Heavenly Swords of the Twin Stars: Volume 1 [Parts 1 to 3] by Riku Nanano

Author:Riku Nanano
Language: eng
Format: epub

In the plains west of Keiyou there was an abandoned fortress atop a small hill. That was where I, Chou Hakurei—daughter of the National Shield, Chou Tairan—shot an arrow from the cover of a stone wall. The arrow pierced through the arm of an enemy cavalryman who had carelessly attempted to approach. He stumbled backward with a cry of pain.

“Men! What are you doing, making Lady Hakurei do all the work?!” One of the veterans gave a sharp rebuke. “Get it together!”

“Sir!”

Upon hearing that voice, deep with anger, my soldiers began to shoot their arrows— though another row of cavalrymen only rushed forward and blocked every shot with their leather shields. None of the enemies fell, but that wasn’t all. The cavalryman I shot with an arrow earlier hadn’t even fallen off his horse. He retreated on his own without needing the aid of any of his fellow soldiers. Our enemies had been trained unbelievably well.

“These aren’t regular bandits. Oh no...” A terrible fear gripped my heart. “Don’t tell me they’re a scouting party from Gen?” It took me all I had to stop my teeth from chattering. The hand holding my bow started to shake and I gripped it hard with my other to stop it from doing so. I mustn’t let my soldiers, doing their best to hold the line, see me like this. It would affect morale.

Though we had managed to get the higher ground and we were protected by the stone walls, the advantage was slight and I knew that it would only be a matter of time before we were overpowered. I bit my lip hard enough I could taste blood.

Hakurei, you’re pathetic! This is no time for fear! You’re the daughter of Chou Tairan and... I fought back tears as I thought of Sekiei, carefree and aloof. Is this all I’m capable of on my own?

Even as I reeled in shock, the people around me were doing their best to keep the cavalrymen at bay with their arrows. All of them were injured. They turned to me with desperation in their eyes and all began yelling at once.

“Lady Hakurei!”

“We’ll cut a path for you.”

“Please, you must evacuate!”

“We wouldn’t be able to look General Chou or the young master in the eye if we were to let you die here!”

“Please make your escape!”

Despite the armor over my chest, I felt a stab of pain in my heart. The abandoned fortress where we were was situated in an open field, making it easy to see across the whole area. However, the openness was deceptive. There were small knolls throughout the land and the mysterious enemy had been able to hide in the shadows of such protrusions, even though they had more men than us.

As the commander, it was my fault that I hadn’t been able to see through the ambush that allowed them to surround us. As a result of that mistake, they’d rained down countless arrows upon us and killed over half of our horses. I had no other choice but to use the ones who survived to request reinforcements.

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