We’re far enough away from our village that the emotions are blurred and there’s no chance of me being able to actually communicate verbally with any of my Bound there. But something has clearly gone wrong – and dramatically so. I can only determine one reason for that: that they have been attacked.

  Suddenly, I’m seized by suspicion. The timing of this…and the odd behaviour of the Pathwalkers here. I glare at the Pathwalkers, meeting Earth-former’s eyes.

  “What is happening back at my village?” I demand. If I’m wrong, I’ll look a little foolish. But if I’m right….

  The samuran puts on a good front – outrage flickers through her spikes even as she draws herself up to her full height.

  “How should I know?” she questions angrily, then visibly tries to clear her emotions away from her spikes. “We thank you for your service. Will you come and discuss with us what might constitute an appropriate apology gift?”

  I see through her attempt to change the topic. Despite her best efforts to hide her feelings, there’s that hint of mustard yellow at the base of her spikes. She has good control of her emotional expression, but she’s not perfect. Arguably, she could just be uneasy due to fearing that I will let the matriarch take out her anger on the village, but that seems unlikely.

  Her packmates restored to her, the matriarch is already turning to leave the area, appearing to pay not the slightest bit of attention to the samurans. In reality, I can feel that she’s controlling the air around her – no attack will get even close without her being aware of it. Either way, she’s not being in the least aggressive.

  Which means that the unease comes from somewhere else.

  I stalk forwards, staring Earth-former in the eyes.

  “What. Is. Happening. To. My village?” I demand once more when I am looming over the Pathwalker, less than a hand’s width away.

  “I…I….” The Pathwalker stutters, her eyes wide, her spikes bright yellow in terror. She obviously feels completely cornered.

  And like a cornered rat, she bites back.

  I feel the earth move beneath my feet, the Pathwalker trying to drop me into it just as I did to the raptorcats. I reach into the earth myself, contesting her grip on it.

  She’s a strong Earth-Former, but she’s not an Earth-Shaper, and the differences have never been so obvious. The earth moves under her mental grip like it’s putty in her hands, but by pouring in magic and thickening it, her putty becomes thick clay, and then immovable stone. My feet remain on top of the ground, and not within it as she would have liked.

  For a moment, she stares up at me, even more terrified than before. And then all hell breaks loose.

  Behind you! Catch shouts at me and I duck, a beast much like a reptilian squirrel flies through the space where my head had previously occupied. I jump back as another creature scurries forwards and swipes at my legs. More eyes appear in the forest and I hear the cracking of branches as bigger beasts move in.

  At the same time, I see the Warriors leap in, their weapons bared, aiming straight for me. I quickly retreat, dodging rocks and blades that fly at me. I’m a key target here – I need to return to the ranks of my Bound.

  My companions don’t need my guidance to attack, though Catch and Poison hesitate to attack the Pathwalkers directly. That’s fine – they’re more needed in the fight against the Warriors. We also need our full numbers – twelve Warriors is too much to take on all at once if we’re not actually aiming to kill, and who knows if the Unevolved in the village will come to help too.

  Everyone come here, we need you! We’re fighting! I call to the Pathwalkers and Warriors who I left behind in the village.

  We’re coming back as quickly as we can, answers River grimly.

  Coming back? I ask as I hurriedly deflect a wooden stake currently being controlled by Ghost, feverishly working to reinforce the soil into stone before Earth-former can challenge my control and upset the footing for all of us. Where did you go?

  Two Warriors said they had something to show us in the forest. Our four Warriors came with us to protect us, she answers quickly. I curse at the realisation – this was planned.

  Hades, Persephone, shield me, I snap at them. Heavy bodies and wide, powerful wings instantly move to shield my body from the hail of telekinetic attacks from Ghost. I double down on my efforts. All my magic is focused into the earth beneath us, coating the impromptu arena with resilient stone. I’m not only protecting myself now – I’m protecting all of my Bound who need reliable ground beneath their feet to fight.

  Slowly, I feel Earth-former yield, sensing her tiring. As the battle eases, I find I have a moment of breathing space. Immediately, I dive into Sirocco’s viewpoint to see the battle. A sharp, mental sting makes me realise that she too is fighting – a creature has snuck up on her where she was perched in the tree and wrapped around her.

  Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

  Feeling like my blood is boiling at the attack, I pour my magic into her. She cries out in pain at the sensation, but fire explodes from her body, her Fire Wing extending far further than it ever has before. The serpent-like creature hisses and rears back, its nasty mandibles clicking along with its insect-like front legs. I see it battle with itself as it is driven forwards by the commands of its Binder, even as it seeks to retreat from the painful fire.

  It’s enough leeway for Sirocco to leap off the branch and escape its clutches. She soars over the battlefield and I see what a mess it has become. Lathani is the biggest presence, using her Shadow Hop to excellent effect as she leaps out of samurans’ shadows to rip at their bodies. Hades and Persephone are positioned defensively near me, as are Catch and Poison. Our main tanks, Fenrir and Komodo, are our first line of defence, their armoured bodies proving to be resistant to the Warriors’ weapons.

  As for the matriarch, she has disappeared with her three packmates – no help from that quarter, apparently. I don’t have time to be disappointed – the situation is too desperate.

  We are definitely outnumbered. I count seventeen Warriors here now – it must be all of their contingent except for the ones with my own samurans who will hopefully be here soon. In addition, there are the four Pathwalkers. Though Healer is clearly a non-combatant, crouched next to one of the the three Warriors already down, Earth-former, Ghost, and Beast-tamer are doing their best to make up for that.

  Beast-tamer is off to the side, her frustration visible. I can’t quite get a count on the number of beasts she’s throwing at me and my Bound, but I can see that, apart from two exceptions, they’re mostly creatures weaker in combat than my own companions – fortunately. And she’s clearly having to force them to fight, the effort clear in her drawn expression. The two exceptions – beasts similar to the two Bares-claws brought with him to my village – seem more willing to fight but I’m not worried. The two Evolved kiinas and two Warriors are very happy to take out their anger at this attack on anything that comes close enough to snap. I don’t fear for my own safety.

  Earth-former is also off to the side having evidently given up the contest for my created stone platform. Now, she’s trying to pull soil in from beyond it to snare my Bound’s legs. Meanwhile, Ghost seems to have disappeared. I send out an Inspect to find her and she flickers into view, her attention fixed on Lathani, clearly about to throw something at the nunda’s head.

  Lathani! Shadow Hop now! I shout mentally and she immediately obeys. The blade glinting with some sort of poison slams into a Warrior instead. He hisses in pain and then collapses.

  I think quickly. It’s clearly time to take the kid-gloves off – if they’re trying so hard to kill us, we need to do the same for them.

  Lathani, go for Ghost. Take her out. I send her a feeling of where the samuran is since the nunda can’t see her and smelling her is too inexact. Lathani agrees, diving into the closest shadow and emerging from another near Ghost’s. The samuran tries to dive away, but Lathani uses her own shadow to grip the Pathwalker’s, limiting her movement. Then, like a cat playing with a mouse, she starts to have a little fun.

  I’d tell her off for playing but I have my own concerns. My small honour-guard and I rush towards the battle, a stampede of bulk and magic as I direct my companions forward to help Fenrir and Komodo. They have big health pools and their venomous teeth – and in Fenrir’s case, tail – are harrying the Warriors. But although they have already downed two more and another two are looking rather ill, my Bound are looking worse for wear too.

  That opens me up to attack from Beast-tamer’s own beasts. Pulling my mace and shield out of my Inventory, I fix my eyes on Beast-tamer herself, using my weapon to clear my way through to her. I know from experience that the Tamer is more important to subdue than her beasts – I highly doubt that they will continue to fight if she’s dead. Not that many of them are able to fight well with the broken ribs and broken legs I leave them with.

  Her eyes filled with fear, Beast-tamer backs away, but a sudden scream and burst of fire from behind her makes her jump forwards instinctively. My mace clouts her in her side, sending her tumbling in a broken mess to the ground. Despite clearly broken ribs, she wriggles away from me as I stalk towards her, her eyes wide in terror.

  “I yield! I yield!” she yells as I prepare to bring my mace down on her head. I hesitate for a moment, then twist quickly to intercept one of the exceptions – a lithe killing machine.

  Its teeth attempt to tear out my throat. I roar, set both hands on either side of the beast’s neck, and send a vicious pulse of flesh-magic into it, piercing its spinal cord at the base of its skull. It goes limp, not dead, but not long for the living world as its lungs and internal organs stop working.

  I glare at Beast-tamer as she claws her way backwards. She fetches up against the base of one of the huts and there she’s trapped, her limbs gone unresponsive with pain and fear. I storm towards her, my anger at her duplicity adding to the fury I’d previously been feeling.

  Just as I’m about to crush her skull, a body flings itself before my feet, almost tripping me. I raise my mace to kill whatever creature decided to attack me, only to stop when I see that it’s Earth-former, lying on her back, her arms outstretched in a desperate plea for me to stop.

  We yield! We yield! she cries, perhaps unconsciously copying her sister’s plea. I snarl – I’ve already heard that once. Please! You’ve already killed one of us! Please don’t kill the rest! she continues. We surrender! Do what you like with us and our village! Just…let us live!

  Wary of this being another trick, I don’t lower my mace, but send quick glances around the battle. Everyone is frozen, some in mid-strike. I might imagine that one of the Pathwalkers has revealed a previously unknown talent for freezing time, except for the fact that I can see everyone breathing, their heads turned towards me and Earth-former, their spikes flickering with mixed emotions. Even my own Bound have paused and I see why Earth-former had said that one of them had died. She wasn’t talking about the Warriors, but one of the Pathwalkers – Ghost’s head is currently rolling on the disturbed earth. Lathani looks remarkably smug, I notice.

  Glancing back at Beast-tamer, I see something in her eyes and spikes that wasn’t there the first time around – resignation. This time, I can believe the surrender is real.

  “If you want to live, put all your weapons down and sit on the ground. Slowly,” I growl angrily at the infuriating pack of samurans. Tempted as I am to just dash off now to go to the rescue of my village, I decide that perhaps getting more information would be a better option. “If a single one of them looks like they’re about to attack, take them down immediately,” I instruct my Bound, purposefully making it so that everyone can understand me.

  The Warriors and remaining Pathwalkers are just following my instructions when I see movement through the trees. I tense and my people with me, only to relax a moment later. Running towards us are the rest of my group, trailed by three of the local Warriors and clearly prepared for battle.

  They slow as they get close, eyeing the scene.

  Are we too late? asks Yells, sounding disappointed of all things.

  here!

  here!

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