Noise

"Make a noise!" Mairwen told Brinn as they avoided a predatory strike from Livie's clawed feet.

"Are you wanting to use me as bait?" Brinn was willing to take the brunt if she knew the plan. After all, Mairwen still had her bow and Brinn had no physical weapon.

Mairwen shot off an arrow at Livie, which the agile monster easily dodged, before ducking behind the tree trunk.

Livie crashed into the ancient tree, ripping the bark from the oak before taking off again.

"Eliana said we should take advantage of the creatures' vulnerabilities. Those little flyers use sound to locate things more accurately…" Mairwen leapt onto a lower branch to avoid the abomination as she swooped by another time.

Brinn followed after her, kicking a climbing lizard in the face who dared to scurry up to capture them. Seeing stars, the lizard plummeted back to the ground.

"...So if I make a loud enough sound, it should cause her some issues?" Brinn picked up where the blue-eyed woman had left off.

"That's the idea, yes." Mairwen had read about these types of creatures but had never seen one in person. Now she wished she had studied them a little harder. "Can you do that? Without deafening us like Livie did a moment ago?"

"Alaron is not the only one who can summon sound!" Brinn had heard the story of how the former prince had deafened everyone in order to stop the giant mole. "But I can do it better!"

Brinn steadied her feet on the branch and closed her eyes.

"Get behind me," she ordered.

Mairwen ducked behind the other princess as Brinn spun her hands around one another and whispered. While sound was within the purview of wind magic, amplifying it was not as easy as it seemed. It would also need directing, which was an extra skill. Brinn did not want to accidentally take out half the imperial army because their eardrums had burst. This was a precise maneuver.

Pressing her hands together, Brinn rubbed them together to make them warm, waiting for the perfect moment.

Livie flew about aimlessly in the sky, seeming to have lost interest in the two young ladies. But it was a trick. Suddenly, she darted up towards the sun, causing both Brinn and Mairwen to lose sight of her.

"Where is she?" Brinn released a string of curses as she struggled against the sun's glare.

Mairwen was even worse off than the elf, for she was shooting off arrows at the hoard below while still trying to keep tabs on the flying abominations.

"I don't know..." the fair-skinned woman admitted. "But she can't be far."

"If she can use sound to locate....so can I!" Brinn closed her eyes and listened intently, blocking out the extraneous noise. Beyond the realm of human hearing, there were the nearly silent wing flaps and screeches of the strange creatures overhead.

And one of those creatures was getting louder each moment. 'Got ya!'

With a clap louder than thunder, Brinn released her magic directly at Livie.

The monstrous woman had tucked her wings to her side in a downward plummet, ready to pluck one or both of the troublesome people from the tree. Her predatory instincts were out for blood and the thrill of victory was nearly in her grasp. She was going so fast, that not even the swiftest diving bird could have caught her.

Then a clap of sound crashed over her like a tidal wave, drowning her in its noise. She could no longer identify up from down nor left from right. Her tucked wings spread out, but that only sent her into a spiral. Livie clawed at the air, striving for any kind of purchase. The world was coming ever closer. She could feel it, but there was nothing she could do.

At last she got the thin skin of her wings to stretch out enough to slow her decent, but it was too little, too late. Livie hit the ground and a second sound of thunder echoed the first.

The tree, which had been weakened from her numerous hits at the princesses before, finally succumbed to her prodding. As she slammed into the roots, the tree gave a final groan as its attachment to the earth weakened and released. Earth went flying as the wide array of roots detached from the loose, wet soil.

Cries rang out from all sides as both abominations and humans avoided the wooden snares leaping out of the ground to impale them like living meat skewers.

Within the branches, another deadly game of labyrinth was being played. Struggling not to be thrown from the arms of the falling behemoth, Brinn and Mairwen glided and jumped along to make it to the next tree.

'Just like old times,' Brinn thought. 'Only with a different royal...' The trees were densely packed, so the massive trunk did not have far to fall before engaging the forest around it. Multiple of its friends began to sway at the edge of the clearing, disturbing the nearby archers as well.

But in the end, nothing could keep Livie's unfortunate victim from the ground. When the arms of its neighbors could no longer support the oak, they broke, and chunks of bark and sap were added to the chaos below.

Leaping at the last possible moment, Brinn and her princess cargo cleared the mess, but they were not out of the woods yet...

-------------

There was nothing Devrim could do for Brinn as she was lifted into the air. But if anyone could stand up to Livie, it was the stubborn elf.

"My lady!" A guttural growl resounded nearby.

Devrim turned to see a silver wolf staring longingly at the sky. Fechin had returned too late to see the conflict between his mistress and the Empress erupt, but he could see her in her full glory just now.

"Get the other one!" The assistant called to a nearby lizard as he pointed to the human princess.

Barking orders, Fechin rallied those around him into a the semblance of a formation.

'Oh not you don't!' Devrim would have to trust that Mairwen could handle the minion sent to her. He had a bigger fish to fry...or rather a wolf to stop. As long as Fechin was there to give orders, the abominations seemed able to think clearly and react coherently.

That was a problem for the imperial forces. They were relying on the abominations being feral. It was much easier to predict and deal with predators in battle. Free thinking, organized monsters were arguably tamer, but also more cunning. And that made them the more dangerous foe.

"I'll take him out and you watch my back," Devrim ordered Nurlan.

"Your Majesty!" the general started to argue as he made sure his helmet was secure. In exchange for Aurora leaving the battle peaceably, Nurlan and the others had vowed to the Empress to make sure Devrim did not get mortally wounded.

But as Devrim ruled over the armed forces, there was really not much they could do to stop him from making the choice.

"Keep the others away," Devrim repeated.

The second order caught Fechin's attention. Like the Emperor, he knew the importance of taking out the one in charge. His eyes flashed with malice as their gazes locked.

"You dare oppose my lady!?" he goaded, his voice dripping with sarcasm. "You will regret it."

In the midst of the battle Fechin circled the Emperor looking for a time when the man would lower his guard.

"You should pick a better mistress," Devrim watched as the wolf snarled.

"I could say the same for you," Fechin fell on all fours.

The time for talk was past. Surging forward, the silver wolf's movement was graceful and smooth. He had run non-stop for a week to get to the Taran's camp and was quite comfortable with every muscle in his body. Unlike the creatures who had mostly been idle or completed mundane tasks, Fechin was well acquainted with what his body could and could not do.

Seeing the dangerous glint in the wolf's eyes, Devrim rolled to the side to avoid the deadly hit. While he trusted his armor, something in Devrim told him that even the best block was still going to end with him having irreparable damage to his insides.

"Coward!" Fechin screamed.

Devrim ignored him. The angrier Fechin got, the more likely he would be to make a mistake. The Emperor rolled back onto his feet and lifted his sword. But he left the dagger safely tucked away. The Emperor did not trust himself enough to let the wolf get close enough for it to be useful.

Fechin made another pass. This one was full of power, but Devrim closed the gap so he could not build up any speed. The blow still hurt.

'What is he made of? Stone?' Devrim groaned and pressed his sword to one side so the wolf's claws slid free of his head. It was a close call. 'Too close.'

Something needed to change. And soon.