Beneath the Waves

For Us Part 2

The five Chayal that Rhesus brought couldn't have come at a better time. They were overwhelmed, starting to lose and injuries were mounting. Now it was Chris, Appo and six Chayal vs 19 others. They managed to keep them away from Ria as she was trying to heal Armin, the last time Chris shot a look back to the two of them things didn't look too good. It was time to double own and really start fighting now. She raised her blade and ran it through the Chayal in front of her. At the same time she saw Appo hit one of them, both disappearing in a black mist almost simultaneously.

Rhesus' Chayal's blades sliced through the air, black obsidian shining in the sunlight. Two of them took down four more Chayal, leaving nothing but a black mist. Things seemed to be turning around for them, the numbers slowly depleting, but still not an even match. The Chayal turned their attention away from Ria and Armin on the ground and formed a circle around the group. They started moving in a circle around them, forming what looked like a black tornado around them. They were back to back, trying to fight the swarm of Chayal. Staying in formation, only one or two at a time coming out and attacking one of them at random. They weren't prepared to face other Chayal so they didn't have black obsidian blades, only their Chayal blades which could cause injury only to Appo. They focused most of their attacks on these two, leaving the other Chayal to try and defend them as much as possible.

Appo shot one firebolt after the other into the swirling mass of black, but it didn't do much more than knock them out of formation momentarily. In a frustrated burst, he broke formation and dove directly into the black blur surrounding them, taking three Chayal out of formation and with a circular motion and a slice of his blade he took all three of them out before diving down towards where Armin was still laying lifeless on the forest floor. Leaving the rest behind to go see if his partner was alive.

Chris steeled her nerves and faced the raiming swirling Chayal. It was now almost evenly matched. The 7 remaining good Chayal formed a circle, back to back in the center of the tornado and started moving in a circle as well. As if they shared one brain they adopted a similar attack pattern to the Chayal on the outside, blades out, moving as one. It was just as they were getting into their groove that one of the Chayal, the original one that had followed Ria came out of the black mass, pulled a blade from inside her habit and slit the throat of one of Rhesus' Chayal. She disappeared in a cloud of smoke and Rhesus looked at the other Chayal with pure hatred in her eyes.

"Hieu, I should have known you were behind this" said Rhesus

"And I should have known you were a filthy traitor just like Amma" replied Hieu

The two of them swung, their blades colliding in mid-air. They moved out of the circle and started what seemed to be a battle that was a long time coming. The last thing Chris heard was Rhesus whispering "This is for Amma" before starting to fight Hieu in earnest.

Now it was Chris and 4 Chayal up against Hieu's remaining flock. They were still back to back, mid air, swords at the ready. They knew they had the advantage of black obsidian, but now that Hieu had pulled out a Chayal killing dagger, there was no way of knowing whether the others had concealed weapons of their own. There was a general unease among them now that they were unsure of how much danger they were actually in.

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Ria kept her focus, her hands hovering above Armin's wound. She was startled by the sound of sudden footsteps behind her, and when she looked around she saw Appo hurrying towards them, wings still out. He crouched on the other side of Armin, taking his hand and holding it between two of his own.

"Come on love, you can't leave me like this" he said, tears staining his cheeks

"I'm nothing without you, you are the glue that holds me together even on a good day, if you leave, what will I do with all the love I have for you... where will I put it... you can't go... not without me" he cried, touching his forehead to Armin's hand.