Chapter 6: The Quiet Little Village
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    As Leon entered the village, the first sight that assaulted his eyes
were buildings aflame.  Half of the village was utterly devastated.  The
armory had been reduced to mere rubble, and many other houses were not
much better off.  Heavy fighting was being conducted in the alleys, but
the majority of it was in the central glade.  It looked as if the
Thamasan soldiers were loosing against the Imperial troopers.  The
Thamasan soldiers were fighting desperately, but the Empire had the
upper hand with its superior training and the strength of its Magitek
Armors.  The Thamasans were barely holding their ground through
fanatical fighting for the defense of their village.  Leon knew that the
airships were overhead, preparing for a second fire-bomb assault upon
the hamlet.  With his rope in one hand and his claw in the other, Leon
prepared to enter the battle.

    The airships had reloaded their deadly packages and were preparing
to drop them upon the hamlet.  Leon quickly scaled the nearest wall, and
as the airships lowered and uncloaked to further torch the hamlet, Leon
swung his rope up, and it hooked upon the airship's railing.  He quickly
scaled the rope toward the airship above as flaming death hit the
damaged buildings once more.

    Leaping over the railing, Leon slashed the throat of the nearest
soldier.  The shock of a direct attack from the ground temporarily
paralyzed the soldiers as Leon's red blade took the life of another of
the Emperor's men.  The soldiers quickly unsheathed their blades,
however, and began to assault Leon.  Still tired from the events on
Kefka's ruins, Leon felt his energy depleting rapidly.  Parrying a blow
from a soldier assaulting him from his left, he was forved to leap aside
to avoid an attack from his right side.  As he struck a third soldier
down, he felt a burning sensation graze his ribs.  With his other hand,
he covered the wound so as to lose as little blood as possible, and he
struck out at the person who had wounded him.  He mansaged to stab the
soldier in his ribs before Leon was cut again, in his arm.  Desperately,
Leon tried the spell Armageddon.  Nothing happened.  He now desperately
attempted to parry two swords, but was grazed in his left shoulder.
Looking around, he saw only one man between himself and the outer
railing.  Flinging himself at the man, Leon cut with his blade and
stabbed the soldier in the thigh.  Falling down, the soldier coudn't
prevent Leon from hurling himself over the banister.  The surviving
soldiers watched as his form became smaller and smaller below.  /He
won't survive,/ thought the crewmen as they prepared to return to their
base for refueling and rearmament.

    Down below, Leon had the good fortune to land in the sea.  He
narrowly missed the rocks as he plunged down the murky waters.  Kicking,
he was able to bring his head back to the surface and head toward the
shore.  Ahead, he saw a tomb.  The tomb of the deceased General Leo.  He
stepped out of the water and began to limp to the hamlet.  As the
numbness from the cold water wore off, his wounds started to sting from
the salt that had seeped in.  Ignoring the pain, he tore off a portion
of his black cloak to bind his wounds.  Beyond the glade, the battle
continued, as the soldiers of the Empire, slowly but surely, ground the
Thamasans down.

    "They have no hope," he thought, as he watched the fight from a
distance.  Wearily, he headed back to the fight.