The Skirmish of Andlenore

Twenty men started searching the woods for the shadow archers. An arrow came shooting at one of the men. He raised his shield but the arrow went deeper to pierce his arm. He clenched his teeth to avoid shouting. He and another, saw the angle the arrow was lodged at and ran towards that direction. The soldier tried to dislodge the arrow while running. Another arrow spelled the end of his ordeal as it hit the neck directly from the right. His companion diverted all his attention to the right, shield at ready. A shadow loomed above him. But it was too late. An archer stabbed his neck as he landed on his shoulders from the trees above.

The archer was clad in white.

The eighteen men who had saw the spectacle ran towards the archer. The archer ran deeper into the forest taking out one while he was at it, seventeen men in his pursuit.

Another volley of arrows shot out striking the men at different angles. Three men fell, they let out blood curling screams. Birds around the forest eloped to the sky as they became aware of the pandemonium that had broken down in the forest.

Fourteen men were still in pursuit of the archer who had revealed himself. They soon lost him as he dodged behind one tree to another. They stood still ready to perceive smallest movements.

A little blur made them aware of the archer's presence. But their reaction was much slower and movements restricted by trees. The blur lasted for a second and took down two men. It was only then they realised there were more than one archers playing this hide and seek game of theirs.

One of the twelve men shouted something. Eight fell in a circle formation. Shields at ready for any arrows. A smaller group of four formed an inner circle to cut down arrows from the sky.

As the clinking of the armours stopped, a faint chirping could be heard in the distance. The soldiers stood in their little seemingly impenetrable shell. Trees all around them seemed to rustle with force. The soldiers looked around to see what caused it but no source was found.

The inner circle seemed to only have vision above them. They were prepared for any and all arrows their opponents could conjure.

Something came fluttering down, the inner circle strengthened the grip on their shields. It was just a white cloth. That confused them for a split instant.

And a split instant was all that was required. Two archers came crashing down on the shields held high by the inner circle. The four soldiers of the inner circle fell hard on the ground. Swift knife and sword spelled the end on the four members of the inner circle.

All this happened in less than two seconds. The soldiers in the outer circle who had their attention to the outside were confused at the commotion behind them. They were late to respond.

And it cost them. It cost them three men. The five surviving men furiously jabbed at the two White Cape Archers, their backs to the outer rim. The two archers screamed as more than one of their vitals were stabbed.

The last thing they felt was a well deserved sense of satisfaction as they saw arrows rain down on the backs of the five warriors.

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