Xerxes kept his sword rested on his shoulder as he watched the arrows fly, and the Abhorrent fall. He was particularly worried about the large, green-skinned Abhorrent. He watched as arrows plinked into it, all with no effect. It reminded him of the Abhorrent that had killed Bel. They’d shot it over and over again, yet the monster had only seemed inconvenienced by the missile attacks.

In fact, at one point, the large, many-handed Abhorrent disappeared in a dip in the terrain. It didn’t appear again for about fifteen seconds, but when it did, it had no arrows sticking out of it. Further behind, more rolling hands came out of the darkness in their direction.

“That thing is going to be a problem when it hits the line,” Xerxes said.

“Get some javelins in it!” Vasilios shouted. Some of the Unit Eight soldiers stowed their bows and switched to javelins.

However, the green-skinned thing swerved out of the way of the first thrown javelin, and then the second. A third stabbed it, and it nearly fell before one arm twisted around, grabbed the weapon, and pulled it out. Then it kept coming.

So far, none of the smaller Abhorrent made much progress. But there were more, streaming out of the darkness without end.

The sound of a horn split the night, and Xerxes looked back toward its source; the cliff top. A flare shot up into the night, burning bright red. A moment later, he caught sight of Enusat in ape-form, scrambling down the sheer face of the cliff.

“What’s it mean?” Kashtiliash asked.

“No way to know,” Xerxes said.

“Unit One,” Sergeant Stratos shouted. “Get ready.”

Xerxes jerked his attention back to the troop line. Beyond, he could see waves of many-handed Abhorrent rolling across the intervening terrain. They were now only fifteen or twenty cubits away. The light infantry continued to let arrows and javelins fly, but it was obvious they couldn’t do anything to prevent the force at large from slamming into them.

The green-skinned Abhorrent had slowed down, and was waiting for its smaller brethren to crash into the troops before it lent its weight to the combat.

Xerxes gripped his sword in both hands. “Sarge,” he said, “I think I should try to handle that green one.”

“Sure thing, Xerk,” Stratos replied.

The small Abhorrent arrived first, and their numerous appendages made it easy for them to slip past the sharpened wooden stakes. They brought with them a stench that resembled sulfur, except with an overtone of sweetness like that of honey. The combination was so intense it made the eyes water.

The heavy infantry were ready for the Abhorrent. With spears, swords, shields, and boots, they held their own. However, it only took a moment before one of the Abhorrent grabbed a soldier’s shield and came close to pulling it out of his grasp. Another Abhorrent snatched a spear.

Xerxes kept his focus on the green one, which lurked about fifteen cubits away.

What’s it doing? Based on its size, it had to be juvenile, which meant it had at least one magical ability.

Screams and shouts rang out from the troops as they fought back against the bizarre Abhorrent.

“Arwia?” Jad said. “You gonna cast that shield?”

“No,” Arwia replied. “Not yet.”

The green-skinned Abhorrent tipped over. However, instead of falling on its side, all of its elbows bent, allowing the hands to smack into the ground. Now, it was ‘standing’ on a host of hands, making the thing look vaguely like the spider Abhorrent Xerxes had faced in the past.

Then, the bulbous mass of flesh that formed the middle expanded like the throat of a frog.

“It’s about to use magic,” Xerxes said.

“Brace yourselves,” Stratos yelled.

“Sergeant, maybe I should—”

A hole opened atop the green-skinned Abhorrent’s middle section, and then it made a whooshing sound. A plume of greenish mist rose up, arcing like the spouting of a geyser. As the mist ascended, it clumped together into hundreds of tiny objects that, at first, Xerxes couldn’t identify. Then they started falling, and it was clear what they were: hands.

Tiny hands with wriggling fingers.

They smacked into the shields, helmets, and shoulders of the line of troops. And then the fingers curled as they grabbed on.

“What the hell?” a soldier shouted. “These things—” he screamed in pain, dropping his sword as he tried to brush a tiny hand off of him.

More of the tiny hands began landing on the other troops, and though Xerxes wasn’t sure of what was happening, more screams and shouts rang out. More soldiers dropped weapons, and in some cases even shields, in their haste to remove the things from them.

“Steady,” Stratos yelled. “Keep your shields up!”

However, the damage had been done, as a smaller many-handed Abhorrent rolled through the gaps in the line. Some grabbed at the ankles of the soldiers, others wheeled down the dirt mound and toward the interior of the camp.

At the same time, Xerxes realized the green Abhorrent had sidled to the east, and was now inhaling again.

Can’t let it do the same thing again. Behind him, there was shouting in the camp, and he assumed it was the other soldiers and mages dealing with the influx of monstrous enemies.

Grabbing some stibnite talc, he cast Minor Augmentation again as he ran toward a gap in the line. He didn’t hesitate to draw on the speed of a High Seer, and before anyone knew what was happening, he was past the wooden stakes and on the battlefield.

The green Abhorrent’s middle section was almost fully inflated.

“Take this, fucker,” Xerxes murmured, slashing his sword down.

The green Abhorrent collapsed in a cloud of mist.

He jumped back. Not wanting to waste any of the time with his spell, he slashed and stabbed at any of the smaller Abhorrent around him. They died like snails crushed by a boot. For half a minute, he cleared everything around him. Then he looked up and saw… two more green-skinned many-handed Abhorrent rolling toward him.

Shit.

At the same time, the shouting from the interior of the camp grew more frenzied. He looked back. The cliff had turned into… a waterfall?

No. It wasn’t water falling down the cliff. It was rat-like Abhorrent. And standing atop the cliff, looking down at them, were at least three of the large variety that had been ‘hunting’ them.

“Xerxes get back behind the line,” Arwia shouted. “I’m about to cast!”