Five years before Etasose became the Chiefess...

“Your majesty are you sure about this?” the voice of Nolkonoe rang out in the only meters wide canyon opening.

The wind whipped the sand around their ankles as the Chiefess stood on the gap between the two canyons.

“Look after Etasose,” the Chiefess said, gripping her decorated dagger.

“Your majesty, there are two thousand raiders!” the lead warrior Cluupyte screamed at the Chiefess.

“Like me, you have only one daughter. You should know then that we can’t afford them to be killed Cluupyte. Go with Pycleia and look after our daughters,” battle cries filled the sky from the other side of the canyon. Smiling, the Chiefess looked over her shoulder to the four clan leaders.

“Go, take what warriors you have left, and I’ll hold them off,” the Chiefess said, holding her knife tightly as she walked to the peak of the gap between the two canyons.

“Please, allow at least me and a few warriors to stay with you!” Pycleia, the lead huntress begged.

“I said leave! go look after our daughters. Train Etasose. Teach her the ways of being a leader and a warrior. I entrust this to you,” the four clan leaders were silent as the Chiefess began to walk away.

“I’ll stay! You can’t stop me,” the lead Forger said, stepping forward with her war spear.

“You’re an amazing woman Ases,”

“Don’t you dare leave!” the lead Forger Ases screamed through tears.

“You have a son and daughter. Both need care,” the Chiefess said, locking eyes with Nolkonoe. Nodding, Nolkonoe raised her battle axe. Thumping the buck against the back of the Forger’s head, Cluupyte caught her. Each woman there knew how much Ases loved the Chiefess. But then again each of them did.

“Watch my daughter for me,” the Chiefess said, smiling back to her friends. Tears gathered at the corners of the women’s eyes. Yet not a single one dared to cry and disrespect their Chiefess’s last wish.

“Thank you,” Nolkonoe muttered, turning and running with the others.

Quietly, the Chiefess listened until the women left. Grinning, she wiped a few trickles of tears from the corner of her eyes. Steeping out from between the gap of the canyons, she turned to see the long, winding, seemingly never-ending stretch of canyon. That was it. The lifeless walls separated the third region of the southern realm from the neighbouring fourth.

Looking from the canyons, the Chiefess looked out to see a good mile away from her a sea of blue painted raiders. A woman on a black horse moved through the crowd. Decorating the horse was a layer of huma skin and severed body parts. Upon her head sat a large, animal skin headdress made from some disfigured and rotten animal of the desert.

Grinning, her sharpened teeth shun in the morning light. Pointing her war spear towards the Chiefess, she spoke.

“What’s this? One mutt against an army of two thousand!” the war leader screamed. Silently, the Chiefess stood, her eyes narrowing onto the rows of archers with their crooked bows aimed at her. Sneering at the unshaken Chiefess, she continued her rant.

“Your people have abandoned you! Surrender, and I’ll make you into a good stew!” as she barked this, roars of laughter came up from her horde.

“Leave now and I’ll let you live,” the Chiefess said, her stern eyes locking with the that of the war leaders. Momentarily, the war leader found herself stunned as she saw a flash of red in the brown eyes of the Chiefess. Slapping herself, she snapped out of whatever hold the Chiefess had over her. Snarling at the woman’s comment, she leaned to the side and whispered to one of her warriors.

“Put an arrow through her shoulder. Make sure it’s the shoulder, I want her skin intact so I can add it to my collection,” the woman cackled, slapping the sowed-on pieces of skin on her arms from former enemies. Nodding, the woman aimed her bow.

Loosing an arrow, all fell silent as the arrow screamed through the air and towards the Chiefess. Raising her dagger, she swiped once in the air. Stone and wood split as the knife met the arrow, cutting it down the spine, separating the arrow into two. Quite hung over the raiders as they processed what the Chiefess had just done.

“You ten, fire,” the lead reader barked. Ten warriors aimed, and ten warriors fired their arrows. Dodging several, the Chiefess hacked and slashed five arrows out of the air. Calm and composed, she stood up and grinned down at the archers.

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Again, her eyes flashed red, sending waved of fear through the women.

“FIRE!” the Lead Raider barked, and her warriors complied. A hundred archers fired; their arrows all aimed for the Chiefess.

Pushing a foot back into the sand, the Chiefess lowered her head. Taking in a deep breath, she flicked her tail around, kicking up a small sand could around her. Thudding and cracking into the sand, the arrows landed. Smirking, the Lead Raider knew the arrows had hit. They had to, a hundred arrows were far too many for her to doge or break.

Her smile drooped from her face as she saw the absence of the body of the Chiefess. Screams and yells erupted from the front lines of her army. A twenty-meter-tall wall of sand exploded from the ground. Bodies toppled and flung through the air. Before the sand could even settle, another explosion erupted. Flashes of red and white told the Lead Raider what was happening. The Chiefess was alive and carving her way through the army.

Using her tail, the Chiefess was swooping up clouds of sand to blind the raiders while also hiding her presence. All in doing this, she hacked and slashed through the raiders. Eight men and twelve women with spear surrounded her. Charging forward, they all aimed for the neck or chest of the Chiefess. Slicing behind her, the Chiefess cut off the spear heads of one side. As she did this, she ducked and dodged the waves of spears that only just managed to scrape her shoulders and the top of her head.

Before they could change their attack, she dove under the spears and began to slash at the legs and tendons of the spear holders. Screaming, the Raiders fell to the floor, blood spurting from their legs. No time though was wasted by the Chiefess as she was already onto her next target. Staring on in horror at the Chiefess, fear only gripped the lead raider further as she realised the path of bodies left by the Chiefess was slowly carving its way towards her.

Barking some orders to her warriors, she snatched a bow from one of her women. Several warriors threw themselves onto the Chiefess in an attempt to hold her still, but she easily threw them off. Twenty then piled onto her. Kicking and biting, she tried to get them off, but a sharp pain pierced her shoulder. Warm blood trickled from her shoulder. An arrow had hit her. Sneering, she pulled her gaze from the arrow to the Lead Raider.

Smirking, the woman loaded another arrow to finish off the Chiefess. Gritting her teeth, she pulled her head out of the grip of a raider. In a sudden and swift motion, she bit down onto the arrow in her arm. Splinters went into her mouth as she used her teeth to tare the arrow from her shoulder. Spiting the fragments of wood into the face of an enemy, she used her tail to trip several of the women holding her from behind as well as smack the faces of some of the women wrapped around her legs.

Her ears pricked as they picked up the sound of another arrow firing. Throwing herself to the side, she heard the arrow crack into the back of the head of one of the raiders. The dead raider tumbled to the floor. Just as quickly as the second was fired, so was a third, and again, the Chiefess turned to allow the arrow to hit another raider.

Another group of women piled onto her, but still she stood. Then another, then another, more and more groups just piled onto her. Only when maybe a hundred women piled on her did she collapse to the ground. Still gripping her knife, she began to mutter a spell.

Smirking, the Raider leader watched as the struggling Chiefess’s movements stopped. Before though she could announce victory, a cloud of sand flooded over her face. The force of this hit knocked her from her horse. Dragging herself from the sand, she scanned her surroundings. Blood seeped into the sand around her. a hundred or so meters away from her, on a pile of bodies, stood a white wolf with a dark, blood red head.

Arching it’s back, the creature growled before descending upon the still stunned raiders. After ripping and tearing into the remaining warriors, the wolf turned its gaze onto the rest of the army. Lowing itself to the ground, the wolf charged into the warriors. Leaping into the air, it landed onto them. A puff of red smoke filled the area as another explosion sent warriors flying. The Chiefess appeared again with her knife, her hair now a blood red as she cut and teared into the dazed women.

Grinning, the lead raider pulled herself to her feet.

“As expected of a Dragonari slayer,”

Dragonari – the native word for dragon slayer.

Charging before leaping into the air, the Chiefess turned herself from the wolf form into her warrior form. Causing even more explosions of magic, and piles of bodies, the Chiefess made her way towards the lead raider. As she approached, the lead raider could see with every one of these attacks, the knife glowed red as blood from a cut on her wrist was sucked into the knife.

So that was it. The sacrifice needed to make the knife work was the blood of the user. Knowing this, the Lead Raider retreated. It was only a matter of time before the Chiefess died from blood lost, or her healing magic failed, and a warrior managed to get a fatal hit.

“YOUR SACRIFICE WILL BE FUTILE MUT!” the Lead Raider screeched at the top of her lungs as she ordered more of her warriors further.

One of the guards of the Raider queen charged forward, her battle axe swinging above her head. Leaping behind the Chiefess, who was busy dispatching some spear women, the women landed a blow.

Blood trickled from the shoulder of the Chiefess, the same shoulder where she had been hit by an arrow. Turning, she wrapped a hand around the head of the guard. A pop of bone and flesh sounded as the Chiefess crushed the woman’s head. All stood still as they watched the body of one of their most respected warriors lifelessly topple to the ground. Screams went up from the warriors’ spear women charged.

Not being able to move her other arm, she knew she couldn’t take on both sides. Dodging one row of spears, the second pieced her arms and rib cage. Screaming, she could no longer hold onto her knife. Dropping it, she swiped her tail, knocking the attackers off their feet before they could continue their attack. Arrows pierced her back, forcing her to the ground.

Laughing, the Lead Raider watched as the Chiefess used only her legs to push herself across the sand.

“Where are you running to?”

the Lead Raider squealed as she saw the life begin to drain from the eyes of the Chiefess.

Ignoring her, or maybe just no longer being able to hear, the Chiefess made her way to her knife. Wrapping her teeth around the knife, she used her knees to force herself to her feet. Using her tail as a third leg, she turned herself to face the raider leader. Dropping the knife from her mouth, the Chiefess dropped to the ground.

“Goddess of the desert, hear my call, bring forth creatures of vile, and kill them all,” with a smirk, she placed her neck over the blade of the dagger. Smirking, and locking eyes with the Lead Raider, she slit her throat across the blade.

Slumping to the side, the Chiefess lay dead. The blood from her neck seeped into the blade, dying it a gruesome red. Looking across the sea of bodies, the Lead Raider now only saw a good five hundred of her warriors had been slaughtered by the Chiefess. Her eyes widened as she saw something in the sand.

A crimson liquid came from the bodies, their blood, and rolled over the sand and into the knife. All watched in silence, not knowing what to do as the blood of the warriors poured into the knife. Within only a few seconds, all blood had gone into the knife. Lifting into the air, as if some invisible hand guiding it, a white figure appeared.

“The ghost of the desert,” a warrior muttered. Taking the knife, the figure plunged it into the sand. For a moment there was silence, but then it happened.

The sand moved from under the army.

“What?” the Lead Raider questioned. She stopped her questioning as her eyes locked onto a large, head-sized, black beady eye looking at her from just under the sand.

Screams rose from the army, but before the lead warrior could process what was happening, a sharp pain filled the upper body of the Lead Raider. Looking down, she saw large, centipede-like pincers around her waist. Her lower body was gone. Falling onto the sand, the Lead Raider watched as the titan sized creatures of white fur, but bodies of centipedes rose from the sand and descended upon her army.

The Desert Claimers had arisen.