The Bloodforged Kin

Chapter 206 - 200: Maisy - Human Noises

"The humans are making too much noise." Announcer's voice reached even them.

"They are very good at being very loud," Solstice replied with disdain.

"Their way of fighting is successful, though," she said.

Solstice snorted with derision but couldn't deny her claim. The Herd, as he was now calling all of the animals within her domain, did not like the strategies that Maisy had employed. The last three weeks had been a constant struggle of trial and error as she and Solstice grouped animals in different ways, trying to find the best way to mitigate weaknesses and compound their strengths. Her display on that second day had driven the lesson home - obey or die. Cooperate or die. All had obeyed, but cooperation did not come easily. Animals were still animals, and in the fever of battle baser instincts won out over strategy and tactics.

It was working, though, and they were getting better. That didn't mean they liked it.

"Many are unhappy with fighting like humans. Some simply do not understand."

Maisy purred, trying to calm herself. What he was saying was true - the species had been divided, Scamperers working with the Thunderclaw Bears. Whispering Owls confused enemies, allowing smaller animals to rush in and tear the invaders apart. Skyreaver Raptors and Abyss Vipers acted as guerilla teams, striking unexpectedly and breaking up ranks of attackers, sending them into confusion and allowing them to be picked apart.

The Badgers and Cinder Lynxes were assigned one each to the different groups to act where they were most needed, which was the best Maisy could get out of the stubborn things.

The Frostfang Wolves had taken to their role with pride, which was a huge relief to Maisy. Thornjaw had rejoined the pack and remained the alpha. None had wanted to challenge the Wolf who could survive a battle with the Domain Alpha, and he wore his new scars with pride. They were a mobile attack force, sprinting from one engagement to another, appearing out of the shadows like silent angels of death, ripping and rending anything that had entered the domain, before sprinting off to face the next group. Maisy had been concerned that Thornjaw's defeat would grate against his pride and make him more likely to rebel again, but that fear had turned out to be unfounded. The pack was doing what they loved to do and growing stronger for it.

"We should be more successful than this," Maisy said with irritation. "The battles are still too hard-won."

Solstice stomped once and dipped his antlers in agreement.

"What is keeping us weak? I do not understand." If it had been anyone but Solstice she never would have voiced her concern, but she had come to trust his quiet intelligence and confidence. He would not betray her trust or see her questions as a weakness. Rather, he seemed to appreciate that she was willing to consult him. She knew that his herd was not as strength-focused as many of the other species. At their heart, the herd were not predators, they had always been prey. They had evolved to work together, often reaching decisions as a group. Their leader wasn't chosen off of strength, although that was important as well, they were chosen for being the one that could make the decisions that kept as many alive as possible. Maisy appreciated his point of view for that.

"We are not yet one. We work together, but not as ones who have always done so. And, perhaps, your domain is too large for us to adequately defend."

Adrenaline flooded Maisy but she tamped it down. This wasn't a challenge or a critique, it was a tactical analysis. "We can not lose territory. We gain strength from the amount we control and from the size of my domain. Losing territory may make it more defensible, but it weakens us in the process."

"This is true." Solstice dipped his antlers. "And yet, it is too big. We can defend it all, but our herd will slowly shrink as more die. We can give up parts that are strategically poor, but we will get weaker. Or we can gather others to join us."

Maisy's ears perked up at that last part. "Are there others?"

Solstice's pause was long. "No. Any that have not joined us have joined others or are dead."

"There are the humans," Maisy said.

Irritation and disgust were his only response.

"You are correct," Maisy said, "none here would accept humans, even if accepting them prevented death."

"Those here don't think of death, only life."

Maisy understood that all too well, as it was the same for her. Animals didn't want to die and would do anything to prevent it, but only in the moment when it was imminent. When death was not facing them it wasn't a consideration. It was difficult enough to get the animals to consider the future - anything beyond the now was a concept foreign to most of them. Humans may save them in the moment, but they would be thought of as intruders the moment the threat of death had passed.

"That leaves us only two options, then. Continue as we are and get strong enough to defeat what is coming, or reduce the size of my domain and risk being too weak to defend even that."

"There is always the third option."

"What is that?"

"That we all will die."

This, too, was not a question or threat, only a declaration of the reality.

Cats didn't process thoughts like humans, they didn't have an internal voice that spoke their thoughts to them. They also didn't complain, even if humans sometimes mistook their cries for treats or attention as complaining rather than a very loud order being given. If Maisy had the capacity to do either, her complaint would have been that The System was giving them too big of a challenge for what they were equipped to deal with, without any good options to gain an advantage.

If she'd had an internal voice it would have been asking her if surviving this was even possible.

She shook the moment off. Dwelling on it was pointless, the attacks were about to begin. The raptors had communicated the attacks on the human settlement, which means theirs was soon to follow. She didn't know why there was always a delay - maybe The System wanted to give them an opportunity to work together and support each other, or maybe her domain was just further away from the origin point. Either way, it was beginning.

It had taken extensive patience and effort to communicate a plan to the Rootmother, but the impressions finally took root and the Bloodthorn Vines were spread out along the border of her domain. It was difficult to make them obey the command to wait, everything in their nature made instinctual responses to motion immediate. But the Rootmother had strong control over the almost hive-like mind of her species and they waited on her command. Rabbits and hounds sprung over the vines, seemingly unaware of the threat below them. Maisy had been warned of the odd vine-like creatures that pulled themselves along the earth, and she wanted them held back by those most equipped to deal with them.

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The rabbits arrived first, as they always did, their fast forms diving deep into the woods. Solstice had pulled everyone back into the treeline where they couldn't be overwhelmed by sheer numbers. Raptors and Whispering Owls divebombed the rush of rabbits, thinning their ranks as they crossed the open spaces. As fast as the rabbits were, the raptors were faster. The Skyreaver Raptors dove fast and low, unleashing ear-splitting Sonic Shrieks that froze the rabbits in dizzying confusion. The owls followed immediately behind, snatching rabbits into the air. The smaller raptors followed behind those, tearing through the rabbits as they found them or lifting them high into the air to fall to their deaths as well. Many a rabbit disappeared down the gullets of the raptors and owls as well, which was only natural. Despite the success of these tactics, the rabbits outnumbered the birds ten to one and fully half of their number made it into the treeline, crashing through the underbrush without the slightest attempt at stealth. From there the Cinder Lynxes, Arcane Scamperers, and Abyss Vipers engaged them in fierce hit-and-run battles.

With the rabbits fully engaged Maisy turned her attention back to the border where the Shadow Hounds were loping into the open spaces, looking left and right for targets. They were bunched in packs of twelve, spread out across the border. Maisy saw six groups and she growled away the fear that was climbing into her stomach. Fear was a new emotion for her and she did not like it, not one bit. She had split the Badger Sentinels into five groups of five each, each group accompanied by one of the Cinder Lynxes, two Radiant Stags, and two Shadow Fawns. The Thunderclaw Bears were paired with two dozen Scamperers and two Radiant Stags each. The Luminescent Butterflies had been gently herded to the center of the domain. Their impact was minor and almost always came at the cost of their lives. Maisy had no qualms with sacrificing them if required - thus was the law of nature - but if it served no purpose she tried to keep them alive. They were too mindless to understand strategy and, as she could only admit to herself, she didn't want to see the helpless things die.

She and Solstice had worked out the arrangements to provide strong, durable creatures up front, smaller animals to support, at least two healers per group, and Shadow Fawns to work as needed. Additional groups of Stags and Fawns worked similarly to the Frostfang Wolves, moving between groups as needed. It was the best combination that they could come up with and it exploited the primary weakness of the attackers - they fought in individual groups. The attackers were strong and each had their own power sets, but they relied primarily on numbers to overwhelm their victims. If they had worked together they would have been much more formidable, and Maisy was grateful that the concept didn't appear to occur to them. They fought only for themselves, never defending or helping their allies. The Shadow Hounds were perhaps the closest - they protected their individual packs, but the other packs wouldn't stop their charges to help even a single hound from another.

With the rabbits fully engaged within the woods Maisy turned her attention to the other groups. Badger Sentinels were carving fast bulwarks with Fortress Defense, the short walls of magically-hardened earth springing up in front of charging hounds before they could slow enough to avoid them. The first waves hit snout-first, cracking teeth and sending the attackers stumbling backwards, only to be pushed forward by the pack behind them. The badgers would climb the bulwarks and leap into the packs, Earthshatter Charge activating everywhere they landed, sending fissures tearing through the ground in jagged patterns. The hounds lost their momentum from the localized earthquakes, only to find their paws trapped in fissures that had closed around them. The Abyss Vipers slithered over the mounds to attack with Venomous Strikes, the necrotic poison weakening the hounds and causing their skin to bubble and melt away wherever they were struck. Radiant Stags and Cinder Lynxes leapt into the fray immediately after, trampling, scorching, and piercing the hounds as they tried to free themselves.

Some were lost - vipers snatched up by angry jaws, lynxes falling backwards with rent flesh, fawns stumbling away with ripped and chewed tendons - but overall the tactics were proving more successful than she could have hoped.

She felt yips of pain across her bond and realized that she'd gotten distracted, forgetting about the strange vine-men that had crossed into the open spaces. The wolves had engaged the first ones, only to find that the attackers' vines whipped through the air too fast to dodge and sliced through even their thick fur. Many were pulling back, shaking their heads and keening as the toxins seeped into their faces.

"Rootmother - now!" She hoped she hadn't waited too long and allowed the vine-men to have gotten beyond the Bloodthorn Vines' reaches. The vines moved slowly, not built for travel. She huffed in relief as long black and blood-red vines suddenly came alive, wrapping themselves around the Briar Men that were within reach.

Even with the Bloodthorn Vines' entry into the melee the Briar Men were proving too much. Vines twisted around vines and it was impossible to tell if either was finding advantage. The Bloodthorn Vines didn't feel pain, but that didn't stop the toxins from taking effect. The Briar Men didn't seem to have blood and the vines' attacks were only causing surface damage. A roar of pain reached her ears and she turned her attention to the Thunderclaw Bears.

The Briar Men had the bears surrounded, and the Scamperers that were there to protect them from swarming rabbits had either climbed onto the bears for protection or had fled completely. Each swipe that Hearthmane and Stonefist took sent the small, viny bodies flying into the distance - but always there were more to take their place. There weren't a lot of the Briar Men, but their attacks were debilitating and were slowing down anything they hit.

"Solstice," she said but he was ahead of her.

"I see. The herd has informed me."

"We can't attack them paw-to-paw."

"Agree. I will send the piercing herd. Call back Hearthmane and Stonefist."

Maisy sent the order and, for once, her message was heeded immediately. When the bears were in the midst of battle they were normally too enraged to hear or obey commands, but their pain made them obey instantly. They turned and dropped to all fours, lumbering away with tripping gaits to the safety of the trees. The Radiant Stags were there soon after, the ones with magical ranged attacks encircling the Briar Men from a distance. Antlers lit the night with welcome glows, the light reaching a crescendo before spearing outwards in beams as thick as their thickest antlers. The place where the Briar Men had congregated became an explosion of light and sound, the booming reaching their ears even from where Maisy and Solstice were. When the light cleared all that was left was a deep pit filled with scorched and smoking bodies.

"All who are injured, move to the center. All others, remain at the outskirts and remain on alert for attackers."

"Huntress," Solstice said only to her, "there are others that yet remain. All must stay and fight. It is not yet over."

"I won't have those who are injured give their lives if it is not necessary."

"It is for the good of the herd. They must stay."

Maisy whipped her tail in anger. This was as close to insubordination as he had come with her before. "I have given the command." Even now she saw animals fleeing in streams towards the center of her domain.

Solstice stomped and snorted, a rare display of frustration.

"Solstice," she said, her tone carrying with it the feelings of command, leadership, and the danger of disobeying her. "We must lead. We will clear out the remaining."

His stomping and snorting stopped, partly due to the threat in her tone as he considered her tone. His was not a species that considered fighting when there were predators to do the fighting for them. He put as much respect as possible into the tone of his reply, not wanting to confuse it with a challenge. "There are others better equipped to do so. We can lose some, but they can not lose you and I."

Maisy understood. His reply wasn't cowardice or fear, it was the law of nature. Predators hunted, predators fought. The herd supported but were not the front line. Even understanding this, she understood that the old laws held no sway in this new world. Her tone rang with finality.

"We hunt. First when possible, but always to protect the domain. Enough. We hunt."

If Solstice objected he was smart enough not to communicate it, either through words or body language. He sent a message to his stags, sending them to attack any Briar Men they could find.

He and Maisy rushed into the night, the sounds of intruders as different from the residents of her domain as night was to day. The hunt lasted through to morning as Maisy tracked down each and every one of the invaders.

She limped into the clearing at the center of her domain, the animals moving aside to give her a clear path to her bed of furs. Unlike the humans, there was no cheering, no congratulations, no thanks. Each did as they were meant to and none considered that any special attention was required because of it. Even Maisy, bloodied, torn, and trembling from the effects of Briar Men toxins, wasn't afforded any additional attention. She was their Alpha and had done as she should. She lived, which only proved her strength and the right for her to lead.

She stumbled to her bed, circling it once before curling up in a healing sleep. She was unaware of the one set of eyes that watched her as she did, judging, questioning, and doubting.