Samurai in the Time Rift 4.3

4.3

Captain Rodriquez led the group of men to the new hideout some distance away. Nuruk walked next to him and spoke to him.

"Was it wise to let them go?" Nuruk asked the Gaijin in the language of Nippon.

"From the start, they had me worried. If they are like Kito, then we would all be doomed." Captain Rodriguez recalled the alliance with Kito. It was always to confront the creatures that they lost many of their companions. Even when the Ainu introduced the poison extract, Kito was more adamant on fighting the creatures.

Nyri of the Ainu had joined the two leaders and added on his views.

"Captain was right. The samurai does not fit in with us. We, the Ainu have fought them many decades, and know their strategy. Even as we offered them our hospitality, they have hidden cache of supplies for their own."

"Its over now. We traveled on separate routes now." Nuruk replied and then he changed the subject. "How did our trap go this time? Our raid on the cavern and leaving them the trail to the cavern with false pretense that we are merry making made them over confident. The scouts mentioned a count of over fifty dead with many wounded."

"It was a good trap but a costly one. I lost five barrels of gunpowder there. A cost which we can ill afford." Captain Rodriquez commented back. Then came running a sailor of the Rodriquez group.

"Captain, we are in trouble." Gonzales, the former first mate cried out. He was limping as he ran over with his cutlass acting as his crutch. "There are more creatures than we have trapped. We were misled by the first wave. They are on our trail now. One Eyed is with them."

One Eyed was a leader of the creatures and was wounded by a flintlock shot by the Captain. He was bigger than the others and carried a long broadsword. In the last battle, One Eyed killed five of the Captain's best men.

"Lead them to the hill. We would fight there." Captain Rodriquez gave the command to the hundred. "Warn the hill of our coming and primed those cannons."

The hill was their alternative defense line if the cavern had failed. Fifteen men are there with eight cannons; the falconet resembled an over sized matchlock musket with two wheels attached. Its barrel was approximately 4 feet long, had a caliber of 2 inches and weighed 200lbs The falconet used 0.5 pounds of black powder to fire a 1 pound round shot approximately 5,000 feet. There were salvaged from the ship; Diaz when it crashed here.

The men roared up the hill with the creatures having found an alternate route at their heels. The path up the hill was all rocks and boulders with some sparse clumps of bushes. The men were slower in climbing compared to the bigger and more limber creature.

"Hold the aft!" Captain Rodriguez called on some of his men when he saw the creatures are getting too close. Twenty men stopped and face the oncoming of over fifteen creatures. The archers among them raised their bows and notched in the arrow. The released arrows hit their targets where it hurts most; the face. The creatures howled out in pain but the archers are already hitting three more. By then the creatures are in close combat with Captain Rodriquez men. Nuruk and Nyri was not to be left out, as they charged at the creatures with their weapons. Nuruk went for the knees and back of the shin to cut at the soft flesh there, while Nyri aimed for the neck and armpits.

"More are coming!" The warning came as another five more ws seen running up the hill. The surviving men found that they are getting outnumbered. It was also in the time then, the sound of the horn was heard. The men retreated and ran for the safety of the hill. Nuruk found himself dragged to hide behind a boulder with the rest when a loud boom was heard. The resounding sound was followed by screams of pain as five creatures are seen to be suffering from one too many wounds.

"My Diaz have answered my prayers." Captain Rodriquez shouted as the second boom was heard and another three creatures went down. The remaining withdrew and the aft defenders rejoined their friends. They marched on down the hill to the valley below with the five cannons in tow on the wheels.

Soon they came to a spread of oasis; forested area with a few streams flowing through it. There were sentries towers with men on it, and walls of rock lined the forest grounds with long sharpened stakes pointed forward.

Captain Rodriquez explained himself. "Of all the creatures, we feared the One Eyed. Its a good leader and above all a killer. If he is on our track then we are to fortify our defenses."

Words were sent out and another hundred men appeared from the forest to meet their leaders. Weapons and more supplies were given our for the men as they are then taken to their posts. Captain Rodriquez praised the Gods that his cannons made it back; with the five now he has twelve of them, but his limited stock of gunpowder concerns him.

"Aye, Captain. We have probably five shots each for the cannons." Gonzales advised the captain. "We have bitten the snake once too many times, now it striking hard."

"Aye, Gonzales. We need to confer with the others. To retreat or to fight." Captain Rodriquez called for the leaders to meet.

"With all our strength, we numbered over two hundred. Our cannons are few in numbers but we also have limited powders. It could be close fight or maybe our last one." Captain Rodriquez looked at the other three two. "One Eyed is a tough one. There is no reason for all of us to die here. I will stay back with a handful of my men. The rest of you leave and rebuilt the alliance. There is no need for all of us to die here today."

"Captain Rodriquez, we are not cowards." Nuruk voiced his call to defend with the Captain. So did Nyri. The last one to speak was Toyo; the new Taira samurai leader.

"I speak for Commander Kito. We would backed you up." Toyo made the statement across.

"Captain! We are in trouble." Gonzales has appeared again. "One Eyed has us surrounded. I counted more than a hundred of those creatures, armed and on those foul dragons."

These dragons are giant sized lizards; heavily scaled skin with four short limbs and a long tail. The dragon head was a long nose sprout with a tongue that constantly spit out its venom that would blind the prey. The creature weighs about 500lbs, and measure over twelve feet.

"So they brought their calvary." Captain Rodriquez exclaimed out. "Gentlemen, we are in real trouble. We do a vote for all. Those who choose to leave may do so or choose to stay."

Thirty choose to go; a mixture of Mongol, Ainu Gaijin and the slaves from Taisa Mori group. Gonzales was asked to lead them and to avenged this day.

"Do not be shamed. You are also brave men, but we are to do our part so that you can come back and avenged us." Captain Gonzalez told them and then instructed Gonzales to do his part to lead those men to safety.

"Load the cannons, with grape shots. May they carry as many of these foul creatures to the depths of Hell." Captain Rodriquez hollered out the command. "Gentlemen, till we see each other in Yomi, I bid you thank you.

Captain Rodriquez bowed to the two leaders. Just then the shouts by the sentries of the charging creatures.

"Do not fire until I tell you so." Captain Rodriquez called out as he laid his right hand on the flintlock pistol on the waist sash. That piece was reserved for his coming death as he prefer that to be captured alive by the creatures.

"A hundred yards, Captain." The sailor manning the cannons shouted out. The tremble on the ground was felt then and the Captain gave the command to lit up the cannon wick.

"Fire at will."

At fifty yards distance, twelve cannons spill out its charges into the charging dragon ridden creatures. The grape shot consisted of iron balls and pebbles sized rocks splattered into the advancing group. Ten dragons went down with their riders while five more dragons charged on with no riders.

"Reload!" A wasted call then as the creatures stormed into the forest and past the stone walls to fight the men. Men and creatures with fierce dragons fought in close numbers. Nuruk had jumped on the back of a dragon and was thrusting his sword into the rear of the dragon's neck. It brought the dragon to its knees but Nuruk was rewarded with a hammer that slammed into his head from the left by a creature. The iron hammer bored into his skull and massed up the brain inside to one side of the head. The one who wield the hammer was One Eyed.

"Kill all!" One Eyed shouted out as it stepped it way forward ignoring the soft tissue its left feet was squashing on the ground.

"Not today, One Eyed." Captain Rodriquez came charging with both hands holding the cutlass. His left cutlass cut a wound on the creature right thigh, but the other cutlass was deflected by the hammer. The hammer on deflecting the attack had swung back with a downward move onto the Captain's right wrist. It broke the hand that held the cutlass. Just even before the Captain can react to the blow, One Eyed had grabbed out with it right hand on the Captain's face and crushed it with the force of his fingers.

Nyri saw the attack but he was charged by a dragon onto his back before biting off his left shoulder with the arm on it. The venom coursed through his blood and stopped his heart within seconds. He was dead when the dragon took the second chunk of flesh off his spine.