Wheel Of Life

Stormbreaker neighed excitedly as it charged ahead, following Mark's direction. It quickly gained speed as the other horses followed him, a sense of pride at being the leader of the horses. He began leaping over the fallen branches that separated the forest from the clearing and broke free from the entangled ground beneath.

Lief and Kish roared loudly as they cleared the forest as well. the leaves crunching under the feet of the horses they roared. Sakura was close behind them, a long thin blade held low towards the floor, a glint of madness and bloodl.u.s.t flashed in her eyes.

The bandit with blue tattoos roared in their direction, raising his double headed war axe and charging to meet them. Foam frothing at his mouth, a couple of bandits near him joined and headed towards the speeding cavalry alongside him. His demeanor inspiring courage against these attackers. Another arrow hit him suddenly in the shoulder. He dropped his axe head slightly, before raging in anger and pulling out the arrow head, blood flowing freely from his shoulder. A berserk look covering his eyes.

Boudica lamented her aim, she had hit him twice and he had still not fallen down. She didn't have a clean shot at him now due to the horses, and instead aimed at other bandits in the camp. She pulled her bow back aiming at a long bearded bandit that had just ran out of a house to the right. Her arrow pierced his c.h.e.s.t, causing him to drop to his knees and cough out a mouthful of blood. One shot one kill, she commented to herself happily.

Mark lifted his spear, holding it like a lance, as he quickly reached the approaching bandits. The tattooed bandit heaved his axe in the air, ready to clash with Mark. Lief was to Mark's left, whilst Kish was to his right. They each chose a bandit each. Roaring a challenge excitedly at the bandits who were on foot.

Mark charged towards them, his spear poised and aimed at the tattooed leader. Information about his foe popped up in his view range, but he ignored it for now, the excitement of the attack taking control. His spear reached the tattooed bandit, aiming straight for his throat. The Bandit ducked underneath and swung his heavy axe around, clashing in to the c.h.e.s.t of the oncoming horse of Kish who was to Mark's side.

The horse cried in agony, before collapsing to the ground, throwing the unsuspecting rider to the ground. The tattoed bandit reached to retrieve his double ended axe from the body of the dying horse, blood gushing unending from it's open wound.

Mark continued his charge, his spear impaling the bandit behind, pushing him to the ground, a look of despair on his face. Leif also continued, unaware of his comrades dire situation. His long sword chopping at the head of another enemy, taking his life as the head lifted in the air separated cleanly from the falling body. Leif yelled in excitement before continuing his charge in to another bandit beyond.

The tattoed bandit approached Kish, who lay on the floor in a dazed state, in agony from the hard fall. His sword far from his reach and he attempted to stretch towards it's, the pain in his back stopping him. The tattooed bandit retrieved his axe with a strong pull and a grunt, lifting it high in the air, ready to slash down and crush the weakened Kish. Kish looked up, fear and acceptance in his eyes as his death loomed before him.

Suddenly the tattooed bandit paused, an arrow protruding from his right eye, whilst a thin sword stabbed deeply in to his ribs. The axe dropped from his hand and crashed in to the ground near to Kish, who passed out from shock.

Sakura pulled her blade from the tattooed bandits ribs and continued her charge in to the rear of the bandits, who the majority were still concentrating on Little Tai and Gan Nings troops. She looked behind her to see Boudica leaving the woods, her bastard sword drawn and her bow now placed behind her back.

Mark pulled his spear from the dead bandit, and directed Lief to follow him in to the back of the troops fighting against Gan Ning, who was facing the most enemies. He had noticed Kish was no longer beside him, but continued the charge, hoping his soldier was ok. He stabbed at another bandit from Stormbreaker's back, penetrating deeply into his spine, the spearhead breaking free from his c.h.e.s.t on the other side, causing blood to explode and blind the bandits comrades.

Gan Ning breathed a sigh of relief at the reinforcements and slashed at the bandit in front of him. The bandit was shocked at the warm liquid dripping from his back, the blood from his friend, and didn't raise his weapon quick enough to parry Gan Nings attack. A sword soon embedded deeply into his shoulder blade, a second sword then stabbed in to his c.h.e.s.t as Jin who was behind Gan Ning followed through with a second attack. The bandit crumpled to the ground, gasping heavily for any breath as his lungs slowly collapsed from the killing blow. Jin felt excitement at causing the death, causing Gan Ning to change at the next foe, wanting more kills.

Eduardo was in a duel against a strong bandit swordsman, their blades clashing loudly in the battlefield. Sparks flew from their blades as clashes, feints and parries were made. The Bandit struck high, expecting Eduardo's neck to be there, but instead found a sword stuck in to his stomach. He stepped back, clutching at his wound, knowing that a sword to the stomach was always a slow and agonising death. He fell to the floor, the slit opening further, allowing the contents to run free, his inside running through his fingers. He gazed at Eduardo, who nodded respectfully and stabbed him in the throat, ending the bandits pitiful life. Eduardo stood up, looking for his next target.

Gan Ning looked around at his men, noticing that most were still standing and fighting, a couple were missing, Hector and Francois. He hoped they were ok, and continued to slash at the enemies infront, a burning feeling creeping up his forearms from the constant fighting. He realised that he needed more training as a proper battle was much harder than the smaller skirmishes he had earlier in his life.

Gan Ning's men soon gained a strong foothold in this area with Mark and Leif causing chaos and confusion from behind. Bandits lay dead and dying, with less and less exiting the buildings and joining the fray. Tsubotai and the remaining archers had also charged from the forest, blades drawn and ready to strike. Their arrows appearing in many different bodies and bandits surround the field of battle.

Little Tai swung his Tachi, separating limbs from bodies, whilst his heavy troops stormed through unstoppable. The Red Ribbons were not the only red on them, with their armour coated in the blood of their fallen foe. The Heavy division easily crushed the enemies around them, leaving a bloodied mess on the floor. The bandits facing them panicked and turned, ready to run, however they had nowhere to go to as Boudica and Sakura stood behind them, ready to strike.

Boudica charged in, her sword pointing at the running enemies, she slashed away, causing mayhem with her every swing. Octavian mirrored her, his huge warhammer crushing the bandits around him, each swing like that of a baseball bat hitting an oncoming ball.

"Let none escape!" She screamed wildly. Men looked at her from across the field and roared in response, a second wind of energy invigorating them to kill. Mark himself felt this bloodl.u.s.t as he struck again, pinning an enemy against the shield of Rollo who was pushing through the enemy to his side.

"We are crushing them!" Rollo shouted to Mark happily, who responded with a grunt, slashing his spear down at another Bandit, whose numbers were drastically reducing.

Mark didn't know when it happened, but it did. Firstly there was one who dropped to the knees, weapon placed on the floor, soon followed by another and another. The enemy between him and Gan Ning's unit all fell to the floor, surrendering pitifully, completely destroyed and demoralised by the quick and painful strike from the Red Ribbons.

The bandits running from Little Tai noticed their comrades actions and did the same. The first to do so was quickly cut down by a berserk Vlad, his blood adding to the others who had fallen that day.

"Cease attacking!" Sakura ordered, which quickly caught the attention of the berserk Heavy unit. The remaining bandits dropped their weapons and fell to the floor, prostrating themselves as low as they could.

Mark wheeled his horse, looking at the decimation his Red Ribbons had caused. Corpses littered the floor, crushed and dismembered, the clearing now a stream of red blood that flooded from the deceased's bodies.

"The Red Ribbons!" Mark roared.

"The Red Ribbons!" Boudica responded, soon followed by the rest.

"The Red Ribbons, The Red Ribbons!" they chanted excitedly.

"Gather the prisoners in the centre!" Mark ordered towards Gan Ning.

"Search the houses!" another order soon followed, aimed at the panting Little Tai.

Boudica quickly headed to his side. "We did well." She commented.

"We did." he replied, "Count the men, make sure everyone is alive and accounted for."

She nodded in agreement and quickly got the attention of a couple of her archers, Sebastian and Belle, who she ordered to search for anyone that was not in eyesight.

Mark looked around the field, retracing the battle that had just happened. There were atleast 15 dead to the side Gan Ning had entered, the majority killed in the initial charge, there were some survivors on the floor, crying out to their surrendered colleagues who were reluctantly being drove towards the centre of the camp where the fire pit lay.

Mark looked towards the entrance where Little Tai had attacked, there were no survivors crying out in agony there. There was just a mangled mess of corpses and blood, crushed and separated as the 5 knights walked through, a level above anything Mark could imagine.

There was also a variety of bandits around the camp, arrows protruding from them. The archers had done their job well, taking out anyone that seemed to be gathering troops together. They had even killed the sleeping bandits by the warehouse door, which gave Mark a glimpse in to their savagery.

"Shall we explore?" Sakura asked invitingly, blood specks upon her face, her sword still dripping the their enemies blood.

"You should probably clean your blade." Mark joked, causing a smile to appear on her face.

"Yes I probably should." She replied appearing rather jovial, wiping her blade on the clothes of a slain foe.

Mark looked towards the encircled prisoners, and then towards the small barn sized warehouse. The warehouse first, he decided.