Xerxes bounded back to the line of troops.

At the same time, Arwia filled her palm with purple sand.

In the past, Xerxes would have had trouble identifying the specific component she used. But in his months of study, he had crammed such information into his brain. The purplish substance was murex whorl sand. Casting Stronghold Deflection would drain Arwia of five times the amount of melam he would spend to cast Singular Lethality, but not more than half of what he needed for Minor Augmentation. What was more, the spell would last for four minutes.

Arwia stared at her palm as she traced the Nasaru Sanum rune. Then, melam exploded, rushing out and forming a shimmering blue wall that spread out into a dome covering the entire camp.

The smaller many-handed Abhorrent were already smacking into the transparent barrier. And though Xerxes couldn’t quite see the base of the shield on the far side of the camp, he knew the rat-like Abhorrent were doing the same thing over there.

Some dozens of cubits away in the middle of the camp, Gandash shouted, “First Lieutenants and Sergeants, to me!”

Trying to flick some of the gore off his blade, Xerxes hurried across the camp. From the troop line on the mound, Jad joined him, along with Sergeants Stratos and Vasilios. The two other first lieutenants were Dasi and Kishar, who approached with their respective Sergeants, Babati and Slar.

As they gathered, Gandash said, “We have less than three minutes with the shield.”

“Arwia can extend the time,” Jad pointed out.

“True. But the Abhorrent aren’t going away. If Arwia keeps casting Stronghold Deflection over and over, she’ll drain herself within less than forty-five minutes. So we have to decide. Stand our ground? Or form up and fight our way back to the road? According to Enusat, there are a lot of rats up there. We don’t know how many of the many-handed there are. I want opinions.”

“Stand and fight,” Stratos said.

“Agreed,” Vasilios added. “We stand a better chance with shields up and the mages casting spells.”

Xerxes had to agree. He wasn’t looking forward to more fighting with monsters, but in this case there didn’t seem to be any other choice.

“Our position is bad,” said Jad. “The Tower Plateau is only half a league down the road. It has a single narrow path to the top. Much easier to defend.”

“It’s the getting there that would be the problem,” Sergeant Vasilios said. “Half a league with Abhorrent harrying us the entire time? We’d lose a lot more men than if we stayed put.”

Gandash looked at the eight officers. “Any other suggestions?”

“Not a suggestion,” Kishar said, “but a question. If we stay here, how do we fight the rats? We had enough trouble last time, and the big one from earlier was bad news.”

Gandash thought for a moment. “Units Six and Seven form a line against the rats. I want the heavy cavalry to join them, unmounted. For the time being, Units Eleven to Thirteen are going to fight as infantry. Got that, Sergeant Babati? Dasi?”

“Got it, sir,” the sergeant replied.

Dasi echoed his words.

From the mound, Arwia shouted, “Two minutes on the spell!”

“Sergeant Vasilios,” Gandash continued, “I want all the light infantry focused on the rats. Take out as many on the cliff as possible. Kishar. Slar. You and the light cavalry will stay in reserve and wait for orders.

“Xerxes, you and the other Asgagu mages need to focus on taking out the larger Abhorrent. Have the Balatu mages split up evenly and be ready for healing.”

“Kat can cast Slow Death,” Xerxes noted.

“I know. At four times the melam cost. I’d rather she conserve her resources for healing. Dasi, you and Enusat use your judgment. Don’t cast Sinitu spells unless it's necessary. The rest of us, the Buhhu, Nasaru, and Hasasu mages, will stay in reserve. Kishar, you notify the Hasasu mages. Jad, you give the orders to the Nasarus. I’ll talk to Laxu.”

“One minute!” Arwia shouted.

“We need more time,” Gandash shouted back. “Cast again.”

“Yes, sir.”

Turning his attention back to the officers, Gandash said, “Everyone understand? Good. Now go!”

Xerxes raced to inform all of the Asgagu and Balatu mages of the orders. Around him, the camp surged with organized chaos as troops shifted positions and the front-line mages got ready for combat.

From the mound, they could see hundreds of the many-handed Abhorrent gathering beyond the shield. And there were two of the large variety. He looked over his shoulder to the cliff. There were now four of the large rat-like ones.

He wasn’t sure which were worse.

“Kash, you handle the big ones here, alright?”

“Sure.”

“I’ll tell the same to Teucer. Kuri and I will take on the rats.”

The four minutes Arwia added to the dome-like shield sped by in what seemed like seconds.

“We have superior weapons!” Gandash shouted. “Superior spells. Superior understanding of tactics. We have every advantage. WIPE THEM OUT!”

He shouted his last sentence as Arwia’s shield flickered out of existence. Xerxes kept his eyes locked on one of the large rat Abhorrent atop the cliff. Standing next to him, only a few cubits away, was Kuri from Al-Ga.

“Remember,” Xerxes said, “try to take them out fast.”

Kuri ran his hand across his buzzed pate and then put it on his component pouch. “I know. I’m going for decapitations.”

“Good.”

The Abhorrent surged forward.

Xerxes ignored the ground-level fighting as he watched the large monsters above. Seconds passed, and he gripped the hilt of his sword. He glanced down at the line defending against the smaller rats. The soldiers were holding strong, but the hundreds upon hundreds of vicious rodent-like Abhorrent were already going wild.

He looked back up. One of the giant rats stepped forward, jumped, then dropped toward the field of battle. The other three followed.

“Let’s do it,” Xerxes said.

“Yeah,” Kuri replied.