The gate opened and we were faced with a change of scenery… Though it was to our clear disadvantage… An open dirt field with a rocky hill on each side. Perfect for archers to reign arrows from afar. And should we advance, we would have to cross what would inevitably become no man's land.
‘So that’s how it’s going to be…’ I sighed. “Right, everyone get to the top of the hill…” Just as I came over the top I heard the thud from a bow and quickly turned, grabbing Isy behind me and pulling her head down before it got taken off by an arrow that flew just over the top of us.
“Siya…” Mo said.
I peeked over this hill to see both of their archers already in position. “I know… There's no way they would give up that position… No matter how long we wait they’re more likely to get bored than anxious…”
“So what’s the plan?”
“For now…” I took a deep breath. “For now just hang out here. The archers won’t be able to shoot us from there without serious repositioning. We can only hope they are stupid enough to try and flank us with the other two.”
“Can you not shoot back?”
I wiped the dirt from my forehead and pulled out my bow. ‘Eh… Worth a try.’ I climbed down the hill and around the side, peaking out and firing a shot right at one of their heads… But the girl had plenty of time to just dodge. “Yeah… I don’t think that’s going to work…”
They fired back… But it wasn’t like I was slower than them. Their arrows had even less hope of hitting, at least if I was their target.
“So we just wait?”
“Strategically… That is the best option… If they move toward us we win instantly, but if we move toward them we put ourselves at a huge disadvantage. We might still win, but it wouldn’t be a flawless victory.” ‘This is why trench warfare was so common before airplanes… The only difference being that before guns you dig to stand on the high ground behind the trench, making anyone that charges fight uphill.’ I sighed. “We are at a standoff… Mo, are there any time limits to this or anything?”
“No… But neither side can leave until a winner is declared.”
I sighed again. “Ok… Well… Currently, our best option is to starve them out… Given our past experiences, I’m pretty sure we would operate much better on empty stomachs. If it lasts long enough we can even wait till one falls asleep…”
They all slowly looked around. “That can’t be our only option…” Bear grumbled.
I pointed to a nearby mud slick created by water leaking down from above. “Option two is to completely cover ourselves in mud and hope we blend in enough with the terrain that they don’t see us while we charge… We are pretty far away, likely the only reason we stand out is because of our appearance.”
This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it
Mo groaned. “I’d rather starve…”
Isy chuckled nervously. “I don’t mind mud… But I think they would still catch on and shoot at us… And it would be a lot harder to dodge if we’re close…”
I sighed again, peaking over the hill to see no change. “Right… Which is why we wait…”
I stared across the field for hours, every so often walking out into the open, and keeping track of each arrow shot, and by who. They were both pretty good, but the one on the left was worse for sure, and his accuracy was dropping further with time.
‘They may be disciplined… And even strategic… But they stopped shooting after 23 arrows… They must be running low and are trying to conserve them…’ I felt myself start to smile again, as I gathered up all the arrows around the area. “Ok, Mo, I need your hood. And bear, give me your arm wraps.”
“Why?” He asked.
“I’m going to make a scarecrow out of these arrows, and I need it to look human.”
He let out a low hum before shyly turning away.
‘What’s with that reaction?’ I turned behind me to see Mo, shirtless, handing me her jacket.
Isy quickly jumped between them in a semi-panicked flush. “Mo what are you doing!”
She looked down, tightening one of the thin straps that held together two leather plates, each one barely covering her, probably as an extra layer of defense over her heart. “What do you mean? She said she needed my hood.”
‘Ok but… I didn’t know it… I mean… If she’s fine with it there shouldn’t be a problem right?’ I slowly finished making the scarecrow, pretending to ignore them. Bear now sternly facing the opposite direction and doing the same.
“You can’t just go taking off your clothes! There’s a guy right here… And… People are watching us…”
She shrugged nonchalantly. “I’ve worn less in front of older men.”
“Why doesn’t that make me feel better…”
I quickly put the jacket on the scarecrow and pulled the hood up, placing it just narrowly in sight of the others, and came back down the hill, tapping Isy on the shoulder from behind. “As much as I would like to weigh in on this traumatic and slightly horrifying conversation. You three need to start covering yourselves with mud. We will want it to dry before we can continue since it looks different when wet.”
As they continued to awkwardly bicker, I climbed up the hill again to make sure they weren’t changing anything. Sure enough, they seemed calm. There wasn’t so much as a change in the way they were standing. As far as I could tell at least, they had no idea we were even doing anything. I slid back down the hill and… Sure enough, the problem still hadn’t been resolved yet.
Bear let out a deep groan before handing her his shirt, but after trying it on she decided it just got in the way because of how big it was… Taking it off again and restarting the problem.
‘Bear is a commoner, right? I wonder if they have different standards of modesty. Isy is just sheltered and really shy from what I can tell, but I think technically there's nothing wrong with her wearing just that. Although… It really makes it clear just how tiny she really is… It’s not just her height, but her waist… And even her bones look small…’ I sighed. ‘We need to stay focussed on the battle… Not Mo’s wardrobe…’ “Mo, put the shirt back on, I’ll fix it so that it doesn’t get in the way.”
She groaned, rolling her eyes, but ultimately listening.
“Isy, how’s your shoulder feeling?”
“It’s fine. It healed up way faster than–”
Before she finished talking I rolled up her sleeve and started unwrapping the old bandage, reaching inside her shirt and quickly pulling it off before using it to tie Mo’s new shirt tight to her body so it wouldn’t get in the way. It was sleeveless, so all I had to do was make it tight to her torso.
“Ok, now start covering yourselves with mud, hurry up.”
They finally started moving, although Isy moved a little bit slower than the others, at least at first, needing a moment to get over her own embarrassment… ‘I feel kind of bad about reaching inside her shirt, but in this war, sacrifices have to be made…’ The thought was satyrical… But it still made me close my eyes for a moment and lean my head into a nearby rock, imagining that same line coming from a guy.
‘This one battle is already more exhausting than all the others combined…’