Casualties

He was one of Kit's commanders and had been charged to hold the eastern wall. Now as the behemoths came closer he found that all the thoughts that had plagued him earlier. All the uncertainty seemed to fade away. Now his mind was clear, except for one thought. It was of her. He imagined her waiting for him in the city after the battle, and held on tight to the memory. They were getting closer now. Large, herbivorous behemoths with three large horns arranged in a triangle; two on its head and one on at the tip of its snout. They shook the earth as they knocked down anything in their way. If they got through then the city would definitely fall.

Suddenly something heavy came down on him. He hadn't expected it. It knocked his horse over, throwing him to the ground. it was the corpse of a thunderbird that had been slain in mid-air. As he fell he spun around and kicked the thunderbird into the path of an oncoming behemoth. The lumbering beast tripped on the corpse, resulting in a domino effect. Tor Landed with perfect repose. His heart was beating now, but the clarity remained.

The sound of snorting beasts and galloping hooves surrounded him. He suddenly felt cramped, there was barely any space to move, but his element was water so it wouldn't be much of a problem. With incredible agility he brandished his steel sword and leapt forward. Another thunderbird came crashing down but before it hit the ground he jumped up. Using it as a step he leapt again, tucking in his limbs and releasing when now just above one of the behemoths. Time slowed down as he looked for the best place to strike the beast. With a quick swipe of his sword he almost decapitated it.  With the momentum from the strike he let his sword arm turn his body the right way up again and then landed on his feet on the fine, white desert sand.

But now he was in the thick of it. All around him there were screams to be heard, horses gored to death and thunderbirds falling from the sky. A behemoth swerved its head to gore him, but it was massive and slow while he was light and swift. He slid underneath its massive head, his back was bent backwards with his blade horizontal and just inches from his own face. The behemoth fell to the ground, with blood still gushing out of its throat. It groaned a pained, gurgling groan as the beast tried in vain to stand. Tor then struck down at the base of its head, putting the creature out of its misery. 

Tor made it seem effortless. The wind blew, and it was incredibly humid, filled with water –his element– and he came alive. It blew in the direction of the behemoths, and he followed it. As if he was lighter than air he let the wind carry him forward. Tor slashed and sliced his way through the herd, leaving no beast that crossed his path alive. Another beast came at him. Just before it could impale him he leapt kicked it lightly. Behind the kick however was an unnatural gust of wind that burst forth from his foot and lead the behemoths horns into another behemoth running alongside it. But there were more, so many that the clarity was broken after a while by a single thought; will they ever end?

But that was from Tor's point of view. As Meera surveyed the battlefield from the wall of Yani city she could see that the first wave was almost spent. "Keep firing! Don't let a single one past the wall." She ordered. By this point she had begun to tire. She was a lower teacher and she had a good affinity to fire. It was her covering each and every single arrow in fire qi. Although her strength was waning, she could still keep it up until this wave was done. 

She raised her arms into position and summoned her bow. Immediately it lit up in vibrant orange flames. She pulled back the string, materialising a large lance-like arrow in the process. She took aim and, noting the opportunity before her in the form of three thunderbirds flying very close together, she materialised two more arrow-lances and quickly let them loose. With a sharp twang and a blast of heat they flew, tails of fire streaking just behind them.

The first arrow hit the one on the extreme left with so much force it was immediately ripped apart. The second arrow missed the middle thunderbird by less than an inch and hit the one on the extreme right just below the breast. The thunderbird let out a pained shriek as it fell from the sky, engulfed in flames.

The third and final arrow she let loose went straight for the thunderbird in the middle, it was the biggest. With incredible agility it turned on one side and flew sideways, dodging the arrows. Meera recognised it as the alpha. In a split second it zoomed past her. The flap of its wings generated so much force it nearly blew her and her archers of the wall.

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