Six days passed.
Kodria and its 3 main armies, were in full readiness waiting for the coming enemy. The civilians all quietly huddled inside their homes to ward against the cold winter and the frightening outside world full of so many enemies.
Akira and Fluffball were getting in some last-minute training with the Cavalrymen before the big fight when…
“Awwwooooo!”
A distant howl coming from one of the northern scouting werewolf units alerted everyone in Kodria.
“What?” asked Akira out loud after listening to the howl.
“Is there something wrong?” asked Mileena who was eating a quick lunch while riding behind Akira. She was of course wearing the new green wind leather armor set.
“There’s a large enemy army marching towards the city… is this the enemy we are to fight against?” asked Akira to no one in particular.
“Piiii!” screeched Pii’per who was gliding high above them. She was fully equipped with her newly cleansed bone claws and beak weapons. They were still a little too big for her but Delgar had made some modifications allowing them to be easier to strap onto her small frame.
“I hope our preparations were enough,” said Akira as he watched the lazy Pii’per far above them.
“Why worry? We have done all we could to prepare. Now all that is left is for everyone to give it their all in defending Kodria and the citizens,” said Mileena.
“Yap!” shouted a happy Fluffball. As he ran around Grarr his claws sliced through the snow with ease from the metal claws strapped to his front two paws.
Akira had tried to have him use four of the new metal claws, one on each paw. Unfortunately, Fluffball was unable to walk or fight without stumbling or doing faceplants into the snow when using all four.
Grarr stopped moving and Akira stood up using the stirrups. With a wave of his armored paw, Akira motioned the entire Cavalry to move out towards the east river fort where the returning scouts would be arriving soon.
The over 500 strong cavalry and 100 busters crisply turned and made their way to the east fort.
They arrived at the fort the same time as the returning Bo and the 20 other scouts that he had led north to patrol part of the vast northern territory.
Klyn and several of his holy shaman were still on a transport ship halfway across the lake heading towards the fort to join up with Akira.
“Is it the infected?” asked Akira in a worried tone. The last week was far too stressful. All they could do was prepare and wait for the large wave of attacks.
“No,” said Bo, shaking his head. “It’s…”
“Who?” asked an impatient Zundar.
“Over the last several days we have been encountering several small scouting groups of Ratman. So I scouted farther north to see where they were coming from and found a camp with a force of at least 1000 Ratmen,” said Bo.
“Are they migrating away from the molten onyx plague?” asked Akira.
Bo shook his head. “We watched them for a day to be sure. Their target is definitely Kodria. Since there are no civilians with them I can only guess they have ill intentions.”
“Bait?” asked Akira.
“I’m not sure. We scouted a wide area around them but found no other hiding forces.”
Klyn arrived at the docks of the fort and was quickly updated on the situation.
After a quick discussion between everyone, they came to an agreement on what needed to be done.
“Awwooo!”
With a howl, Akira ordered the army, city guards, and navy to go to their battle stations. They all needed to be on guard for any attack.
“Bo, lead the way to this camp. The faster we drive them back and return the better. If we can defeat the problem before it reaches the city outskirts that is for the best. We’ll need to hurry up and return in case this is a trap to lure the army away from the city,” ordered Akira.
With that said Akira let out another loud howl, “AWOOO!”
The 5 omega cavalry officers echoed his howling order and the cavalry force imitatively headed out following Bo towards the enemy force.
***
The majority of the groggy Ratmen were only now waking up and starting to cook a late breakfast.
They had been marching the entire night before to arrive at their destination on time.
“Chee ree re chee,” complained a tired and poorly dressed Ratman who was half asleep as he stood watch at the outskirts of the camp.
He had stopped feeling the biting cold in his arms and legs and was now feeling an odd drowsy warmth take over. All he wanted to do was drift off to sleep… but if he did that he would be scolded by the captain.
Those that were scolded, more often than not, ended up as rations for the rest of the army.
This thought made him shiver and the drowsy warmth was driven back once more to be replaced by the stinging cold which had invaded deep into his body and made it painful to move… but he had to endure the pain and keep moving so that he could battle the cold and try to stay warm.
Through his numb feet, he felt the snowy ground vibrating.
The Ratman guard stopped and looked at his nearly frozen feet for a few seconds before turning his gaze at the ground.
His muddied brain was puzzled, not understanding what was going on. As he stared at the ground the vibration grew stronger.
When he looked up he froze in place upon seeing a large black furry creature only a few steps away from him!
“Reeeeeeeee….! gurgle…”
The guard managed to let out one last warning before he was run through by a sword ending his life.
“Kill the Invaders! Don’t let them step a foot closer to Kodria!” growled Akira as he pulled his sword out of the dead Ratman.
“Awoo!” “Awooooo!” “Awoo Awooo!” several eager howls rang out in acknowledgment to Akira.
The Gargs charged into the encampment and plowed through the tents trapping and trampling hundreds of Ratmen inside their tents who were killed by claw, sword, and spear.
“REEE! Chee reee!” came the screeches of a Ratman officer. The office was trying to rally the Ratman soldiers that were already gathered near the cooking campfires at the center of the encampment.
The panicked and disordered Ratman soldiers started to filter towards the officer. When a sizable force had gathered the officer pointed forward towards the rampaging Garg cavalry.
“Reeeee!”
With no sort of formation, the mob of hundreds of poorly dressed and armed Ratman charged forward to stop the werewolves’ advance.
Akira and the other werewolves met them head-on, easily curving out a large hole in them as they slaughtered their way forward.
“Is this all you got? You’re all so weak!” shouted Zundar as he swung his hammer creating several bloody pulps wherever he went.
Mileena shot out several of her disposable daggers, pricing the foreheads of the Ratman that tried to throw javelins at Akira. While Fluffball tore through the swarming Ratman near the rear.
Kodria’s banner stood tall behind Akira as tanner fought behind him while holding up the banner.
“Commander Akira! The enemy officer is abandoning the battle and is escaping to the north with 200 soldiers who look better equipped than this rabble. Do you want me to block their escape?” asked an omega officer.
“No. Bo, follow them with your familiar to see where they are heading. They may lead us to whoever is behind all of this,” shouted Akira as he cut down several of the weak Ratmen soldiers like cutting grass.
“Yap!” said Fluffball as he shot an ice ball that exploded on the snowy ground, freezing the legs of several Ratman near Akira.
“What cowards! The strongest escaped with the officer…” said a disappointed Zundar.
“Is this really the great threat that was looming over the city?” asked Klyn as he continuously chanted, giving all those around him several buffs.
“We’ll know for sure when Bo finds their escape destination,” said Akira.
***
Far to the north was a large camp of tents surrounded with moaning molten onyx infected.
Inside the largest tent at the center of a camp, there was a heated discussion happening.
“Your first wave was driven back so easily. I’m now doubting if it’s even worth the trouble of having you allied with us,” said Tibia with great disdain as she looked at Rechee, the commander of the Ratmen force.
After searching for the proper words Rechee cleared his throat and began talking in a calm squeaky voice.
“It’s okay, they were just the lazy dregs of our clan. Tomorrow I will lead my army and arrive at the city in force to soften them up for you. But you have to keep your promise that we will be allowed to rule over Froit.”
‘Damn weaklings, can’t even set up a forward base without getting discovered and driven off. I’ll have to make them pay for making me look bad by putting them in the first major wave,’ thought Rechee.
