Chapter 204
I wanted to slow down, to plan, to think, to do anything other than to charge blindly in, but if the people in front of us were anywhere near as powerful as those chasing us, there would be no possibility of survival. Behind us, I could feel the rumblings of a massive beast approaching with my [Tremorsense], and it going faster than any of us could maintain for any length of time. It was no longer a far off threat that was picking us off bit by bit. The hunters were here, and we prey shuddered in fear. With the certainty of their arrival and impending hunt in mind, I drew deeply from my Sonilphon. For the first time since we had begun our flight in earnest from these humans, I resolved myself to battle, to fight, to kill and to conquer, and spoke with [Innervating Address], [Conqueror's Rebuke], and [True Dominance] reverberating through me.
"There are those who stand in our way! Who wish to stop and slay us! We will not let them! We will survive! VICTORY!"
"VICTORY BY FANG AND BLOOD!" echoed the voices of nearly three hundred keelish. Trai's voice was the last to falter, her enthusiastic yet bloodthirsty squeak carrying over and through the rest of the swarm. I felt a warm glow of happiness mix with the frothing soup of emotions that boiled in my belly. We would survive. [Innervating Address] gave a renewed and greater strength than before, [Conqueror's Rebuke] boosted us all to the peak current possible to us, and [True Dominance] incited every one of my keelish to a frenzy.
"They know we're coming! They're preparing for us. Will we fall to their preparations?"
"NO!" Hundreds of voices responded.
"The humans have attempted to fell us before. We wrecked their walls, slaughtered their soldiers, and devoured their dead! They cannot stop the swarm!"
With wordless cries of excitement and determination, the swarm followed my lead in rushing towards the encampment Foire warned us about. As we crested the hill to look down on the massive river, the air changed markedly and condensation immediately began to form on our scales despite the heat we all radiated. The river itself was breathtaking, a vast blue scar that cut through the thick jungle. It was at least a mile wide, with its ice-blue waters flowing steadily north as it flowed easily over rocks and around bends.
On our side of the river, watchtowers peppered the sturdy, if small, wall that followed the riverbanks. Dozens of humans gathered in ranks with bows drawn and Callings on their lips. I cursed my excitement and screeching encouragement that had warned them of exactly where we were, since they were completely prepared for us. Beyond that, the rudimentary weapons we'd created to hunt the crocodiles had long since been abandoned in our desperate flight from our pursuers. My mind raced with something to do to try to mitigate the massive disadvantage we were at against these humans. Even if none of them were True Speakers, their bows and arrows would cut down dozens of us before we could get close.
As I desperately searched for something to do to try to keep my swarm alive as we charged our entrenched foes, I looked at the other side of the river, the next destination that I felt, somehow, would give us some sort of solace or possibility for survival. On that other side of the river, though it was hard for my eyes to tell, the forest was different, wilder. The shadows were darker, more menacing somehow, and I could feel the subtle threat the primeval forest constantly sent out. It appealed to me. I couldn't say why, but the untamed wilds across the river were more natural than this side of the river's forest.
I couldn't think any longer about it, the charge of us keelish swiftly bringing us to the edges of the forest, to where the humans were laid in wait for us. With a flash of inspiration, I called out, "Everyone, grab rocks you can throw a long way, at least the size of your fists! One in each hand, and we'll throw them all at the same time, first one hand, and then the other. You have twenty seconds to find your stones!" Heeding my own command, I looked down, swiftly finding two smooth stones that were only slightly too large to fit comfortably into each of my hands' grasp.
The adrenaline of impending battle fought to cloud my mind, and in search of clarity, I activated [Combatant's Bloodlust]. My oldest companion and friend, the [Skill] settled over my mind like a cool stream and allowed me to measure up the impromptu fortress the humans had prepared. They weren't prepared at all to fight on this side of the barricades, obviously. Their watchtowers and walls were established to fight against whatever was on the other side of the river, and they were nervous to face us. The soldiers looked at each other for support, though their movements were well-practiced and efficient. I supposed I couldn't have expected fools and windbags to occupy the front lines of a border under threat of war, but it was disappointing nonetheless.
Twenty seconds had passed. "Ready to throw on my mark!" I called out, and each keelish hefted their stones waiting for my command. The little garrison was at least 100 feet from the edges of the forest proper, and I hated to wait for the first arrows to fly before our own strike.
"Throw!" I shouted as I led by example and began a full spring onwards. This first volley would, hopefully, throw them off as we implemented the beginnings of a display of intelligence. At least, I hoped the first two hundred stones that rained down on the gathering of thirty or so humans would distract them long enough for us to close in and let our second volley smash their faces in. To the humans' credit, they were quick to begin to react and prepare their defenses, shields and Callings raised. But that was just enough, as only a dozen stray arrows were loosed, and only a couple of those managed to fly towards their intended targets.
I grunted as one of the projectiles slammed home into my right shoulder, the pain whisked away by [Combatant's Bloodlust]'s dispassion. I had long since passed my other stone to my favored left hand, and I didn't bother to do anything about the shaft protruding from my upper chest. Instead, I calculated. We were all sprinting madly to the front line where we would make contact with the enemy, and they were gathering themselves for their first true answering bombardment of sharpened projectiles.
"Throw!" I shouted, hoping our second salvo would gather a couple of casualties. I had misjudged the destructive power of hundreds of one-pound or more stones being thrown by desperate, sprinting keelish and khatif. Hastily raised shields splintered and unrefined walls of stone and air shattered under our primitive ranged attack. Screams of agony from the humans filled the air as my grim faced swarm rushed over the waist-high battlements and began to tear into the panicking humans.
Unintelligible screams from their leaders were drowned out by the desperate snarls of keelish, and the humans, outnumbered ten to one, were quickly dispatched. None of the keelish, myself included, hesitated to fill our stomachs. I hoped beyond hope that our desperate escape was nearly over, but even if it was, we desperately needed sustenance.
With ten keelish to a human body, to say nothing of the two dozen wolfstags, the corpses were immediately consumed, and Vefir made sure to patch me up without interrupting my feeding. Before we could even begin to catch our breaths, though, the rumbling in the ground alerted me just before new human screams did.
The High Speakers had arrived.