Bodanen: Cobalt War

Chapter 16: The Storm

The enemy spilt out of their base in waves, each met with a wall of fire, electricity, and light. The outpost's forces were felling wave after wave of foes. Yet they continued forward, soon passing the initial kill zone of the riflemen and began to march on toward the front lines. With the enemy closing in on the casters, a howl echoed from the woods and with it came the wolf therian warriors. "Push them back! Don't give them anything! Protect the casters!" Shikoba now stood next to the captains in the clearing, leading his fellow tribesmen into battle; he stood proud with his fellows in leather armour identical to his wife's.

As a wave of wolf therians with claws aimed at the blues came from the woods, a second cry came from Lilly, Angus, and Ixchel; the call for the attack. "For An-ox! For Bodanen! Soldiers, warriors, Charge!" As their cries shook the air, the third line of soldiers rushed forward with the wolf therians, meeting the enemy head-on.

The clash of metal, the ringing of explosions, and the stench of death flowed from the other side of the rock mound that hid the infiltrators. Now was their moment; as the others distracted the main force of the blues, they would enter the enemy stronghold and find any useful information, leaving destruction in their wake. The five jumped from their cover, and all eyes turned to Talib. "Do your thing, Sage. Get us in!" Sayen readied herself to charge headfirst into the enemy. As the others readied their weapons, Talib began an incantation, moving his hands in a circle as dirt and stone began to move from the mound, split into two different lines, and move around the group. As Talib continued his magic, a tunnel began to form in front of them, a perfectly circular path leading into the rock mound.

After a few moments, two large piles of stone and dirt sat behind the group and in front of them was a circular, pitch-black pathway. "Did you finish? Does this go all the way through? You'd think there would be light inside, at least." Siegfried looked down the path, trying to see the end.

"I made the path as long as I could; this is all the dirt, stone, and other organic materials that stood before us. There must be something other than dirt and stone blocking us at the end. All we can do now is advance." Talib ushered the others into the tunnel as he began to enter.

"Let's make this quick then. Me and Blake will be in front, Talib and Sayen will be in the middle, and Boris will guard the rear. Sound good?" Siegfried stepped past Talib and drew his sword. With confirmation from the others, he began down the black corridor with Blake, who was making a bright but gentle flame from his watch. Talib, Sayen, and Boris quickly followed behind.

They ran through the tunnel, throwing caution to the wind and moving as quickly as possible to lessen the loss of life. They had been running for less than a minute when they reached a dead end. Blocking them from moving forward was a wall of steel; covered in dirt and rust, it was evident that this base had been there for a while. "This seems to be what was blocking us; shall we get rid of it, then?" Blake ran his hand across the wall in examination. "It doesn't seem to be terribly thick; shouldn't take more than a few seconds to cast an appropriate spell." Blake turned back to the others for their input.

"Do it; Sayen, Boris, and I will rush in once you're done. Talib, can you give Blake some light while he works, please?" Siegfried stepped back and readied himself with his sword in his right hand and his gun in his left. Boris and Sayen stood on either side of him, preparing their weapons as well, and Talib produced a more substantial fire for light.

"Sound's good; hold on for just a second." With that, Blake squatted down and produced a powerful, concentrated flame from his pocket watch; with the fire, he began to cut through the metal wall, quickly making a circular doorway to advance through. With the sounds of battle echoing through the tunnel from the entrance, the group waited in silence as Blake made them their path forward; Siegfried and Boris had blades at the ready, Sayen had her claws raring to go, and Talib's rings began to glow faintly as his flame burned on. "There, it's done. Just needs a good 'push' to open up. One of you want that honour?" Blake stepped back and readied himself as Siegfried stood in front of the wall.