The hound jerks away and I make the choice not to go with it. I would rather not get pulled into the fray. Instead I jerk my head back quickly. My teeth, sunk deeply into the hound, are left behind. Copto teeth regrow quickly as long as there is enough spare essence. I will have a new set grown within the hour. The hound on the other hand is left with a circle of bleeding wounds on its side filled with foreign essence, no doubt a deeply painful sensation.

I take a few quick steps back from the hound which continues to struggle with my thinking Red. The hound’s movements slower now as it bleeds essence from its side. Looking around I see that the other hound that slipped past the Reds is wrestling with my two Yellows. One of the Yellows is badly damaged with part of its shoulder torn off and leaking smoke. Despite it’s wounds it continues fighting alongside its fellow Yellow, the two are supported by the Violet who hits the hound with bullets of force whenever there is an opening. It seems that it is only a matter of time before that group is victorious.

Casting my mind back to the front line Reds I see that for the most part my forces are overcoming their foes. Two of my Reds have mangled their hounds to the point that they are able to disengage and finish off their foes. One unlucky Red has lost an arm to its hound, smoke pours out of its stump as it weakly flails to prevent the hound from getting a solid grip around its neck.

I reallocate the Reds that have won their fights to help those that are struggling. From the mental links I have formed with the group I watch as my thinking Red gets a solid blow on the hound that I helped weaken. As the hound reels back the thinking Red strikes with its right hand claws, stabbing them lighting fast into the side of the hound’s head. It pulls its claws back out covered in bright red pseudo-blood, and the hound collapses. The threat closest to me is removed.

I send my thinking Red over to help eliminate the other hound that has slipped past the Reds. The hound is not doing well, small craters crisscross its side leaking, pseudo-blood where the Violet’s spells have landed. One of its eyes is bleeding and it has a slight limp. Only one Yellow faces it down, its comrade has fallen to the ground. It waves its limbs in the hound’s general direction but essence loss from its shoulder wound has rendered it useless.

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I mentally note that the Red which lost its arm has disappeared from the mental link. Another Red has entered combat with the victorious hound. Some hounds begin to find themselves at a disadvantage as victorious Reds re-enter the fray creating two on one situations.

My thinking Red reaches its assigned hound. The hound is already slow moving and damaged. The thinking Red makes short work of it having already learned how to handle these foes from its previous combat, the hound is not able to react fast enough to the needle like claws plunging into its skull. With that hound out of the way the none combat Coptos are more firmly separated from danger.

The Violet begins to take pot shots at the remaining hounds, while the Yellow and thinking Red stay back from combat to provide a second line of defense for the delicate Coptos if any more hounds break through. Slowly but surly the hounds fall one by one, with each one defeated pushing the advantage more in my direction.

Finally the last hound finds itself almost surrounded by Coptos. Bloody gashes left by Copto claws run across its body and crimson sheets down its side. Seeing itself firmly outnumbered it turns to flee. Before it can reach the tree line a ball of force slams into its back tossing it to the ground. It struggles to get back to its feet, but the balls of force launched by the Violet continue to pummel it one after another until it lays still.

The injured Yellow’s mind vanishes from the link as it collapses back into essence and smoke.

One Yellow and one Red have been lost in this attack. Most of the other Reds have mild to moderate wounds leaking smoke like spent essence. I begin approaching the damaged Reds and healing their wounds. I lay my hands on them, feel what areas were damaged, and then channel the extra essence in each Copto to eliminate the damage and stop the essence loss

* I help?*

I glance over at the green Blue

* Show me*

the green Blue severs its mind from mine and walks over to one of the injured Reds. It takes several more seconds before smoke stops emitting from the Red’s wounds. I mentally nod to it and turn my attention back to the injured. Ten minutes later the last of the essence loss has been stopped. Now it is time to make some decisions.