Sniffer's leg was still broken, but Kyto had pumped enough healing mana into him to allow him to move at least. His left hand was now useable after the blow it had taken, and he grabbed at the thick tufts of grass, pulling himself away from the fence line, grunting in effort and pain as his injured leg was dragged behind him, using his good leg to push with. The fighting was continuing on either side of him, wailing croaks of Geblex dying alongside the gunfire and screams of Risen.
The closest battle was to his left, and a group of at least fifteen Risen was trying to fend off a much larger force of Geblex. He could not tell how many, but as he watched, the fighting changed to melee combat as the Geblex got within range, charging at the gun-wielding Risen unabashed by death. He continued to pull his body across the ground. The nearest building was a hangar with open sides stacked with hay bales. It was a couple of hundred feet away, but the closest area of cover from where he was in the open. The Keefir herd in the paddock next to the barn were trumpeting loudly, afraid of the noise but not fleeing or stampeding.
He heard the croaks before he saw them. A group of Geblex, maybe ten or so, had scaled the wall where he had crossed with Kyto and had climbed down, approaching the hole in the fence. They began to move through, looking to the fighting nearest them. Sniffer had pulled himself fifty or sixty feet by now, and the grasses were longer here, and he stopped moving, staying as still as he could. The night was dark, apart from the occasional flash of a muzzle as gunfire became replaced more with grunts and cries of hand-to-hand combat.
The Geblex stopped looking at their fallen comrade with the crushed skull and looked around. Sniffer could see them above the grass and stayed perfectly still. Their guttural croaks were heard as they spoke about something before the group's main body began to move towards the fighting. They stayed low and were working to the side of the Risen. Sniffer could do nothing. He could not shout or warn them for fear of them seeing where he lay.
Two of the Geblex stayed behind and began to search the area. One of them picked up the discarded club of their fallen colleague and swung it before dropping his club. The second Geblex had a spear and croaked at the other one, and they were arguing as he went to grab the club from him. Sniffer dared not move, the moonlight reflecting off their large bulbous eyes when it broke through the clouds. As he lay there motionless, he did not hear or see the giant rat that had come to investigate, and as it crawled across his leg, he could not hold in the yelp of pain that radiated from the injury.
The Geblex turned, looking in his direction. He could see their faces, and it seemed they were looking straight at him, his breath held and not even daring to blink in case they spotted him. One of them began to move towards where he lay. The other croaked, but the first did not respond. Sniffer was already prone but could not fight the creature, so his only option was to play dead. He lay still, hoping the creature would ignore him. The Geblex approached slowly until it was within ten feet and looked at his prone form lying in the grasses.
Sniffer's eyes were closed, his nerves on edge, and he could feel sweat forming on his brow. He only hoped that it believed him dead. It held its spear in front of it and pointed it at Sniffer, cautiously approaching and poking at him with the tip of the spear. He felt the spear against the boot of his good foot and ignored the prodding. It stepped closer and poked again, this time at his shin. It took Sniffer all the willpower he could muster to ignore the sharp pain from the spear tip poking him, and he felt its tip puncture his skin.
The Geblex let out a croak and turned back to the other one. It started to move away from him, and Sniffer let out a slow breath of relief, not daring to make a sound. That was when all hell broke loose in the world around him. The shadow passed him like a bullet, its bulk and form causing the grasses to swish as it flew over the top of him. The Geblex, with its back turned, walked away, not even having time to react as its body was torn apart. The one by the fence watched its comrade fall in an instant and croaked in surprise as the monstrous shadow moved towards it. It went to raise its new club and swing it, but its arm disappeared into the night as it was severed, flying away from its body. A wail of pain replaced its panicked cry. The shadow turned, moving straight back to Sniffer. Sniffer lay wide-eyed and looked up into the eyes of his friend.
"Sniffer," Kyto called as he neared.
Tiddles stood over him now protectively.
Kyto ran over to where Tiddles stood, seeing his glow clearly and directing him to the prone form of Sniffer. "You took your time," Sniffer said, grimacing as he smiled.
"Hold on," Kyto said, pushing his strands into him.
Sniffer could not feel the mana inside his body but could sense his injuries being healed. The throbbing sensation in his knee and leg started to lessen, and he felt his muscles tightening, and he felt the cut on his shin from the spear tip close. The sensations were not painful, just strange, as he knew his body was healing rapidly. In under two minutes, Kyto stopped the process and stepped back.
"You should be good now," he said, offering Sniffer his hand.
Sniffer took it and pulled himself up, expecting to feel pain in his leg, but it had gone completely. His knee, ankle, leg, and hand are all fully healed. "I'm good he replied." as he stood checking himself.
"We need to go help," Tiddles said to Kyto.
"Yes, we do," Kyto replied.
"Right is the closest group, let's go. I need and want to kill these things," he said.
"We are going to help fight. Head back to town, and we will meet you at the barracks." Kyto said.
"I will come with you," Sniffer said.
"No. I need to be able to focus on Tiddles and healing. I won't be able to keep an eye on you if you also get injured. My mana is not very high currently," he replied. Kyto was busily pulling from any source he could see around him, recharging his pool slowly.
"But...." Sniffer began to say.
"Elizabeth would never forgive me if you don't get home. Please." Kyto said.
Sniffer stood unsure how to respond after laying the guilt card on him. "You are right," he replied.
"Let's go," Kyto said as he turned to run towards the combat.
Tiddles bounded ahead of him, and Kyto ran after him.
It only took Tiddles moments to reach the side of the fighting where the Geblex had flanked the group of Risen. Only eleven Risen were standing now, and a group of thirty-plus Geblex were now in mortal combat. Striking at each other, parrying or dodging blows until one side or the other was lucky enough to connect.
Knives flashed, spears stabbed, machetes chopped, clubs and axes swung, and an occasional pistol shot broke the chaos with its sharp crack. One of the Risen even resorted to fist fighting, losing whatever weapon it may have had in the brawl. Croaks, screams, wails, moans, and crying all added to the cacophony of combat, which was violent and ruthless. Anyone witnessing the fight would have been shaken to their bones by the sheer ferocity of both attackers and defenders.
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Tiddles took no mercy and ploughed into the nearest Geblex, charging through the loose line facing the men's flank. His claws and jaws flashed and snapped as he battered through them. He knocked Risen and Geblex alike as he tore a path between the lines, forcing the warring parties to split from their death match. His initial pass caused an even further level of chaos amidst the mayhem.
Risen were suddenly being pushed away by a beast from hell itself, and Geblex clawed and raked at them as he swiftly passed them. He turned on reaching the far side and, this time, charged back at the Geblex separated from their Risen foe. He was relentless, tearing and ripping their weak bodies to pieces in comparison to his immense power and size. His powerful swipes dismembered and decapitated Geblex as he went. Kyto had caught up and joined him. He stood by the Risen now as the assault continued. Tiddles took wounds, but as fast as they formed on his body, they began to close Kyto, streaming his mana and their combined energies through his body. Tiddles usually had no fear, but now it was like being immortal, knowing his friend and companion supported him.
"Move back." Kyto was shouting at the Risen, who were disorientated and as confused as the Geblex by the beast’s appearance. One Risen with a pistol pointed it at Tiddles and pulled the trigger; the bullet glanced off Tiddles flank, making him growl. "Fucking idiot." between snaps of his jaws. Kyto's mana repaired the flesh wound in moments.
The Risen now backed off, watching this dark, hellish form perform its majestic duty. Kyto stood between them and the Geblex like a totem, as though he was directing an orchestra, his arms moving and following the beast’s movements. Kyto had begun to pull on some of the men; he would not ask permission or explain their tiredness. They had just been fighting. That would be explanation enough once it was over. He did not drain them deeply but enough to keep his pool plentiful. Tiddles healed, and his mana topped up.
Within minutes, the Geblex number halved and then halved again, their putrid stench filling the night from where their torn and tattered bodies lay. They did not stop attacking, though, and nor did Tiddles. The surprise attack had disorientated them so much that the Geblex had lost any form of order, and pure individual aggression had replaced what had previously been a more controlled assault. One of the Geblex, who still held a spear, had noted Kyto standing there and threw its spear at him. Kyto did not see the spear coming nor what happened to it, but the men around him did. Tiddles launched at the final Geblex, tearing its throat out with his claws as he turned, surveying his destruction and the remains of his victims. An injured Geblex croaked weakly to his side, and he walked up to it, penetrating its face with his razor-sharp claws.
"Who the fuck are you?" One of the men said he was wearing a guard's uniform covered in the grime and stench of Geblex and what looked like human blood.
Kyto did not recognise him as he cut his strands and turned. "I am Kyto, and this is the beast," he answered.
"That spear hit you. You should be dead. It was square in your chest." Another man said in shock.
Kyto looked down at the ground where a spear lay with a broken tip. "The tip is broken. It was blunt," he said in response.
"But you didn't flinch!" he exclaimed.
"Adrenaline, maybe, I don't know," Kyto replied.
"That was no adrenaline. The strongest man would have felt that impact," he said.
" I didn't, so you must not have seen it properly."
"I damn well did."
"I am still here, so it cannot have hit me that hard."
"Bollocks." the man said, a flash of anger in his voice. "It's made of stone, which does not just snap like that."
"We better go," Tiddles said.
Kyto turned, "Which way." he said, scanning the locations where fights were occurring.
Kyto's and Tiddles's displays had been going wild during the combat, but they had no time to deal with it now. "Left," Tiddles said.
Kyto looked over where the fighting continued a couple hundred metres from them. The group looked similar to what had been here. "Ok. Let us go," he said and went to move.
"You are not going anywhere." the man who had challenged him said.
"And you are going to stop me?" Kyto spun, glaring at him. "We just came here to help, but we could have left you outnumbered and killed if you had preferred."
"Grab him." the man said with venom in his voice.
"What the hell is up with these idiots," Tiddles said as he stepped forward by his side.
"I do not think you want to do that," Kyto said, smiling at a man who had responded to the other's call.
Tiddles let out an intense and meaningful growl everyone knew the meaning of. The threat and menace in the tone were enough to make the man step back. "I am not going near that thing." the man said.
"You are not going to grab him, Ben?" the man said, directing his comments to the guard who stood with the group.
"And do what Yen? The lad and his beast just saved our asses." Ben stated.
"He isn’t fucking normal, that is why." Yen stated.
"I don't give a fuck what he is if he is on our side fighting like that with his beast," Ben replied.
"You all saw the blue, right?" Yen said, looking around the men.
"What blue?" Kyto replied.
"Some fucking blue thing that glowed when that spear struck you," Yen said.
Kyto knew it must have been his shield but had no idea it might be visible to others when hit. He had never tried it, only practising maintaining it for extended periods rather than ever testing it with others. He must have seen the spear and, intuitively, triggered his shield like when the Stomper had trampled him.
"Look, I do not know what you saw, but we must help the others. You can come and find me at the barracks later if you wish," he said, turning away.
"Come on, let's go," he said to Tiddles as he began to run across to the next group.
"I am coming with you," Ben replied, and some other townsfolk followed suit.
It did not take them long to arrive, and with the added support and Tiddles's insane melee power protected by Kyto, the Geblex group they had moved towards was soon dispatched. Again, as a growing group, the men moved to the next spot, following the sounds of combat around the site's perimeter. They moved from battle to battle, supporting and pushing back the invaders, killing any Geblex that had broken into the interior. The fighting must have been going on for a couple of hours in disjointed and sporadic fits as Geblex had continued to enter the township. The numbers reduced slowly, and eventually, a veiled silence fell across the township. Groups of survivors dotted all around the perimeter, and the sounds of combat were ultimately replaced with the cries of wounded and dying, both Geblex and Risen alike.
Kyto and Tiddles were both covered in the remains of Tiddles's victims, the Geblex's bodily fluids and entrails being scattered due to Tiddles's intense and violent aggression. They both stank of the mouldy, foul contents of their victims. Tiddles had not suffered a serious injury during the fighting with the aid of the growing group of Risen that had accompanied them as they swept the perimeter. Their role to support had become easier. Ben naturally took charge of the Risen and ordered them while Kyto focussed on Tiddles and his assault.
Ben walked up to where they stood. "Thank you both," he said.
"No need to thank us. Anyone would have done the same," Kyto replied.
"I doubt it, especially with that beast of yours," he said.
"He is not my beast," Kyto replied.
"Then whose beast is he?" he asked.
"No bodies, he is his own. He chooses to be here with us; no one forces him to stay."
"I do not understand then why is he here?"
"Because we are friends," Kyto replied with a smile, patting Tiddles and regretting that he had as he pulled his hand away covered in Geblex blood.
"You need a bath," he said to Tiddles.
"We both do," Tiddles growled.
Kyto looked at himself, noticing how badly he was covered in the Geblex's remains.
The cry from the injured and the shouts of men and women calling for aid were audible now. The chaos of battle was replaced now by the dreadful aftermath. Exhaustion stemmed only from the adrenaline that could be tasted in the air.
"I should go and help heal," Kyto said to Tiddles.
"What if you are suspected?" Tiddles said as they stood listening to the cries.
"I cannot just stand by and let people die, and there are too many injured for the town doctors to heal, and the girls and Elizabeth are back at the house, so I can not help either," he replied.
"Some of them already suspect you of something. Do you really want to draw more attention?"
"I think we may be getting beyond the point of secrecy with these attacks."
"Maybe, but if you are going to come out in the open, seeing how some people react could cause problems."
Kyto considered the problem for a moment, his moral conscience outstripping his own personal safety.
"I have to help."
Their displays triggered.
Congratulations, you have survived the first wave of the incursion.
"What the hell does it mean by first wave?" Tiddles said.