“What’s the plan?” It was Bun-girl who spoke, positioned a good 20 meters away with two other archers. “Hate to say it, but the Erydian wasn’t wrong.”

Jerel jogged right up the treeline, gesturing for Val and Caro to do the same. The three archers stood back. “With the trees acting as a barrier, we can minimize their movement and guard the advantageous open clearing on our side. I need you three archers to pick off the strays that seep through the frontline."

Val tilted her head. “You say that as if they won’t just go around us.”

“I have the scent of their young one on me.” Jerel gestured to the ear he collected, slipping into a hidden pocket within his cloak shortly after. “They’ll head towards me—” he pointed to the carcass left right behind their heels “—and that corpse. We take our stance here.”

“Incoming!”

The beat of numerous Thundertails’ hooves wrenched their heads forward. Val steeled herself as the first beast neared her vicinity. A gust of air left her lungs in a rush as the beast collided antler-first into her shield. High function in her arm abandoned her without a goodbye. Gritting through the pain, she slashed out with her sword, taking the Thundertail in one of its thin legs. The beast crumpled to the ground, another Thundertail assuming its place in a flash. 

Val ducked as the Thundertail whipped its lightning-filled head in a wide arc. Shield-bashing it back into the forest, she rose and ended it with a strike to its head. Another appeared from a bush and she side-stepped to the right in haste, breaking proper footwork. Stumbling back into position, a scream she’d recognize any day—anywhere—travelled the battlefield.

Val froze, mind blank.

Caro.

A jagged antler sliced into her forearm. Val’s fingers spazzed out, her grip on her sword loosening as a numbness subsumed the entirety of her arm. Her weapon clattered against the forest floor and the Thundertail forged forwards, leaving her to huddle behind her shield. 

“I’m fine!” Caro announced, allowing Val only a moment’s reprieve as she shouted, “Breach!”

“I got it!” 

Val couldn’t see it, refocused on keeping her head intact—but the distinct twang of a recurve bow and the gurgle-like cry of the Thundertail followed by a loud thud said it all. 

Problem solved. 

She hopped back, sweeping her shield to counter an antler attack. She used the moment to twirl, picking up her blade and slitting the throat of the beast in a solid motion. 

“Support!” Jerel’s cry pierced through the battle.

Pausing for a moment, she dashed to the middle of their formation where Jerel’s voice sounded. “On my way! Archers, cover the left!”

She brushed aside the piney branches, finding her way to the desperate cry for help. She stumbled into a levelled gap in the forest and gasped at Jerel’s condition. He laboured to hold his shield, struggling to block attacks from two Thundertails near Val’s height. Red stained the scraps of his uniform dangling off his limp, dominant arm.

“Heavens.” Val rushed to block the next attack of one of the creatures, tasting iron as the shield recoiled into her face. Lightning lashed at her protection, the buzz clashing at her eardrums. “Jerel, why on Spiravale are you knee-deep into the forest?!”

He grunted to a stand, begrudgingly raising his shield to block an attack from the other aether creature. “Got too ambitious.”

Val slid back as the Thundertail battered against her shield, her feet making lines on the forest floor. She peeled off, using the Thundertail’s power against it. Caught off guard, the Thundertail was left surging forward and she used the opportunity to gut it, her blade slicing through its side. One dealt with.

She turned in time to catch another Thundertail bulldozing her way. 

Jerel leapt at it from behind, the two tumbling to the root-covered ground. Taking a second to aim well at the moving pile of bodies, she pierced her sword at the Thundertail’s head, its form going limp within the Kidraan’s arms. For a time, all that filled their part of the forest was the sound of panting. 

Val offered a hand. “We should head back.”

Jerel grabbed it. “I agree.”

The two sprinted, pausing at the sheer carnage spread across the clearing. Corpses ornamented the battlefield, a tang of blood scenting the air. A few side scuffles remained to the side, but the battle in a matter of minutes due to extra aid from those free.

“Role call!” Jerel ordered, wiping the blood that spattered across his face.

“One,” Val started the count, sheathing her sword.

Caro winced as she leaned against her greataxe for support. “Two.”

“Three,” the female archer continued, counting the arrows left in her quiver. She clicked her tongue and looked toward Williams. “I might need your shortsword real soon.”

“Four.” Williams whisked his sheathed sword from his cloak and tossed it to the female archer. “Take it now, just in case.”

“Five.” Jerel’s attention streamed toward the two remaining participants. One of which was shivering as if they were stuck in the midst of a blizzard and the other completely in another place, eyes dull.

“I…” It was the timid teen archer who spoke. He gripped his leg for it to stop shaking. “I’m out. Sorry. I-I can’t do this for a living.”

“M-me too…” the other said.

“We already lost two due to injuries, we can’t afford to lose any more!” Caro yelled.

Val sighed. “Leave them be.”

“May I ask for confirmation,” a conductor emerged from the depths of a tree’s silhouette, voice distorted as he left the plane of… darkness? Shadows? He materialized into a normal, Kidraan man, ambling forward to meet their group at the center of the clearing. 

“Saints!” Caro whispered, leaping off her weapon and wincing. “Give a girl a warning next time.”

“Confirmation?” the new conductor pressed. 

“I’m out.”

“Me as well.”

“Understood.” The mage tapped the side of his head. Squinting, Val caught the glow of a rune near his ear. “Two have asked to drop out within my team. Send an overseer to my position. Also, tell Magister Leon to recall his scry-cube in Sector Three,” he ordered, glancing back at the five remaining participants and snorting. 

“If the embarrassing thing I just witnessed tells me anything, it’s that no one here is going to pass.”