Chapter 253: Overland Operation

It was early morning when the team gathered in the topside tunnel. A good dozen fighters, excluding Ann and company, had gathered. Alruna, Eyes, Tarnu, Bark, Bone, and several others. One was a serpentine person with tails for arms, malformed scales on their face, and a forked tongue flicking between their lips. Another was what looked like a marmot person? Definitely some kind of rodent. Another was a stoat, with an elongated body and beady eyes, but had kept its legs and arms as human. An odd bunch, overall, but plenty deadly.

“Alright, kids,” Tarnu called over the low murmur of conversation. “I’ve told you all the plan, but for those of you who forget, Eyes, we’re going over it one more time! Each of us will leave five minutes apart and take off in a random direction. Wherever your heart leads you. Do your best to cover your tracks! Don’t want anything finding this place while we’re out, even if Eldest is watching our backs.”

The ancient dragon, only his head visible in the hallway, laughed. The sound ,in such a much tighter space than the cavern shook through Ann like speakers in a high school dance or that one time she’d been to a club.

“There’s a clearing a mile and a half north! Once you’re far enough out, circle around and meet up there! Once everyone’s counted, we start making a fucking riot and kill whatever comes our way. Got it?”

A chorus of affirmatives forced Ann’s ears to flatten and block some of it out even as she shouted her own.

“Good. I’m going last. Eyes, you go first. You remember the place?”

“Yup! Like taking a nap out there in the summer.”

“Good.” With that, the bug-bear-man whistled, and the hidden mechanism that worked the door silently pulled open the aperture.

Eyes poked her head out. Apparently, she saw nothing because with a quick thumbs-up back to the rest, she crawled her way out into the morning light.

Ann waited her turn. They didn’t bother closing the door between people. They’d file out quickly enough, and if something was watching this place already, it’d already have seen where people were leaving from. She had to imagine that this was what it was like for army people doing the whole parachute thing. Her ears were flicking all over the place as they caught scattered conversations amid the nervous silence.

“Oi. Loosen up, love,” Kat said, nudging her with her elbow.

“Tell that to Rosalyn,” Ann laughed as she squeezed the hand that was crushing her own.

They’d privately made their own meeting spot to make sure their group at least had two people together while they travelled. Kat, Bren, and Lucia would meet up to the south, while Ann and Rosalyn were headed west. They’d wait for the other three and make their way up to the meeting spot together.

Rosalyn went first, called by Tarnu, and she shuffled her way up to the entrance, then ran west.

Kat clenched Ann’s hand, but they knew she’d be fine. Rosalyn had survived on her own for years, now. She was significantly stronger and would be totally fine.

Everyone filtered out until it was just Ann and Tarnu.

“Alright, kid. We’ll go at the same time. You going west for your girl?” Tarnu asked.

“Yeah. How’d you know?”

“Seen the other three all go south. Figured you’d be going together. You first, and I’ll close up shop behind you. Good luck.”

Ann took off running. She kept her stride long and bounding, making sure her pawprints were far apart. No four-legged animal could imitate her tracks, and she counted on it as she put extra force into each step to kick up snow and cover it up a bit. Waheela had taught her the trick one night when she was complaining Ann was too easy to find.

Cold wind blew her hair back in the brisk morning, soothing the wolf inside her as she moved. Running was becoming a thing she looked forward to the more she stayed inside a more civilised place. Even the game of tag with Abigail hadn’t quite scratched this itch.

She found Rosalyn posted up next to a large rock in the field. She wasn’t really hiding, but had easily covered her tracks with some of her wind spells. Ann got a happy wave as she approached, then skidded to a stop in a spray of snow.

“Miss me?” she laughed, scooping her girlfriend up and planting a kiss on her forehead.

“Every second. Anything follow you?”

“Nah. Couldn’t hear anything, didn’t see anything. Tarnu was last out before me, and he closed up. Let’s get moving, kay?”

They took off at a much slower pace, but did less to cover their tracks. Getting away from the entrance and leaving that clear was the point of this whole thing.

About ten minutes later, they met up with their other group and made for the rendezvous point. They weren’t the last, but were pretty late overall. Having to circle back from the south added a good amount of time.

The glade, or really more of a snow-covered clearing, was a great place to fight. It was only slightly inclined, facing south, and the sun shone down clearly, allowing for great visibility. Several stone outcroppings were scattered throughout the roughly three-hundred-foot-diameter area. Some, at a quick glance, looked to be about twenty feet tall, with a crazy amount of variance. Eyes was in the middle of clearing them of snow and any ice she could find. They’d offer fantastic cover from anything that wanted to snipe at them from the trees, and give people like Lucia and Rosalyn a great spot to attack from the high ground.

They had four groups set up. Close-ranged and long-ranged fighters, and the few supports like Bren. Kat was the most deliberate tank, but the rest were hard to kill, just being what they were.

Ann was put in the position of harrier, as Tarnu called it, and would be one of the fighters helping where things got… harry. It suited her just fine. Eyes was also a part of this designation due to her insane size, letting her reach anywhere quickly.

Alruna and Tarnu were the heavy hitters. While the others fought the chaff, they’d be on the lookout for larger threats. Rosalyn was their ranged backup, and would be using her smaller spells on little enemies to recharge her lightning as the battle progressed.

Overall, to Ann, it seemed like a good set-up. They were basically setting up a tower defence area and would be holding the enemies at choke points between rocks. She hoped that they wouldn’t have to worry about things climbing over those rocks, or under them, but that wasn’t her job to worry about until it happened.

She took off, taking a couple laps of the area they’d be fighting in. It took her about ten seconds from the centre to the outer ring at a full sprint. Good time. Meanwhile, it took Eyes about the same, but her long strides carried her much further. She caught Alruna and Tarnu doing similar tests to make sure they had everything ready for action.

“Hey, Lambchop! Ann called, running up to a rock Rosalyn had climbed to get a good vantage point. Lucia was on the next one over, a bit higher up. Her plumage glittered like metal in the light of day. It was insanely pretty.

“Hey. You got your stuff figured out? Mine’s pretty simple, and so’s Lucia’s. Hope we don’t have to fight too many, cause a whole horde would really put this group to the test. Then again, I’ve got a lot of lightning stored up. Spent some time yesterday just spamming wind blades into the water to top it off. Gonna make things go boom!” she cackled.

“Only big thing,” Lucia called over. “Fliers mine.”

“Until I need to use lightning, yeah. Then I’m helping with wind blades and thorns. Come on, you’re acting like I’ve never done this,” Rosalyn shot back.

Ann looked between the two. Had they been squabbling over this? That’s when she saw it in Lucia’s posture, and the obsessive checking of her rifle. Nerves. Lucia was nervous. Out of all of them. Oh, shit, right. This’d be the first time she’d fought in a large-scale battle since the Edmonton Seed.

“Lucia, you alright? Know the last time… didn’t go well.”

“Am. Will be. Stop asking. Focus.”

Ann nodded and let it drop. If the Huntress said she’d be alright, then she’d be alright. Bren was probably already working on calming her down from wherever he was right now.

“Alright. Gonna go talk to Kat and make sure she’s alright, then it’ll be go time.” Using her midnight blue gauntlets, she clambered up the rock a little. Rosalyn leaned down and sent her away with a kiss and a wave.

Kat was standing with Bark and a couple of others, including the snake person. They were giving her room, since their striking instinct was still too sensitive to safely get really close. Ann knew the look on Kat’s face. She was giving orders and setting up a battle plan. Her princess taking charge always brought a smile to her face, and she pushed her wolf-faced mask up to display that smile as she neared them.

“There ye are, Ann!” Kat greeted her.

That flash of a smile made her heart flip as she leaned in to kiss her girlfriend on her scarred side. “Hey, babe. Looking alright over here?”

“Better now that ye’re here. Jokes aside, we’ve got a good spot. Rock’re tight enough that the bigger gaps can be dealt with by two people, and we’ve got enough tae do so. If we had more standard troops, we could get a square formation going. Much better fer holdin’ a random spot, but that’d run intae space problems wit’ us an’ them attackin’ me’n ye when we’re fightin by accident. Cannae ‘ave that.”

“No, we can’t.” The snake person made a stuttering hiss, accompanied by a rattle of its tail. Ann guessed that was a laugh “Would be frussstrating.”

“Friends are friends, not food,” Ann nodded wisely. “Sorry, I don’t think I got your name before.”

“No Armsss. I don’t think Eldessst was having his mossst creative day. Call me Noa. It’sss easssier.”

Ann nodded and fell back to listen to Kat’s lecture. Even Tarnu and Alruna showed up to listen to her appraisal and modifications to the plan. There wasn’t much to add, but finer points to adjust. People with a wider reach, like Noa, were set up in the wide gaps and paired up with a second fighter. Smaller gaps would be held by one person. Their four support casters, including Bren, would be assigned a quadrant to assist. The four response warriors would go where needed. Lucia would be in charge of taking out aerial threats and whatever else she could get at. Rosalyn had the larger threats and was helping Lucia or another area to recharge her spells. Their third ranged fighter, a man half made of stone himself, wielded a massive sling and would be doing his best to do as much damage to whatever area was getting too strong. The rocks he was using might as well be boulders.

As Ann looked at the guy, she realised she had it backwards. He’d been Grrn, and it looked like that had cracked away into a fleshy body. “Huh. The curse of flesh is real here,” she muttered under her breath.

Honestly, they’d all heard this twice over before Kat’s detailed approach, but repetition made sure people knew what was happening.

“If a section collapses, what do we do?” Kat asked the group.

Bones raised his hand. “Fall back to the secondary ring. Tighten the circle and keep fighting.”

“Correct! Ann or Eyes will be in charge o’ retrievin’ any unjured and takin’ ‘em inside tae get healed. Ann gets lighter people, Eyes gets the heavier ones.”

“What if one of them goes down?” one of the group asked.

“Then the other gets ‘em,” Kat responded. “Always keep track of yer partner. They’re yer lifeline. Make sure ye know where yer support is. They are the ones what keeps ye fightin’.”

Everyone nodded, taking the information very seriously. That was good. Ann had full faith that Kat knew exactly what they’d be dealing with and had plans upon plans. Giving people too many things to remember on top of staying alive wasn’t a great idea. For an untrained fighter that hadn’t drilled as much as she had, they were more likely to forget when it really mattered. Plus, if they had to fall back, their closer proximity would make it far easier to relay new orders.

Ann realised she’d been dancing on her paws. Her body was humming. Her tail was going ape-shit behind her. Electricity seemed to be coursing through her veins on the eve of this battle, and… was she excited? She didn’t find any fear in this jittery mess of emotion.

The pack is on the move. They are united in purpose and prey. Your mate may lead this fight, but you lead her. It is your place by right.

Sounds like I conquered somewhere and took it over, Ann laughed to herself.

Would you consider mating with Kat conquering her? I seem to remember one of your memories saying that was a term your people used for the act.

I mean, yeah, I guess that does work?

Then you conquered her and Rosalyn. They are devoted to you. Sometimes I don’t think you understand how much they appreciate your presence.

Trust me, I’m the same without them. Remember when we went to Orenous’ Temple to trade favours? I was so antsy to get back home to them by the end of it all. Being alone doesn’t feel right anymore.

Because pack.

Right. Because pack. Dunno how Bren and Lucia’d react to being considered my pack, too.

Their opinion is of little matter. They have cast their lot in with you. They are part of the pack even if they do not wish to mate with you, though I believe Bren did at first, no?

Ann snorted at the memory. Yeah, but he didn’t want to be that close to Kat, so we wound up here.

Would have been interesting. Your memories of positions are quite extensive. I believe this…

And we’re done with this conversation! You sense the weird monster Warped out there?

Do you?

Ann closed her eyes and tried to expand her perception. She was getting better at it. The progress was infuriatingly slow. Still, she could pick out this weird feeling from all around her. Focusing on them, she could single out the people around her within about twenty feet. Kat’s presence was insanely weak compared to the others, but she could still barely find it.

Nah, still too limited on my range. Can differentiate people, though.

You could before. You just learned how to feel properly. No, I do not sense it.

Tell me if that changes.

Of course. Hunt well. I will be watching.

We’ll play later.

“… the other side. Got that?”

“Sorry, what?” Ann asked Alruna, who had apparently been telling her something while she talked to Waheela.

The moth woman sighed. “You’re watching west. Just make sure you call out if you see anything, and we’ll run over. We’ll be by the ranged people, but just in case.”

“Gotcha,” Ann nodded eagerly. Her tail was threatening to create a gale behind her.

Alruna gave the excited appendage a judgmental look. “Excited for this?”

“Almost as much as I am for, uh, being with my girlfriends!”

“That’s what makes you a warrior. I fear I do not share this eagerness. I confess my own trepidation regarding this setup. It is too simple. Too enclosed.”

“Yeah, but either we do this, or we spend a few weeks setting up a fort and probably drawing more attention than just Warped, who could wreck all of that while we’re away anyway. We went over this a few times. We’ll be ok. Have plenty of people, and Rosalyn packs a fuck of a punch for the bigger beasts. Not to mention you and Tarnu.”

“Or yourself. I have seen the damage you can do. Just because you are on reserves and backup, do not hesitate to assist in killing larger targets.”

“Yup, I know. I’ll be in the middle of it all, but I’ll pop back to the middle now and then to re-assess.”

“Correct,” Alruna nodded, satisfied. “Tarnu! We’re prepared over here!”

“Heard! Alright people! Let’s make some fucking noise and get this slaughter started!”

As one, the group raised their head and yelled into the sky. Ann lifted her own face and let out a howl that surprised her with how natural it felt.

We are ready.

They were ready.