A strike from one of the gnolls dropped me to the ground. I shuffled forward, slamming my shoulder into his stomach as I shifted him into the way of several blows. He went limp on the second blow, and I dropped him and staggered upright. We were completely committed now, embedded into the outer layers of the gnoll army. Everything was loud, yet indistinct, blending into each other. Movement from the edge of my vision caused me to step sideways, barely dodging a blow from one of the gnolls. A hand touched my back, and I turned to see one of our irregulars.

Something was being said, I tried to focus, the cacophony ebbing away until his voice became distinct. “Oh gods, he’s stunned. What’re we doing what should we do do we run or just…” He trailed off, his voice trailing into incoherence. I shook him by the shoulder, rendering my faceplate transparent and looking him in the eyes.

“We have to keep at it, there is no retreat for us anymore.” I said. “We can do this, and we’re going to have a hell of a story when we’re done.” He gulped, licking his lips, but nodded. I turned around, we were in the calm of the storm. Our formation was somehow still standing, likely a combination of the spearman’s command and individual skill against the ill trained gnolls. Even so, we were losing men. Several of our own were down, dragged to the centre as they bandaged and treated their wounds.

A potion was tossed over by Leethe, and a few took small sips. They moved to take the place of the others, I wedged myself into one of the gaps as well, Numen loosing arrows from the centre of the formation in a high arc. The mages had been absorbed among us as well, having killed quite a few of their opponents. Their faces were masks of determination, Earth and Water magic being less used left them contemplative and passive, it was force of will that keep that in the fight, just as how in the opposite case it would be force of will that kept them from overextending and burning out.

We pushed deeper, the cavalry smashing occasionally into their unprotected sections and flanks. They were rallying, though not as cohesively as the other army had. Bad luck that, if their positions had been reversed we’d have been done with this group by now.

The gnolls parted, as a group pushed through. The general and his bodyguards, my head snapped to watch them, and the spearman motioned the group to give ground. Our walls shifted, the few armoured among them moving to take positions directly facing the gnolls. The spearman’s armour was a set of chain and leather, but it didn’t stop him from taking point.

The weaponry we used were hardly uniform, several spears, a halberd or two and quite a few swords. The sword and shield fighters formed their own tiny shield wall, pushing against the gnolls as several others stacked up behind them to stand against the force. Someone tapped me on the shoulder, and I turned to see Leethe. “We should try to flank them.” She said.

I raised an eyebrow, how would we do that? We were practically surrounded on three sides by the gnolls themselves, and on one side it was a tempest of magic, air pushing away flames as water turned to steam and fell as ice. Our allies were already having a tough time staying in the area, screaming expletives whenever something came too close.

I realized that she couldn’t see my face, so I nodded. “How?” I said, gesturing all around. She pointed to the cavalry, and how the inexperienced had formed a firm back to back split, facing both us and where the cavalry had gone. I hesitated, but nodded again. Several others joined us, all close quarter combatants.

Moving out in the chaos was in fact a very simple matter, only a few stragglers even thought about flanking our group, and they were taken out easily. We wedged ourselves in between the layer, disrupting the ranks and catching the eye of our cavalry, who were capitalizing on the distraction well enough to keep us alive. I smiled beneath the helm, this was going well. For a given meaning of “well”.

Our formation was holding strong, the halberd was making headway into the opposing formation. Some blood stained our leader’s spear, and he thrust again, this time only bouncing against the metal bracers they had. We pushed our way towards them, cutting at the layer of gnolls still in combat with our lines, they jerked back, surprised, and fell before the rest of the group, who surged past us to engage the backs of the other gnolls.

We managed to strike as the halberd descended again, bowling over one of the warriors in our short charge. I knelt to deliver a killing blow, pushing forwards with the rest. They recovered quickly, another line forming against us, but for a brief moment I saw someone within the group, a girl dressed in blue. Page caught the brief glimpse of her face, and confirmed it with me.

[That’s Kayio, they’re holding her with them.] Page said, its voice surprised, but also concerned.

I pushed forward, slipping the blade past the shields as they hastened to ready the line. Someone gurgled from the other side of the line. I shoved at their shield, slamming my shoulder into the rightmost gnoll as one of the other swordsmen that accompanied us moved forwards, wedging into the gap. The gnoll pushed me away, closing ranks, I gritted my teeth.

With a great cry the other group broke into their shield wall, though professional, even they began to rout once it happened. I shoved past, but stopped short as a body fell beside me. One of our swordsmen, feebly moving his fingers as the gnolls ahead of me tried in vain to tighten their defence.

The poison. I thought, slashing at the gnolls, whose now flimsy formation easily scattered. I stopped for a beat before moving past him, I didn’t have potions on my person, that would have to change someday. Others would make use of it even if I could not. The gnoll leader held onto Kayio, holding the blade to her as he moved back, attempting to rejoin the bulk of his army. The spearman cut off his escape, and the gnoll sword jerked towards her throat

I lunged forwards, pushing my left hand between the blade and her neck. The sword bit into my hand, and I snarled, pulling the blade upwards clear over her head. The gnoll spun, throwing me off as he countered the spearman, still holding onto Kayio. I quickly bound my gauntlet, hardening it and immobilizing my hand. The gnoll pushed Kayio into me, causing me to stumble, as he melted back into the army. A few others gave chase, while I brought Kayio to Leethe, slashing at a few of the gnolls when they got too close.

She brought Kayio out of the battlefield while I provided escort. We’d lost quite a few allies, their corpses spread upon the ground at unnatural angles. The magical battle had died down, our mages had outlasted theirs, and now, without the distractions, began to weave magic that they’d been neglecting. Their protectors now engaged more martial threats, which judging from their zeal, was far more pleasant than dodging fireballs and air propelled debris

The spearman and his crew came out just as the ground began to shift, sinking a large chunk of soldiers into the ground. The other group of irregulars had also arrived, inflicting damning casualties to them alongside the full brunt of the cavalry.

I fell down, exhausted, as the whole army routed. The cavalry mopped up the remainder, helping to mark this as a complete defeat for the gnolls. Kayio sat beside me, her expression still stunned, she spoke to no one in particular. “Everyone is Kikre’s dead… They said that they did the same to Yooln too.”

“Greta, Kirevn, Golom, Hrunting, Sel, Fasven…” A voice trailed in from behind. I turned to see Gen, escorted by an irregular, I didn’t know her name. He muttered a continual list of names, Page counted roughly three hundred, before he repeated them, again, and again. Kayio’s head lowered even more, and tears came to her eyes as Leethe hugged her close. I watched, unsure of what to do. The female spearman seemed at a loss as well, but walked close to reunite father and daughter.

[They must be the names of the dead…] Page realized. [He looks so very tired.]

He hugged her close to him, for a moment allowing himself silence as they both leaned into one another. I looked across from where we stood. The irregulars had taken heavy casualties from this particular fight, I didn’t see more than ten from where I stood, though I think a few were lying down somewhere as their wounds were treated.

I learned later that we’d suffered nearly forty percent casualties, while all told our forces numbered about a hundred and fifty. I suppose those were good considering that we’d taken on a force nearly two and a three quarter times our size, but the casualties were still immense. The bodies were taken away to be interred, while the gnolls were hauled into the forest, mostly to keep the miasma from permeating the town.

I found myself escorting Kayio and Gen back to Kikre, Gen continuing his chant throughout the day. They’d been offered sanctuary in Torven, but they had refused to take it up immediately, and allowed without fuss to leave for Kikre. I found myself limping, the neurotoxin having done its work on me before being stopped by the nanomachines. Darts and tubes had been found among the bodyguards, that had been where the poison had come from.

Thinking on it, I realized that that made the most sense, poisoned swords would be at best a single target single use weapon. I wasn’t sure how they propelled the darts at speed, though I had a few guesses. The journey was uneventful, the creatures of the forest had been placated by the corpses, if nothing else. The ghost town loomed overhead, intimidating in the low light.

It was the tree that Gen had come here for, I passed him my carving knife, and he began to cut, sounding off each name from his mental check list. The names curled around the bark of the tree, slowly tapering around in a continuous spiral down it. Kayio watched from a short distance away, sitting down and looking up towards the tree.

When he finished he continued to kneel there for a while, his fingers tracing a single name amongst the many he’d carved. I didn’t need to read the name to know who it belonged to, Kayio’s mother was the one who had gifted her one of her favourite dolls. She still held it, the one memento she’d been allowed to take with her.

Gen asked to sleep here for the night, I didn’t object, it was getting late either way, and the way my leg was it wasn’t a good idea for me to do so. They made dinner from the few meats and vegetables that hadn’t been pillaged by the gnolls, and I sat with them. Candles lit within the room combatted the darkness, their borders amorphous, constantly shifting.

I sat in a corner of the shop, having refused to take Kayio’s bed. I sighed, sleep wasn’t coming early tonight, my chest still ached from the blunt strikes I’d taken, they’d disappear by tomorrow. I went to where the graves were, watching yet another spectacle by a Will o’ Wisp. The dancing light shimmered in the cloudy, dark night. The gnolls were scattered now, their main forces gutted and crippled. Some cold satisfaction nestled itself in my chest, soothing yet discomfiting, it kept me company through the night.