Zephyr: The Elemental Clans

169 - Defending Her Legacy

A/N - For those whom read the chapter I posted on Saturday, this is that very same chapter. I am re-publishing it because I recieved a number of messages from people saying that they could not see the chapter. Sorry for any inconvenience.
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Naomi Ailani - POV;

"What are we going to do? Can we hold them all off on our own?!" Ciara pressed worriedly.

"Of course we ca-" Jaya began.

"There's no way we can," Zeliel cut her off.

"Stop being so negative! We definitely can!" Jaya scolded

"He's right. We can't fight off forces like that alone," Emiko reiterated, "In case you've forgotten Jaya, we already tried to. How did that turn out for us?"

"You mean.... when mom..." Jaya trailed off.

"Back then it took Xyder, Evelynn and their entire army of hell hounds to put down those barbaric dogs. We didn't last twenty minutes and even with so few lives to protect, we still lost mother. What will happen when they tear into this place with hundreds, maybe thousands of vulnerable people?" Zeliel put forward his rationale.

"But we can't just do nothing!" Jaya insisted.

"Okay, hear me out," I addressed my siblings, "It's true. We couldn't win this exact same battle before.... but since then we've grown. We've gained so many new experiences and strengths. Not only that, they no longer have the element of surprise and this time we know what's coming. I will admit though that even with all of this considered... our chances of successfully defending this entire village alone are still slim."

"That won't be a problem," Jaya announced triumphantly.

"Huh? What do you mean?" I enquired. She motioned to the window, and only now did I notice the buzzing outside. I stepped towards it gingerly and pulled back the drapes to reveal the crowd gathered outside our abode.

Immediately, one of them spoke up, "You don't have to be alone!"

"Yeah! We're here to back you guys up!"

"This is all of our village!"

"You've done too much for us!"

"We could never let you put yourselves at risk on your own!"

"What is this...." I murmered, "How..."

"I may have broadcasted our conversation to the whole town... heehee," Jaya giggled.

I sighed and shook my head in disapproval before a smile creeped up on my face and I muttered, "Geez, mom always said you were a headache Jaya... but a good one."

Turning back to the people, I flung the window open as I boomed, "This place is OUR home! We will defend it with every ounce of our strength together and together, WE shall see victory!"

The entire population lit up in a chorus of cheers and chants. I could see it; the fire of resistance burning strongly within them. They'd been down-trodden for far too long and they'd built an iron-clad resolve to stand up for themselves. With this, success was something we could certainly see.

****

Preparation for our battle proved to be no joke, requiring every last ounce of our abilities and then some. For ten scorching days and nine sleepless nights, every man, woman and child toiled tirelessly combining every skill, trade, gift and talent we possessed in order to create the greatest defense we could muster. After much deliberation with the village's tacticians we had perfectly mapped out each and every detail of our perfect plan, taking hundreds of possibilities into account and then, with our game plan set, we conmenced our ground work. Entire platoons of men hauled boulders bricks and logs across to the borders as we lay down fortified walls while smaller gangs, under the guide of Emiko and Jaya, set down intricate traps to catch our enemies off-guard. Sections of the wall were lowered to force the beasts to try to funnel themselves in from there, making our job easier as they could no longer spread out as they normally would have.