194 Smells like war

Seeing Tisha in that dress under the pleasant moon light, made Yang speechless. Her amber coloured eyes instantly soothed his heart.

Tisha came and sat beside Yang, a few feet away from him, wanting to gaze at the sky.

"Ummmm.... Do you want to take a walk with me?" Yang asked casually while clearing his throat.

"Yes, of course!" Tisha replied with a cheerful, beautiful and bright smile surfacing on her face while her soft cheeks turned red.

Yang was shocked, an arrow of love striking him in the heart. Yang did not even realize what he asked her, the words just came out of his mouth naturally without any conscience.

*"What? Do girls here agree to go to a walk with a stranger so quickly? She did not even think about it. Or... Maybe? Just maybe… she is also interested in me?"* a small seed of hope was planted in Yang's heart.

*"this is not possible, maybe she is just trying to be nice to me"* Yang didn't dare to have any hopes and writes it off as, Tisha being kind to him.

"Well then, shall we take a long walk at the shore so we can introduce each over again? and maybe get to know each other a bit more?" Yang asked Tisha again with a hint of doubt, but hopeful.

*"She wouldn't agree to this right? Since it's a little unfair to people who just met each other."* Yang nervously pondered. Somewhere in his heart, it felt like Tisha also nurtured feelings for him, but he didn't agree with his heart, as he didn't want to get hurt until he found out the truth.

"Um.. of course, we can!" Tisha replies again with the same bright smile resurfacing on her face, as if it's nothing.

*"Is she stupid or she really likes me? She's willing to come with me that far?"* At this point of time, Yang started writing a love story in his head, but he was still unconvinced. 1% of doubtfulness was still alive in his heart.

"Well actually, let's go see the island tomorrow from morning to evening. Tell your sister that you can't be at home all day. Does that work? Can you do that?" Yang asked again trying to clear his doubts.

Yang really wanted to know what Tisha was feeling, no girl stayed out all day with a guy she has never met before. 

"Sure, That's no problem..." Tisha replied again, with a hint of smile but shyly this time, as if she's telling Yang that she knows why he's asking these questions. And that, she agrees to be with Yang. She too shared his feelings.

Yang jumped out from his seat in shock that Tisha had accepted everything Yang asked for, that too, with a smile. It's like she's happy to do anything if he asks. *"It's really confirmed now , she definitely has feelings for me. If she wants to spend a whole day with me it definitely means she likes me"*. Yang smiled back at Tisha, with an excited and happy face.

He came back to sit beside her, but this time he sat really close to her. There was only an inch of gap between the two. Tisha doesn't seem to mind or be bothered by it.

"You know, my heart always beat without a purpose in my life. I was always lonely without a family. I was arrogant, short-tempered, crook and all kinds of a bad guy. I'm also a jealous type, and I'm selfish but most of all no matter what, I really want to treat my girl as a princess, make her happy and give her the world. I want to make her the happiest girl in the Universe, I will tell her that having her makes me feel like I too, have a family if I'm with her." Yang explained to Tisha. 

"Well, she will be the luckiest for sure. I'm not confident about myself at all, and I feel like I'm ugly, that's why I never made any friends and is always hiding behind my sister but I swear, I will never stop loving my husband if he accepts me for who I am." Tisha said to Yang as their eyes meet.

Tisha also liked Yang from the very first time she met him. No one had ever liked her eyes from her childhood, she has been called all kinds of unwishful names. She decided to distanced herself from everyone and always hid beside her sister in front of strangers, but Yang had taken a liking to her eyes when he just met her. 

It felt great to have someone who appreciated her, for one thing that everybody hated her for. She also knew that Yang is a soft person inside and he will treat people he loved with respect. And now, on hearing how Yang really feel about her as a family with an intention to marry her, she liked him even more.

Tisha averted her eyes from Yang's and shyly turned away from him, her curls falling over to hide her blushing face.

Tisha's breathing gets heavier with Yang moving closer towards her. She felt his warm chest pressing on her back, feeling his breathe on the back of her neck. Her long black hair tickled Yang's face, along with the cold breeze and he closed his eyes taking in her sweet scent, nose slightly touching her soft skin.

Yang gently caressed her hair to a side and leaned closer. His lower lip grazed Tisha's earlobe, and he whispered in a low husky voice;

"I love you Tisha. Be with me forever" Yang gathered up his courage and confessed to Tisha.

Tisha's face turned more pink upon hearing this. She suddenly shivered and rushed back to her house, her heart is racing fast, upon hearing the magical words from Yang. 

The grass under her feet was shining from the moon light as she ran towards her house. Nothing compared to the smile on Yang's face, as he could now finally get to have a family of his own, and Tisha is part of that family.

A new love had blossomed just before the deadly war, where people had a very less chance to make it back home.

Ares taught most of what he could, to Gus for four days straight and put him through skin and bone, without a break. At the end of the fourth day, Ares wanted to talk to Gus about the war they were going to tomorrow, on 'the fifth day' which was approaching them very quickly as days passed by.

"Ares, I improved a lot with your style of fighting didn't I? Now I'm strong enough to defend myself on my own and I'm all ready for the war tomorrow." Gus asked Ares with a cocky tone.

"Gus..." Ares took a long pause and seem reluctant to speak out, "I-I want you to stay in the village. Do not come to war with me." He told Gus who doesn't seem to be listening.

Ares doesn't really want Gus to go out to the battlefield. He broke all his military codes and passed down his ancient sword art to Gus in hope that it will be passed down and live on,  but now this fool Gus wanted to go to a battle ground and die? A mere four days of practice is nowhere near as mastering the skills. 

Gus however is so excited to show off his skills. He was like a little kid who gets thrilled when they have new toys to show off in front of their friends. He couldn't contain his excitement and only kept thinking of showing his sword skills in front of everyone and win the war all by himself.

"You need to stay and protect the village Gus." But Gus was hit by sadness when he heard Ares saying these words. His sorrow turned into anger in an instant.

He wanted to be out there and be able to help Ares. He was imagining himself as Ares's sidekick already, how can he want to stay home when they were in war?

"I want you to be in the village and pray for us. For I will definitely win and come back alive" Ares convinced Gus somehow to withdraw from the war even though Gus was still mad about this.

Finally the day of the war, the fifth day came by.

Mars, the village chief already sent a word out to the Caracus village saying that Mindoro is willing to aid Caracus against the war with outsiders. However, Mars received a word back from Caracus that only a group of his 100 best men were enough to aid them in the battle.

The four units of Guards, Archers, medics and supporters along with Ares and his soldiers are sent to the war with the cheering of people, but sadness was hidden behind their smiling faces.  They do not know if their fathers, husbands or sons who are heading out will come back alive from this war. 

Yang dearly held a bangle presented to him by Tisha as his good luck charm, and he set out with everyone else to aid Caracus.

As the Mindoro villagers travel for 20km on their horses and animal pulleys. They did not believe their eyes. There were broken and burnt down houses everywhere, smeared blood marks and unnatural landscapes. It was the Caracus village, which was in a very devastating state.

As they get closer to the village, Ares and the leader of Mindoro army noticed some armors shining at a distance deeper in the village. A number of 500 soldiers were arming themselves and sharpening their weapons, getting ready for a war.

"Ahh there you are, you must be Edward." An old man who seems to be in his mid forties, is walking towards Ares with his greetings as the chief of Caracus village.

"You must be honorable Mr.Nero, the chief of Caracus. Pardon me, I'm Edward, acting leader of Mindoro army. We're here to lend you a hand" Edward (age - 32), a guard and a medic with a sword on his waist introduces himself to the chief of Caracus.

"I'm really happy that your village had decided to help us on this matter, even though we have done many awful things to your village in the past. We realized how stupid we are after having a taste of our own medicine. We don't even have any creative leaders like you all do in your village to rebuild our houses, from the terrible shape they are in right now" Nero (age - 47) asked for forgiveness while kneeling down and bowing his head on the ground in front of all the villagers of Mindoro with a very sad smile on his face.

After witnessing how it feels to be plundered, looted and slaughtered by others. The old chief now, knows how it feels to lose everything. Hence they reached out to Mindoro for their aid, betting all of their lives on this battle that they didn't choose to fight.

"Please chief Nero, don't embarrass us anymore. We both have experienced the loss and pain of having everything taken away. Also we are hoping to find a little benefit for our village in this aid. That is, strengthening the bonds between our villages and holding the enemies here, so they don't come to Mindoro next to raise hell." Edward speaks.

"Thank you for forgiving me, now let me introduce you people to my army and we can have a plan on how to win this war. The sun will be coming out any moment now and we can expect the enemy." Nero says to Edward.

Nero introduces General Gideon to Edward and his army. Gideon evaluated Edward's army strengths and weaknesses, and started assigning them to their positions and squads.

Caracus had a massive amount of 500 soldiers on their sides already, from which 200 will be on the front lines with barricade walls and heavy shields that can defend against heavy fire. Following them will be 50 guards with spears from Mindoro and 100 guards and raiders from Caracus with swords and hammers and axes. Behind them are the archers and mid range fighters. And the rear will be protected by 150 soldiers consisting of again Guards from Caracus and medics from Mindoro and on a completely different unit are 100 soldiers along with the supporters and communicators of Mindoro, will be concealing themselves behind the hills to ambush if the opportunity is created. And the four soldiers along with the general of Caracus will be leading this massive army standing in between the barricades.

"Ah by the way, It don't seem like there is someone from Sable village here, did they not come?" Edward asks with surprise. 

"Yeah right, they said they would rather try to flee the island if they were attacked, but said they won't be standing along with us in a fight. It is expected since we have been attacking their village from a long time." General Gideon spoke without a hint of remorse.

"But I'm not ashamed of what we have done. Our village suffered harsh climatic conditions and droughts. Our ancestors were kicked out and thrown rocks at by both of your villages when asked for some roof and food after the great calamity.

They even had to feed the dead to their kids to keep them alive. It was what shaped us into war freaks. We didn't want to suffer anymore, which means we have to take from you guys. We did what we had to. Now I look forward to work with you guys to protect my people." Gideon said compassionately and was determined to do anything for the sake of his village.

And Edward doesn't even know what to say at this moment to Gideon and was left in a shock. He cannot completely agree to what Gideon said as it is the ancestors of Mindoro that treated the people of Caracus like animals. Whereas Mindoro now, is a changed village which always gave help to anyone in need.

The war siren has been given by Caracus as a message to the warriors to standby in their respective positions.

All the soldiers started taking their positions. The rear guards and medics equipped with basic armor and weapons. The archers have been given the finest of bows made by the best Craftsmen of Caracus village and the four soldiers along with Edward and General Gideon had taken cover inside barricades waiting for the enemy to show up as the first rays of sun hit the shields of the warriors near the sea-shore.