"They think I'm a monster?" Eirian's eye twitched, outrage rising. "I'm the monster? What do they know of monsters? They can't even settle in one place. They fight each other as much as they fight us. They burn villages and kill innocent civilians." Eirian was a lot of things, but she'd never struck someone down for no reason. That kind of callous violence was not her.
The tribesmen were regathering, but it was obvious Vitali was right. Eirian's magic had scared them, but it had scared them so much that the simple, superstitious tribesmen had moved from running away to must destroy.
Ardain's hum was a vicious, high-pitched thing, like the excited squeal of a child, and Eirian couldn't help but think about her dreams, about the fact that she didn't belong to this world, but she was here anyway, and now these other people wanted her gone.
Eirian wasn't going anywhere. She didn't have all the answers yet, but she wasn't going anywhere until she had them, and she was good and ready.
She cut down the first tribesman that came for her and then the next and the next and all the rest that came after.
She lost count after a while; everything drilled down to the rise and fall of Ardain and the expanse and collapse of her lungs as she sucked in air to keep going.
She didn't hear the horns at first, but she felt the shuddering of the Earth under her feet as the riders approached.
It wasn't until it shook so hard that she nearly lost her footing that she left the battlefuge enough to register what was happening.
The sun was high in the sky, heat rising off the ground and bodies in waves. Eirian herself was dripping sweat that she should have run out of a long time ago. She wiped the dripping liquid out of her eyes as she turned and caught a glimpse of the banners of Chenzhou's cavalry as they slammed into the northern side of the tribal force with such force that Eirian, smack in the middle of the fight, could still feel the impact wave from where they met.
The tribesmen scattered in the wake of Chenzhou's forces. The cavalry of the Crimson Army was a devastating force when allowed to attack en masse, and Eirian remembered from Chenzhou's lectures that the tribes went to great lengths to separate them when they faced them on the battlefield.
As she watched Chenzhou's cavalry roll right over the tribesmen, she could see why. The huge horses bred for battle were nearly as deadly as the armed soldiers on their backs. Their hooves were larger than a child's skull and delivered fatal blows to any head or chest in their vicinity. She watched the rear hooves of one catch a tribesman directly in the chest and send him flying through the air until he landed on the ground in a crumpled heap.
The arrival of Chenzhou's forces changed the direction of the battle, putting the tribe on the defensive on two fronts and forcing them to fall back to regroup.
It was impossible to spot Chenzhou among the attacking forces, but Tanning fought his way to her with word that Chenzhou had led the cavalry personally.
"He's somewhere on the field." Tanning squawked, ducking an arrow.
Eirian's magic lashed out and struck the archer, cleaving his head from his shoulders as Eirian snarled. "Which is exactly where he shouldn't be." She put Ardain through the chest of another tribesman before ripping her free. "It's too dangerous. He needs to be back where he's safe."
Tanning sputtered, swinging his sword to deflect a curved blade. "I think Lord Ye would say the same thing about you." He swallowed nervously at the light in her eyes. "But Lord Ye should be careful, he's very important."
Eirian muttered a few choice words under her breath, but another horn sounded before she could.
The thunder of hooves echoed before the source crested the hills to the south. Mingzhe's cavalry force came over the tops of the hills and his infantry forces between them, sandwiching the tribes on three sides as Eirian's soldiers rallied behind her at the sight of help.
Eirian pushed forward, taking advantage of the collapsing tribal attack to start gaining ground. Chenzhou and Mingzhe's forces continued to push forward as well, and the combined pressure broke the tribal lines, and they began to flee.
Eirian led her forces in pursuit as the newly arrived Crimson Army forces pushed closer and closer.
Chenzhou found her as they reached the valley between the two hills where the tribal attack had originated, Mingzhe not far behind him.
Eirian was ready to carry the attack after the retreating tribes, who'd begun to flee in droves, their camp already dissolved. "Push on!" She roared, Ardain held high.
"Eirian!" Chenzhouo had a smear of blood across his forehead, and there were dark circles under his eyes.
Mingzhe didn't look any better; his armor tarnished and dull under a layer of dirt and gore.
"Eirian, wait!" Chenzhou caught her around the waist and nearly pitched them both onto the blood-soaked earth. "Let them go."
"What? No! We need to destroy them now." Eirian wrestled away from him. "Before they can regroup and attack again."
"We don't have the strength to chase them." Chenzhou could barely stay on his feet after a paniced two and a half day race to help her and then hours of fighting. "Our forces are exhausted. We need to rest and regroup."
Eirian scowled, wiping around to see how far the tribes had gotten, but they were already out of reach. She scowled, frustrated that she hadn't managed to finish it.
But as she turned around, realizing how many Crimson Army soldiers were right behind her, and she could see their camp, half-burned down, ash piles, and bodies that hadn't burned littering the field between them and what was left of the wall of the camp, she had to admit that maybe Chenzhou was right.
They'd held out for four days.
That was something.
~ tbc