Lon'thul had his father's trail. It was far more subtle than almost any trail he'd tracked before, but the fact there was a trail at all was a testament to the severity of his father's injury. Of course, that made sense. Barely half the time he was supposed to remain in his cast had passed. The old man was clearly pushing his limits and his luck.
The younger hunter followed the trail to a point that oversaw the current battle, where he found a couple more dead guards and where it looked like his father may have spent at least a few minutes. The weird thing was, one of the guards looked like he'd been stabbed in the stomach with no sign of resistance, as if Dek'thul had walked right up to him and gutted him while standing face to face. Then the trail led off and headed toward the main battle line. Lon'thul wrinkled his brow as he thought. What was going on here? Did his father lay this trial only to circle back and try to ambush him? Or did he have another quarry this day? It didn't make sense, and that bothered him because the one thing he knew was that his father always chased his hunt with a nearly supernatural level of focus. It wasn't like him to interrupt his pursuit, ever. So what prey was the older hunter tracking now...
Lon'thul shook his head. Right now, it didn't matter. While his father might be a threat, he wasn't the focus of Lon'thul's hunt, and so long as the old man stayed out of the younger hunter's way, the rest didn't matter.
Knocking one of the arrows designed to pierce bone plate, the hunter turned back to the sounds of fighting.
-
As she kicked another warrior in the stomach, causing him to double over and expose the back of his neck to her blade, Chal'ac was in her element. As much fun as this was, she might want to reconsider her role as a hunter and become a guard instead. Of course, that would mean she'd have to answer to someone else's orders and not be able to come and go as she wished...so maybe not. Still, as much fun as hunting was, putting herself up against the might of another argu'n with their lives on the line was something she could really sink her teeth into, so to speak.
Another warrior took his fallen comrade's place and tried to use his superior size and strength to overpower the smaller female, but these past few months wandering through the wilderness had gifted the female hunter with her own advantages in excellent speed and stamina. As the warrior lunged forward with his spear, she dodged to the side, spinning along the spear's length until she was in arms reach of her next prey. She swung at his stomach with her knife. As she predicted, the warrior quickly blocked her telegraphed strike, assuming her empty hand to be the lesser threat. She swung her hand wide, which the warrior ignored, correctly analyzing that from this angle, her claws would be able to do little more than claw at his already mangled ear, and instead, he focused on getting his own killing blow with his spear. However, rather than claw at her opponent, Chal'ac cupped her hand and slammed it into his ear, rupturing his eardrum and bringing the larger warrior to his knees.
Chal'ac was so focused on going in for another kill she almost didn't notice the spear being thrust right toward her unprotected flank. She probably would have died if not for the arrow that suddenly sprouted from the spear wielder's chest as she batted aside the now-flailing weapon. Looking up, she could see the stupid grinning face of Lon'thul as he approached from the flank, letting loose a few more arrows to destabilize a few key points.
Making sure to get his attention, the female hunter slit the spearman's throat while maintaining eye contact with the hunter, who winced satisfactorily. Among most argu'n seeing a female covered in her enemy's blood as she administered the final blow might have been taken as flirting, but while Lon'thul might play the fool, he was perceptive enough to realize it was Chal'ac's way of saying she wasn't about to be dependant on him, or anyone.
On the other hand, having someone depend on her might be okay. With that thought, she wondered how To'brel might be doing at the moment.
-
To'brel felt kind of humiliated. He was just sitting and watching the fighting, not contributing anything at the moment. Of course, judging by the iron grip S'haar had on both her swords and the fierce gaze she directed toward the front line they didn't actually have any line of sight of, she probably felt the same. Though at least she had weapons and would be fighting soon enough. To'brel didn't even have that. All he had was this stupid long pole with some cloth at the end. How was that supposed to help in any way? He felt like he was just being patronized.
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Beside him, he could almost hear the creak of leather and teeth grinding as S'haar glared daggers at the front. Patronized or not, he was glad he wouldn't be the one receiving the warrior woman's wrath when she finally joined the battle. Right now, he almost wondered if she was about ready to go out there and just challenge all two thousand of the enemy to one on one combat, one after another until the whole army was dead.
To'brel turned his attention back to the front, keeping his pole low and hidden from view. Jack had insisted that it needed to stay hidden until the right moment.
-
Fea'en was at her absolute limit. Her armor had done its job far more often than it should have, with rents and tears where all the enemy spears and swords had worn away at her protection. She knew she was bleeding from half a dozen flesh wounds and was about to collapse.
Looking over at that kid, Lack'nul, she could see he was doing just as bad, if not worse. She could actually see the poor guy swaying as he fought, occasionally stumbling and catching himself. Judging by the amount of blood visible on his armor, he was barely conscious at this point.
She pushed her way over to the new guard captain and shouted at him. "We've done all we can! It was time to retreat!"
The poor male seemed to snap awake, almost getting himself speared through for his trouble. Fea'en stabbed at the attacker, missing by a hair, but driving him back for a second all the same.
Looking back and forth as if trying to process what was happening, Lack'nul finally seemed to become aware of what was happening as another worker fell and gave the briefest nod before shouting. "All workers, retreat!"
It took a moment. First, a couple peeled away, then more, and soon the whole middle of the formation turned and ran. The attackers took only a moment to realize what was happening and surged forward after their prey, pressing into the hole left in the workers' wake.
-
It took Jack a moment to realize what was happening when no more warriors were before him. They'd punched clear through the enemy formation and had cut it in two. Looking to the left, he could see Lon'thul had finally put in an appearance, and between his work and several of the other hunters, it looked like that flank might not last much longer.
He was getting ready to push the wolgen into the right side when Angela walked up, threw a very unconscious B'arthon at her feet, and shouted loud enough for all to hear. "Your leader has fallen, and your line is broken! Do not waste your lives fighting a battle that's already lost!"
The sounds of combat abated, and they could all once again make out the sounds of the larger battle happening to the West. As B'arthon's warriors looked around, it became clear the AI had only spoken the truth. The warriors not currently shying away from the three wolgen covered in their comrade's blood, started throwing down their weapons. Jack was amazed. Given their aggressive nature, he'd thought they'd have to kill almost half their enemies before they'd give in, but something about having a nine-foot metallic goddess shout at them with their leader's unconscious body at her feet must have actually sunk in because they surrendered.
As the enemy threw their weapons on the ground, Angela hoisted B'arthon back onto her shoulders as she looked at Jack, this time speaking in basic so only a few on their side would understand what she said. "We don't have any time to lose. The middle of the formation is collapsing as we speak!"
Jack nodded, looking over the enemy, he shouted out with Angela translating, "Is anyone still alive in charge?"
As the warriors looked around, none seemed forthcoming. Finally Jack pointed at one who seemed larger and better equipped than most. "You, I'm placing you in charge of the rest until this is over. Does anyone have any problem with that?"
When no one seemed ready to argue with the wizard riding on the back of a wolgen, he looked to Em'brel. "Hand me a good-sized stone, will you?"
As she handed Jack the stone, he returned his attention to the warrior now in charge. "You, the oathbound, do solemnly swear on pain of death that you and those you are now in charge of will wait here and not take up arms or fight for the remainder of the battle." As he spoke, Jack cut open his left palm and applied a bloody handprint to the stone before tossing it at the feet of the warrior.
With only a moment's hesitation, the warrior picked up the stone, cut his own palm, and applied it to the stone. "I so swear!"
Jack nodded as he bound his hand with some clean cloth. "Good and well fought!" With that, he activated his headset and spoke with Lon'thul as well as Angela at his side. "Get everyone moving quick. We need to get to the main battle now!"
-
Lord A'ngless watched the enemy flee in the middle, just as he and B'arthon predicted, and grinned. It was about time to bring this battle to an end. He turned to one of his aids. "Go and inform the flanks with anyone to spare. Send reinforcements up the middle. Once we're through, we can begin wrapping around and finishing them off. This battle is at its end!"