Kathren could feel every chaotic beat of her heart reverberating through her body, yet she could not hear it. All that filled her ears were the cataclysmic sounds of house-sized stones breaking against the ground and each other as they fell hundreds of feet to land what felt like inches behind her heels from the way the ground was shaking. It wasn't just the sounds that kept her moving either, as shards of stone were spraying around her ankles and hitting her back, pushing her to keep moving.
"Hah!" Kathren grunted and stumbled forward when something bashed into her left shoulder. She felt a sharp spike of pain, and then a numbness spread across her upper body and down her arm, but she hardly even noticed. All of her attention was focused on getting her legs back under her before she tumbled to the ground. It also didn't help that both of her arms weren't hers at the moment, making getting her balance back challenging.
Try as she might, Kathrens face was headed straight for the stone floor before her body was yanked up and to the side. Her sight of the uneven green-tinged stone tilted, and she saw Redgenald. His head was slightly tilted toward her as he hauled her upright, but his eyes were locked ahead, his jaw and neck clenched in determination as shards of stone hung in the ethereal air around him. Huh, guess he really is mostly human, Kathren idly thought. An elf would never get that much stubble… I like it.
Blinking, the slowed-down world lurched forward again, and Kathren let out a scream of effort. She lunged forward and planted her left leg into the ground to push herself into a small hop. It was enough for her to reset her stride and take most of her weight off Redgenald. However, the damage was already done, as their speed was a fraction of what it was before she was almost knocked over.
They had made it about half of the way to the next pillar, which was already well past the point Redgenald should have ordered the legionaries to stop and turn around to reform their shield wall and perform a controlled retreat. Yet, for some reason, he wasn't in a hurry to give the order, and the others weren't coming to a stop and looking around. They weren't shifting their eyes away from the false safety of the pillar either, which was apparent as the closest person was at least ten strides ahead of the duo, and the distance was still lengthening. What kind of pansies feared a few tons of rocks falling on their heads. Kathren mentally scoffed as she continued to run. They should try growing a pair.
Not that she was faulting them for continuing to follow Redgenald's order. The only reason she was questioning it now was that she suddenly became aware that the order would likely get them all killed.
Kathren could see the others coming to the same conclusion if they were blessed like her, but sadly, they weren't. After all, looking backward for a second was part of the perks that came with your head getting lower than your ankles. Even if it was an accident and only for a second, the event gave her all the information she needed to conclude they wouldn't outrun the goblins for long.
Chest heaving more from the adrenaline pumping through her than the sprint, Kathren slowed. She pulled on Redgenald's grip, forcing him to slow down and partially turn if he wanted to stay with her. As his grip remained firm, even strengthening, she couldn't stop a small smile from touching her lips.
The cacophony behind her had finally died down to simply deafening echoes, but more importantly, she had stopped being pelted with stone shards. Taking the chance to confirm what she saw with a second look, Kathren glanced over her shoulder, taking in the mound of stone blocks. The ten-foot square pillar that took up the center of the trench now looked like a heap of blocks you gave to a child to play with, except these ones were blocking what could have been a major street in a city.
Building blocks was the best description of them, though they were more rectangles than squares, even with the broken-off chunks, supplying an unneeded indication of where all the shards had come from. Eyes flicking up, Kathren felt her stomach churn, and bile burn at her throat as she looked over the blocks until her gaze lifted above the dripping and splattered stones to the ceiling. Where her eyes locked on a stub of stone, which was all that was left of the column, a couple hundred feet in the air.
"They designed the column to fall apart," Kathren stated, looking back to the pile as she inspected the tops and bottoms of the stones while mentally blocking out the squashed and splattered body parts of the goblins, imagining how they would lock together under pressure but would separate given a few feet of space.
"What?!" Redgenald snapped over the sound of the settling stones, his concern warning with the underlying urgency in his voice. "Pick up the pace, Kathren! We have to catch up with the others and from a line! What's slowing you down? Do you need me to carry you?"
At his last comment, Kathren was about to snap that she didn't need his help and could make it on her own, but her eyes caught movement as she was about to turn to him. It was like a dam slowly being washed out as it finally became unable to hold back the tide. "We can't outrun the goblins!" Kathren shouted to Redgenald. They'll catch up before we can reach the pillar and form up."
Hundreds of goblins were clambering over the stone like a black tide, most of them bending down to claw themselves forward on all fours. The only reason why one of the little monsters hadn't leaped upon their backs and bore them to the ground already was because of the collapsing pillar smashing the fastest of the creatures. Knowing what they had to do, Kathren planted her feet, coming to a halt as she turned to the goblins. The sudden reversal ripped her arm from Redgenald's grip as she shouted, "Incoming goblins! Form up! Form up! Form up!"
Redgenald finally half turned to face her, giving her part of his attention. A look of aggravation twisted his face, only for the expression to vanish as his skin turned sickly in the green light a second later when his eyes flicked past her.
He had taken in everything at a glance as he eventually deigned to process her words, and she could see the moment he came to the same conclusion as her as his jawline hardened. Still partially staggering forward and half turned, Redgenald took up the shout to "form up," their combined voices making it over the sound of thrumming feet on stone. Kathren even felt him release a pulse message telling them to halt and rally.
Keeping one eye on the disorganized legionaries, who had become a comet, she saw the closest individuals and pairs turn, reacting to their calls, but the bulk continued onward. It looked like most of the legionaries didn't even feel the message, as they didn't skip a beat in their running. "Damn this suppression," Redgenald hissed between calling out to those who had turned.
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Kathren saw the moment the legionaries processed what was coming, what Redgenald was asking of them. She saw them waver as looks of fear and desperation appeared on their faces. But Redgenald's booming voice drew their attention to him, and his words put steel back into their spines.
"Form up on me! Remember your duty! Remember why we're here! For the 15th! For the Republic! To me!" Seeing that he got the attention of the nearby legionaries, Redgenald slowed before stopping entirely and turning to face the oncoming wave of goblins, still shouting to rally the men.
Quickly moving to join him, Kathren planted herself next to Redgenald, finding she wasn't alone. From somewhere, Drogaith had appeared next to her, his eyes glittering and a manic grin showing off his teeth as he bounced from side to side on the balls of his feet, only barely stopping himself from rushing forward like a rabid hound.
Peeking over her shoulder again, Kathren's heart sank. She had hoped, though she couldn't bring herself to actually believe. A significant portion of the legionaries had broken off the mass to trickle back to Redgenald, but most continued forward. Without the full complement of men, they had no hope of holding back the goblins in the wide trench.
Turning, Kathren reached out to the wiry man with her good arm, grabbing him by the collar and pulling him to face her. His body came first, but she had to turn his torso nearly all the way around before he looked her in the eye, as he really didn't want to look away from the rapidly approaching goblins. And when he finally did look at her, she almost wished he hadn't, as madness danced within the depths of his hazel eyes.
Kathren wasn't concerned about the knife tip pricking her side or the one tickling her neck, but his eyes sent a shiver down her spine. There was something broken within the man. And only now, on the verge of battle, was it poking through. While he might be able to be guided in a general direction, there was no way to guarantee he wouldn't turn on the one who wielded him.
Making her voice as soft and soothing as she could manage, to the point she feared it would be consumed by the tumult around her, she said, "You need to get in front of the men still fleeing and force them to turn around. We won't be able to hold without them."
Drogaith's burning eyes looked into Kathren's. He slowly forced his torso to face the front and looked at the charging goblins before rotating back to face her. She could see the rejection on his lips, but Redgenald's voice cut in before he could voice it, "Go, Drogaith, do what she said. And if you can't get back to me in time, complete the mission."
The fire in the wiry man's eyes blazed, and it was like Redgenaled's order was a physical blow. In response, Drogaith snarled at him over Kathren's head. In a commanding voice laced with enough psy that it was like a strong wind hitting her back and would accept no argument, Redgenald said, "I ORDER YOU TO GO!"
At the words, the knight's body began shuddering as if he was convulsing, but slowly but surely, he was moving away from the goblins. As if it was an afterthought, Redgenald said, his voice slightly raspy, "The faster you move, the sooner you return. And by then, there will be plenty of blood."
A sudden grin split Drogaith's face, and Kathren thought his canines suddenly looked too sharp to be human as his shuddering movements stopped, and he shot off down the trench in a blur. Kathren followed him with her eyes for a moment, seeing how divided their force had become.
Most of the men were still running, well on their way to reaching the second column. Kathren couldn't blame them. The way the pillar collapsed was a surprise to all of them and more than a little shocking, and no one expected how fast the goblins really were. It was human nature to fixate on a goal while mentally excluding everything around them…
Okay, Kathren was a little annoyed and kinda blamed those at the back of the group for not looking around and blindly following those in front. But she understood why this turned into a cluster fuck… It doesn't make the legionaries any less of a pack of pussies, though.
Pushing the irritation out of her mind, Kathren turned to focus on their opponents. It was like the goblins were trying to outrun death as they rushed forward. Honestly, within this trench, Kathren would probably have better odds of outrunning a galloping horse than them. At least with the horse, it was likely to misplace a hoof and break a leg as it tumbled.
Glancing backward again, she studied those who responded to Redgenald's rallying cry. They only numbered around a dozen of the forty legionaries in their force, and then she couldn't help but let out a sigh. Past the retreating bastards at the far end of the trench, she noticed the cherry on the shit pie they had been served.
Borment wasn't even a fourth of the way up the switchbacks, and the rest of the path was packed with goblins trying to force their way down. Kathren didn't want to point fingers here, as that would do nothing, but it appeared Redgenald had greatly underestimated the abilities and ferocity of their foe.
As she turned to face the closest threat, Kathren felt a tendril probing her mind. Recognizing the psy, she accepted the connection and immediately sent a message while pushing an image into the network, "We have another problem; if we want somewhere to retreat to, we have to hold."
"Understood. But will have to survive the next few minutes to worry about the oncoming fight. Extend the network, but only to those close. The strain of maintaining the Union is greater than I expected."
Kathren only grunted in response, as she could feel the unsteady wavering of their connection. As one of Redgenalds talkative gangsters arrived, followed closely by a legionary, she extended a tendril to them before dismissing them from her mind as she focused on the approaching goblins. The Union would grow, and she would supply her part of the willpower and psy to keep it stable until she collapsed from exhaustion.
That wasn't an exaggeration, as weeks of fish training were dedicated to that circumstance. And even past basic training, there were tests every six months inside the legion camp to ensure that no one forgot the skill. It was simply that important.
Even with that admission, she couldn't deny there wasn't a seed of resentment inside her at regularly suffering utter exhaustion. That seed existed in everyone. But, like all veterans, the feelings had been buried deep after the first time she was pushed to her limits in combat, where only their training kept them alive.
Kathren took in the front lines of the goblins only a couple dozen yards from her, who were… wearing nothing but loincloths. With how they were bent over, almost hopping forward with their stringy limbs, she only got flashes of their backsides and, thankfully, not their fronts, but it was still too much for her liking.
Drawing her gladius with her right arm, Kathren swung it a few times before twirling her wrist as a warm-up as she took stock of herself. Her left arm was still mostly numb, but it had started to prickle with discomfort. Every beat of her heart made her shoulder feel like the roots of pain inside her chest were spreading a little further as her body unnecessarily screamed that something was wrong… So there was that. And then there was the fact her body was in an all-around state of being sore and beaten down from days of fighting, but at least she had most of her psy reserves.
Gives the goblins a nice handicap. Kathren thought with a sneer.
"How long can we hold!?" Redgenald shouted with both his voice and mind, focusing the thoughts of those in the Union.
Few though they might have been, only numbering fourteen, but that didn't mean they let despair overcome them. Resolve to buy time for their comrades filled the mental network, and they took the approach and sound of the hooting goblins as a challenge to overcome. Shouting the traditional response in unison, Kathren felt her throat thrum with the others as she roared, "Until we are relieved!"