Amaro drop-kicked the first person he saw. Was it honorable? No. Did he hesitate? Also no. There wasn’t anything more important than ensuring his brothers were safe from harm.

“Sorry I’m late.” Amaro said.

“Not as if we were expecting you, brother.” Anitus said, “But it’s good to see that look in your eye for once.”

“You have excellent timing brother! We were just about to liberate these Tibur of their horns!” Raktus laughed, punching his palm.

“I see the minutemen you gathered have all fallen.”

“Fodder is fodder. Only the strong deserve to serve under me,” Anitus said.

“Oh come now, brother, you can make better use of your subordinates than reducing them to meat shields.”

“I’ll have you judge my strategy after we get through this.”

“Agreed. The others will be catching up soon too.”

Amaro scanned the crowd, he counted about six enemies in total including the one he had kicked on his way in, “Which ones are our targets?”

“All of them, if you can believe it.”

“So we take down five and leave one to tell the story?”

“Sounds good to me!” Raktus said.

“I’ll take left,” Amaro said.

“Right for me, then,” Anitus said.

“Try not to cut their heads off, will you?”

“No promises.”

“That leaves me to make left and right the same!” Raktus said as he charged forward to breach their defensive line. A single stomp of his foot quaking the earth and putting their opposition off balance.

Fighting alongside his siblings felt like sleeping in his bed and silk sheets again. As opposed to tripping over Rorik’s fighting style, he and his siblings worked as a seamless unit. It had been this way ever since he could remember. He would bicker and argue with his siblings. He might even stop talking to them, but the moment they needed to fight alongside one another all of that went to the wayside.

Two lengthy stone walls burst from the ground and sandwiched the six xio between. These Tibur were not pushovers, but they weren’t fast enough either.

Anitus and Amaro pincered the narrow opening between the walls. Anitus stabbed his sword into the ground, Raktus covered himself in stone.

Raiju’s Spear

Amaro sent a blast of lightning he could through the six xio lined up between them. It was surprising some were still conscious. It was a good thing Raiju’s Spear was not offensive magic.

It was enchantment magic.

Anitus pulled his sword from the ground, violet lightning arcing from its black blade. Blue wings of fire burst from his shoulder blades.

Amaro dove out of the way.

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SLASH!

CRACK!

BOOM!

Five sets of horns fell to the ground, the walls jaggedly cut at the exact height of each xio trapped inside. Anitus tumbled, landing on his feet. His cloak was smoldering in the cold winter air. The sheathing of his glowing orange blade giving those walls permission to crumble.

“Hope you don’t mind, I ended up taking a bit more than the tips.” Anitus said.

“That’s as much restraint as I can hope from you, Anitus,” Amaro chuckled.

The six Tibur fell unconscious.

“Let’s just make sure they’re not dead,” Amaro said, noticing Kaara and the rest catching up, “We’re gonna need a medic over here!” He shouted.

“Aw man! I missed it!” she said, summoning healing water for the six xio on the ground, “What did you guys do? I saw a big flash between those walls.”

“You’ll learn about it sooner if you ever cross us,” Anitus said.

“It’s just team combo we’ve practiced since we were young. Raktus cooked it up a few years ago if you can believe it.” Amaro said.

Raktus nodded, thumbing his nose, “I call it the Raktus Cannon!”

“We’ve collectively agreed it’s called anything other than that, actually,” Anitus said.

“Basically, Raktus traps them, Anitus buries his weapon in the ground so I can load an enchantment into it. Doing it like that will also stun anyone trapped into the wall for about a half a second. That enchantment then imbues Anitus with all the speed and power of a lightning bolt in addition to his own enhancement magic. If Raktus is the cannon, I am the loader, and Anitus is the cannonball.”

“That sounds super cool!” Kaara said with that wonderfully bright expression of hers.

It was Amaro’s turn to thumb his nose, “It’s nothing, really.”

“Hey this guy’s still got his horns, think we should cut ‘em?” Arik said.

“Leave them for tomorrow. Four plus five is nine, we don’t need a tenth.” Amaro said.

“Fair enough. Let’s bring all these back to Mr.Prince and be done with it for today,”

“That will be Prince Deka, to you, cur,” A voice said from behind them.

They all turned to see Vilka come out from behind a tree, “I will not have you using his name in vain. You will address your commander with the respect he deserves, even when he is not present.”

“Almost forgot you were ‘overseeing’ us, “Arik said, “Should we give these horn tips over to you, then?”

Vilka nodded, “That will be sufficient. I will report to Deka a job well done, and we will hold up our end of the bargain.”

“Ah, lighten up a little bit, though. No need to talk all formal an’ shit.”

“Informality is that which festers insubordination and a breakdown in the chain of command!”

“Well you’re lucky you’re cute at least,” Arik snickered.

“Cute?! I’m not cute!” Vilka blurted out before composing herself again, “Your mind games are unappreciated, Tibur. Change your tone, or I will take disciplinary action.”

Arik gave her an impish look and a salute, “As you say, ma’am.”

Vilka glared at her, while Amaro caught Kaara struggling to keep herself from laughing or contributing to the mischief.

If it wasn’t for that loss of composure, Amaro would have forgotten just how young Vilka was. He had already forgotten how young he was, after all. That tone of levity and mischief the Tibur always brought with them had a strange way of grounding him.

They were just kids playing a silly game with one another in the end. A bunch of kids so eager to grow up they were already pretending to be adults. Amaro liked Vilka more knowing even she wasn’t immune to breaking character for a moment, however short it might have been.

Still, it made him fear the day she was no longer a child. Would they still have moments like this? Would he still be happy?

What was he doing thinking such grim thoughts at a time like this? He knew a happy future awaited him in Kaara. Arik was far from a bad catch either, now that he looked at her properly.

“...Earth to Amaro.”

“Maybe we should hit him with a rock?”

Amaro jolted, “Hm? Oh! Sorry, what?”

“Spacin’ out?” Kaara asked, “Vilka said we can meet Deka in his tent. Let’s go! I wanna jump on his bed!”

“Why would you want to go there for a silly reason like that?”

“Cuz it’s fun!”

Because it was fun. Amaro longed to see it that way. Maybe he should.

“Alright, but let’s try not to get kicked out before he’s read us at least one scroll!”

Kaara grabbed him by the wrist and yanked him with her, “Come on!”