The army of The Empire descended upon the axtl position as a thief in the night. Commander Caeris stepped silently forward with her division behind, and stopped near the edge.
Rane saw rings of huts constructed from thick branches woven intricately with thinner twigs and leaves. The homes looked a bit primitive, but blended in well with the forest itself. If not for the lively noise they heard on the way here, he would have never noticed them without stumbling literally right on top of one.
There were a few axtls lingering about, most of them small, like the bodies of the ones that he had seen as a child in Auryck. They lumbered about with a strange gate, caused by their digitigrade joints. They seemed attentive, but that may have only been because they had the habit of moving their entire heads to focus on something.
Rane knew that there were many sub species of axtls, but these in particular were a bit more cat-like, though their snouts were just a bit too long for them to fully claim the looks of the species. Rane could not accurately judge the color of their pelts. It was too difficult to see in the flickering orange light of the various lanterns and torches they had scattered about.
He looked to Commander Caeris, who gave a silent order to move forward, and, like a heavy stone parting a great river, stood still as her division flowed around her and towards the enemy.
Rane and 50 other men flared their ambient at once, taking control of the natural world around them. He felt it within himself, the strange sensation of introspection immediately drowned by the fact that he also felt it outside of himself. He had become greater than the shape of his own body
Currently, the ambient was still a bit subdued. There were many at once taking control, and Rane found that it made it more difficult to bend it to his will. This was not even to mention that they were in the presence of Caeris of Auryck, who was a full two ranks above them, and was subtly affecting the ambient. She had not seized control yet.
Sven was the first in the squad to strike, hurling a short spear that closed the distance with startling speed and collided with one of the creatures. It fell to the ground from the impact of the object, but did not crumple or fall silent. It flailed about, thrashing violently, and let loose a high pitched sound somewhere between the wail of a dog and the scream of a big cat.
Rane picked up his pace and cried out, adding his own voice to the cacophony of noise, his passion drowned out in the chaos of the opening stage.
He soon found himself face to face with another axtl close to his size. Klein and Aabe were with him, and Eryk, Mud, and Sven were with Puddles. Rane took point, closing the gap and sending a short blade flying forwards at its chest.
Rane’s eyes went wide as the beast leaped towards him, the blade only cutting a small slit onto its torso as it hurtled towards him, its hands outstretched. Each of its fur covered digits ended in wicked claws each several centimeters long.
He ducked and sent ambient rolling above himself, tossing the axtl over himself and onto its back a few meters away. Aabe drove a blade through its neck with practiced ease, as if he were reaching down to adjust his boot.
The three locked eyes and headed onward, where heavier fighting had broken out.
As they moved deeper into the village, more of it began to burn. Rane wasn’t quite sure how, as he never saw anyone actually lighting the flames. Perhaps a torch had been misplaced, or maybe the boiling blood of the division had manifested in some literal manner. Many in the unit were capable of causing fires. At classient, however, they were not nearly potent enough to be lethal, especially against another classient.
Rane sensed a presence to his right, and it shot quickly from behind a hut. He stepped to the side and lightly parried the blow, which sent him crashing to his back.
This one was twice the height of the first that they fought. How big are these things, on average, Rane wondered. It towered over them, and its long arms kept them out of comfortable range.
But this was only for a moment. Despite the size of the creature, its ambient control was apparently poor. A small swirl of wind from Klein forced it off balance, and a spinning blade from Rane severed its achilles, producing a menacing growl of pain from the wounded creature.
It fell to a knee, where Aabe moved in close to finish it off.
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The creature lashed out with hardly diminished speed, and a dark liquid sprayed into the night.
“Aabe!” Rane called as Klein moved to take the axtl’s attention and Rane checked Aabe.
He was trying to speak, but only managed to gurgle. There was so much blood. Is it always this much?
Rane couldn’t heal the wound. He attempted to cauterize it, but Aabe just screamed and broke the seal immediately. He coughed and went limp with his eyes still open, staring at Rane with an expression of surprise and panic.
Rane stood up and looked to Klein, who had just finished the large axtl. Its head was separate from its body, and Klein’s longer sword was slick with glistening lifeblood.
“Is he?”
Rane shook his head and looked down at his hands. He wiped them on his coat and retrieved his blade.
“We need to keep heading in,” Rane said.
They both walked away from the two bodies and continued towards the sounds of intense fighting further into the axtl village with thoughts of exacting revenge many fold.
*****
Commander Caeris watched in silence as the first axtl fell to the spear. Judging from its size, though as tall as a man, it was little more than a child. Her heart burned inside as she watched the squads break into smaller formations to flood the village.
A few were taking advantage of the chaos to set fire to a hut. That would spread throughout the village quickly. If she did not keep an eye on it, it could quickly cause damage to her troops as well.
She stilled her heart and moved forward behind her troops. She would be needed once their warrior caste was mobilized.
*****
Rane was moderately surprised as he and Klein reached the center of battle. Apparently, the lumbering beast that had attacked them on the way there was of about average size for an axtl. There was some variation in size and color, but most towered over the human squadrons that had them outnumbered by a margin of at least five to one.
Rane quickly located Puddles and fell in beside, engaging another axtl which had white stripes adorning its face. They may have been natural or used some sort of paint. Rane had no intention of asking.
The creature was clearly a warrior, and was constantly attacking and counter attacking in order to keep Mud, Sven, Eryk and Puddles all in front of him. There was no moment to admire its skill, nor evaluate the fairness of another two classients joining the fight.
Puddles glanced at them before barking an order, “fall in, same formation as we use for fenull burrows.” After a moment he said a single name, “Aabe?”
“Killed on the way. Ambush,” responded Klein.
Puddles nodded and gritted his teeth to re-engage the axtl warrior.
Rane tried to sling a blade towards the creature, but lost control of it as it approached. It fell to the ground with a sound that was drowned out in the surrounding noise.
The axtl was using ambient, but not how they did. Rane held formation and observed as the fight progressed. The creature did not hold control over much area. Instead, its control was focused deeply inward. He couldn't be sure, but he felt that the axtl warrior was using the ambient to augment its speed, and even at times, to obfuscate its attacks.
But it could not hold for long against six. It began to slow as it lost its grip on the ambient around it, and Rane was able to rip a root from the just beneath the surface of the ground that caused the creature to lose its footing.
Puddles did not miss this moment, and sent his broadsword straight forward, skewering the beast on the length of steel.
As they breathed sighs of relief and struggled to catch their breath, they looked to the center of the camp, where a single fortified structure stood in an odd contrast to the surrounding huts. It was built from mortar and stone rather than sticks and mud, and in front of it stood three axtls.
The one on the left and right wore skulls that appeared to be from large fenulls. The bone helmets were polished, and flickered like jewelry in the odd light of battle. Both carried a single large curved blade that they held with a single hand, despite it looking like it required both.
The one in the middle wore a relatively simple headdress. Its fur bore many patterns, both of paint and natural origin. It wielded no weapon at all, which was the reason that when it casually raised its clawed hand, Rane dove to the side.
From the direction of its six clawed hand, five fissures erupted from the ground as if being ripped apart by the deepest and sharpest of plows. Those caught in the fissures were simply bisected, losing much more of their body than a simple cut.
From the human side of the engagement, the commanders seized control of the surrounding ambient, largely handicapping the area of direct control of their subordinates.
Their role in this battle wasn’t over, but a new phase had started, one from which they would not emerge if the commanders did not step in to assist.
A phalanx of a dozen blades emerged from beneath Commander Caeris’ military uniform.
Commander Jaskil wielded a greatsword that was the width of his head.
Commander Germaine stepped forward with no weapon, the ground in front of him shifting into a barrier with narrow slits.
Commander Nastael stepped back, pulling two heavy crossbow bolts from his bag. He had no crossbow, but as the bolts took flight towards the two axtls wearing skulls, Rane knew that no crossbow could give a man such devastating power.