Steel Wolf

Safety

Mumbled voices running together. Clanking. Tinkling. Footsteps. Snapping, like someone stepped on a...one of those things that fell off the green things which reached to the blue above...twigs, yes, that's what they were. Twigs. Someone stepped on a twig. Why didn't her arms move? Her legs were frozen in place, too. Why was it dark? Suffocating...

Tanaya gasped for breath, her mouth wide to gulp air, chest expanding to suck in life-giving air. Her eyes snapped open and her hand shot upward to seize the healing mage by the throat, squeezing before she was fully aware. The female mage's glowing white eyes began to bulge. She touched a nerve on Tanaya's arm. The arm went limp and fell away from the gasping healer. A few chuckles.

"Told ya," a male voice said humorously; Ergnok, the one she had clobbered with her helm back in the barracks. Several others were clustered around their commander.

Tanaya's other hand moved to the tear in her shirt where the sword had entered and killed her. She brought her hand close to her face and drunkenly examined it. No blood. What the hell? She had felt the sword slam into her armor. Felt the sinew give way, the bones of her ribcage separate and crack, the strange feeling of something foreign in a place where there should have been nothing. She jerked herself into a sitting position and, with great effort, forced her vocal chords to work.

"Prin...princ...girl." Her head swam as she gasped for breath, her eyes focused on a small cup of water that was gently placed against her lips and tilted to give her the briefest of sips. Her gaze transferred to the hand holding the cup and traveled up the slender arm to see Serenna's brown eyes filled with worry and relief.

"I...I...failed..." Another sip. "...Highness..."

Serenna brushed a stray hair from her face, smiling gently as she held the cup to her lover's lips, the light breeze carrying the scent of strawberries and lilacs mixed with the stench of burned and bloodied bodies.

"You succeeded, Commander. Were it not for your calm and devotion to duty, none of us would be alive. I commend you, most highly. Your guards are the finest I have ever seen," said the royal. "The healers cast resurrection spells on you and two others."

Tanaya shook her head to clear it and finished the cup of water. She looked around her to see the two soldiers she had killed just before being stabbed to death by...

Her eyes fixed on the corpse of the one who had killed her. It was hard to tell what it was, really. The face was gone, apparently torn off by some kind of animal, the arms and legs had been ripped out at the sockets, belly savaged, ribcage exposed. No sword or staff had done that.

She took a final deep breath and stood up shakily, swaying slightly, turning slowly to assess the devastation around her. Undead soldier bodies littered the area, some still smoldering from immolation spells or fireballs thrown by the battlemages. Her twin double-curved swords were gently pressed into her hands, her hands automatically wrapping around the familiar handles and placing them in their scabbards.

"Officers to me and report!" she yelled, though her head swam. The princess moved away to help the other guards and allow the officers to cluster around their commander. Rance MacNaulty and the others strode up, bits of undead spattered across their armor. Imelda's helm, faceplate open, sported an undead ear stuck in the same place her normal ear would be, giving her a slightly comical appearance.

"We lost a total of fourteen horses, commander," said Rance sadly, speaking low tones. "The battlemages and healers are resting. That battle took a lot out of them, the healers especially. We need to see if we can get a few more."

Scualdon spoke next, his voice low as well.

"I put out a few scouts who found the road and watched an entire contingent of undead and demons go by at a dead run. They estimate between fifteen hundred and two thousand. They'll probably block the pass and spread along the tops of the surrounding hills. We'd be insane to even think about trying to fight a force of that size."