Rise Of The Beast Queen: Elizabeth

Ch 49 The Art of War

The army of beasts rushed out and quickly began to close in on the hut, before the ground collapsed and the attacking beasts fell. The devastation started closest too to the hut and in less than a minute stopped just feet away from the tree line. Dust filled the air like a smog along with screams of pain and death that rang out as males were impaled by wooden spikes.

Being terra marked Soren could have easily caught up to Zephyr, but had instead made the decision to hang back a few yards, so he had a perfect view to watch the ground cave in and Zephyr go down. Soren lept just in time to avoid the fall and would have likely been able to avoid injury all together if it wasn't for Leon, who at the last second jumped on his back, which drove him straight down onto the spikes. One pierced through his left shoulder and another went through his left thigh, a third just barely missed impaling his head.

Leon was easily able to avoid the spikes after using Soren as a stepping stone and remained completely uninjured. He barely spared a glance at his brother before he rushed off to help Zephyr, who had been impaled through his lower left side, though the only reason he even cared about his full grown cub was because he knew Tabby would be devastated if he died. Unfortunately for us, but fortunately for them the wound was not life threatening, painful yes, especially when Leon cut off the spike and pulled Zephyr off what was left of the broken stump, leaving a gaping hole in his lower abdomen that gushed blood.

Only a few males were actually killed, several had potentially fatal or crippling injuries, most had at least some type of minor wound, but even the lucky few who didn't get hurt were stunned and confused. Never before had they seen or even heard of a pitfall trap, this was something new and completely unexpected, leaving them all in a brief state of shock where no one was sure of what to do.

Past the groans and whimpers and growls, a noise could be heard, soft at first but quickly grew louder, a sound like the earth shifting or Digging... A little more ground collapsed in specific areas along the pits walls, opening up tunnels just below the trees where males from The Rivers Bend Tribe quickly flooded out and saw their destroyed tribe lands for the first time. Although the destruction was done by their own hands, as they ran underground collapsing the tunnels as they went, it didn't lessen the impact they felt at the loss of the home/land/territory they'd claimed and defended for generations.

Though Chief Kadence, the fox Chief, was impressed looking at all the injured beastmen, he was pleasantly surprised by how well Liz's plan actually worked. With a growl he ordered his tribesmen to launch their attack. Some went through and killed all the males that refused to submit, while others weaved through the spiked pits, around dead and injured beasts to flank behind the males who were already back in a race to reach the hut.

Despite his wounds, Zephyr was relentless since he could smell Liz's scent coming from the hut and he refused to let another male get to her first. Leon hung back, not because he couldn't outrun the injured male but he took a page from Soren's playbook incase there was anymore traps or surprises, inadvertently using his own cub as a shield.

When they reached the hut they found furs heavily coated with Liz's scent tied with vines and hung up around the outside of the hut. Zephyr climbed up the rubble and was reaching for the door, when it suddenly slammed open right into him, sending Zephyr flying back down into the pit.

As the dust settled a giant white tiger stood at the top glaring down and roared, releasing the full extent of his beast pressure that he'd been trying so hard to suppress this whole time. The charging males skid to a stop feeling the power and rage pouring off him, their hesitation allowed the Rivers Bend tribesmen to catch up, trapping them between an army and a pissed off terra marked male.

Luckily for them the bloodlust in Jin's eyes was focused on the injured male sprawled out on the ground, who had just barely missed being impaled on the spikes again but was nearly knocked unconscious from the single blow that didn't even hit him directly. Jin jumped down into the pit, his laser focus solely on Zephyr, before movement to his right drew his attention to Leon trying to sneak attack him mid air. Jin didn't even try to evade the hit, instead used to momentum to twist around and dig his claws into Leon's side, dragging him down to impact with the ground hard.