Loi had left Chibal more or less in charge of the rearguard and was making her way up the column, a bit at a time. That left her in a position to offer a lot of different people some small word of comfort, though she didn't go out of her way to stay and talk with anyone.

Her grandmama's Fallen weapon sensed it long before she was able to catch sight of it. Somewhere behind them, the enemy was chasing them--and in force, if slowly. They ended up climbing a series of hills, although they tried to stick to the valleys as much as they could, and that added height gave Loi the perspective she needed to see them in the distance, still marching through a heavy rainstorm that seemed to be following them.

At least now, the rain had moved off the column itself, although Loi could have hoped it would continue, in order to give them more cover. Still, for the refugees, it was important that they stay reasonably dry and keep their spirits up. The march was hard enough--on everyone, but the worst of it were the young and the old. Soon enough, they would need to rest.

As Loi looked ahead, though, what she saw was a plateau, one of several wide mesas collectively called the Belman Highlands, which she had many times seen from the road on the other side. As far as she'd been taught, there were not many ways up on top of the mesa--if any. It was a wide plain set high above the lowlands around it, and somehow after all the years, it still had steep, nearly unclimbable cliffs all around it. It was an imposing feature of this part of the region, but one that was mostly only spoken of in passing. There were not nearly enough people in Belma for them to be exploring areas that were unreachable; there were plenty of forests within easy reach of the roads that were wild enough, and keeping the wolves and hyennits that live there from preying on passers by was enough of a job for the military and the Blades.

That thought had Loi eyeing the surroundings. The hilly areas were not heavily forested, not here, but there was a forest not too far ahead, and if she stretched her eyes and begged just a little to the god of Eyes, she could make out figures moving along the treeline there--animals, probably hyennits. If that's what they were, it could be trouble; hyennits were agile predators, capable of powerful leaps, and liked to ambush people from the trees. With this many civilians passing by...

And the army behind. Loi sighed and continued moving up the line. If the army split up, and some moved up parallel while others attacked the rearguard, they might have trouble, but there would be time to bring forces up, time to figure things out.

She hoped that Ryan would lead them to the plateau, to some hidden pass into the highlands. As long as they could get there, the army at least would not be a problem, and they could focus on wildlife, and rest for a while. But even if all he did was guide them along its base, assuming the vegetation was scarce... they might have one side covered. As it was, they were stretched too thin, strung out too long.

Loi stretched out her long legs and tried to get further ahead. She wanted to know what was going on, and then she would probably return to the rear to help the defenses. Either way, she was restless. She wanted, needed something to do.

There were still so many things that could go wrong, and none of them within her reach, not yet.

Raine felt very awkward trying to lead a group of people that were, in many ways, not her people. Mostly, she left that to Ulia; the cat woman trusted her, and she trusted Ulia in return, and the people would much prefer that a Blade led them than a stranger.

Even if Raine was Vicar of Eyes, even then she could not be their eyes; at least, not yet. They didn't know her, were unsure whether Raine was really an ally or an enemy.

The bigger problem was that the path ahead that Raine had seen was difficult. There was a narrow switchback up the cliff, one that the assorted people could climb, but the few wagons they had would probably not make the journey, and that was hard news to bear. They might--if the people worked hard, and if they had the time. But Raine had to consider very seriously the idea that they would be leaving behind goods, food, and an easy way to carry some of the wounded and elderly.

Ulia is the one that brought the local animal life to her attention.

"Those are hyennits, no doubt," she said, pointing to a small pack of dots in the distance, not far from the path. "Do you know them?"

"I have not fought one. I know they are magic." Raine didn't have to squint to see the dots, but she did anyway, as much out of habit as anything. "I assume they're tough."

"They jump, not nearly as far as skyrabbits, but far enough. If we line up to face them, they'll go over us and attack the citizens. Bows would be best, but most of those are towards the rear." She pursed her lips. "For those with Blades of the Fallen... perhaps with three or four of us, we can scare them off, kill any who are eager to fight. If we do, we'll need to move ahead to do it."

Raine looked back over the column. There were only two Fallen blades at the front itself, but three more relatively close, and one determined looking, one-armed woman making her way up from behind. She nudged Ulia and pointed, but the other woman just nodded. "That is Loi. She is strong. She will help us with this. I will gather a few more. It will not be a problem.

Less than an hour later, Ulia charged through the high grass and scattered bushes, not bothering to try to hide from this region's dominant predator. Behind her, two others hustled forward, with another two stood behind to make sure that none got past.

She had not yet had to use the Fallen blade, and she did not feel like it was eager to be used on mere animals, even if it was to save the people. Still, for all that the Fallen had been heroes, they were first and foremost warriors, and they understood.

The hyennit that burst out of the bush might have ended her without the blade, though, so she was immensely grateful for it.

It was an odd instinct, when it came down to it; she made her arm go rigid, and the sword pushed against her, pulling her sideways as she picked up her feet a bit. That left her with the blade still more or less pointed at the enemy, but slightly to the side of where it passed, and she followed through with a slash into the creature's side as soon as the blade let her. She was a lot less worried about the creature's follow-up, not now that she knew where it was; she stepped back from the snapping jaws, and then immediately forward, her Space arts lengthening the blade, and thrust into the creature's eye. In the brief moment when it panicked, she smashed its skull.

Rustling in the grass produced another hyennit, but she trusted her instincts and dived left instead of facing it, forcing her Time arts to give her just a shade of extra thinking room. From above, almost unnoticed, another pair of claws and teeth fell where she had been standing. She came up from the roll slashing the creature's face, and braced herself against an attack from the decoy hyennit, which still managed to leave a slash on her chest before she thrust into its neck, snapping the spine and leaving it broken on the ground.

It was, all in all, not a difficult battle, and still it left her wounded.

A scream to her left indicated another hard fought battle, and when she moved to join it she found the other Blade had also won over a total of four creatures, but one had taken a bite out of her thigh. Ulia cursed and spun around, listening and sensing for others before she stopped to help the other woman, but she did not find anything except Loi, who followed the sound of the woman not more than a moment after Ulia did.

Together, they helped the woman limp back. The Fallen Blade seemed to be helping her leg heal, a little, but that would only help if she could rest it, and maybe not even then.

The two they had left behind had dealt with a total of two hyennits that had gone straight for the column, but neither was hurt.

In all, none of the women were proud--they should have done better, even tired, but this was the hyennit's home. Hyennits were ambush creatures, and they'd had no choice but to spring that ambush in order to fight them. None of the wounds were mortal... but with them unable to stop and rest, a wounded leg was a significant problem.

"We'll have to stop soon anyway," said Loi as they moved on. "Too many of the people are weak, and scared. They need food and water."

"Well, at least we have fresh meat," groused one of the Blades, and Ulia grinned, but didn't comment. Because meat was all well and good, but taking the time to cook it...

As though echoing her thoughts, Loi let out a long and frustrated sigh. Still, she forced her face to look bright and cheery after only a moment. "We'll make it. We're already ahead of them, and they'll need to rest, too. We just... need to make it a short rest, for now.

Ulia nodded at the other woman and hoped, as they all did, that it would just be that simple.