Lady Izeria had fought many wars in her life but she had never been pushed so hard in battle as she was now. Wounded members of her House Guard were almost being piled up around her while she tried to keep them protected from enemy projectiles with a shimmering barrier. But no matter how many bullets or tank shells she stopped, a few of them got through now and then.
"We can't hold," a sergeant of Izeria's House Guard shouted to her yet again. They were pinned down in the middle of a large stone bridge they had been supposed to secure. But the enemy had rolled large metal tanks on it to assault them. And even if both of them had been disabled by ranged magic, they still served as better cover than the sandbags and depleted barriers Izeria's troops used. Not to mention the enemy was able to shoot them from the riverbank.
The city Izeria had lived to serve was burning in front of her and the fact the people fighting each other were the House Guards of the varied nobles did not make it any easier for her. Especially since it was her guards in black and red uniforms around her that were giving up their lives to hold the main bridge into the city against those burning it.
Suddenly the firing aimed at Izeria's position stopped. Even if it offered the soldiers a moment to pause, it did not stop them from hearing the multitude of gunfights happening around the city. Like every noble had decided they had to hold their most vital objectives or take over others before the sunrise.
"We should retreat to the fort, and knock the door down if we have to," the sergeant whispered to Izeria. The human soldier was breathing into her elegant elven neck while crouching but she was in no position to reprimand him. Most of her focus had to stay on the barrier around them in case the enemy was using the oldest ruse in the book of stopping fire to let them think they can rest.
"And fight on two sides?" Izeria almost flared. Her purple eyes locked on the fort in the distance. Nobody was firing them from that direction but it was because a group of orc mercenaries controlled it. They had been hired by the Council to guard it as a neutral party during the rising unrest.
"At this rate, we not going to be fighting even on one side," the sergeant grunted. He was leaning into his rifle while his eyes rested on the chest of Izeria's uniform. A few of the golden buttons had already been torn from it and her breasts did not look as padded in as usual. Even her tightly tied silver hair had disheveled when a stray shot had broken her helmet.
"Is that bitch Izeria in there?" Lady Mirella's voice shouted from a distance. She was someone Izeria knew very well. Mirella was one of the top duelists in the republic and one of Izeria's rivals in the Council.
Izeria glanced around the barricades and counted around twenty men who were able to hold up their weapons. It was far outstripped by the numbers that were laying on the ground. Mostly unmoving.
"I could recognize that glimmer anywhere, just wait for me," Mirella exclaimed. Izeria swallowed hard while she settled on the last desperate plan that did not involve jumping into the river below.
"Brace," the sergeant commanded but Izeria slapped his shoulder to get his attention.
"Fighting retreat," Izeria whispered. He immediately got the plan due to limited directions and began waving the instructions to others behind the sandbags.
Izeria fell to her knees and began crawling behind the sandbags towards the fort in the distance. While doing so, she kept her barrier glimmering above the area even as its protection ability was heavily weakened by her decreased focus. But it was soon enough clear that the enemy was not fooled by it or they did not care.
"Huraa," a loud united shout came from the enemy line as they charged towards Izeria's men. Loud fire of rifles erupted but the sounds of barriers blocking their shots in the distance were almost louder than the shots. Izeria did not even need to look back to know the enemy was charging into melee range without even firing themselves.
There was almost nothing Izeria did not want to curse at that moment, only her own noble house was barely spared even as she had been acting under the orders of her House Patriarch tonight. But there was nothing to be done about that now, so Izeria focused her barrier around her and jolted as fast as she was able to run towards the fortress gate.
Several of Izeria's soldiers followed her example almost immediately. And lucky for them, the enemy did not start shooting at them even after they secured the barricades they had abandoned. In fact, the attackers immediately began taking care of the wounded while only pointing their rifles into the backs of their retreating enemy.
Izeria was the first to arrive at the large metal gate and she almost slammed her body into it before she leaned to take a rest. Around ten soldiers almost mimicked her. Their count had decreased as some had not been able to run and a couple had left their weapons behind and jumped into the river.
"Maybe we should just give up," the sergeant grunted next to Izeria. His eyes were locked on the distant sparkles of healing magic and how none of the wounded were being executed.
"Just hold on for a moment, I will try something," Izeria voiced and her eyes locked on Mirella. She was waving her saber in the air with a wicked grin that twisted her eerily beautiful face. It alone caused Izeria's spine to tingle with fear.
"All the time in the world," the sergeant muttered. None of the soldiers were raising their rifles but most at least held them like they could if needed. Though Izeria's focus was on finding the small guard door of the gate. When she found it, she gave it a quick knock, soon after a small hatch opened.
"What?" an orc grunted from the other side.
"Councilmember coming to inspect," Izeria voiced while she almost pressed her small silver badge into the barely opened hole.
"Only badge wielders can come in, the rest step away," the orc instructed and the soldiers moved towards the other end of the bridge. Some of them began whispering to each other.
When the door opened, Izeria immediately slipped in and it slammed shut behind her. For a moment she thought she was trapped in a small dark chamber but when she reached forwards, she felt hard warm flesh. It triggered her to lean back against the door.
"Why did you stop?" the orc grunted before he stepped back to give light into the small corridor. His yellow eyes clearly did not need it as much as the elf did.
"Take me to your captain," Izeria commanded. She suddenly held her right hand like it had touched something so disgusting it needed to be held up from the wrist. A raw musky smell filled her nose to the point it almost burned and what little she saw of the orc's green face above her was almost like a monster's.
"Follow," the orc grunted and he turned around. Izeria followed him while her eyes inspected the area. Orcs were grunting and muttering in various defensive side caverns of the slightly tilted corridor. Some of them even grabbed their rustic ax-shotguns to seem more ready to fight when she passed them. But only one thing was common with all of them, they all stared at her. And even as Izeria was used to her tight black officer pants, she was not able to compositely shake off the feeling of being looked at with a bit too much impropriety.
Izeria rubbed her forehead a bit before she began making sure she had no bleeding wounds. And to her luck, she did not even notice a scratch on her. Only her uniform had some tears and lost buttons. Izeria was more than able to remember that those had come when she had been crawling with her soldiers to flank an enemy position earlier that night.
"I thought captain said we not getting prisoners," an orc boomed from the almost complete darkness while he pointed at Izeria.
"Shut up or you dead," another orc grunted from the shadows.
"Warrior without a weapon?" the orc irked and Izeria snapped her fingers and the beer mug in his hands shattered due to being crushed by a quickly formed barrier. It triggered several other orcs to laugh around him.
"So this is what you meant when you said captain playing with death," the orc that had lost his beer grunted and joined in with the laughter. Izeria did not even bother rolling her eyes while she followed her guide to the better lit courtyard of the fortress. Her attention immediately shifted to the big armored manticores that dotted the area. Their claws alone were enough to tear or even lift most tanks. An asset that made this orc band especially valuable as a mercenary unit even in the age of modern magic-tech.
"You coming?" the escorting orc grunted when Izeria had stopped to stare at a manticore that was playing with a piece of metal like it was a toy ball. It cause her to shake her head but it only made her feel a bit dizzy. A reminder from the shot that had broken her helmet and sent her to the ground with a magical feedback loop.
"You can't blame me for giving them a look," Izeria voiced. She had always admired martial strength and the orcs should at least be able to understand that much.
"I can't, look as much as you want," an orc grunted from next to the beast Izeria had been staring. His crotch was barely covered by a fur loincloth and the bulge was definitely not from armor. Her eyes almost froze while the image of his highly muscular green body burned into her memory. His flesh was shaped like an exotic ceremonial armor that she had seen in a museum before.
"If that's why you here, you should have just kept touching," the escort grunted and Izene glanced at him only to realize his muscles were almost equally sculpted into a green armor. She was not even trying to look up to his beastly head like something was compelling her to keep looking at his shapes.
"Not why I'm here," Izeria almost flared and she shook her head even harder than before. But not even hard rubbing of her forehead was lessening her slight dizziness. Not to mention her heartbeat was suddenly rising, along with heat on her cheeks.
"Then follow," the orc grunted and Izeria stepped after him as fast as she was able. She was surprised by her steady step while she locked her eyes to the ground. It was not like she had never seen an orc before but for some reason today they looked so much more than usual.
