Last night, after Nathan rushed to Ana, Grandma sternly told Arielle, "No matter what happens, stay with Grandpa and Maya, okay?"
"Ok, be careful Grandma." Arielle answered obediently. She saw many guards getting hurt fighting, so she was very scared and worried for his grandmother. Ashley looked up to Grandma and held hands with Arielle.
"Maya," Emily said, "I am getting Nathan back here. Please guard the back for a minute."
"Got it, hurry!" Maya answered soundly as Emily started running behind Nathan.
The situation was chaotic. The four plate armored bandits were attacking the courtyard on the west side. At the same time, the town hall's east gate was broken and the bandits were trying to get in. Noncombatants from both east and west sides were both trying to retreat to the middle of the hall.
People who were in the middle kept pushing each other and had no control over where they would end up next. Some children and elderly fell to the ground and got stepped on. People who were on the side were vulnerable to attacks from bandits. Nowhere was safe.
Patrick and his family were on the side, near the courtyard. As the plate armored bandits’ slaughter closed in, they had no choice but to brace for a fight.
Arielle followed her grandfather while holding Ashley's hand tightly. Chana followed closely behind. Thomas, being taller than the girls, constantly looked around for any signs of danger. There were screams and cries everywhere as the bandits slaughtered children and the elderly. Most of the village guards near the courtyard were either injured or dead. Both Arielle’s and Ashley’s hands were sweating. Ashley was apparently scared, but she tried her best not to cry. Occasionally, Arielle would look back and tried to see where her Grandma was going. However, Maya and the crowd behind her blocked her view. Being too short to see beyond them, she kept on trying nonetheless.
"Emily! No!" Patrick suddenly shouted. "Grandma!" Arielle could hear Nathan. Concerned and worried, Arielle jumped and tried to get as tall as she could so that she could see what happened.
"What happened to Mom and Grandma?" Arielle and Ashley asked, their voices desperate. Ashley, being the shortest at five-year-old, could only watch as her sister tiptoed.
Arielle barely, and briefly, saw the slaughter happening behind the crowd, but Grandma was no where to be seen. She then helplessly looked up to Maya, seeking for an answer. Then, Arielle's gaze followed Maya's line of sight to Patrick. At this moment, Patrick was looking at Nathan’s and Emily’s direction. His face turned purplish from the sight. He took one step toward his grandson’s direction but immediately held himself back. Grandpa's obvious anxiety, and silence to their questions, weighted onto Arielle and Ashley.
"Maya, carry Henry for me…" Patrick said as he tried to untie the baby carrier, but he suddenly stopped. Two men ran by him at tremendous speed toward Nathan’s direction. It was Jonathan and Harold. Using the Levitation spell, the two ran above the crowd, with each step lightly tapping the noncombatants' heads or shoulders like a gust of wind.
"Dad!" The four children shouted as they immediately felt much safer.
Harold and Jonathan then knocked the green-haired bandit back as Harold engaged him alone with an upper hand. Seeing her husband getting things under control, Maya said. "I will go get Nathan, wait here Patrick. Thomas, take care of the girls." Then, she ran over to Nathan.
Thomas, a boy two years older than Nathan, nodded to his mother and stood between the three girls and courtyard, preventing them from running away. "Don't worry. My mom will take care of it." He tried to reassure Arielle and Ashley, calming them down.
In just about thirty seconds, Maya was back with Nathan. She was carrying the unconscious boy on her shoulders. "Patrick, here you go." Maya said while handing the boy to Patrick.
"Got it." Patrick dropped his spear and carried Nathan onto his shoulders.
"What about Mom and Grandma?" Arielle demanded an answer, refusing to move. Ashley followed what her sister did.
"They are… staying behind so that we can escape." Maya explained, looking at Patrick as she responded.
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Patrick, lost his words for a moment, then told Arielle and Ashley, "Your dad is here now. Mom and Grandma are with him. Let us focus on leaving, all right?"
After Grandpa brought up their father, the girls felt reassured and safer. They nodded and followed their grandfather even though they were still not satisfied with the answer.
The situation in the town hall improved very quickly. People started moving out from the hall through its gate. Patrick led the children to the town hall’s main gate, where the bandits had retreated after suffering some casualties from Jonathan and Harold's arrival. The town hall was connected to the village's east and west gates by a straight road. Outside the hall, Patrick could see bandits retreating and running into the reinforcements from the village's west gate. Some guards from the village's west gate split up with the main force and arrived only a minute later than Jonathan and Harold. Arielle saw a group of guards, twenty strong, running into the town hall.
Since the west gate of the Urie Village was broken through, its noncombatants ran to the east gate.
Patrick was jogging in the front. Thomas, Arielle, Chana and Ashley followed closely behind. Maya was in the back, who occasionally looked back and guarded the family. Patrick was breathing heavily. He was carrying Nathan on his shoulder; and he frequently switch Nathan from the left shoulder to the right, and vice versa. Apparently, Grandpa was very tired from carrying Nathan.
It took approximately ten minutes for the family to reach the village's east gate. There was already a group of noncombatants there and more were arriving.
Patrick chose an empty spot and gently put down Nathan. Everyone sat down and tried to catch their breath after the run. However, the fight was not yet over.
A straight road connected the town hall to the village's east gate. From where the family was sitting now, they could see if anyone entered or left the town hall from its gate. They could also see bandits fighting the west gate guards from afar. Flashing lights of Divine Spells looked like ominous fireworks in the town hall, where each flash could spell their fathers' demise. Unfortunately, there was nothing the families could do except praying.
The twenty guards stationed at the village east gate was updated by the first arriving noncombatants. There were more guards at the gate, but the majority of them ran to the west gate after it was breached. The remaining guards stayed vigilant and continued watching the road into the village. If bandits appeared, it would be their turn to fight.
Henry soon felt asleep again. However, Arielle could not sleep. She watched from afar as the guards and the bandits continued fighting. After an eternity of waiting, the day finally broke. The eastern sky slowed turned from black to purple. Soon after, Arielle could see three plate armored bandits ran away from the town hall and headed to the village's west gate. They soon disappeared.
However, no one else came out from the town hall.
Seeing that the bandits had left. Patrick and Maya stood up and headed towards home. Many other noncombatants also did the same thing. Arielle and Ashley followed their Grandpa home.
"Maya, would you and your children stay at our place while I check up on the boys?" Patrick asked, surprisingly calmly, but Maya could tell the anxiety in his voice.
"Yes, please." Maya answered. Like Patrick, she was also very worried about how happened inside the town hall. Her husband, together with Patrick's son, were not coming out from the town hall.
"Nathan has a bruise in his stomach and was put to sleep by your father. He will wake up tomorrow." Patrick told the girls after they got home. "Go to sleep. I will be right back."
After the long and excruciating night, Arielle and Ashley returned to their bedroom. Since Ashley was too scared to sleep alone, Arielle slept beside her and sang her a lullaby. Thomas and Chana slept on the sofa while Maya continued to keep watch.
In about half an hour, Patrick returned home with a wagon carrying Jonathan and Harold.
"Maya, I have stopped their bleeding. However, I will need to operate on them now. Prepare some boiled water please." Patrick said.
"Alright!" Maya said as she hurried to the kitchen.
Patrick ran into his room and took his medical and surgical kits out. He operated on the men on top of the wagon. Following Patrick's instructions, Maya helped as well. By the time they were done, it was almost noon.
"They are going to be fine." Patrick reassured Maya, finally relaxing. "Clean the wounds, apply this ointment and change the bandages 3 times a day. Come back to me for more after you run out."
"Thank you Patrick," Maya said with gratitude and took a breath as a weight lifted off her shoulders. Then, she woke Thomas and Chana and went home.
After helping Jonathan to his room, Patrick started cooking lunch. "We will be having tofu today."
Back to the present, on the living room sofa, Arielle drank the rest of the water from the glass and grabbed a blanket from the sofa before lying down. She felt cold, helpless, powerless and scared. "I couldn't do anything." She thought as she craved for her mom and sobbed. Then, she heard Nathan singing a lullaby from his room.
"Twinkle, twinkle, little star,
How I wonder what you are,
Up above the world so high,
Like a diamond in the sky,
Twinkle, twinkle, little star,
How I wonder what you are."
Nathan repeated this song several more times. Arielle and Henry soon fell asleep. Nathan walked into the living room and found Arielle sleeping on the sofa.
Nathan looked at Arielle and took out a second piece of blanket. He lay down onto another arm of the sofa and quietly watched Arielle sleep. Her blonde hair was the same as Mom's and she looked very much like her.
As if his mother was sleeping beside him, Nathan, being exhausted, soon fell into a peaceful slumber.