Creeping down the hill, Leeroy and the others kept glancing over their shoulders. As much as they wanted to look back and confirm once again they weren't being chased, their eyes were drawn to the dangers awaiting them in the forest below.
Leeroy didn't know how to feel. The night was alive with movements from the beastkins and goblins. Shadowy forms of creatures ran through the moonlit grass and flickered between the trees everywhere he looked. And his ears were filled with the snarls, screams, and gurgles of mortal combat.
And yet, as the small band of humans ran along the ridge line and then down its slope to escape the clash of the two forces, they were entirely ignored. Not even so much as an arrow or individual chased after them once the two forces saw each other.
Halfway down the hill, Leeroy felt the need to hide in a small cluster of trees to wait. He thought the fighting would soon blow over, but he was wrong. The beastkins were pushed from the hilltop back down the slope into the valley, with the goblins following close behind. Any thoughts of continuing to hide vanished when a second, then a third group of goblins flowed past the hiding humans while the howls of beastkins grew in number.
Their only option was to try and sneak into the forest. Occasionally, they would stumble into a fight or the remnants of one marked by bodies. But for the most part, all they could do was watch what looked like a minor skirmish between two forces turning into a full-blown battle.
The ferocity the two were engaging each other with was… inhuman. Leeroy had never seen such hatred between foes. Not even those legionaries who spoke of their time fighting against the Imperium had such a look in their eyes.
And for those who fought against beastkin, the worst you saw in their eyes was disgust, as who could hate a rabid animal? They were acting within their nature, and putting them down was considered the greatest mercy.
That might be the typical mindset, but it doesn't seem to apply now. These beastkins were showing plenty of aggression, but there was also something different about them.
A beastkin stumbled from behind a tree into the gap in the forest they were running for, her hands clutching her waist. It was too late to turn away, so Leeroy pulled back his arm to thrust his dagger into the beastkin's throat.
As Leeroy was about to enter arms reach, two dark figures leaped at the beastkin from the other side of the tree, knocking her over in a tumble of squirming limbs and snarls.
Turning from where the figures charged from, Leeroy swept up his right arm as motion caught his eye. Leeroy's slash connected with nothing but air.
The attack might not have hit anything, but it momentarily made the goblin pull back.
"You're covered." Sent Lun as Leeroy recovered from his warding attack. Trusting his Optio, Leeroy turned to jog between the scrabbling pile and the goblin with the spear into the forest.
Thinking he was wide open, the creature hooted in joy and moved to bury his spear in Leeroy's side, but before it could move an inch, the short spears of Kelv and Jankens stabbed into his gut and throat before they yanked their weapons out with a twist making the wounds wider.
Leeroy felt something warm splatter against his arm, and he turned to look, seeing a spray of blood coming from the collapsing goblin's neck. His eyes only lingered on the wound briefly before moving to the spear clutched within the creature's claws.
The thought of figuring out how to strap it to his back passed through his mind, but he quickly dismissed it. It would take too long, and he would rather have his long knife while leading the group through the forest, as there was little chance of it getting caught on a branch.
Quickly stepping past the struggling figures, Jankens and the others followed Leeroy into the forest, their heads sweeping for danger.
Sweat and smoke stung Leeroy's eyes, but he could not close them. He would miss something, and it would be the death of them all.
A boom as if a knight ignis had created an inferno shook the air a moment after a flash of red light lit up the darkness. Within Leeroy taking a couple of steps, the trees around him began taking on a bit more detail.
Off in the direction of the explosion, the ominous red glow of fire seeped among the trunks of trees. The fire joined the half dozen other fires burning in the night all around them.
Changing directions slightly, Leeroy led the group around a cluster of fighting figures.
When in the middle of a fight at night in a forest, it was easy to miss a figure a dozen feet away moving behind a tree and the smoke hanging in the air. But with the entire valley filled with combatants, making it more than ten feet without participating in or skirting a fight was a miracle.
This valley the armies of goblins and beastkins were pouring into wasn't that large. It might be five miles from the base of one hillside to the other at the widest section. Leeroy might be wrong, as the valley also seemed to be shaped like an 'L,' making an entire section beyond his sight, but from what he had seen so far, he was right.
The only reason they were still alive with all of the beastkins in the valley was that there were as many, if not more, goblins here as well. And whenever one of them spotted us humans and decided to chase us, they were set upon by the other side.
And as soon as the goblins and beastkins came into contact, they completely forgot about Leeroy and the others.
Slipping away from their inevitable clashes was as simple as sprinting in a single direction.
The problem lay with the continuous streams coming from the north and south, making moving in any one direction for long nearly impossible as the battlelines shifted.
The goblins had the upper hand in the battle at first, pushing the beastkins — most of whom looked to be wearing armor and were as organized as any century, but that was a whole other problem for later — from the top of the foothill into the wooded valley.
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As they were engaged, howls pierced the night, followed quickly by the blaring of deep reverberating horns sounding in a pattern.
Leeroy and his squad made it into the forest by then, and it was becoming clear that the situation was ballooning into a full-scale battle.
The southern hillside closest to the Twins had a wall raised along its top, with towers interspersed along its length. Within the sections of the hill where walls hadn't been formed, bands of goblins were gathering together before marching into the valley or standing guard.
The valley's northern side didn't have walls built along its length. Then again, who needs a wall when house-sized chunks of earth are being ripped from the ground and thrown across the valley onto the opposing hillside or anything marching up it?
When you really think about it, what is the difference between a fifty-foot wall and a fifty-foot hole? If you are strong enough, a person can jump over either of them, but that leaves them with the problem of hanging in the air as archers and javelin throwers stand ready.
Not many would be willing to make themselves so vulnerable.
Leeroy looked in a direction and started leading the squad in that direction. Lun had basically handed over command to Leeroy for the night. Not that he had a choice.
The lines of battle were spreading along both hillsides, with each side trying to secure their position to avoid being flanked or flank the enemy, whichever was more pressing at the moment.
At first, they tried to run right across the valley, but it became clear fast that would only get them killed. And so would staying in any single spot.
Running down the length of the valley, hoping to get away from the fighting, was their only hope. There were no commands to give, and if Lun, who had endeared himself to his remaining men within his short period of command, gave any order other than follow Leeroy, he would learn what the commanders meant when they say, 'never give an order you know won't be followed.'
Over the many close calls and quick, brutal fights they had while running down the valley's center, they all had picked up a few new weapons. Jankens even got a legion short sword off a beastkin. While they were now close to being properly armed, they also picked up injuries.
They might be in a union and used to fighting beastkin, but it was a rare fight that transpired without some scars left from the event. And that was when they had all of the advantages. Always having all of the advantages within this forest was impossible.
"Caww!" cried a predator overhead, cracking the air like a bolt of lightning. Leeroy couldn't help but flinch and look up, searching for the creature that created the noise.
"The fucking birds are here too?" Leeroy heard Kelv ask in horror. "When was the last time a legion encountered them?"
"Shut up!" Barked Lun, "Something will hear…" Lun's words trailed off, and we all turned to look up because the sun was now hanging in the sky.
Above, thousands of birds in progressively widening rings flew around a central fire. They dipped, spun, and rose in a dance only they knew. As they moved, shadows and golden-red rays from the fire flickered over the birds farther out, making a flickering sea of shadows and light stretch over the sky.
With another scream from one of the birds, the ball of fire fell to the earth like the sun descending onto the world. As it fell, Leeroy could hear and feel a woosh as the fireball sucked up the air, doubling in size again and again. The air around it shimmered and warped, and even standing this far below, the popping noise it made was like he was standing next to a bonfire.
Then a shudder ran through the world, and it was like Leeroy was being suppressed by the iron will of a city lord, forcing him and the others to the ground. He could feel a mild annoyance from the suppressive will, then the world flickered.
The raging inferno fell from the sky like the fist of a fire elemental, and it was headed right toward the center of the formations on the northern hillside of the valley.
A caw of annoyance rang out overhead, and halfway through the descent of the beastkins' conjured fiery death, the fake sun exploded into countless fireballs spreading out over the sky like an umbrella. There were so many overlapping fire trails that it was like the sky was burning.
“Run…" Leeroy gasped through his tight throat as he forced his head to turn away, making his legs step in the direction that called to him. As he turned and fire still blanketed the sky, he saw another golden-red incandescent sun spark to life in the center of the massive flock of birds.
Leeroy could see and feel through the mental links that those around him were still in shock from the recent events. Even Jankens was in a stooper, unable to follow Leeroy as he moved his feet from a shuffle to a jog.
"Run~!" Shouted and sent Leeroy to the point he felt his voice crack. "Move your asses!"
Lun was the first to snap out of his shock and quickly took up the call as he started to move after Leeroy.
The world was burning.
Tongues of fire fall through the burning trees onto the green grass below, making it hiss and pop as its water boiled. Embers and ash drift so thickly on every gust of wind that it takes a perfect moment to see more than ten feet away. And it was like the sky suddenly had a roof, as when Leeroy looked up, the smoke was billowing down like a curtain falling over a play.
But still, as Leeroy led the squad through the fire, the battle raged around them. If anything, the light only added to the intensity of the fighting.
New figures began to burst from the glowing smoke, beastkins who glowed faint blue and dark-cloaked figures wielding long swords. The dark-cloaked figures weren't quite as tall as some of the elves Leeroy knew, but they were taller than the average human. However, all of them seemed to have slender figures.
Delicate looking as they might be, Leeroy wanted nothing to do with them or the glowing beastkin.
He saw a beastkin rip a tree from the ground and use it as a club. And he saw the… if he had to put a word on it, dark elves, if that made sense. Whatever they were, they had the ability to disappear one moment and appear in another spot the next with no sign of traveling the intervening distance. He also saw some of them standing over a group of beastkin, with blood pouring out of every hole in the beastkin's faces as they writhed in agony on the ground.
This entire battle and every event happing within it was outside of Leeroy's pay grade, and he was damn well tired of running around the center of it.
It was only luck that every time they ran into one group, not in combat, whether it was beastkin or goblins and dark elves, by the time they had taken a half step towards them, their real enemy popped out of the woods charging and screaming murder.
Close call after close call happened, and soon Leeroy was numb from it all. He had long since lost track of how many times he had backtracked, skirted, and waited out fights in the burning forest.
Burning sweat mixed with ash was a constant annoyance to his eyes. His chest burned as he gasped for a single breath of fresh air, and he was sure his arms were covered in more than a few burns from the river of embers falling from overhead.
After hours, the forest was finally starting to turn dark, and there were no longer fires burning at their feet. Toward the end of their flight, the exhaustion was getting to Leeroy, and he began seeing the faces of old friends in the smoke beckoning to him.
A few times, he even followed them for a short time before shaking his head to throw the thoughts out of his mind and get back on track.
The screams and clangs of battle could still be heard from their sides and backs, but the night looked clear and open in front of them.
At his feet were eight goblins they had ambushed, one of the only signs of the forces they had seen in a few minutes. In battle time, that might as well be hours.
The darkness of night was laid out before them, and Leeroy marched forward, not sparing the dead another glance.
"Optio, the blood of these bastards is movin—
"Jankens," Lun said tiredly but more than a little shaken, "Stuff it and march. We still have a long way to go before we are safe."
No one else said a word as everyone ignored the dried blood pulling itself from their bodies to collect with the rivers moving over the ground.