The fight of the colossi moved to the west, so that the men could still see it. Ymdaton was usually focused on the combat entirely. Yet that battle was of such proportions that he could not help glancing. The feathered thing tried to get the protector again and again with kicks, punches, tried to grab and strike it with a beak. It was unsuccessful thus far. The defender of the city was certainly smaller than the foe, but its attack were lightning fast.

Ymdaton felt that his was mistaken. Pale things were more than simple beasts. They fought like men, understood counterattacks and feints. First enemy that he clashed with in the formation managed to get on Crewslayer’s nerves before dying. Every time that the the man outpaced its axe and shield, the thing attacked with the upper pair of limbs, trying to gut him with fearsome claws. Ymdaton finally tricked it into hitting its own shield with nails, where they stuck.

After this a simple swing to the face finished it. Not everyone was as resourceful as he. Crewslayer saw a warrior in the right wing of the formation giving too much attention to enemy’s weapons and getting struck to the head with talons. Other beasts swarmed him in a blink of the eye. There was now only seven of kinani left on the battlefield, four more guarding the caravan which was hid close by.

The feathered giant meanwhile grabbed a support beam of a destroyed house and tried to hit the protector with it. The guardian dodged all the swings, parrying some with a paw. The attacker got frustrated soon, throwing its improvised weapon at the enemy, missing yet again. The protector used that moment to jump at the foe. It grabbed the monster with with its forelimbs, locked jaws at its neck, and began to tear enemy’s side with claws of hind legs. The monster roared and tried to shake it off, to no avail.

Kinani men were hard pressed. There were too many of pale skinned freaks, perhaps even forty. They were good fighters and had a natural advantage of four arms. One more crewman went down. Ymdaton dealt with his foes just fine, but his peers were obviously not as skilled as he. Another attacker faced him, another game of getting both pairs of hands fooled.

This one was quite good, and kept Crewslayer under pressure for some time. The thing managed to make a swing with its upper right arm that was completely unexpected by Ymdaton. He saw it, but understood that he will not be fast enough to block or parry it. Claws were coming for his neck or shoulder and there was not a thing he could do.

Except Ymdaton forgot that he wore drevlyani armour. That thought came to him the last moment and he swayed his shoulder, receiving the hit upon the massive pauldron. The enemy was momentarily out of balance because of the futile strike and received a counterattack into the belly, which was not protected by its scarce chestguard. A swing to the neck finished it.

The feathered giant was hard pressed. It bled, while the protector was close to tearing its innards out. It swayed to the sides desperately, but then was suddenly still. It made a deep inhale, so loud that it could be clearly heard leagues away. Upon the bony spikes which adorned its back veiny sacks which looked like lungs began to grow. It continued breathing in, the wind rolled through streets in its direction. Ymdaton gasped, feeling it was not enough air to breath properly. Then it stopped. Then the exhale came.

The monster breathed out with a whistling noise, so loud that it was painful to hear. It turned its beak to the protector. The guardian held with its teeth for but a heartbeat and then was literally thrown away by the wave of noise. It rolled through the city, crashing houses with its body. Its fall was ought to be thunderous, yet the whistle obscured any other sound. The part of the town that was directly affected by the attack looked like it was swept away by the flood. Buildings were picked apart and blown away by the pressure.

Some kinani warriors held, but some were not able to deal with the onslaught, grabbing their heads, trying to cover their ears. Ymdaton forced himself to not do it, no matter the pain. They were lucky that the thing did not breath in their direction, otherwise they would have been finished already. Crewslayer expected their formation to be overwhelmed in the moment of weakness. Surprisingly, their enemies seemed to be hurt by the noise even more. They staggered around, some even fell.

“Finish them off!” yelled Ymdaton.

Crewslayer was first to execute his own order. He cut one thing to the face, then another to the neck, then another to the back of the head. They were acting as if they did not see him, even though he was right there in front of them. Fourth enemy that he chose to kill sniffed the air as he came and parried his strike. Then the beasts attacked again. There was still a lot of them, more than enough to push back crewmen. Ymdaton cursed in his mind, mourning the undoing of such a nice solution. Now he was ought to think of something new before it would be too late.

Enemies were nearly blind, probably from birth, their hearing was damaged, but the smell was still there. He glanced around and saw a cart with a massive barrel upon it standing by the house close. He knew what was inside, Dragomir often sent caravans of such things to other cities.

“Everyone, fight to that barrel, at any cost,” shouted he.