[center][h1][color=8dc73f] Under siege[/color] [/h1][/center]

Kendrick jumped out over Sofia's and the man's head from seemingly out of nowhere, wearing his full vigilante suit, landing behind them. He turned to face them, he reached out, and grabbed the man by the collar of his shirt. He lifted him and threw him to the side. Kendrick reached out to embrace Sofia.

[color=004b80][color=0054a6]"Are you alright my dear?"[/color][/color]

Sofia nodded and looked up. There were pirates and villagers fighting in the streets just inside the castle walls and on the outside too. There was a second ship in the harbor and it appeared to be full of more of the same. [color=f49ac2]"What are we going to do? What do they want?"[/color]

Kendrick shook his head.[color=004b80]"No idea, more than likely just random chaos. Never met a pirate that could string together two logical sentences before. But what you need to do is get back to the castle. It will be the most fortified place in this entire city so you will be safe."[/color]

[color=f49ac2]"I was just on the way there. Where are you going? Do you think Zach and Niesha are ok?" [/color]She clung to him a moment ducking from nearby flying objects. [color=f49ac2]"I'm scared. It looks worse in there."[/color] She pulled her sword out and tied the package to her skirt.

[color=004b80]"It is the safest place right now. I will find Zach and Niesha, but I also need to help fight off the pirates. Im an exile, but im also a loyal knight to this city. And knowing your safe will help me."[/color]

Kendrick quickly drew his sword and clashed steel against a pirate that came up behind him. They exchanged a few blows, sword against sword, until Kendrick got the better of the pirate and stabbed him. The pirate fell down, dead. Kendrick turned back to Sofia.

[color=004b80]"You need to run. Now!"[/color]

Sofia kissed his cheek and ran towards the gates and once inside she had to dodge pirates and other men fighting them. Unfortunatley this also meant that the normal miscreants had more leeway to steal and attack as well since the guards were fighting the pirates already. Sofia recognized the one that Zach had fended off because of the shoulder. Her brother had really done a number on him with that hammer and she punched him in the throat when he put his hands on her and that sent him backwards into a wall. 

Sofia dashed inside the castle. There wasn't much difference in the fighting there. The ladies were pretty much locked inside their chambers as soon as it started. She went to the sewing room and knocked and yelled until the baronness opened the door to let her in. One of the pirates followed Sofia before she could close the door. Sofia was face to face with him and he drew his sword on her.

Sofia hoped she couldhandle this on her own. She drew her sword and the fighting began. The ladies were in the back of the room cowering and watching with great interest most of them had never seen a woman weild a sword before. Several moments went by and Sofia finally caught him off guard and she stabbed him in the leg after sending his sword flying. She put the tip of her sword to his throat and asked the baronness what she should do. The baronness called for a guard to take him to the dungeons. 

The ladies encircled Sofia and asked her about the sword fighting and she told them it was all thanks to her brother the forger. Sofia looked out of the window and saw that the fighting had gotten worse. 

Kendrick had swiftly taken to the streets, slashing and hacking his way through the countless brigands and thieves and pirates. Kendrick saw this as an opportunity. Normally he would need to use stealth as his main weapon, but with the chaos ensuing around him he could do everything he needed to do and not worry about guards or knights. Kendrick fought his way to the entrance of the city, killing many pirates along the way.

At one point Kendrick thought to himself, [i]"Why now? And this many pirates?"[/i]. It was strange for so many pirates to work in tandem with each other, and to attack a single city like this with no clear objective was very strange. Kendrick pushed those thoughts aside though. He needed to keep moving forward.

Kendrick eventually arrived at the cities entrance, where a surly looking pirate was standing watch. He was a heavy set man but muscular, pirate who wielded a claymore. He was laughing and smoking a pipe when Kendrick showed up. They looked each other in the eyes and suddenly Kendrick there was no need for words. Somehow someway this was a pirate with seemingly normal intelligence. Kendrick readied himself, standing his fighting stance, and motioned for the pirate to come at him.

The surly pirate grinned. He spat out his pipe and charged forward, yelling. He swung his claymore, with Kendrick dodging and take a stab at the pirates knees. The pirate jumped, suprising Kendrick, and brought his strength and weapon down on Kendrick. Kendrick rolled away, just barely managing to dodge. The pirate did not let up though, as he ran at Kendrick, swinging his giant two handed sword as if it weighed as much as a piece of paper. Kendrick realized he was not going to win playing on the defensive. Kendrick dodged another attack, rolling back, then jumped forward. He feined a stab, which fooled the pirate, then Kendrick reach up and tried to bring his sword down on the Pirates head. The pirate grinned as he used his other hand to grab Kendricks wrist. Kendrick smiled as he brought out a hidden dagger from his boots and stabbed the pirate in his sword hand. the pirate screamed in pain and dropped his sword. Then Kendrick freed himself from the pirates grasp and brought his sword down on the pirates neck. The pirates head landed on the ground with a thump and rolled away. Kendrick took a second to catch his breath.

Zach heard the kid who came screaming into the small town and Zach grabbed his hammer and his own swords. He ran over to the office and told Niesha to lock herself inside and not to open it unless it was him or family. He kissed her and ran towards the castle. He scanned the area looking for his sister, thankful he didn't see her anywhere, he kept running and he was quickly confronted by a sturdy looking pirate and he fought him with both his hammer and his sword. 

When there were lives at stake Zach didn't fool around. It only took a few minutes to make quick work of him as Zach's strength was superior to the pirate's. He took out his second sword as he was rushed by two more. This gave him a bit more work to do. His ability to swordfight was put to the test as one of these men would have been plenty to keep a normal swordfighter busy. 

Kendrick walked out of the city, and towards what looked like a base of operations. The pirates had set up shop outside the city, making what looked like a very large camp. Many pirates were still there, sharpening weapons, outfitting armor, and some were even going over tactics and maps. Kendrick rushed forward and hid behind a tent, hiding himself. Kendrick creeped along, avoiding detection and listening to what pirates were saying. He got the general gist of what everything was about. Apparently the King had invited many pirate leaders to one of his gambling games and lost a lot of money he did not have to them. This was them simply collecting what they thought they were owed. Kendrick grew furious,

Zach stabbed one of the men and the other lost his sword and ran off. Zach saw Sofia in a window about 40 feet up and he wasn't sure if this was the best place for her to be or not. He looked around the castle as he was rushed by another and he glanced at her as some of the others were dumping things out of the windows trying to burn the pirates below. 

Sofia heard screaming from the guard outside the door and suddenly the door burst open. She automatically jumped out in front of the other women and drew her sword. The man laughed until she jumped forwards and cut him on the face. Then he got mad and struck back trying to kill her. She was deft and fast in her movements and in just a couple of moments she had defeated him. With the door broken they couldn't stay there so she went first and told the ladies to follow her. Around every corner was another group of pirates. Sofia was the only one who could use a sword. She finally had no choice but to lead them outside. She handed them spears or flag posts to try and block if they could. She finally hurried them outside and along the wall. 

Zach saw her bringing out the ladies and thought she has lost her mind. He worked his way towards his sister's group in a hurry and took down those between them and him fighting furiously to keep the women safe. 

Kendrick thought he had a chance to end this once and for all in a sneaking fashion. He was wrong. He crouched and snuck into the what looked like the main tent of the pirate camp, only to be immediatley seen. The four pirate leaders, all dressed in leather and gems, detected him and set upon him. Kendrick did not stand a chance. They beat him severely and tied him up. They shoved him out of the tent for all of their pirate lackeys to see. They had plans with him, and things were beginning to be set in motion.

Sofia got the ladies out of the castle property and she saw the encampment off to the left in the distance in the trees. No wonder there had been so many of them. They were right there. She pointed and Zach looked and he told her to take the ladies back to the town and hide them. She nodded and took them to the church in town and locked them inside with the clergy. Sofia ran to the office and checked on Niesha. 

Meanwhile Zach headed towards the encampment to see what they were up to. When he saw Kendrick tied up in there he became irritated that the pirates had outnumbered him. A pirate rushed at him from the outside of the building and he was suddenly fighting off a few of them at once.

Kendrick opened his eyes to see his situation. He was tied up, on the ground, and surrounded by pirates. He could see the four Pirate leaders standing around him, and a slight scuffle nearby. Kendricks hands were tied behinf his back, but he was able to reach a small knife in his belt. He freed himself, got up, and stuck the small knife in the eye of one of the four pirate leaders. As leader #4 howled in pain, the other three prepared to fight. Kendrick stayed on the defensive, seeing as how he had no weapons on him. Kendrick quickly snagged a sword that was laying on the ground, and started attacking back. 

Kendrick, while attacking, tried to parry and counter as much a spossible. While it was clear the pirate leaders had skill, Kendrick was faster and nimbler. He was able to counter #3 and disarm him, while knocking out #2 with the hilt of his sword. He stabbed #3 in the chest, but was unable to return his sword to his grasp as #1 started to really lay into him. Now it was 1 on 1 and Kendrick had no weapon.

Zach finally finished his enemies outside and opened the door. Seeing Kendrick he smiled and slid a sword to him on the floor and stood back and made sure that he watched from the doorway.

Sofia banged on the door and yelled to Niesha that she was going back to help. Sofia saw her through the window and she said [color=f49ac2]"Zach's fine don't worry!"[/color] Sofia got halfway back to the castle when she was cornered by six of the pirates. Fear set in as she realized she couldn't get out of this on her own. One took her sword and another picked her up and tossed her over his shoulder. He held her onto her legs and the more she screamed the further UP her legs he threatened to go. After a minute she stopped screaming for fear of his hands.

Kendrick scooped up the sword that was slid towards, he would have to remember to look for the person who silid him the sword. Kendrick launched his offense, not wanting give #1 the advantage. Kendrick fought valiantly, as did the last pirate leader, but after a minute of fighting Kendrick was able to gain the advantage and disarmed the pirate leader. Literally. Kendrick was able to cut off the pirate leaders arm. Kendrick then looked around and saw the rest of the pirates who were fighting and causing havoc. Kendrick launched himself and started to fight the rest of the pirate henchmen.

Sofia waited til she could see what was going to happen next. As soon as they were preoccupied with fighting she bit the man who was holding her in the back and he screamed and as she kicked her legs she ended up falling headfirst to the ground. She grabbed his hair and put his sword to his neck. 

Niesha paced the front room of the offices, restless, and knowing that she hated hiding away like that. When Sofia came knocking on the door, only to run off again, Niesha just about screamed in frustration. Knowing she wouldn't be able to take much longer not knowing what was happening to Zach and the others, she dashed to the bedroom. Where she promptly began to throw clothes about as she sought her traveling cloak. She knew the chances were quite slim that she'd run into her father, or brother, but why take the chance? Finding her cloak, she swung it around her shoulders, bringing the hood up. 

Without a sword, the next best thing she had was the dagger she always carried. It would do, and Niesha darted out the offices, taking a moment to lock them up although she knew it wouldn't stop any determined thieves who would take advantage of the recent chaos to loot. 

Not sure which way to go, Niesha went in the direction of the castle, constantly glancing about her. She could hear sounds of fighting, faint, but she knew it had to be close. Why were pirates, if the rumors were true, be invading? She had to wonder if there was something else going on here. 

Dashing down the streets, she stopped dead as she came across Sofia, with a sword to a mans nexk. Closing the distance, she said [color=f7941d]"What happened?"[/color] It didn't seem the time to be squeamish about the situation, not when she figured the pirates would kill, and perhaps do other things without hesitation 

Sofia smirked at her. [color=f49ac2]"This pirate thought he was gonna ....nevermind." [/color] Instead of cutting his neck she stabbed him with his own sword in the thigh and left the sword in it. She grabbed her short sword off of his other thigh and she grabbed Niesha and they ran off.


Kendrick finished with the pirates at the base of operations. Most pirates were still in the city though, but at least there was going to be no back up for the pirates now. Kendrick tossed his sword aside, and retrieved his actual gear. Then he walked back into the city. There was much to be done in so little time. The rest of the pirates, any thieves, and making sure he dissapeared before the knights and guards rallied up. Kendrick walked through the city, without realizing why. When he realized where he was walking to, he pondered to himself. If the city was under seige, the castle, while safe, would be hectic. Not everything would be guarded.

Niesha ran with Sofia, holding her dagger, wishing she had something a little bigger then it, but what was was. She constantly looked about them, not wanting to be jumped. She let Sofia lead, figuring she knew where she was going. She also looked about, hoping to catch sight of Zach.

Zach had just finished clearing most of the pirates that had come out of the castle and the bodies were stacked into a pile when he looked up and saw his sister and his wife. He was not happy to see Niesha in danger and looked at Sofia as if it were her idea. 

[color=00aeef]"What are you doing out here? I told you to stay inside where it was safe and further from the fighting. For the most part they are done. Most of the pirates are dead or locked up."[/color]

Sofia let go of Niesha's hand and went to get a guard.[color=f49ac2] "I have to tell him where I put the ladies." [/color]

Zach pulled his wife to him and held her tightly. [color=00aeef]"Niesha, I want you to go home. Sofia will go with you. It's too dangerous out here."[/color]

Feeling a little chastised, Niesha shook her head hugging Zach back, [color=f7941d]"I was going crazy, not knowing if you were okay"[/color] She said, not wanting to go back to the offices, but she would. Just not happily. [color=f7941d]"It was horrible waiting for any information. I didn't like it, wondering if the next pounding on the door would be someone trying to break it down...I didn't...didn't like pacing there, waiting, when i could be of use"[/color]

Zach sighed and hugged her tightly. [color=00aeef]"I know but I can't fight out here if I'm constantly looking over my shoulder to see if you are out here and okay or not. I know what you are going to say next but Sofia has been trained to fight with a sword since she was about 8. I'm not as worried if she is running around out here. Please love," [/color]Zach looked around and as he did he saw the knight bringing back the ladies that Sofia had hidden. Sofia was highly praised over by the ladies and Zach grinned at her and shook his head grinning. [color=00aeef]"Sofia, come on let's go home."[/color] Sofia looked around for her husband as soon as they got out of the castle walls. Not seeing him she was hoping that he was at home already. She nodded and followed Niesha and Zach looking behind them every few minutes. The funeral pyres set for the dead were beginning to stink like crazy and she wanted to see Kendrick. She hurried home.

She burst through the door and found it empty. She turned around and Zach grabbed her. [color=00aeef]"Whatever he is doing....you stay here. If he is not back by morning I'll go find him."[/color] Sofia looked to start arguing and he gave her a look that said do not disobey me. She nodded and started to make dinner instead. 

After some time Kendrick snuck out of the castle, sliding down a makeshift rope and landing on the ground. He hid himself in some bushes as a group of knights ran outside looking for him. They ran past him and Kendrick sighed. He had snuck inside, and almost found something he could use against the king when a lucky knight had managed to find him. This forced him to flee, and that is what he was doing. When the coast was clear Kendrick was able to sneak to one of the empty buildings around the city, which was one of his many safe places.