by Sven Grams
“But those two are particularly gifted, it has to be said,” said Sage Filfia proudly.
Mayor Petrice nodded in agreement.
- CHAPTER THIRTEEN -
Rearguard
(The tale of Trex and Sara)
The sun shone high in the midday sky. Several hours had passed since Trex and Sara had left the wolf soldiers to find the lion contingent. The lion force was actually several kilometres further east then Mayor Petrice had expected them to be. In fact, the lions were halfway back to where the colonists were expecting to come out at the coast.
Unwilling to leave their Anthro wolf comrades exposed without diverting the main Anthro bear threat, the Anthro lions had been in a desperate rearguard action for many hours now against an ever growing bear force. Out on the ocean, just visible through the trees, the fleet was holding pace with the group on land, being signalled occasionally from the retreating force.
Sergeant Brex was panting heavily as his eyes scanned the surrounding forest feverishly.
“They are out there again,” he said clearly, only a hint of darkness in his voice. The air was already starting to fill with the distant approaching intent to kill, the atmosphere was ominous.
Behind him, a large group of about forty Anthro lion soldiers was in a loose formation, ready to react to an attack from any side.
On the outside of the formation were lions with spears and shields, most of them being male. In the centre were the mostly female archers and five injured, three of them being assisted by field healers.
The part of the coast that they found themselves in consisted of a lot of high cliffs, so it was impossible for the lion expeditionary force to retreat directly to the coast and the safety of the boats from where they were… and the bears knew this.
On the other side of the group from Sergeant Brex, Sergeant Kirra was also armed with a shield and spear. The whole group was moving as quickly as the injured could be assisted through the ancient costal forest.
Light streamed through the high canopy onto the autumn forest floor with its masses of leaf litter. The giant trees that surrounded the group loomed over them.
“I don’t like this,” stated the tall blond lioness, “they are not attacking like we have been taught to expect. They’re more like skirmishers… this is not what I expect from bears.”
“Goes to show that even bears can learn,” stated Brex coldly, he never had held the academic part of military training in high regard.
He turned to the healers for a split second.
“If we are attacked again, you may have to make a run for it. They’re doing these hit and runs to slow us down for a larger force to catch up no doubt. We’re going to have to try and get to the next beach to evacuate the wounded.”
“Yes Sir,” replied the senior male healer while propping up a badly injured comrade.
The healer indicated for a female archer to assist him and the other healers in preparation for the possible dash.
“We’ll send our skirmishers to cover you while we deal with the attack and then catch up, if we can,” stated Brex.
There was a distinct whistle up in the trees from the north, the pitch and frequency indicating a distinct meaning to the well trained Anthro lion soldiers.
“Here they come… about eight,” said Sergeant Kirra.
There was a shout from the surrounding forest, then a roar.
The formation moved to face the still unseen incoming threat, the shields and spears forming a solid wall.
There was another whistle from the south, from the direction of the coast, this one was rushed.
“They’re coming from both sides!” called Kirra, “call back the skirmishers!”
The formation automatically split to form two solid walls surrounding the archers and wounded at the centre.
Following the command of Sergeant Kirra, one of the archers pulled out a wooden pipe and blew into it. A high pitch whistle filled the air.
The first of the skirmishers could clearly be seen leaping through the wide strong branches of the surrounding giant trees.
The ancient forest, with its interlocking canopy, allowed the skirmishers to stay in the air, jumping from tree to tree.
The skirmishers returning from the north were being followed through the canopy by Anthro bear warriors. Bellow the racing Anthros, the rest of the bear attackers from that direction emerged from between the trunks and scattered undergrowth in a full run. They had heavy timber shields up to deflect any arrows.
About ten bear warriors could also be seen coming from the rocky coastline from the south, again an even mix of male and female warriors. Of the six lion archer skirmishers racing through the canopy, four were being pursued by smaller agile female bear warriors.
“Attack them!” shouted Kirra, then lowering her voice a little “Indicate for the skirmishers to cover the injured.”
Brex nodded in agreement.
“Run!” Brex yelled at the healers.
The two even groups of lion warriors raced in opposite directions to intercept the incoming attackers, each lead by one of the Sergeants.
As they ran in opposite directions, the two Sergeants put their fingers to their lips, simultaneously letting out a sharp whistle to get the attention of the approaching skirmishers. They both indicated with a few hand signals where the retreating skirmishers were meant to go.
Unfortunately, only two could follow the order. The other four were having trouble shaking their pursuers, who were closing behind them, so ignored the order and made for their armed comrades instead.
The lion archers fanned out behind the tight formation of shields, some of them tacking to the trees if the opportunity presented itself.
Sergeant Kirra fell back to the other solders, joining the wall in her squad.
The bears were making a beeline for the injured and the lions ran to intercept.
Three healers where carrying injured on their backs while the last helper had one injured in each arm, the two injured she assisted hobbling along with great discomfort.
The main forces on the ground clashed. The combined strength of the lions with their locked shields was enough to absorb the impact of the bear warriors. Leaning into their shields, the lions slid back a bit in the soft earth.
“Push!” shouted Kirra once the initial momentum was absorbed. As one, the lions pushed forward, their combined strength enough to counter the superior individual bears.
Once the bears were on the back foot the Anthro lions thrusted their spears forward as one, forcing the bears to move back further and deflect the jabs.
The dark furred bears also had to worry about the archers, their superior reflexes being needed to block incoming shots and keep the archers in vision.
In the branches above, there was a second battle going on. The bears had strength on their sides, but the branches required a lot of skill and balance to traverse. Many of the lions had pulled out their short swords or turned their bows into staffs to attack the female bears, which, in the end, spent a lot of their time just maintaining their balance.
Some of the bears were trying to outflank in an attempt to get to the injured.
“Break formation!” shouted Brex. The formation split into groups of three or two to attack individual bears as the bears split up in an attempt to circumvent the blockers.
All around them, mayhem filled the battlefield, in the branches and on the ground. The lion cooperation was flawless, the groups of lions moving back and forth blocking and attacking in seamless unison, arrows flew in from all angles and three of the bears where hit already, their limbs going limp as the poison took effect and forced them to retreat.
Near Kirra, a well placed blow split a shield of a female lion and she was thrown against a tree, her arm cut. From above, a male lion came crashing to the ground, also having taken an unexpected blow.
“Fall back!” called Kirra as she delivered a skilful jab to an exposed shoulder, sending her large male opponent reeling backwa
rd.
Kirra’s squad fell back as she lost more fighting soldiers who had to assist the fallen. At this stage, four bears were down or poisoned but two had got past the blockade and were on an intercept course with the injured.
Brekiz’s squad was doing better, his group had partially incapacitated three bears without serious injury, but he was too far away to intercept.
Near to the stocky male Sergeant, a female bear came crashing to the ground. In her leg, a poisoned arrow was visible.
“Fall back!” he called as his troops made an orderly retreat.
The two skirmishers who were escorting the injured split off to harass the two bears who had made it past the blockade.
The healers doubled their pace in an attempt to get as much distance between themselves and the attackers. There was a stone pass up ahead that would make a good natural defensive position.
“Come on!” said the head healer in encouragement, panting with the strain of carrying his comrade. “From up there we should be able to see the beach,” he continued.
If he was honest with himself, he couldn’t remember the coastline well enough to know were the next possible landing point would be. But he needed the hope to keep his straining muscles moving.
Immediately in front of the healer, two bear warriors suddenly emerged from the rocks of the ridge, it had been a trap.
The healer dove to the side to avoid a spear jab. He and his injured cargo fell awkwardly.
The female solder let go of the two soldiers she was helping and tried to retrieve her bow. The second bear was on top of her in a second and she barely deflected his axe blow, her staff shattering. She went down, taking an upwards glancing blow to the shoulder, her Lion Empire issue cloak barely saving her from a more savage cut.
The two injured she had been assisting attacked with short swords but their weakened attacks were quickly beaten down with fist and hilt.
In the meantime, the last standing healer had dropped her injured cargo and jumped at the first attacker, landing a strike with her short sword.
The bear yelled out in pain. Grabbing the cloak of the healer, he threw the lioness against a rock, stunning her and almost knocking her unconscious.
The other lions had seen the ambush and were rushing to assist, however, most were too far away or had to deal with nearby attackers.
The head healer scurried backwards on all fours, attempting to drag the badly injured comrade out of harms way. All control had long left him and he was overcome with fear.
The two Anthro bears turned towards him, one let out a roar before both advanced menacingly.
One of the massive bears suddenly sensed something coming in at high speed. He turned sharply, preparing to avoid any incoming arrow. What did come flying in, however, was a speeding Trex.
Trex literally flew the last meter to his target, staff prepared with short-sword on one end and spear point on the other.
Trex had the spear end thrust forward and the bear narrowly managed do deflect the point away with his large axe blade. Trex extended his shoulder to impact in the centre of the bear’s chest. Momentum spent, Trex dropped to the ground, the much heavier bear being forced to take a surprised step back. The bear’s axe was still at an unfortunate angle with little ability to generate power. The weapon was further knocked away by Trex with a powerful upswing of his bladed staff. Trex was moving like a snake, he continued to turn his body following the swing of his weapon. Crouching low, he turned full circle to sweep the back of his foot into the back of the bear’s knee. The Bear, completely overwhelmed, collapsed backwards into the dirt. A moment later the poisoned spear tip of Trex’s staff was rammed into his chest. He was immediately immobilised.
The second bear did not have time to assist however, as he had to deal with Sara as she came flying in, long sword and dagger in hand. The bear’s tough spear just absorbed the powerful sword blow and he dove backwards to avoid the dagger that came sweeping in afterwards.
Sara slid in the dirt on landing and immediately sprung at her opponent again.
The bear used the moment’s reprieve to drop his damaged spear and grab a thick club with an embedded blade that was attached with a leather strap to his loincloth belt. He barely had time for an upswing before the speeding Sara was on top of him again.
Sara twisted her body to avoid the blow which she deflected with her weapons. She was much closer now and the bear used the raised club to swing down with both hand with all his might.
Thanks to Trex’s influence, Sara saw the flight of the weapon in seeming slow motion. Her rage fully in check, she had almost as much controlled strength as the bear. Sara judged the blow perfectly, skipping sideways just enough to guide the blow past her into the dirt with her weapons. The club missed her body by mere millimetres as it impacted onto the soft ground, sending up an explosion of leaves and dirt into the air. Sara, in the meantime, had let go of her pinned weapons and had jumped into the air with the flying debris next to the hunched warrior. The Anthro bear was still recovering from the downward blow he had just committed to. Spinning as she jumped, the back of her heel impacted savagely into the side of the bears head, knocking him out cold.
Sara landed back onto the ground as the bear collapsed sideways, the leaves and dirt falling around them.
Trex walked up beside her as she retrieved her weapons, both were panting like crazy.
This fight had not gone unnoticed by the others. The attacking bears knew that they had just lost the initiative. Many of their warriors were down or starting to become fully incapacitated thanks to the poisoned arrows. They began to stop chasing and pull back.
Running back into the forest with calls and shouts, they retrieved or assisted their fallen and injured comrades as they went.
The lions watched the bears depart. Brex suddenly threw his spear into the air.
“Hazza!” he shouted.
“Hazza!” came the combined shout from the other lions, also raising their weapons into the air in ritual celebration. Still being in a fighting frame of mind, the shout from the lions was more mechanical then emotional, but it still had a lot of power.
Trex and Sara were helping the healers and wounded when the other lions finally caught up with them.
Sergeants Kirra and Brex came running up to Trex and Sara.
The two trackers had still not relinquished their powerful combined projection and were moving in seeming fast-forward.
“Wow,” said Brex, noticing the powerful energy emanating from the two.
Kirra looked a little worried, noticing how thin and sickly the two looked.
“How long have you been keeping that up for?” she asked to Trex, who stood up quickly.
“We’ve-been-looking-for-you-for-some-time,” said Trex, his words racing out at such a pace that it was almost unintelligible, “we-went-all-the-way-back-to-west-of-the-camp-then-moved-back-down-the-coast-following-the-groups-of-bears-tending-to-the-injured.”
“We-had-to-head-north-again-to-pass-a-large-army-and-a-good-sized-advanced-force,” said Sara, also speaking in turbo.
“An army?” questioned Brex, his brow furrowing.
“Wait,” said Kirra suddenly, “Trex, Sara, calm down. I want you to stop… whatever it is, you’re doing.”
“Why? We’re-fine,” replied Sara, still panting furiously.
“No, you’re not,” retorted Kirra, “look at yourselves, you both looked malnourished, and whatever you’re doing can’t be healthy for this long.”
Sara and Trex looked at each other, they really were thin and eaten away. Their faces were drawn and their limbs thin… it looked like they had been starved. Their bodies had long ago used up their fat reserves, and had started to eat away at their muscles.
Their projection wavered and then quickly collapsed. Without the strength of the concentration, both suddenly doubled over. They gulped for air in an attempt to regain their breath and calm down.
“Whatever energy you were using has got to come fr
om somewhere,” Kirra said kindly, “I’ve seen Shaman overuse their powers… it can get really dangerous.”
Kirra and another lion led the two over to a log so that they could sit.
“Here, drink some water,” said Kirra, handing over a water satchel.
Sara and Trex drank gratefully, taking almost a full minute to calm down enough to be able to speak.
“How far away is this leading force, and the main army?” asked Brex. He didn’t like the idea of sitting around while their impending doom was closing in.
Trex turned to Sara.
“The main army is still a way off… but the advanced force will be here in a few minutes… if they keep the pace up that we saw,” Sara stated.
Trex had retrieved some flat bread and split it with Sara, the two devouring the food hungrily between regaining their breath.
“We don’t have a choice,” said Kirra, turning to Brex, “there is no use being killed, we will just have to hope that the colonists and wolves can slip by them to the coast… wait a second, did you find the colonists or the wolf force?”
“The colonists were on their way to Trogger Pass,” said Trex, “Their on their way to the coast now… not too far from here actually.”
Trex took another swig of water, his mouth still half full of chewed food.
“We found the wolves further north… they’re heading on a path to intercept the colonists and escort them to the coast.”
“Good… then let’s hope they are quick,” said Brex, “we have no choice but to get back to the ships, almost everyone is injured now anyway.”
Kirra nodded, turning to the others.
“We have to go now,” Kirra said with authority to the motley collection of exhausted soldiers, “no scouts, no skirmisher other then point. Assist the injured and take it in shifts to carry them, we’re making a dash for the next beach, we’re going home.”
Trex and Sara got up, their leg’s shaky below them. They were in no condition to run quickly or even really to fight any more.
Brex saw the two struggle to get up.
“You ran all that way?… it’s amazing you’re still alive.”
