"Watch the left flank!!"

The voice was scarcely heard as ridges of brown scales crashed through the barricades, their many points lodging into the keratin surface before being snapped away by the rendering scutes. Their darkened form looked like a rolling hill until it was gone, whatever was in its path now half-buried in the sand.

The ground trembled so violently that it was audible to the ears.

Desert shrubbery betrayed the location of the beasts below. Far-reaching roots, desperate for water snagged onto the creature's tough hide, rattling the plants above.

"Left flank breached! Aquifers! You're up!"

Three sorcerers stepped forth from the line, each dawning pale blue robes to denote their specialty. Their incantations echoed the word he'd spoken before. Not a title, but a spell.

Water was pulled from the ground, and formed in the air. It converged from all sides into the dirt. A seemingly harmless spell, until one of the beasts reared up out of the ground, its massive, fatty claws pawing at the air like an enraged lion. When its front half hit the ground its thud boomed like a cannon's roar. It threw its head from side to side, slinging mud from its face and eyes. Snorting the muck out of its nostrils.

"Fleers, follow up!"

Four more sorcerers emerged to surround the beast. They drew back their arms, and their magic wove around their sleeves, taking on a golden shine until it was refined into an arrow. Each shot let off, whistling through the air like fireworks. They connected with the lesser-armored belly of the beast, and one after another, the shots exploded.

The beast twirled its huge body around, lumbering away from the four sorcerers. It pawed and claws at its muddied face along the way, each shot corralling it back through the barricade.

Kaldron took a breath. That was one down. His eyes drifted to the rest of the force. There were at least three more, but he didn't have eyes on them just yet.

Dirt was overtaking the battlefield. The dust was bad enough. His eyes were stinging, and he could hear the light tinks of debris coming down on his helmet every now and then.

Soon he realized he could no longer see through the clouds.

"... This isn't good."

Changrel wheezed.

He scrambled after the cart as fast as he could, but even the slow speed of the striders was a lot. 

"I swear to Anemos, if you don't slow down, I'm going to feed you to the tigers!"

His furious tone felt undermined by his pathetic wheezing. 

"Get me off of this thing!!"

Seiyul shrieked, clinging to the shoddy wooden slat supporting the sides.

She looked around. The whole cart was full of metal, canisters, and now a bit of broken glass.

"Why is there nothing soft in here!?"

She shouted.

"It's used in packing...!"

He mustered a response mid-run.

The cart was getting away.

"Oh man... Verlicity!"

Changrel shouted. Every strider was different, but Verlicity was particularly troublesome. She had her own ideas about how to behave in the field. Don't pull too far ahead, don't fall behind, and don't let a pipsqueak tell you where to stand. It was no wonder they liked to place her with the lower ranks.

He took a deep breath, straightened his back, and demonstrated his best sprinter impression.

With a desperate lunge he grabbed onto the fabric hanging from the back of the wagon.

He panicked. Now he had hold of it, but he could barely keep up. He ran as fast as he could, reaching for the back of the wagon. His first attempt missed, his right hand slipping free while his left clung to the fabric.

He couldn't lose the wagon. Not on a combat mission. He'd look like an idiot.

He made another grab. He gripped something solid on the inside of the wagon, and for a second he thought he'd done it — but then he staggered back, and realized he had hold of an apple.

He stared at it blankly, somehow still keeping his stride.

"Lalinia! Lunch!!"

The cart jolted so hard he almost smacked into it. 

"Ack!"

Seiyul flailed her arms, lacking for anything to grab onto as she went tumbling yet again.

The whole vehicle tilted and twisted. Verlicity reared up, shrieking and taking a cheeky nip at the other's neck. Lalinia whacked her good with the back of her head, and they both brayed at one another before turning. She strained, dragging the cart off of the road, through the grass, and back around to face their rider. Verlicity growled.

"Oh, stop it."

Changrel barked, catching his breath.

"Who's a good girl!?"

He stumbled over to Lalinia, stroking her mane as she ate the apple from his hand. Verlicity's sour attitude smoothed over when she caught the scent, and he shot her a sideways glance.

"You don't deserve one, but I'll get you something, too."

He heard a groan from the cart, and froze.

"Oh, right."

He slunk over, nervous once more, and peeked into the cart.

"Miss, are you okay?"

He asked, then hesitated.

"... I'm pretty sure the cart won't take off again while it's turned sideways like this."

"Ow..."

The girl groaned, then sat up.

Her green hair fell over her shoulders, taking on a blue luster in the shade of the trees. 

"Uh!?"

He took a step back.

She had wings — never mind a long, scaly tail. He almost spoke the words, but stopped. Adornments like this weren't all that uncommon. Sorcerers often created them with magic, just for the aesthetics.

He cleared his throat, knowing it'd have been rude.

"Can I help?"

"Just... get me out of this thing."

"Right."

He started clearing away the disturbed stacks of equipment. Which was... basically everything attached to the left wall.

"My name's Changrel. Where were you headed?"

"Umm..."

She paused, coming up with something on the spot.

A soldier came charging down the road on a strider.

"Really?"

Changrel sputtered.

"Right away!"

The man repeated, and wheeled his horse around.

All of the color drained from Changrel's face as he witnessed a massive beast breach the surface of the earth far up the road. Its forearm came down in one hateful swing and something beyond the hill, just out of his view shattered skyward like a farm house taken by a storm.

"Hmm?"

Seiyul climbed over the supplies, plucking splinters out of her hair. She peeked over the coachmen's box. All she could see was dust.

"What's going on?"

She idly asked.

Changrel jumped into his seat.

"All right Lalinia, let's get going!"

He called out, seizing control of his nerves. The more level-headed of the two horses tugged them back in the right direction.

"Wait, where are we going??"

Seiyul grabbed onto the back of the seat before she could be flung again.

"To the frontline! We have to help!"

"Help with what?"

She questioned.

"Rock drakes! They're handling a group of them up front!"