Ashlani’s Reincarnation

Of course, the plan was more complicated than merely running towards the enemy and hitting them as hard as we could, but my intent was clear. There was no more incursions by the Misti Hawar that night, and in the morning, every member of the Empire began training in how to react to the presence of one of Illan’Klli’s spawn. Fortunately, Took had proven that the beasts didn’t need to be overwhelmed with magic to be slain. In fact, as near as we could tell, as soon as someone could broach their protective shroud of lashing, black magic and tentacles, then they could rip the body to pieces with ordinary physical strength.

“Do not think that the body is soft,” Took explained to the listening Saharliard. “It is flexible, but it is not weak. It was difficult for me to pierce through its defenses. Every part of it is tough and resists piercing and slashing attacks. My fangs struggled to pierce through its flesh and do real damage, as it bent out of the way of the attacks instead of being cut or ripped. Its magic continued to bulge out to try to push me away, and everything it tried could do real harm to me if I was hit cleanly.”

“To add to that,” I spoke loudly, allowing my voice to carry over the assembled hundreds of Alphas, “I will remind you that they will only get stronger. Be careful when engaging with them, because if you die because you refused to put any forethought into what you were doing as you ran into battle, then the only way you’ll be remembered is as a fool who couldn’t learn a lesson directly told to them.”

The people watching me erupted in laughs, the snarls and squeaks of my people filling the area. Once the general instructions were presented, the slow instruction period was over. From there, Took, Shemira, and Percral began speaking to their immediate subordinates about the weak points in the wall’s guards when under attack that they had seen on the walls the night before. We all had spoken in depth about these errors that had been common, most especially the overconfidence when faced with fighting a Misti Hawar in the dark. The creatures were more dangerous than so many believed, and that was mostly because of the overwhelming faith that they had in my own ability to lead them to victory.

My face spread in a wide grin in that knowledge, but, regardless of my own confidence in my ability to destroy an enemy force that came before me, this was a war of armies, not a fight of individuals. For as long as I continued to lead my people, which I assumed would be for many many years to come, I would need to ensure that my people didn’t throw their lives away for stupid reasons. After all, a large portion of my confidence in my own strength came from the existence of my Spear of the Many skill. If I didn’t have many followers to draw on, I would find myself severely limited, and very quickly.

It was strange to have this deep need to allow my people to prove themselves, not to protect them from any dangers that presented themselves, but also intellectually knowing that I needed them to largely stay safe in order to preserve my own ability to keep myself and them out of danger. Regardless of my thoughts, my day's practice passed quickly, the winter sun quickly setting, just as Joral brought a piece of interesting news to me. And by interesting, I meant infuriating.

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“They are harrying the flocks outside of the walls,” my Herdsman-in-chief reported. “They might be hiding underground, but they’ve killed several dozen thickfeathers and disappeared without encountering anything capable of stopping their ambushes. We’re currently pulling all of our herds back into the walls, and we’ll need you to approve any reorganization that happens within Nievtra itself, since the stables have been partially repurposed for now and won’t be able to hold the herds long-term.”

“And we won’t be able to feed them either,“ I continued, my fangs grinding against each other. “What do you know about the fields? They’ve largely been harvested, but those that remain growing, have they been found and destroyed?”

“I have no idea,” he clacked his teeth for emphasis. “I’ll have Arwa and the rest of the wolfstags making their rounds with at least one Sik’Tal hunter accompanying them at all times. Together, they’ll be able to thwart any attacks the Misti Hawar make in the light of day.”

“Accompany them yourself,“ I commanded. “Shemira, you go to coordinate with Sybil to ensure we can continue to house and feed the flocks for the foreseeable future. Any assistance that you need, you have. I don’t care where you pull them from, this is our chief priority until we can secure a greater hold on our supplies. In line with that, if you can get anyone in contact with someone from the colony. I don’t care if it’s the Violet or Crimson, we might just need more food than we can easily supply for ourselves. Move quickly, it’s obvious daylight isn't as secure as we believed.”

As we had these conversations, my mind flicked from one thought to the next, and I cursed my own foolishness. I’ve never been in a war, whether this life or the last, only battles. I’ve never thought of what a siege was, or what it meant, and now I was kept on the back foot as the Misti Hawar pressed in faster than I’d expected and more intelligently than I’d planned. There would be plenty of experience for the next time that we came under siege, but for now, despite the preparations that I’d thought were excessive, the Empire wasn’t holding up to our lofty plans.

Somehow, as I restructured my thinking to instead focus on siege warfare instead of mere battles, Horde Coordination gave me small insights into how to adjust my thinking. There was no absolute clarity granted, and I quickly felt that, if the Skill was Swarm Superiority, I would have gained greater insight, but that was a concern for a later day. Instead, for now, I realized how important it was that we secure our food and water for the time being, as while I had every confidence in my people’s ability to get food and water in regular times, these were anything but regular times.

Then, as Joral rushed off, I heard something stirring in the forest. I wanted to groan, but instead merely hurried to the walls where I could watch what was happening. While the light of the suns still remained, I saw nothing, but they quickly dipped below the mountains on the west, and the new enemies that the Misti Hawar had prepared for us appeared.