Chapter 66: Casualties (1)

Chapter 66: Casualties (1)

Xerxes bounded back to the line of troops.

At the same time, Arwia filled her palm with purple sand.New novel chapters are published on

In the past, Xerxes would have had trouble identifying the specific component she used. But in his months of study, he had crammed such information into his brain. The purplish substance was murex whorl sand. Casting Stronghold Deflection would drain Arwia of five times the amount of melam he would spend to cast Singular Lethality, but not more than half of what he needed for Minor Augmentation. What was more, the spell would last for four minutes.

Arwia stared at her palm as she traced the Nasaru Sanum rune. Then, melam exploded, rushing out and forming a shimmering blue wall that spread out into a dome covering the entire camp.

The smaller many-handed Abhorrent were already smacking into the transparent barrier. And though Xerxes couldnt quite see the base of the shield on the far side of the camp, he knew the rat-like Abhorrent were doing the same thing over there.

Some dozens of cubits away in the middle of the camp, Gandash shouted, First Lieutenants and Sergeants, to me!

Trying to flick some of the gore off his blade, Xerxes hurried across the camp. From the troop line on the mound, Jad joined him, along with Sergeants Stratos and Vasilios. The two other first lieutenants were Dasi and Kishar, who approached with their respective Sergeants, Babati and Slar.

As they gathered, Gandash said, We have less than three minutes with the shield.

Arwia can extend the time, Jad pointed out.

True. But the Abhorrent arent going away. If Arwia keeps casting Stronghold Deflection over and over, shell drain herself within less than forty-five minutes. So we have to decide. Stand our ground? Or form up and fight our way back to the road? According to Enusat, there are a lot of rats up there. We dont know how many of the many-handed there are. I want opinions.

Stand and fight, Stratos said.

Agreed, Vasilios added. We stand a better chance with shields up and the mages casting spells.

Xerxes had to agree. He wasnt looking forward to more fighting with monsters, but in this case there didnt seem to be any other choice.

Our position is bad, said Jad. The Tower Plateau is only half a league down the road. It has a single narrow path to the top. Much easier to defend.

Its the getting there that would be the problem, Sergeant Vasilios said. Half a league with Abhorrent harrying us the entire time? Wed lose a lot more men than if we stayed put.

He wasnt sure which were worse.

Kash, you handle the big ones here, alright?

Sure.

Ill tell the same to Teucer. Kuri and I will take on the rats.

The four minutes Arwia added to the dome-like shield sped by in what seemed like seconds.

We have superior weapons! Gandash shouted. Superior spells. Superior understanding of tactics. We have every advantage. WIPE THEM OUT!

He shouted his last sentence as Arwias shield flickered out of existence. Xerxes kept his eyes locked on one of the large rat Abhorrent atop the cliff. Standing next to him, only a few cubits away, was Kuri from Al-Ga.

Remember, Xerxes said, try to take them out fast.

Kuri ran his hand across his buzzed pate and then put it on his component pouch. I know. Im going for decapitations.

Good.

The Abhorrent surged forward.

Xerxes ignored the ground-level fighting as he watched the large monsters above. Seconds passed, and he gripped the hilt of his sword. He glanced down at the line defending against the smaller rats. The soldiers were holding strong, but the hundreds upon hundreds of vicious rodent-like Abhorrent were already going wild.

He looked back up. One of the giant rats stepped forward, jumped, then dropped toward the field of battle. The other three followed.

Lets do it, Xerxes said.

Yeah, Kuri replied.