Chapter 12: Distractions

"Nice flying Ebony." Inian said as they flew over the green forest beneath them.

"You named the monster?" Asked Janae. She had gotten a lot more comfortable flying on the monster after a whole day of it.

"Yeah! I thought Ebony had a nice ring to it." Inian responded. Ebony nodded his head as if to agree. They had been flying for 20 hours straight and they had taken turns napping while Ebony was flying them across.

Inian looked out across the green valley they were in. Enjoying the breeze blowing by his face.

Suddenly, a large ball of energy shot by, missing Ebony by only a meter.

"EEEAAAAWWWW!!" Ebony screeched as he veered off to the left. Janae was holding tight to Inian's shirt who was holding tight to Ebony's feathers. "What was THAT!" Janae yelled.

Inian looked down and saw several low-tier mechas similar to the ones they escaped on following them. They each had the symbol of the Empire emblazoned on their metal. "It's the Empire!" Yelled Inian back. He pulled upwards on the reigns, having Ebony climb higher into the sky.

Ebony's mighty wings flapped, climbing upwards. The low-tier mechs fired their glastro cannons, missing Ebony by mere meters with every shot.

Finally, Ebony had climbed high enough to escape the range of the cannons. Inian was breathing the thin air, feeling light-headed. He sighed with relief from the sudden scare, but his relief was short lived.

Out of canopy below them, a dozen small figures shot into the sky. The specks appeared to be humanoid figures, and they were quickly gaining on them. Looking more closely, Inian could see that they were soldiers who were covered head to toe in bright metal. Large boots propelled the soldiers forward, ever closer to them.

"Oh no..." muttered Janae. Inian asked, "what is it?" Janae looked at him with fear in her eyes, "those are no simple exoskeletons. Those are version 2 exosuits! They give their wearer enhanced strength, speed, defense, and even gives them the ability to fly. My kingdom has very few of these exosuits, but it makes sense for the Empire to have a bunch of them. We need to make it to Rye Fort! It's another fortress on the southern border of the Trostan Kingdom. My father is the Commander there, and will definitely help us!"

Inian nodded, "please make haste Ebony!" Ebony flapped his wings harder than ever before, barely maintaining the distance between them and the soldiers flying in the exosuits.

After a few minutes, Ebony began to falter. His endurance was failing, and the exosuits began to catch up. The soldiers raised one arm, and a gun equipped to their forearms popped up. They opened fire, and the popping noises from the guns were ringing in Inian's ears. He felt a burning sensation on his leg and looked down to see it bleeding. The blood droplets dripped back towards the oncoming exosuits as they continued firing.

Inian began to believe they would never make it and prayed once more for protection.

'Ba-Dump!'

Inian's heart began beating powerfully, hurting Inian's chest. "Ah!" Inian gasped out. Janae was already tightly holding onto Inian, but gripped even tighter, "Inian! Are you okay?" She asked.

Inian couldn't get any words out but groaned from the pain his heart was giving him.

'Ba-Dump!'

"CAAAWWW!"

Inian heard the screeching of many birds. Looking down, he saw about 100 hawk-like birds zipping into the air.

The birds charged at the exosuits with insane vigor, latching onto every single soldier.

They pecked at the boots holding them up, at the eyes and weapons. Each soldier was flailing, trying to get them off, but were stopped and overwhelmed.

A few exosuits' engines collapsed, and the soldiers began falling to the ground one by one. The remaining exosuits didn't wait to collapse and dived back to the ground. "Inian, I don't know what just happened but we're safe!"

The beating in Inian's chest calmed down, and the pain subsided. Inian took a couple of deep breaths to clear his mind. The wound on his leg was still bleeding, however, it was a minor scrape across his leg, and luckily it didn't strike any arteries.

Ebony screeched, declaring their successful escape to the world, and flapped his wings, bringing them in the direction of the Rye Fort.

.....................

Off by Galbury Castle, Marc was in formation listening to his captain speak.

"You maggots are not worthy of our Empire's uniform!" The captain was yelling, "you have all been conscripted either for freedom or safety. Some of you were too poor, some of you were slaves who wanted freedom, and others had no choice but to join the Empire's forces. Whatever the case is, you are all property of the Empire, and as such, you will die with honor for this glorious nation! In one week we will attack Rye Fort, and you will all be on the front lines. Survive, and a promotion is in order, die, and glory awaits you in the afterlife! Dismissed!"

The formation disbanded, all the soldiers either going to their tents or talking with one another. Marc went and sat on top of the broken wall to clean his rifle.

The sun was setting, and Marc basked in the red hue of light. He smiled, humming a simple tune that he and Inian had sung as children.