Tristan McCrow and the Dragon Riders: The Intruder's Son

Chapter 5 - It Wooden be a War

The cloth was released. I put on my steel helm and waited for the cloth to touch the ground. It was like in slow motion. The helm covered my whole head and I can hear nothing but my own breathe. I have an M on my vision because of my helm, and trust me: it’s hard to fight with that thing on. I looked at the person on my right; he was fearlessly staring at the cloth. All of the trainees had their wooden weapons drawn and their shields up.

Then the cloth had touched the ground. I’m not really comfortable with the helm so I decided to remove it. I heard the defending team yell in excitement as their slam their weapons with their shields.

“Move forward!” Heva ordered. She was riding a horse at our back giving her the best view on the battlefield.

“Move forward!” One in our platoon repeated.

We march forward one step at a time until we arrived at about thirty feet away from the fort. The archers on the defending team started to fire their arrows. Some of our teammates were hit on the head that knocked them out. Some were hit on the body but still managed to fight. Some of the Reds that have a dragon were riding above us. They swooped down and quickly removed the knocked out trainees.

“Full cover!” Heva commanded. The team immediately held their shields above them, while those in front covered the front side of the archers, turning us into a turtle formation of the Romans.

We continued to march forward, this time a little bit faster. We stopped when we arrived at the twenty feet mark, but our shields were still covering us. Our archers behind the protection of our shields loaded their bows with arrows and started to charge. After Heva yelled the word fire, the trainees in front quickly raised their shields and the archers simultaneously fired their arrow, knocking several archers on top of the fort’s wall. After they recover the archers, I felt some of the defending team’s arrows rain above us.

The guy beside me chuckled. “I love this!” He yelled.

“Load arrows!” Heva ordered again. I saw the archers reloaded their bows with another arrow. “Fire!” She followed. The same thing happened. The guys in front, including Lea, raised their shields for the archers. It hit again those archers on top of the wall and this time, the defending team has zero archers.

“Break off!” Heva commanded. Those trainees in front removed their shields in front of the archers. The archers, however, backed off and went behind us. They fired their arrows from that position targeting the defending team’s infantry.

“Attack!” Heva yelled. All of us charged at the defending team. It was about ten seconds when the front line of our team engaged with the front line of the defender. It was like a real war. I heard wooden weapons clashed with another. Shields slammed with another shields. There were also yells and groans coming from both teams.

All of us were already in battle, even Heva. She dismounted her horse and fought three trainees at a time. I saw her fight and I admit she was exceptional. It was like she was born to fight. She knocked two opponents out and injured the other one. Unfortunately for me, she saw me looking at her. I thought she was gonna hit me too when she ran towards me. She was already raising her wooden sword and swung it on my side, knocking another opponent out.

“Get your head in the battle!” She scolded. She continued heading towards the defending team. What in the world am I doing? She’s right. I must focus on the game.

I was about to reengage in battle when I saw Lea lying on the floor not very far from me. She was horded by three opponents. She was hopelessly blocking their attacks when I arrived beside her. I hit the first one on his helm with my wooden sword making him go groggy. I quickly followed it with a knee to the body on the other trainee and I hit the last one with the butt of my sword.