don't want to die. Aah…"

Soon something penetrating through his heart from behind, the village head wielded a pitchfork which had penetrated the villager from behind and began to shout fiercely at the other villagers. "Keep moving or you die. Don't make any stupid decisions, we have already come this far there is no turning back now."

The village head placed his hand on the wound of the man who fell to the ground and looked at the body with greedy eyes.

He removed the pitchfork from the body and began to suck the vitality into the skin on his palm.

The blood sect group leader looked at the scene with a look of satisfaction on his face. 'Good, he has managed to control them and his greed for power is still strong. He will make a useful pawn.'