by Auryn Hadley
"Pikes!" Sal called out, and three units of pikemen pushed forward. Their weapons held low, each pikeman was covered by a shieldman. It was a small change Sal had made to their tactics, but she knew those shields would make each pikeman count for two. Anxiously, she watched as her soldiers moved forward, the war horses bearing down on them quickly. Their officers called orders, each unit at different times, and the shield men locked close. The pikemen knelt beneath them, bracing for impact. The sound became deafening as bodies crashed against the human wall and both horses and human screamed. Sal knew that some of those were her own men.
There was no turning back.
"Cavalry!" she yelled, and like an arrow loosed, the horses surged past her. Units charged from every side of their line, ready to meet the enemy head on. For the first time, the Anglians gave voice to the war. Men screamed in anger and excitement as they spurred their horses into the Terran army. Resin crashed against acrylic, and the green meadow changed to shades of mud and gore with the battle. Sal saw Ilija, his pale armor and massive size setting him apart, looking at her. She nodded, and he drew his sword to point it skyward. The Verdant Shields surrounded the King and, flawlessly, they pushed across the line, picking off injured men and tearing apart anyone who made it close to the Anglian lines.
Sal yelled out, her high voice piercing the noise of battle, "For the King!" and sent a thought to Jase, lay on, let's kill these bastards.
Chapter 29
They surged forward. Sal pulled her swords from the sheaths at her back and made a straight line into the enemy, Jase beside her as he'd sworn to be so many times. They flew past the Anglian pikes and, like a hammer, the Blades hit the Terrans. Sal's sword slipped so sweetly beneath a man's helm, his flesh parting before the edge, and she felt the maast surge. Jase cleaved through the arm of another, and her desires screamed in her head. Roo grabbed a horse's throat, the taste of blood filling her senses in a way Sal had never experienced before, followed by Hwa's teeth piercing the thin resin helm of the rider. The man's jaw cracked beneath the grauori's strength – and the maast gripped them all.
The Blades cleared whole swaths of the battle as if reaping a crop. The Anglians cheered them on. Raven's sides soon became as spotted as Arden's with the blood and gore splattered across both mounts, and still, they pushed. Sal lost track of how many men they killed, feeling she needed just one more. As the blood soaking her hands congealed, her grip on her weapons became even more secure, and she swung harder, Jase stayed always at her left as if an extension of her.
Suddenly, they had no more soldiers before them. The iliri had pushed across the front and come out the side. Spinning their horses, the pair began to wade back in when Hwa's voice screamed in their heads, Make for the King!
Across the side, an organized line of Terran cavalry charged straight for the Verdant Shields – and Dominik. Sal put her heels to Arden. The mare lunged forward, feeling her rider's panic. The iliri hacked gracelessly at anyone who came between them and their duty. Raven leapt and kicked out, crushing a man's skull and knocking him from his saddle, and still they waded through the bodies.
We won't make it! she told the grauori, pushing Arden harder and taking risks she normally would've considered unacceptable.
I'm here, Roo said, the taste of blood seething in her mind.
Sal could feel Hwa not far behind. In the distance, a white streak leapt and pulled a man from his horse, and Sal tasted the joy of Hwa's kill. The need to match him took over. She cut at a man, her blade slicing through the slit in his helm – not killing him, but he screamed and fell from his horse. Another Terran crossed in front of her, and Sal sat back, asking Arden to rear. The mare's hooves lashed out, dazing the man. Arden's pinned ears warned the enemy horse away, the steed trampling its rider as it fled. When Arden landed, her ears flicked forward again, seeking another aid, and Sal urged her forward – ever forward – making for the King's side.
She was almost there when pain screamed through their heads. Roo's yelp carried across the field. With their minds open, each of the Blades felt the blow to the little female's side, the pain so sweet Sal couldn't control herself. She frenzied, all traces of control gone as she pushed toward her packmate. Jase screamed and spurred Raven, shoving his mare into the man before him, and the Terran horse fell. Raven jumped over it and Sal followed, thinking of nothing but death. Their blades flew. Both iliri growled as they cut through the enemies until Roo's mangled body was before them.
Jumping off her horse, Sal ran the last few feet, ready to kill the human lurking over her friend. Growling, she launched at him, pulling the big man to the ground. One sword dropped forgotten from her hand, and in her feral haze, Sal automatically reached for the steel knife at her back.
A split second before the edge severed the man's throat, he cried out, "Laetus, Kaisae!" turning his head to the side and looking away.
Sal gulped at the sweet air, seeking a familiar scent, and found it. Ilija. Her instincts told her to kill the threat, Sal knew the man beneath her. She shoved him away, searching for her sister. Seeking to stop the pain flooding her mind.
"Sal?" Ilija gasped.
She put her knife away, grabbed her black sword from the ground and crawled across the dirt without acknowledging him. She didn't have time. Roo was right there and had to be protected. The Kaisae was supposed to take care of her pack, not get them killed! Only a meter away, Roo lay gasping, her waist cleaved open. Desperately, Sal reached for her mind, begging her friend to survive.
I feel them, Sal, Roo told her. The pups are coming. Raast is ready, Roo panted in her head, but I think Rhyx is hurt. They're coming, Sal, and it's too soon.
"Get me a medic!" Sal screamed, true terror in her voice. Roo's hind legs sprawled limply and the bitch's intestines lay against her belly. Beneath her skin, the pups moved violently. "Ayati, please!" she begged the world.
Ricown dropped beside her on his knees, and his hands checked Roo's body. Sal heard Ilija grumbling softly to him, but Ricown answered back, "I don't care if she guts me, damn it! Roo's my friend!"
A small crowd was gathering around them in the middle of the battle, blocking the enemy lines. She could feel Hwa tearing men apart to reach his mate. With Roo holding their minds wide open, Sal barely noticed when the King knelt beside her.
"Take my horse. Get her to my pavilion and find the best physician. I don't care what it takes, take care of her!" Dom ordered, shoving Ricown toward the grey mare. "Ilija, help me get her up to him, and you," the King pointed to another Shield, "help Ricown. Do whatever is needed, is that understood?"
Ricown mounted, and the two Verdant Shields pushed their horses close. Together Dom and Ilija lifted Roo's body, trying to be as gentle as possible but it wasn't enough. The grauori's scream of pain pulled at Sal's maast – then the link went dead.
"She's pregnant, the pups are coming," Sal yelled at Ricown. He nodded once before spurring the grey mare back toward the camp.
Her mind was silent. Too silent. Only the sounds of battle crept in, and that wasn't enough. In the distance, grauori called out with their eerie howl, and she tried to reach for her friend, hoping it was Roo. But her mind slammed up against a wall. For the first time in months, the link was just gone, and no amount of straining could reach her friend's mind. She tried again, grasping for anything.
A soft touch met her and gently pulled Sal's mind into a link. Automatically, she reached for Jase, and the linker followed her mental hands. Embracing the Ahnor, whoever it was settled his mind right beside hers and then eased them into the fold.
Laetus, Kaisae, the male mind said. Be welcome among the grauori.
Her awareness expanded as more minds joined, their senses mingling together. Another entire group slipped in, then more, and minds began to meld with Sal by the dozens. Like sparks of emotions and senses, they were spread through the trees and grass around her. She knew everything, could see it all, and had eyes everywhere she needed. Sal's violent maast pulled at th
em, and Jase's added to it. The grauori minds reached for their lust, savagely excited for the death this battle offered.
"Maast," Sal breathed as she regained her feet, aware of nothing but the minds of so many grauori linking with her own.
"What is it?" Dom asked, grabbing her. "Sal? Kaisae?"
A single, bright spark raced away, pulling itself from the maast to chase Roo's ember.
"The grauori are here."
"In the King's tent, Sal," Ilija said, stepping before her eyes to point back toward camp.
"No. All of them."
Her eyes refocused on her friend, then she snarled viciously and jerked her head around, seeking the men in purple. The need to kill them smothered everything else. She wanted them all to bleed. All of her did, echoing back into the abyss of the link. On her left, Jase growled. Side by side, they pulled their blades and ran, forgetting their mounts, ignoring their friends, seeking nothing but death.
Dom tried to grab her, but Ilija stopped him. "She's not human, sire. She almost killed me earlier. Come on. You're on foot, let's get you behind some lines."
The humans turned to retreat – but stopped, staring in awe. Out of the trees, an avalanche of white poured down, racing over the hills on four legs. Silence fell across the Anglian camp as the beasts ran, weaving between soldiers without so much as a glance. Until they reached the battle line. Their pale coats turned dark as the animals waded through the deep mud, their growls too low to hear, but each man felt the rumble in his chest. In the midst of the beasts, Sal and Jase swung and killed, slicing horses legs and rending men apart as if wolves themselves. The grauori wave passed the men in green but tore through the Terrans. Screams marked their passing – and the Anglian army began to cheer.
Sal knew nothing but death and anguish as she made the enemy pay for her friend. The maast engulfed her. She became little more than a cell in the organism that devoured men who threatened them. Her hate became amplified. The defiance of an entire species flooded through her. Hundreds of deaths assaulted her senses and her need for more swelled until there was nothing left to kill. She sought something to satisfy her. Finding nothing, she hacked at an injured man, growling at him as she did so, unaware of the fear in his eyes as he died. As gently as they had come, the minds left. Bright flashes of consciousness faded in groups until she was left standing with Jase, knee deep in mud and death, and her pain flooded back to her.
Sal slowly sheathed her weapons and stared at the carnage. Men screamed in pain, their mutilated bodies betraying them, and grauori slunk across the field, dispatching some in their jaws, others kneeling before men to help.
"Maast," Jase whispered.
"Ya," a voice said behind them, and the iliri turned. A nacione female stood looking up into Sal's eyes.
She knelt, and the grauori did the same, both meeting as equals. "Laetus, Kaisae," Sal whispered to her.
Laetus to you, Kaisae of the iliri and the humans. I am Orassae of the grauori. We are well met.
Sal dipped her head in acknowledgment. I thank you. I know war is a human thing, but they threaten us all. If they knew about you -
The bitch cut her off. They should know of us. The Kaisor respects us, and for the first time, we are treated as true people. Your packmate lies on a king's bed, with a king's healer and one of my own, treated as a friend, not as a beast. For this, tell him we will fight.
I will, Orassae, Sal said.
And let us show these beasts what we are. Send one back, let him tell the story of the grauori.
Sal agreed completely. Seeking a Terran soldier who'd be well enough to survive, she strode across the battlefield. A grey male moved with her, and somehow Sal knew he was a healer. She looked at the bodies, discarding most as too far gone until she found a young man, his face shredded from grauori jaws, his armor rent by Anglian blades.
"This one," Sal said, pointing.
The healer knelt at his side, growling as he touched the human. He exhaled, and the Terran's eyes went wide, then began to track.
"Close your eyes boy. You're about to be the only man to survive this," Sal snarled at him.
The kid gasped for breath, but the grauori stopped before the soldier was completely healed. Sal nodded to the aufrio male, and he trotted away. Then she knelt next to the boy. In a few moments, he opened his eyes, a tear streaming out as he stared at her blood covered face. Her defiant eyes glared at him with no sympathy.
"I am iliri," she said, and he nodded. "Humans made us from them. They are the grauori. Say it."
"Graw ori?" The kid asked, and Sal nodded at him, her face cruel.
"You have seen what we can do. We bring death. We have powers you can not imagine. The Emperor wants to destroy us, not because he is a god, but because he fears that we are," Sal said, watching the kid's eyes. Terrified, he nodded at her, showing he understood.
"Today, you will live. Return to your army, boy. Follow the foothills and you'll find them. They're riding in the path you left. Tell them. Bring them here and show them, but do not crest that hill," she pointed at the rise her army camped on, "or we will make you pay for it. Do you understand me?"
"Yes, ma'am," the boy stammered.
"I am Kaisae of the Anglian army. I control the humans, the iliri, and the grauori – and I will unleash them all on Terric if you dare to harm my people. When you return home, tell them about us, and tell them we are coming. The Emperor thought he could exterminate us, and now he shall pay for that."
She stood and stepped back, gesturing for the kid to climb to his feet. A different grauori led a horse toward them, the rafrezzi female's teeth gently holding the reins. Sal took it and the bitch trotted off, stopping to kneel at an Anglian to heal him.
"We only wanted peace," Sal told the Terran. "We asked for none of this, but we will not let you destroy us. We are faster, we are stronger, and there are many of us. Go home, boy."
The kid nodded in fear, but Sal held the reins while he pulled himself onto the horse. Tears slid from his eyes as he looked across the carnage. The scent of his fear was overpowering. She released the reins and turned to walk away, listening to the horse's hooves pulling from the sucking mud as it made it's way north. Her maast was gone, her mind strangely open, and she made her way forward, begging for Roo to still be alive. Around her, Anglians were thanking the grauori healers, some hugging the beasts as they would a fellow soldier.
Sal's mind couldn't take it all in, and so she walked. Ever forward, she walked. Eventually, the sound of hooves made her look up, and Jase rode toward her, Raven and Arden slogging through the muck at a trot.
"Sal!" he cried, breaking through her mental haze. She heard the worry in his voice. "Get up here. We do na have much time. They said she's dying. Roo's dying!" Tears streamed across his face.
Chapter 30
Sal cursed as she swung into the saddle and kicked her faithful mare forward. Arden lunged to reach above the mud, striving to hurry. Jase followed, the pair of them heedless of the bodies they passed in their race to see Roo, to save Roo. Across the field and up the hill, they only stopped when they reached the King's pavilion. The exhausted horses forgotten in their concern for their packmate. Behind them, a soldier in pale grey caught the mares and began walking them out, his own eyes wet.
The iliri slipped inside the tent, finding themselves face to face with the grauori healer. I can not save her, Kaisae. Ahnor. She will hold a bit longer, and the human is trying to help the pups, but they are early and weak.
Sal's knees went weak with shock, but she refused to crumple. Now was not the time to break down.
She is still in maast, the healer continued, and she's holding her mate's mind with her. They attacked the human, but Orassae Rragri stopped them. He will need to be healed eventually, but the human refuses to pause until the pups are out. You will need to take them. If they live, then they are strong, and your pack will thrive. But if you do not take them, the male may kill them. His grief can only take so much. I will wait outs
ide. Send the human to me when you can.
"Thank you," Sal said, pushing past him, into Dominik's sleeping area. Jase followed behind her.
Hovering over the cot, Ricown stood covered in gore, reaching up to his elbows inside Roo's belly. The nacione bitch from the battlefield sat beside him. Her lips curled every time Hwa looked at the human.
"Thank you Orassae Rragri," Sal said as she moved to Ricown's side. "Jase, get something to wrap these in. There are two of them."
Ricown nodded at her but said nothing, his hands searching through the viscera for something. Roo's body lay nearly still, but she panted heavily. He sucked in a breath. "I got them," he said, pulling, and a bloody mass emerged from Roo's wound. Jase held out a cloth and took the pup with it, rubbing vigorously. Ricown glanced at him only once, then reached back inside. Seconds later, another bloody form appeared from the wound. Sal grabbed the second cloth from Jase's shoulder and held it out. When Ricown lay the pup in her arms, she saw the injuries. The front left leg bent strangely, and a cut traveled from there across its body, to its head. Part of the poor thing's ear was missing. As Sal repositioned the pup to lay more securely, she saw it was female.
