36 Tovis
Iplanted my hoof ona sytos chest and kicked him hard enough I heard his ribs shatter.My blood was singing with blood rage, it was taking almost as much effort to hold it back as it was to fight.I gripped my ax tighter and swung at another syto’s head, he dodged and the blade bounced off his skull instead of shattering it.Blood poured down his face as he fell to the ground and I quickly finished him off, angry that the blow that should have ended his life quickly had missed.
Turochs weren’t squeamish about war, but we aimed for a quick kill, as merciful as battle could be.There hadn’t been time for proper strategy before the sytos arrived, but Adak had been planning for just such a situation for months and he’d been prepared.
With Jiith’s knowledge, we’d known that the stunners wouldn’t work once our forces collided, the blasts were too wide to avoid friendly fire, leaving them with their shock sticks and what bladed weapons they’d managed to scavenge.
Adak’s plan had been to wait until they were within stunner range and then rush them, mixing in with them before they could use the distance their weapons afforded them.So far it had been effective.Male to male, the sytos were smaller, weaker and less experienced, but they had twice our number and they weren’t untrained.
The sytos had been keeping turochs as slaves for centuries, they knew our weaknesses well.They made every blow count, aiming for eyes, groins and ankles, working in small groups to overwhelm a single turoch and fighting with blind desperation that they’d been bred to obey.
A male with nothing to lose, nothing to live for was dangerous no matter how small he might be.
I grabbed a handful of blue tentacles and wrenched a syto off of Vret’s back.The tailless turoch was being swarmed by enemies, they’d zeroed in on his old injuries and piled on.We fought side by side, like we had for years, moving in unison, watching each other’s backs and avoiding each other’s strikes in the way we’d leaned in the arena.
But we’d never fought so many foes at once back then.Loud cracks rang out over the melee, the human guns picking off sytos at a distance.It was utterly foreign, to be fighting an opponent and see him suddenly fall without landing a blow, but I couldn’t deny that the guns were helping.
A shock stick jabbed at my chest and I swatted it away, teeth clenching as the move earned me a painful jolt.Vret bumped into me and I swung around, keeping one eye on the syto trying to shock me again and saw that two more had pinned Vret against me.
One male was holding onto his arm, pulling his off balance while the other attempted to stab him with a bent machete.With one arm restrained, Vret was vulnerable.With his poorly healed injuries he didn’t have the balance to bring his hooves into a fight like the Vrets of us and he was forced to parry the machete away with his ax.
My opponent landed another blow, the shock carrying through me to Vret, where we touched.He stiffened, his free arm faltering and the syto lunged forward, his rusted blade catching Vret’s thigh.
I cursed, kicked the syto in front of me in the belly and whirling around to gore the one attacking Vret.The sudden movement unbalanced Vret, who crashed to the ground, machete sticking out of his leg.
The syto who’d been holding onto him fell, too, and Vret dropped his ax, grabbed a handful of tentacles and wrenched his head to the side, breaking his neck.
“How bad is it?”I panted, turning to guard my friend as someone sent a limp blue body flying past us.
“I’ll live,” he muttered.“If this ends soon.”
A squalling cry broke through the clash of weapons and a small green body hurtled toward us, dodging hooves and boots.Sal bolted toward me, honking, and ran right over Vret’s legs.
I stared down at the baby percer, who huddled against my ankles shaking and stamping.
“That’s supposed to be on the roof with your mate,” Vret said grimly.“Go, I’ll be fine.”
I turned in a quick circle, looking for any sign of Jessa in the chaos spilling over our wrecked camp.Sal jumped up, pawing at my legs and then took off again, weaving through the battle and out of sight.
“Don’t die,” I ordered, pointing my ax at Vret.
He waved me off, holding his bleeding leg and I sucked in a breath and ran after Sal.I could barely keep track of him as I shoved through the mass of sytos and turochs.But I made it to the edge of the parking lot in time to see him chasing after a group of sytos hauling a struggling Jessa between them.
