The ringing of steel against bone and fang echoed through the forests.
A large mass of fur leapt at my head from just within the edges of my vision and I fell to the ground with my right arm raised to shield my face.
Sharp black fangs bit into my chrominilium..?—no that's still not right—chrom-whatever-steel bracers. Spittle and blood hit my face, knocked loose from the beast's mouth.
Red beads filled with hate eyed me from the face of a snarling wolf-like beast.
An enormous pack of demonic wolves ambushed the divisional unit I was leading to our first strategic strong-point. It had been less than a week since we broke away from Julius and the main army and already things were getting out of hand.
I kicked up at the beast looming over me, knocking it far enough to the side that I could roll onto my knees.
It failed to waste a second before it was back on me. But I was a single moment quicker, and my blade cut through its hide with a raging whirlwind of inferno and deadly steel.
Giving the blade a sharp shake towards the ground to fling the blood and viscera away, I called out over the battlefield—projecting my voice with a runic device my sister crafted for me.
"Tomin, you fucking shit excuse for a field monitor! Where are my scouts and why am I knee-deep in demon corpses!"
Those closest to me flinched at the sudden loud noise but quickly refocused as more wolves streamed in from the treeline.
A barrage of arrows slipped past a soldier heaving a giant maul down onto the head of a demon wolf. Sharp yelps and whines filled the air just out of view.
A man rushed towards me, drenched in sweat and Celestials know what else. He held a bow in his left hand, clutched tightly between bloody knuckles.
"My apologies, Your Majesty. Every position reported all-clear one moment and suddenly collapsed under assault from these beasts the next."
"I don't want apologies, Tomin. What in the Aether is going on? How can hundreds of these things appear out of thin air?"
"I managed to find one scouting party that claims to have witnessed a bright pink tower of light rise up from the forest roof. They were positioned on a hill that cut above the trees."
"Pink light…" I trailed off.
A warp crystal then? Someone deliberately sent us this horde.
"I suspect a warping device like was used by the Renaultian-backed bandit outfit." Tomin continued, with a hint of worry in his voice, "We also recovered an intact crystal from the conspirators in Tolin, and when broken it evaporated into pink dust."
"So, Renault has somehow managed to control and employ demons into his forces. There isn't a man on this earth I find more frustrating. Haaah."
I sighed desperately, and a new wave of demonic beasts crashed into my soldiers—who had managed to rally and finally form a legitimate shieldwall.
With a purposeful thought, I willed a mental link to Hailey via our shared communirune connection.
"Hails. How are things on your end? Tomin and I just about have the northern line secured."
A static-infused pause followed for a minute before she responded.
"All's clear in the rear. As we suspected, it seems as if the wolves had a specific target amongst the group—I assume you—and didn't follow after the civilians and I."
"Glad to hear. We'll finish up here and rendezvous at a different location. I don't want to lead any stragglers into the non-combatants—hang on a second."
I cut myself off and turned to Tomin, "Tell me someone managed to get a bead on the town before all hell broke loose?"
He nodded back at me, "We did. I'd say we're about an hour or so on horseback from reaching the town."
I tried to do some quick math in my head to account for the speed on foot but stopped myself when I began to consider having injured soldiers or a wayward supply wagon, let alone what other potential surprises could be lying in wait from our dear friend Renault.
Focusing back on the connection with Hailey, I continued, "I'll send a few waystriders your way who know the way. We'll meet up a few minutes outside the town's border and head there all as one unit."
I got a nod of approval from Tomin, who stepped off to find said waystriders, and an acknowledgment from Hailey before she cut off the communication.
Now to finish cleaning up this mess. I sighed to myself and jogged off to the shieldwall with my weapon ready.
-✵-
Three hours later than my poor excuse for math had determined, we had arrived at a crossroads where the poorly maintained forest path we'd been marching through met a proper road.
Further north would take up to the main highway, and eventually the city of Axio, and east would take us towards our intended destination.
Brookshaven.
Hailey's hometown and, from what we gathered from scouting parties and a little external pressure upon the conspirators in Tolin, the base of a resistance force that opposes the Renaultian occupying forces.
A mess of ruby-red hair and a smile that faded away all too quickly greeted us as we emerged from the overgrown pathway.
Hailey jumped into business straight away, "It'll be thirty minutes walking pace from here till the town walls come into full view. We can pick up camp and head there right away, or…"
I looked back at my forces as her voice trailed off.
"I'd like to give everyone a moment of rest before heading off. Exterminating packs of wolves wasn't on the schedule today, and I have a feeling most of my soldiers are putting on a strong face."
A few laughs echoed through the trees, further cementing the plan to rest.
I dismissed everyone and I followed Hailey into the makeshift camp they'd set up on the road.
"Momma Airis!"
"Oof!" I heaved as Akari rammed her head into my stomach in a hug. Her hands gripped tight around my back. "Hey, kiddo. Did you miss me that much? I was only gone for a few hours."
"Yeeeah, but you had to leave 'cause of those mean black stinky dogs. I was worried."
I ran my fingers through her pink hair, gently passing over the empty space I knew her horns were hidden from view by a GLAMOUR spell.
"What's there to worry about? Your very tough, super cool mom beat all those nasty beasts without breaking a sweat."
I grinned down at the little girl, still shackling herself around my waist.
She giggled and I let the stiff tension that had been building in my shoulders drop.
As I relaxed my muscles a hard slap on my back caused me to flinch.
"Hail, fair sister and her youngling! Nice to see you in good spirits after a battle. Though I can't say the same. I've been rather bored escorting all these pes—people." Ikuye, the blue-haired battle junkie, lamented.
She was about to call them pests again…
"I know, I know. But I wouldn't have been able to keep a calm head if you weren't guarding the civilians with Hailey."
I scooped Akari up into my arms and kept walking after Hailey. Ikuye followed after us yelling out, "This battle group is so boring! You should've let me tag along with Julius. He told me that he was gonna attack a bridge. I wanna see how hard I can hit a bridge."
I sighed.
"Julius is doing something more boring than we are. He's setting up a forward base camp so that we can assault the Renaultian forces on the bridge. Nobody is going to be hitting any bridges. And, we'll be linking up with them before they engage in any combat anyway."
"Oh."
"Yep."
"'Kay, then I'm gonna go mess with Tomin till we start moving again!"
Ikuye kicked off into a run, leaving a trail of dust behind her before I could beg her to not bother the poor guy. He was already feeling bad about us getting caught in an ambush—not that I was helping him feel any better about the whole situation.
As we made our way through the camp I eyed our train of supply wagons, which were mostly filled with the few relief supplies we could spare for the people held up in Brookshaven.
"Did you have any issues with the wagons?" I said offhandedly to Hailey.
"Nope. Everything on our end has gone smoothly."
"Oh, that's good."
"Yep."
Akari frowned at me, and I tried to give her a reassuring smile.
Hailey and I's relationship was still treading a thin line it seemed. Though we've been getting along markedly better than the past few weeks since the Bashir incident, she still occasionally keeps a painfully obvious distance between us.
Since Akari spends most of her time at either of our sides, she's become just as impacted by it as I have.
We eventually arrived at a large, command-sized, tent in the middle of camp.
Akari jumped from my arms and rushed inside while calling out, "Auntie Rias, we're back!"
The flap to the tent closed, muffling the sounds of both Akari and my sister… and the dozen or so loud and bothersome attendants that I'd been glad to ditch for the short time.
Hailey turned to me and awkwardly shuffled over. She planted her head against my chest and weakly hugged my waist.
"I'm glad you came back safe."
Her voice was soft, dampened further by the cloth of my tunic.
I hugged her back. "I'm glad you were safe too. Sorry that I'm a jerk sometimes."
"I'm sorry too. My head has been a mess lately and I know I take it out on you."
Hailey and I entered the tent a moment later and I collapsed onto a bed to rest for a bit, choosing to continue to ignore my babysitters who began fussing over me already.