Jhoqo shouted. Maquar and Durpari alike shouted in response.
'For the Rajah!' Jhoqo shouted and turned to face Taennen and Adeenya. Through the cheering and scrapes of steel being pulled from sheath and scabbard, Jhoqo shouted to be heard. 'Taennen, take half our men as yours to flank the left. Orir, take your men and circle around to flank them from the right. Terir, you're with me.' He turned again and faced the gathered forces. 'For the South! Clean every last beast from our path! None of my soldiers die today! Is that clear?'
Cheers erupted again. Taennen's ears ached with the sound, but his heart raced with anticipation. He drew his khopesh.
'No prisoners, sir?' Adeenya asked.
Jhoqo turned from her and strode away without answering. Whether or not he had heard her question was unclear. For her part, Adeenya clenched her jaw, but she rallied her soldiers and drove them to the right.
She had a point, Taennen realized. Prisoners might be useful in gaining information. Perhaps this ragged army of creatures was somehow involved in the trouble-if there was any-at Neversfall. An army of beasts this organized could have taken the regiment by surprise.
Taennen threw his hands high, signaling for two of the four Maquar squads to follow him. He pushed his way left to approach the enemy from a flanking position. Once away from the other units, Taennen shouted to the men gathered about him. 'Kill if you must, but if you can incapacitate an opponent to claim a captive, do so.'
The soldiers saluted. Seeing Jhoqo's troops setting off down the hill to meet the charge, Taennen thrust his khopesh high and loosed an ululating war cry. His troops returned his cry as they charged down the hill, falling into position as they ran.
As they descended the hill, Taennen's troops came into a wedge formation to punch through the enemy ranks and prevent the beasts from flanking Jhoqo's men as they attacked the center. Taennen stayed behind the forward line of that wedge by several strides, out of the heaviest fighting, in order to better command his forces. Leading troops meant living long enough to make sure that you lost as few soldiers as possible. His secure position gave an advantage in this.
He watched the forward soldiers pouring down the hill and felt nostalgic. It wasn't long ago that his place was in the action. Taennen held his shield and khopesh ready, looking for openings and opportunities to assist his soldiers.
With shouts of 'For the rajah,' Taennen's troops plunged into the fracas, scattering a group of goblins. The clatter of steel on steel made Taennen's blood race, and his eyes devoured the battle scene before him. He watched for gaps in the lines of the wedge formation, shouting out directions to fill them as the fighting force plowed through the battle.
He stepped over the corpse of a goblin as a line of blood sprayed across his chest from a nearby kill made by one of his soldiers.
A bugbear dodged through the formation of soldiers, its bulky body surprisingly nimble, and charged Taennen. The Maquar durir met the attack by launching his khopesh at the creature's neck. The bugbear parried the blow with a strong upward sweep of its club. The blade carved into the club with a thunk. Taennen pivoted on his left foot, brought the blade around, and drove it into the bugbear's groin.
The beast didn't make a sound. It stumbled and fell forward as Taennen snarled and plunged his sword into the bugbear's side.
'Right side! Disabling blows!' Taennen shouted. 'Form up and get in there!' Two of his soldiers tightened their formation in response, without so much as a hesitation between swings.
A pair of goblins harried a soldier in the rear of the wedge. She plunged forward with her blade, aiming low for one's legs instead of delivering a more deadly blow to the head or chest, and nicked one of her attackers knees. The little goblin leaped backward and its companion took advantage of the woman's extension, driving a spear through her neck. Her mouth opened in a silent cry and blood spilled down her chest and arm.
Taennen dashed forward but had made only half the distance when another of the Maquar broke formation to come to her aid. The goblins met the newcomer with low slashes. The soldier parried them and launched one of the goblins several paces with a quick kick. The other creature latched onto the man's leg and began climbing the soldier like a tree. The Maquar shifted his sword to his offhand and throttled the goblin, tossing it away. Before he could regain his defenses, the first goblin scrabbled toward him and drove a small axe into his gut. The Maquar shouted for help, but his fellows were engaged with enemies of their own.
Taennen reached the Maquar's side and severed the goblin's head with his blade while loosing a scream. The head fell to the ground, lips curved in a grim smile. Taennen took a step and continued the stroke into the other goblin, obliterating its abdomen. The Maquar wedge formation continued to gain ground, pushing through the gathered monsters and leaving Taennen and the two injured soldiers behind.
Taennen bent over the fallen woman to look for signs of life, but her chest did not move. The lake of blood spreading beneath her face left no doubt of her demise. Taennen choked back his anger at her death and turned his attention to the man who clutched his stomach and cursed the dead goblin. Taennen pried the man's hands away to check the gushing wound. Reds and pinks of many shades greeted him, squirming organs like so many worms, leaking their precious fluids. Taennen pressed hard on the gaping hole causing the man to moan in pain.
'Cleric!' Taennen shouted before he turned back to see the Maquar's face. 'Hang on, soldier. We'll get this taken care of. Hold that wound like it was a gift from the rajah himself!'
The soldier grimaced but mouthed his affirmation. Unable to help the man further, Taennen stood from the fallen soldier. He ran toward the rest of his troops to prevent the same fate from befalling them. Let the cleric get to him, Taennen prayed. The Maquar did not pay for resurrections.
The durir scanned the scene and watched in horror as, in the back of the formation, a half-giant nearly twice his height took the arm from one of his Maquar with a single stroke of her axe. Taennen roared a challenge to the creature, who trudged toward him instead of chasing the still-charging wedge. Taennen rolled to his left as the half-giant swung her huge axe at him. Her hulking muscles and dark brown skin seemed to soak up the sunlight. Her bald pate glistened with the fruit of her efforts and she swung the weapon slowly but with alacrity enough to do the job.
Taennen hopped to his feet and sprinted, circling behind the beastly woman. Teeth the size of Taennen's fingers gnashed together as she spun her axe low behind him. Taennen stopped his run and jumped straight up, pulling his legs up tight to his body. The huge axe whirred by just as he pulled his feet from the ground, grain plucked before it could be cut by the scythe. He gained his feet and drove right with his khopesh, slashing the blade at the half-giant's left side. The blow glanced off her hardened skin. Taennen grunted with frustration and shook off the pain in his wrist from the impact.
She turned to face him again without a sound. Taennen took two large steps back to escape the range of her terrible weapon. Her eyes were glassy and devoid of the battle rage he expected. She fought without anger or passion. She hefted the weapon above her head and drove down hard and straight, a blow easily dodged. Dirt sprayed as the axe head bit into the earth.
Before she could tug the heavy axe from the ground, Taennen was beside her, jabbing his khopesh at her. Twice his blade bit her before she wrenched her huge weapon from the soil, and twice it barely penetrated her rock-hard flesh. She pulled her weapon from the ground and straightened herself to stand tall again.
Taennen dashed behind her and jumped as high as he could, swinging his weapon like a pickaxe. He sank the curved end of the khopesh into her broad back and held tight to the hilt. His own weight on the blade tore at her flesh as he fell back to the ground. His blade slid down several inches, cutting a trail of pain, and the gash splashed blood. Still, his opponent made no scream of pain or any sound at all.
Taennen's heart sank. An opponent who felt no pain could fight forever. What drove these monsters so inexorably through the battle that they would not scream?
The enormous woman turned to him with her freed weapon, her face going slowly pale from blood loss. Her eyes were vacant and hollow. It was not just as though she felt no pain, but as though she felt nothing at all.
She drove her axe in hard on Taennen's right, and he prepared for the feint, assuming she would pull the weapon short and sweep it up toward him. The attack was no feint, though, and Taennen dodged the blow by leaning back. His opponent's lack of tactics only furthered his befuddlement. He pushed forward, shoving her arm hard against her stomach with his shield as he sent the khopesh at her chest with a mighty swing. The blow sank deep, dropping the half-giant to her knees. As she fell forward, Taennen jumped out of the way. Her face hit the dirt, her life over-and she had never once made a sound.
