Malkur’s officers called out orders; their people listened to them intently as they spread out, moving their wings to prepare for flight.
A number of Krenua’s high-ranked officers stood behind the three women, moving to the different groups. They were the strongest of the Devil’s Crater Army. For this, they would be the referees making sure that no one got badly injured and helping if they did.
“Their flight time isn’t too long and they stay grounded as long as possible so that they have more energy in the air,” Quindar said.
“They’ll get the strength eventually. I’ve been working on coding up a training aide that would simulate flying at different heights to give them a better idea of their limits and how to act at higher and lower altitudes as well as in calm and hard winds,” Anna said.
“You’re attending the coding classes as well?” Deia asked.
“Well, I’ve been reading Dave’s information manuals. I can’t digest the information as fast as Steve or Shard, but I’m still pretty fast at it,” Anna said.
“And very modest as well,” Quindar quipped.
The forces moved out onto the field.
“Shall we follow?” Anna asked.
“Certainly,” Quindar said. The air picked her up as it had with Anna.
“So, how are the children?” Deia asked as she, too, took to the air.
“Accident prone, mischievous, and amazing.” Quindar smiled. The corners of her eyes wrinkled in delight, thinking of her babies. “I will say, having an extra pair of hands is a godsend,” Quindar said as they hovered fifty feet off of the ground.
The ground troops had broken down into units of ten and were all looking ready to move outside on the training area. They were spread out over a massive area and staggered so that they didn’t cluster.
“Yoalin might not have children of her own, but she loves them as if they were her own. I’ve been pregnant for nearly two years, so it’s nice to get a bit of freedom here and there. Also, Fornau is always out looking at new projects going on in Devil’s Crater. He’s setting up a consulting company for city building. It seems people caught wind that he was the one to plan all of this, and other kingdoms and cities are looking for him to make aqueducts, sewage systems, and the infrastructure that’s already here,” Quindar said with clear pride.
“That’s amazing! I know Malsour was greatly impressed with all that he did,” Deia said.
Anna made a noise of agreement.
“Even powerful creatures like us get bored from time to time,” Quindar said, clearly including Anna and Deia in her words.
They both nodded.
“It is good to finally have someone to talk about with these matters. Some of the young don’t truly understand.” Anna let out a breath.
A gong was struck, announcing the start of the war games.
Quindar snorted. “Some people like much younger company.” Quindar had an amused smile as she looked to Deia and Anna.
“It is a lot of fun being with Dave. He might be a lot younger than me, and he has the endless energy. It really is refreshing. I feel like a teenager again,” Deia said to the giggles of the others.
“Looks like the aerial scouts have improved on their power, now that there is a contest to show off their abilities,” Anna said.
“Think she’s just trying to distract us from asking about that red piece of eye candy that she’s been leading around?” Quindar asked Deia.
“I think, dear niece, that she might be, even if she does have a point.” Deia and Quindar smiled unabashedly at Anna, who glared at them both.
“The aerial are fast, but the ground forces are not without pre-planning,” Quindar said. Their eyes moved to the ground forces that were running in a headlong sprint toward the forests.
Some were using their wings and various spells to increase their speed. All of those with similar skills were spread out over the ground forces, allowing them to pass on their skills and be available to more officers instead of under the command of a few.
The scouts were using their interfaces, talking rapidly to the flying forces that were now taking to the skies. The ground forces had a lead, but the aerial troops were quickly building up their momentum.
“The lead flyers are going to hit the rear of the soldiers on the ground before they make it into the trees. Once they get into the forest, it’s going to be hard for the aerial forces to find the ground forces. They’ve become rather adept at hiding in built-up terrain. The scouts are good enough to find them in open terrain, but it will be a good trial to see how their skills are at deceiving the flyers and the flyers at finding the ground forces.”
Deia looked at the ground forces; it truly was a fearsome sight to watch their charge. Beast Kin lowered themselves to the ground, using all of their limbs to increase their speed.
The Demons, with their strong bodies, rushed forward faster than creatures that were their level and half again. They truly were Creatures of Power.
Beast Kin who didn’t have any ancestry of using their multiple legs to sprint forward were no less fast, making up for their differences, pushing themselves to the limit, unwilling to let down their comrades.
There was no division between the Beast Kin and Demons anymore. They truly were one people in the DCA.
“So, it looks like I will be having a brother or sister in a couple of weeks. Will be good if my sibling, my child, and yours could get together. They will only be a few months different in their birthdays,” Deia said.
Quindar was hesitant before she nodded. “I was thinking that yours and your mother’s child might not be able to handle it, but thinking of their parents and their inherent strength, it might be good for them to mingle with my children. Though, we’re still keeping them restrained in their Human form. Don’t need an angry six-year-old running around spouting their Dragon breath.” Quindar rolled her eyes and shook her head.
Deia laughed.
Childbirth was not something that was easy, but with the magic healing abilities of Emerilia’s people, Deia felt reassured that there was limited chance that she would die or that her child would. It was a great relief to any mother. It allowed her to focus on other things and be excited to see the little one she had been carrying for six months instead of scared of what might go wrong.
“I wonder what would become of Alkao and Anna’s children?” Quindar mused aloud.
Anna went deep red, trying to reply but just spitting as her mind seemed unable to reply.
Deia and Quindar laughed at their friend’s expression.
Anna huffed and looked back to the battlefield. The first scouts had reached the ground forces that were three-quarters of the way to the forest they sought to use as overhead cover.
The scouts paused for a bit before they moved up and closer to the ground forces. A few sent out spearheads from their hands. They weren’t allowed to use their Mana bolts and bombs, because there was too much of a chance that someone would get hurt or killed using those weapons.
Their range was too great with the two forces moving at different speeds. The spearheads got a lucky hit here and there. One or two people were whisked away by Krenua’s officers as they were informed that they were now dead and thus out of the training battle.
“There’s that overconfidence,” Quindar said as the trio glided through the air almost lazily, their eyes picking up different things about the ground and aerial forces.
Anna shook her head, clearly unhappy as the scouts moved closer to get a better hit. “They’re in range of the ground forces now, but it seems Kala’s established her control. None of them are looking to even fire an arrow or destruction staff at the scouts.”
“Maybe lull them into a false sense of security?” Deia looked back at the aerial forces that were now airborne, moving in groups of four as they split apart, using their speed to try to line up for a bombing run as best as they could and reach the ground forces before they entered the forest.
The scouts, bolder for not
getting hit, dropped their altitude further to gain speed and close with the ground forces.
“Seems Malkur is trying to reel them in, but they’ve already committed themselves. They’re doing something they’ve come up with to surprise the enemy and thinking they’re much more powerful than they are.” Anna sighed.
The scouts fired their spearheads—which were fake bolts—and dropped others from their stomachs. There were a number of spears in the ground and a few of the ground forces stopped as their training barriers said they were dead. With being so spread out, it was easy to get one or two, but to get more in a single run was much harder.
The leading ground forces made it into the treeline. The scouts tried to gain altitude to see over the forests.
Kala yelled out an order. Her people turned as one, pulling out their long-range weaponry or raising their hands. Their own spears launched from their hands and destruction staffs energy flashed out.
The scouts in the middle of maneuvering were caught unaware. They were cut in half in mere seconds.
Krenua’s people moved through the skies, sending people to the ground. People were arguing about being dead or not.
“I think it’s best we show them why they should listen to Krenua’s forces,” Anna said, a hint of anger in her voice, displeased with the actions of the very people she had trained.
Quindar frowned and let out a deep noise of annoyed agreement.
Anna and Quindar’s aura flared to full effect, landing on those who weren’t abiding the rules.
Their faces paled as they realized that they weren’t totally unobserved.
Krenua’s people crossed their arms as if to say “well, if you don’t listen to me, you’ll have to deal with them.” People moved to the ground, accepting Krenua’s people’s words.
Their auras receded as Deia watched the ground forces with interest. She was brought on to teach people how to fight with weapons, something that she had mastered through her life. With her senses, she was able to pick up the ground forces as they started using various kinds of spells, gears, and items to mask their presence and locations and moved up into the trees of the forest.
“Looks like they’re going to have a good round of tree tag.” Deia smiled, remembering the days where they had ventured from Cliff-Hill to the Benvari Mountains, playing the game for hours to train and break the boredom of traveling.
“I was telling Kala about it once and she went with it. Ever since, she’s had them jumping through forests and climbing all over Unity. They can traverse a city as easily as open fields. Probably even better as they can use the cover of the city to their advantage when fighting,” Anna said.
“I have a feeling that patience is going to be the biggest factor in this fight,” Quindar said.
“That and Endurance,” Anna agreed.
Deia saw that as the ground forces got to the top of the trees, they stopped, gathering their strength and relaxing. They had made it to cover; now it seemed as though they were waiting for something.
“Seems that Kala has been paying attention to the aerial forces,” Deia said with respect.
“See, I told you this would be fun.” Anna smiled.
Deia grinned; it was exciting to see two groups press their strengths against one another and to sort out a victor.
The aerial forces were now losing altitude for speed, seeing the ground forces disappear into the forest. They started firing their spearheads out of their hands, peppering the ground forces and getting a few of them but it wasn’t enough.
The aerial forces moved in and again Kala let them come, letting them think that the ground force’s range was half or less than it actually was. Hitting a moving target while you’re flying was damn hard. It was much easier to fire from a fixed position. There were ground forces being taken down, but it was handfuls.
The aerial forces came in low, angry at the loss of their forward scouts and eager to show who was the better. Their hunter instincts and the way that they had darted in, dropping their payloads in training, lulled them into the false sense of security Kala was betting on.
“Malkur is trying to remain in command, but he’s micromanaging too much. While he works on the position of twenty, then fifteen other flight groups move into a position that he doesn’t like. They’re too confident in their abilities. We’re going to have to check out the officers. It looks like the ones who are willing to take the most risks were promoted. We’ll have to see if we can temper them with some forward thinking or we might have to change them out,” Anna said.
“It’s a shame, but this is why we needed this fight to see what is working and what is not,” Quindar said, to try to lessen the blow to their pride.
It was then with just a quarter of the ground forces out in the open before the forest that nearly three-quarters of the aerial forces swooped down to try to bomb them out of the game.
What they found instead was Kala’s wall.
Ground forces who had made it to the forest first had climbed up in the trees, turning around and looking the way that they had come. The scouts, thrown off-balance by losing half of their number, had pulled back, giving little to no information on the movement of the forces in the forest.
While the aerial forces were concentrated on the quarter of the remaining ground forces left out in the open, all of the ground forces were ready for them. The forces that were running turned to face the skies, arresting their motion and releasing their long-range attacks once again.
The aerial forces jeered, until their Mana barriers started to be struck.
The ground forces in the trees were hitting them with mass fire! They had stable positions in the trees and had been given the time to recover their Stamina and line up their targets. They used their bracelets, firing out their own spearheads.
The ground forces at the rear had been the ones who were the best ranged fighters. They used the bow, destruction staffs, and their bracelets.
Kala was focused on honing their natural talents, not forcing them to adjust to a different weapon that they weren’t as good with.
The aerial forces had grouped together too tight. They were trying to get out of range, but the air was a chaotic mess as they had all converged in toward their targets. They had been so focused on their prey, but hadn’t realized what was going on.
The aerial forces dropped to the ground in droves, with Krenua’s people sending them off to the sides. It was a wanton slaughter.
The forces in the open weren’t faring that well, but they were still spread out so it was hard to get multiple soldiers in one bombing run, even though there were a ton of aerial forces.
The ground forces, seeing the aerial start getting organized, sprinted for the forest, exuberant at what could only be called a win as their fellows in the forest provided cover with their long-range weaponry. They disappeared into the forest; the ground forces moved through the trees, gaining elevation and space.
The aerial forces were still getting sorted out, as Krenua’s people moved through and told them they were dead.
Medics were deployed. If they could guide the observers through healing the different people, then they might recover some strength. As it was, they had lost a third of their forces in just two small engagements.
“The ground forces take risks, but they’ve got complete trust in one another and great coordination. We’re going to have to work on that coordination with the aerial,” Quindar said.
“Smart risks, versus showing off,” Anna said.
“We’ll have to see that they don’t get too arrogant.” Deia had trained a number of people in her life, from rangers to Dwarves. Ego was a big thing when they were being taught.
“Now that they’ve lost twice, they’re trying all they can to make up for it. Knowing Kala, she’s going to use this mass of emotions to her will,” Anna said.
“Don’t need a bunch of hotheads,” Deia agreed.
The trio watched as the aerial forces moved in, trying to see through the c
anopy and pick out where the ground forces were.
Sometimes, they were right over a position but the ground forces would cease their movements, waiting for them to pass before moving to ambush locations. Here and there, they would appear at random, cutting down the ranks of aerial troops, further frustrating the aerial forces.
Anna and Quindar’s faces would have made a grown man quiver in fear as they watched. They had got them into the sky and taught them the basics, moving onto how to bomb and how to fight in the air, but it looked as though the command structure was not strong enough and they had allowed too much freedom to the aerial forces.
Deia watched as the aerial forces started carpet bombing the forest, clearing out some of the ground forces as their “bomb” spears fell through the canopy. They got their largest amount of kills from this, but it was uncoordinated.
The ground forces were patient and calculating. They had been working on stalking one another, on patrolling and thinking on tactics and positioning. Their weapon skills might be weak in areas so they stayed their hand, fighting the battles they knew that they could win.
The battle didn’t last much longer before the trio agreed that it was done. The aerial forces came back to the fields outside the forest to land and recover their energy before getting back into the air.
As the training battle ended, the aerial forces watched the ground forces appear out of the forest over the space of forty minutes; they’d been spread throughout. Their losses were just an eighth of what the aerial forces had taken.
“So, what do you think?” Anna asked.
“I think that they’re going to be some good students. They’ve got a great foundation. With that, I can turn them into some damned impressive fighters. Bit of the elven ranger approach: work on archery and attacks at range, see what their abilities are in making traps as well as scouting. It’s clear that the aerial scouts are good at picking out people in large areas, but in overhead cover it’s a lot harder for them to have a good idea of what the enemy is doing. What have you got in the way of magic training?”
Time of Change (Emerilia Book 7) Page 13
