Rise Of The Hunters - Chapter 78

While his father dealt with the guards, Xun and the others went to rescue the women.

“Xun? You’ve returned! Hey everyone, it’s Xun!”

He gaped at the women, as they rushed to see him, excited and happy that he was the one rescuing them. Alex chuckled at his expression.

“Ladies, please. We don’t have much time before the guards return. Let’s get all of you out of here, and see if we can’t figure out our next steps,” said Alex, getting them to back off and calm down.

In no time at all, they had gathered up their things and were quickly escorted down alleys away from the fighting, to the warehouses. Xun had to admit, Alex had really mȧturėd since he had left. He would make a wonderful leader, if given the opportunity.

Once the women were safe, they began talking to them. It didn’t take long for the truth to come out. Mary was preparing to have them all leave the compound, because it wasn’t safe here. Too many werewolves had been attacking, and so many were killed, they couldn’t keep the place safe anymore. She was going to send them with her most loyal guards, to a location that was within a day’s walk, that was smaller and easier to defend.

The thing that confused the women the most, was that they were being sent separate of the men and children. Being separated from their families had been the hardest thing for them.

When it was explained that they were not going to have to leave, that they just had to convince the men to help Xun and his friends, they were very supportive. Xun explained that he wanted the men to help overthrow Mary, and all the guards who were with her.

“So many have died, why must we fight more?”

“What about the werewolves?”

“Without the guards to protect us, how will we stay safe?’

The women started arguing and questioning their motives. It took both Alex and Xun to get them calmed down. While Alex continued to try and reason with them, Gerald pulled Xun aside.

“These people don’t have a clue when it comes to a revolt. They think that if they stay behind their walls, all the worlds troubles will stay away. We need to think up a different plan for taking out this Mary person.”

As much as Xun hated to admit it, Gerald was right. If he tried to get any of the men to help, they would just get in the way and would probably get hurt. He leaned back against the wall, thinking. Alex was doing a wonderful job of calming the women down, but they weren’t going along with any of their plans to go against Mary.

“Have Alex keep trying. I’m going to go see the men.”

Gerald nodded uncertainly, and headed over to Alex. Grabbing for his backpack straps, and finding them gone, was a bit disconcerting, but he straitened his shoulders and headed out of the warehouse. His father was still fighting the guards, since he had been told not to kill them, it was taking him a bit longer. The fight had also attracted the attention of the incoming guards, so just as he was finishing the first batch, a second group showed up.

Circling around the excitement, he snuck towards the apartments where the men were being held. He had to go around the building where Mary was with all of the rest of the guards, and he had to hide several times as the patrols heard him, but never found him. Thankfully, with the noise going on, from his dad fighting, it was easy to get to his destination. A lot of the guards were distracted, wanting to go see what was going on, but too afraid of leaving their posts.

Arriving at the apartment, he saw that only two guards were keeping all of the men contained inside. Shaking his head at the ludicrousness of it all, he snuck to the side of the building, and began to climb. In all his days of climbing trees and cliffs, the side of this building was a breeze. As soon as he reached the second-floor windows, he knocked until someone came to investigate.

“Who are you?” the guy asked incredulously.

“I’m Xun, can I come in?”

The man quickly helped him in.

“Are you here to help us?” he asked in excitement.

“I’m here to help you all, if you’re willing to help me?”

“We would, but our women are being held prisoner,” said another guy from the doorway.

Xun smiled. “No, they’re not.”

It was just as Xun thought, the men were more than willing to help overthrow Mary. Xun failed to tell the guys that their women didn’t want them to get involved, and got them very quickly to join him. Within minutes, every able body in the building was armed with whatever weapon they could find, and were ready to follow him. Those who were too old or too young would stay safe, here in the building.

As midnight approached, they quickly knocked out the two guards with pots and pans, and headed towards the building that Mary was in.

The guards saw them coming and readied their spears. One of the men had explained to Xun that they swapped away from their swords because the spears had a longer reach.

As the two groups marched towards each other, ready to spill blood, a scream from the front gates drew their attentions. A large bang heralded the opening of the gates, and the howl of a werewolf raised the hair on the backs of their necks.

To Xun’s horror, several werewolf-drawn carriages rolled through the gates. Fully uniformed Slavers jumped off the wagons, laughing. He stood there, in shocked panic, as they started running around, faster than anyone could see, snatching people up and throwing them in the cages built into the back of the wagons.

Those who fought back, were killed on the spot. Watching a man being drunk from by two different Slavers in front of him broke something inside Xun. His whole life these things had terrorized him. He had lost loved ones and good friends to these things. He wasn’t sure how they had found this place, or how they had gotten here, but he was done hiding and running away.

Grabbing his sword, he raised it in the air and screamed. Jumping at the closest Slaver, as it gulped blood from a guard, he swung at its head and amazingly, cut it off. As the bodies hit the ground, he moved as fast as he could to the next monster.