Endless
A long, soulful howl echoed over the barren wastes. High above, the moon shown bright and clear, a hunter's moon, that offered perfect illumination for Tomyris as she lifted her bow. She could see her targets easy enough: two of them patrolling the side walls of the fortress. She selected an arrow specifically designed to not penetrate the victim, instead the arrow head would fragment once inside the chest cavity. She placed the arrow against the bow string, and drew the elastic wire back with her strength. She drew the wire far, but not sure she could cover the distance, relaxed the wire slowly. With a deep breath, she drew the wire back farther, lined her shot, and released.
The arrow made a low whistle as it traveled through the air. Only one of the sentries noticed, and he was silenced as the arrow cut cleanly through his chest, and the stone arrow head fragmented in his heart. The second sentry drew his blade, but too late did he notice the clanking of armor behind him. He turned, slashing, and for a moment was blinded by the shattering of sparks as metal struck metal. The knight that had approached deflected the blade with his armored forearm. His other hand took hold of the sentry by the throat, and lifted him off the ground. A moment's pressure, and the sentry's neck snapped, the body going limp.
Tomyris rose, and began to run down the hillside to meet her partner. Tomyris was short, though powerful, efficient legs allowed her to travel very fast and smoothly over the ground. Perhaps, at one time, she would have been considered beautiful, but a lifetime of war and battle had left her with an aged complexion. Her long, golden hair was tangled and knotted and filthy, and her tawny fur was equally laden with grim. Her clothing and armor was a mismatch of what she could scrounge from those she killed, mostly leather over her legs, but a scale mail cuirass over her chest, hidden under her shirt, was something she was never without. Over her back and covering her ears was a scarlet cloak and hood. This cloak could be turned inside out, and she could lay beneath a coating of tan when laying on the ground.
Her compatriot, who she came to meet, was her antipode in almost every way. Even beyond the fact that she was a lioness and he was a wolf, they could not have been more different. He was tall and thick in build, while she was lithe and fast. His bulk and size was complimented by the heavy plate and chain armor he wore, and though he did his best to move quietly, he could not silence the dozens of plates that brushed and clanked against each other. Even his bushy tail made more noise than her graceful, thin one, as it swatted and whacked the air. In fact, the only thing they had in common was the tiredness of their faces, and the strength in their eyes.
There was a time when the lions and the wolves were the bitterest of foes. Now, with their respective kingdoms decimated under a common enemy, the times of animosity seemed a lifetime past. The duo's latest target was a sizeable fortress that had been erected in what had once been Tomyris' homeland. Their enemies were the rat hordes that had come from the east. They were like a plague in their numbers, and the plague they carried in their fur and on their breath had done most of their work for them. The once noble and proud lions and wolves had resorted to hit and run, assassinations, and raids to fight against the occupying force, in the hopes of maybe, just maybe forcing them to leave.
Not that Romulus or Tomyris particularly cared for things such as honor by now. They were tired and exhausted and determined, because it was their ideal and staunchest belief that this war would be won.
"Did you take out the other sentries?" Tomyris asked, as she gathered up the first corpse.
Romulus growled, lifting the second and shuffling off behind her. "I gave the signal, didn't I?"
"Did you manage to kill them without being spotted?"
"Did you hear the horn? Are we fighting the entire base?"
Tomyris rolled her eyes. Although she was short, the rats were shorter, and somehow she felt a bit better about herself as she looked over the tiny creature she was dragging along. Lion tactics had evolved from their smaller, though lighter and faster forms than the juggernaut wolves they always seemed to be fighting. Her armor was focused on maximum speed, as opposed to Romulus, who was, simply put, a tank. Not that she was complaining when she got to hide behind him, and was safe and sound as thousands of arrows rained upon them. She often mused, that if her people and his could put aside their differences, what mountains they could make crumble and what gods they could make weep. But aside from the superficial difference in appearance, there were disagreements about which gods should be worshiped and when, there were disagreement about if a curved blade or a straight one was superior. And of course, there was the disagreement about how shared resources should be distributed. But, it stood to reason that the lions deserved the lion's share, didn't it? If only the wolves were less stubborn about such things...
They dragged the rat corpses far from the base, and then dumped them into the river that would carry them away. A frontal assault on the base would be suicidal. The duo had spent almost a month in this routine: every few days killing the sentries silently and disposing of the bodies, or Tomyris would snipe the sentries on the wall in the middle of the day. Anything to harass and make the rats worry and panic. It didn't matter. On this night, Romulus looked to Tomyris, and then to the bodies that were slowing drifting down the river. There were still three corpses to dispose of before the morning rose. But Romulus shook his head, looking to the lioness. "I think it's time."
"We should wait longer," Tomyris said.
"The first night we did this, there ten sentries around the base. And then, each time we did it, there were still ten sentries, until six days ago, when there were only five. There are only five again, which means they're running out of men. If they managed to get a runner past us, though, then reinforcements will be coming any time now, and then we will lose this chance."
"And if your wrong? If the rats have been playing us, allowing us to think we are weak?"
Romulus growled, glaring down at her, but Tomyis stared definitely up at him, even lifting to her toes so the size difference wouldn't be as severe. "We don't have time for this, Tomyris... We can do it."
Tomyris sighed, slouching down once more and relaxing on her full foot. "Fine, but if anything goes south, I'm cutting your heel and leaving you."
The moon was right, providing as much light as it would in the day, only now most of their enemies would be asleep or at least fatigued from spending hours in the hot sun. The temperature had dropped, as it always did on the savannahs, and though Tomyris was accustomed to this, hopefully the rats would not be. The walls of the fortress were about twenty feet high, and smoothed wood so climbing would be impossible. Tomyris knew that for a fact, as it was her people that had built their base. The rats had simply moved in after a prolonged siege, slaughtered the occupants who foolishly tried to surrender, and had been living inside since. If they were part of a larger detachment or just dumb raiders, Tomyris wasn't sure. She didn't care.
With it decided that the attack would take place, Romulus traveled back to tunnel that he and the lioness had been living in for the extent of their personal raid. Covered in sand, it could be walked over a thousand times and the passer would be none the wiser. But Romulus effortlessly found the chain buried beneath the sands, and tugged it up with all his might. He pulled it hard, and fast, and a large hole opened slowly, the ground yawning wide before the entrance to their home was open. Tomyris went in first, followed by Romulus.
They emerged a few minutes later, both carrying boxes filled with metal spheres a bit larger than Romulus' paw, these metal spheres filled with black powder. Romulus had explained that, with the black powder encased inside and a fuse sticking out from the top, the fuse could be lit and the ball thrown, and the ball would eventually explode. He said that they were called "grenados," although Tomyris thought that a stupid name. Still, if there was one thing that wolves could do, it was blow things up, so she trusted him as they piled the entirety of the grenados stock against the weak wall of the fortress. Romulus struck a light, and ignited a long fuse that stood out of several of the grenados, before he returned to Tomyris, who was hiding behind a sand dune.
Moments ticked by, with Tomyris holding tight to her bow, sure that the rats would see the pile and rouse the entire base to attack, although Romulus was calm and leaned slightly over the dune, watching intently. His annoyingly bushy tail wagged; a sign of his excitement at seeing the glorious explosion. Tomyris did not want to watch, but knew it had come when she heard an ear shattering boom, and felt a wave of heat that washed over her. In bliss, Romulus arched his back and gave long, loud howl, before scrambling over the sand dune and charging for the newly opened hole in the fortress. Tomyris lifted from the dune, and looked forward, mouth agape at the fact that it had really worked. But it had, that was all that mattered. And holding her bow tight, she ran up after Romulus, grumbling at the thought she would have to compliment him for this idea if they made it out of this... a part of her actually hoped they might succumb to the horde of rats.
She was quickly behind Romulus, as he lifted his shield in front of his face and drew his longsword with his opposing hand. She gently knocked on Romulus' armored back, alerting him to her presence, as she matched his gradual pace and selected a standard arrow from her quiver. "Left," he growled. "Three."
Tomyris peeked out from beside the brute, and indeed noticed a trio of rats, spitting out arrow after arrow from their automatic crossbows. The bolts of their bows were weak, and bounced off Romulus' heavy armor or dug into his shield. Each of the rats were silenced with a quick arrow between their eyes.
"Close," Romulus growled once more, and Tomyris quickly pressed her body up against the great wolf. She knew not to peek out from him, and clung closer, feeling a vague sense of uselessness as he stood there, enduring the hundreds of arrows that were bouncing off him and his shield. She closed her eyes, waiting for the next order, when he finally growled, "Eight."
Tomyris slipped to Romulus' side, and drawing two arrows, released them. Drawing three next, she released, and then had to retreat back behind Romulus as the remaining rats finished reloading their crossbows and began to pepper. She noticed two rats were circling, trying to flank her and Romulus, but they were dealt with ease. Turning, she noticed another one, this one armed with a much larger crossbow, a crossbow that was perhaps large enough and strong enough to penetrate Romuluss thick plate armor. He was killed with the same ease that Tomyris had killed a dozen others. Perhaps because of their high numbers or their stupidity, but the rats never wore armor, only full body cloth wrappings. That meant an arrow through the chest was the ideal method.
"Go!"
Tomyris set her bow on the ground and drew the curved shamshir she carried on her belt. With her own roar, she took her place beside Romulus and braced herself for the swarm of rats. A wide, beautiful swing of her golden sword and she slashed through the tender throat of one of the rats. Changing her aim, she slashed across the belly of another, before pulling her leg close and kicking a third in the knee. She took hold of the rat's head with her free hand, and brought her knee into its muzzle. Behind her, Romulus growled and roared and snapped, swinging his sword and shield madly. He was a brute and brawler, as all wolves were, but at the least succeeded in felling several of the rats as they charged at him. Besides, better he keep their attention. Tomyris slew a fourth rat, before she felt Romulus' thick arm wrap around her, and swing her off her feet. He held her against his chest, and squatted and hunched forward, and behind her she could hear the ping of arrows as they bounced against his cuirass. For moments they remained like that, the only part of her she dared inch out of the cover was her left rear paw, which wrapped carefully around her bow and pulled it close. She had just gotten hold of her bow and selected a steel headed arrow, when Romulus set her back down. She peeked out from behind the wolf, and drew the wire of her bow back. Releasing, she hit the archer rat in the chest, his body tumbling from his perch on the castle wall and onto the ground beneath.
Romulus' shield was so riddled with poisoned arrows, he saw little use in keeping it. Removing it from his arm, he carelessly threw it over his shoulder, and now brandished his sword with both hands. Tomyris remained close to the wolf, in case any other snipers wanted to pop out of the shadows, but the air was cool and calm. Her sharp ears twitched and scanned the area, for the drawing of a bow string or the panting breath of a panicked rat, but she could not hear a sound aside from Romulus' heavy growls and the annoying sound of his bushy tail swinging. She shivered as he arched his back, and gave a long howl of victory, it echoing over the savannah sands.
For what was left of the night, they remained in the fortress. After checking every shadow for a hidden hostile, they confirmed that they had killed them all, and left the bodies where they lay. They gathered what food and spirits the rats had not gorged themselves on, and ate well that night. When the sun rose in the sky, and shone brightly and sweetly over the sands, they set fire to the base and headed out. There were a thousand bases like this, after all, and a million rats. Side by side, they moved on to the next.