War was declared and the draft came. All male bats of age were drafted into the war. Oftentimes, battles were much shorter than the ones experienced in the cave. After three months of war, spring had arrived. The battles were never long. I learned quickly that to survive, you must kill. So I killed. I was just a body on the field. One more soldier to the thousands of others. One of the most important skills I picked up was voice-throwing. It proved to be the ultimate tool in scouting for assassins ahead. It served as a much more reliable way to detect enemies than sight.
I was left with multiple scars across my feet and muzzle. One large notch was carved in my ear from a deadeye archer. These archers carried massive bows that shot arrows which would punch through any armor. I was lucky enough to stumble at the right moment which caused the arrow to slice my ear. The bat behind me was not so lucky. Neither were the two bats behind him. The arrow had driven through all three of them and stuck them to the trunk of a tree.
The addition of mages caused even more frenzy to the battle. It was a revolution when Mages were discovered in the second month of the war. There were three types of Mages. Those who mastered the power of the moon and cast frost and ice. Those who had the power of the sun and could cast fire and initiate explosions. The final were the Mages with the ability to bend sound to their will and cast illusions.
Only one to every few hundred bats were Mages. Most of the Mages were from Elite and Noble families. Thill and Litra were the only Pallid bats to be Mages. Thill had the power of the Sun and Litra held the power of Illusions. They were enlisted as Mages and soon wore the robes that marked them as one.
The power of Mages was great but did not render them invincible. Their skills were slow to cast and oftentimes killed far too early in battle. I was assigned as protector to a mage by the name of Charlotte or Lotte for short. She was a Hoary bat. She was mostly closed off and wouldn't talk much to any of the other bats in the squad.
The squad had a total of twelve bats. There was the captain, two scouts, a mage and escort, three infantry, two rear covers, and two archers. The squad was usually given assignments as reinforcements to help turn the tide of battles. Lotte was a Sun Mage and specialized in providing heavy bombardments of fire.
Acting as her escort while she cast her spells was burdensome. The northern bats had quickly recognized who were the most dangerous bats in the army and those were Mages. Seeing a mage robe meant a swarm of incoming frenzied bats. Fighting them off was my job and it kept me busy.
Her spells would often completely turn the tide of battles if not completely lay waste to the field.
"Nice work." The captain complimented as Lotte finished casting her spell.
Lotte watched the smoking field with cold eyes. "Those northern scum deserved it. Killed my mother."
The squad looked at one another. This was the most she had ever said to us. Usually it was either a simple thank you or just a quick glance before she left to go back to camp.
"Great work, Jan." The Captain nodded at me.
"Aye." I shrugged and got to work cleaning my equipment.
