Magnifico

You brought us this pain.

Owen slowly knelt in the ground, blood gushing out from his chest. He was bleeding profusely and was subjected to intense pain. Naomi rushed towards him and crossed her arm around his neck.

“Oh no, Owen,” she said shockingly.

Slowly, Owen managed to get himself together. “I told you, I told you, Naomi. You killed us, you have killed us all. I am not forgiving you for this” Owen said while writhing in severe pain. Sun and the others were watching them closely without taking any action. Immediately Owen fell on the ground, the bandits started riding towards them.

While Naomi was squatting closely to him, he discreetly brought out a dagger and pushed it into Naomi's stomach. She gave a loud mournful cry and she started gushing out blood from the mouth. He fell to the ground and Naomi fell to the ground too.

“Is he dead?” Viruz asked while peeping through the window.

“Maybe!” Jonas replied.

“Give me the arrow and the bow quickly,” Sun said. Viruz gave him the bow and the arrow. The arrow's head was tied with a piece of fabric that was soaked in a rock oil. He waited patiently until the bandits come closer.

They came closer and their leader jumped down from his horse and approached Naomi as she was lying on the ground, he knelt. He raised her and carried her on his laps. He sobbed and cried while the other bandits were watching.

“General, I think now is the best time to shoot your arrow,” Jonas said quietly.

“Yes. I think now is the best time. shoot now!” the old man added.

“What about Owen? What then happens to him?” Viruz asked.

“Sacrifices have to be made Viruz,” Jonas said.

“What? Sacrifices? We can still save him, isn’t it General?” he turned and looked on Sun.

“Viruz, don’t be stupid. Do you want to die recklessly? Well, if you want to, you can go outside alone, the door is wide open for you” Jonas said slightly raising his voice. Viruz kept mum and didn’t say a word because he knew Jonas was correct but he was just being concerned about the new friend he has made.

Sun had instructed Thomas to inform the group leaders to block the plain Sandy street road from both extremes when he lit a fire on the grasses outside and also told them to shot their arrows at the bandits who try to escape the poisonous gas.

Sun slowly opened a small window inside the tavern that throws light inside the tavern from the outside. He carefully placed his bow and released the arrow on the grasses. The raiders immediately noticed where the arrow came from so they charged to break into the tavern instead of running away. They were kicking the tavern’s door intensively and wanted to break it open but they ran out of luck. There was an explosion outside and large smoke erupted and flared to the thin air.

Sun and the rest inside the tavern had to run out of the tavern through the backdoor to avoid being choked to death by the smoke. At that point, Thomas and the other people had separated themselves into groups with some at the other end of the street road and the rest of the people at the entry side leading to the tavern on the same street. Those who could handle a bow were given bows to shoot to kill the bandits. While they were shooting and maintaining their distance, Sun and the rest of them joined them.

After waiting for some time, the smoke doused down and it started becoming less toxic because of the breeze that has spread the smoke randomly in the air.

“Now people of Phox, it is time to take your revenge. They are all yours. Kill them all” Sun shouted. Everyone charged including those on the other end of the street road, they all rushed towards the bandits whom most of them, were barely breathing and gasping for air. Every villager took their turns as they used all sorts of weapons they were with to kill the raiders, no one was spared including their leader. They cut off his head and hanged it on a block of wood and were spitting on him.

Sun, Viruz, and Jonas rushed to where Owen was, and when they got there, he was already dead and cold. Viruz cried quietly and Sun himself wasn’t happy about his death. Sun sent Jonas to call Thomas and the old man to come as quickly as they could. Jonas did exactly as he was told and called them.

“General!” Thomas said as he was coming closer to Sun. “Is he dead?” He asked as he saw General squatting closely to Owen.

“Yes, he is dead. I called both of you so you could arrange a proper burial for him. He died a hero and he deserves to be buried like one” Sun said.

“Alright, I will see what I can do for him,” the old man said. The old man brought a cart close to where Owen was lying dead in the ground, Thomas and Viruz helped lift him into the cart and they drove him away from the scene. He was taken to a site where he was buried properly that afternoon. Sun stood up and started recounting what had happened that afternoon and it shocked him. Even though Owen died, Sun was so happy that nobody else died in the incident on their side. He never imagines that this fight would be so swift as this without making many sacrifices. He imagined the worst-case scenario before the fight but it turned out to be in their favour. He has been anxious before the fight but now he is happy. He stood for a long moment watching Phox men and women taking their turns in making sure that every member of these raiders was killed and also taken away from their street. He watched as they cleaned the blood of the raiders that stained their street, took away their bodies, and burnt them to ashes. The people were satisfied with the swift victory recorded and swore never to easily forget that wonderful day. Moments later, the whole villagers gathered around Sun and lifted him, and started chanting and cheering in joy for the General.