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Chapter XV

Brasta's POV:

The beginning of the battle started out orderly, but deteriorated into complete terror and chaos. Less than two minutes ago, we were all standing calmly in our formations; next, we were having a mass of over a hundred bloodthirsty hyenas speeding down the hill towards us.

"Damn it!' I cursed. They had the height advantage. How could I have been so stupid? I looked frantically to the left at the centre squadron; we had to hold our centre, or they'd break through. I glanced back at my troops. "Hold!" I shouted. "Hold back!" We couldn't advance yet, or we'd leave our right flank completely open. Five seconds... four seconds... three seconds... two seconds...

"Forward!" I shouted, as the hyenas smashed hard into our centre. With a shout of rage, I charged forward, colliding into the mass of hyenas with all my weight. A couple were instantly stunned, giving me the time to slash into them with my claws. I heard a couple of pained yelps as a spray of blood hit my vision; the two in front of me were down. However, I now had the attention of the rest of their entire left flank. With shrieks of rage, they threw themselves at my force, biting and tearing with wild abandon. I glanced across the sea of hyenas for a moment; Strike's force was on the opposite side of the hyenas from me, fending off their right. It looked like an almost improbable situation- a great mass of hyenas punching right at our centre like a giant fist. But I knew we might have an advantage if we could concentrate our attack here, peppering their flank with quick, but brutal attacks, then pulling back to hit in a different place.

There are at least two main advantages to being a lion- for one, our claws are sharper than the dull, but no less painful, ones of the hyenas. This of course meant I could do some real damage, while the hyenas could only scratch and bruise the skin. Second, we have weight advantage- as evidenced, we could stun them with a powerful enough blow. However, we have our weaknesses as well- and I knew the hyenas would make the most of them. They were smaller and faster, and there were more of them- so we couldn't underestimate them and get ourselves surrounded, or they could overpower us, one by one. Therefore, we had to stay together!

My lions were converging quickly upon their flank, trying to claw their way towards the front of their line. My eyes widened, and I shouted to one of my lieutenants, "Get the troops back here, Nyetse! Send them to the rear of their left, not the front!" Nyete nodded as he shouted to his own troops. They quickly reformed into a small wedge formation and pummeled at the centre of the left flank, clearing a shallow path to the rear. Satisfied, I glanced back at the rest of my troops- maybe about ten or eleven lions. It was then I realised exactly how badly outnumbered we were. A hyena's claw grazed the side of my muzzle, and I responded with a snarl and a powerful swing at my attacker. The hyena reeled back and fell to the dust, dazed. I wasted no time clamping my jaws around the hyena's throat, crushing it hard. It fell limp quickly; It was almost too quick for hyena scum. I released the hyena and almost immediately spat; the blood had left a bad taste in my mouth.

The din of battle was growing louder, the sound of roars and yelps and growls deafening me. Clouds of red dust swirled and flew up from the spots where bodies hit the ground, choking and blinding us all. I blinked my eyes in an attempt to see through the fighting mass, Our troops were fighting well and hard, most with bloody coating their claws. I couldn't see how many of us were wounded in the haze of battle, but could at least make out a few fallen lions. My father, surprisingly, was fighting viciously at our centre, swiping wildly at every hyena that came near. Distracted for a moment, I felt a sharp pain in my side; I growled and slashed blindly at my attacker, to be rewarded by a yelp and a thud. I turned back around, chiding myself; I couldn't afford to be distracted in the heat of battle. Quickly, I finished off my attacker with my teeth and took the moment to pounce on another, crushing its ribs. I was wounded; but it wasn't grave enough to hinder me. Damned if I'll stop fighting due to a few scratches. But as I glanced around the battlefield, I saw something that made my breath catch in my throat.

Strike was surrounded, battering away desperately at his assailants. He had more than a scratch or two- he was bleeding from several nasty claw marks along his side, and a shallow gash along his back. My eyes widened- he couldn't possibly hold of all of them at once? A sudden and overpowering sense of rage filled me as one of the hyenas sank its teeth into his shoulder, causing a roar of pain. I looked to my left- another one of my lieutenants was lying on his back, his stomach gashed open, staring blankly up at the sky as a hyena devoured him. And to my right, amidst the sea of hyenas, several other of my friends were dying, crushed beneath the jaws of the hyenas, gasping their last breath away. I looked back at Strike, and I knew what I was going to do; no, what I had to. The bloodlust was upon me- the kind of adrenaline-pumping, single-minded madness that had spurred lions of the highest self-control to rip and tear and hyenas could hurt me, but they were NOT going to kill Strike as long as I had breath in my lungs! With a roar of my own, I charged straight towards them, spurred on by fury... and a few other things.

Strike's POV:

Trouble cannot even come near to describing the bloody situation I found myself in. Thanks to one of my idioticlieutenants trying to advance his squad too early, he left a gap in the left flank of our formation; and naturally, about a dozen hyenas went pouring through that gap, straight for me. I will die here, I thought, at the foot of this hill, and then I hated them all. Every last one of the bastards had come to kill us. But I was planning to repay the favor, first.

I crouched low and blindly swiped at them, trying to keep them as far away from me as possible. However, this did not work so well- they dodged the blow and leapt at me. I don't know what you've heard about hyenas- but however blunt their claws may be, it's still quite painful when nearly twelve hyenas are trying to get on top of you and tear you apart. Dull pain streaked across my sides, like being hit with the claw end of a dozen hammers, as they tried their best to hurt me. With a growl, I swung again at the hyenas, this time succeeding in knocking a couple off me. I gave a satisfied smirk at the whimper that sounded from my staggered opponents, but I didn't have much time to respite, as a hyena's teeth pierced my shoulder. Pain lanced across my entire left side, and I couldn't help the roar of agony that escaped my jaws. Then the strangest thing happened- I found my roar answered from nearby. I glanced to the right, across the field for a moment- and though the mass of hyenas, a tan blur was heading straight for me. Gods be praised, it was Brasta!

He ran at the hyenas with a fury I had never seen before, a sort of madness glowing hot in his green eyes. He was crying, as if venting an anger and frustration he had been holding back until now. He charged and swiped at them, teeth bared, screaming as loud as he possibly could. Again and again they attacked, and again and again their throats crushed in his powerful jaws. Soon, they were all off of me- and all dead but one. That one just looked at me, and I could see the fear in it's eyes. Then the head turned to meet Brasta's eyes, hard and bright with tears. It tried to run, but it was no use. Brasta forced him to the ground, and sobbed in rage as its stomach was gashed open. Again and again he ripped, as if letting all the combined emotions of months out upon the poor dead hyena, as I headed towards him. "Brasta! Brasta!" I yelled, grabbing him by the shoulder. He just looked at me blankly for moment.

"Gods." he whispered, and a look of pity and self-loathing came into his eyes as he looked down at the mutilated corpse. "Gods in Heaven..."

"It doesn't matter." I said, as he his face towards me. "You saved me anyway." I said with a pained grin. I suppose I should have been more thankful. But the look in his eyes when he attacked those hyenas... it scared me.

Brasta shook his head robotically, and looked up at me, eyes now pitiful and red from dust and crying. He was a sight to be feared- his coat spattered with blood, his claws coated with the same, and a couple scratches on his back. Then again, I don't suppose I looked much better- probably worse, I thought with a grin. he didn't return the grin, and just gave me a look of such intense emotion, his eyes burning coals that seared into my soul. What emotion it was I couldn't specify- there were too many to be counted. Fear, anger, frustration, and something else. Whatever it was, it was gone in a second as he blinked, and looked away with one simple statement. "They were trying to kill you. I took care of it."

I simply nodded. "And you did a good job of it." As I turned to look at the field, I heard two distinct roars from nearby. I look up- and it was Drake and Sadic at the top of the hill. As if a sudden alarm had been triggered, the hyenas immediately stopped what they were doing and retreated back up the hill, leaving their dead and wounded comrades behind. They retreated over the top of the hill until they were out of sight. Now only Drake and Sadic were left on the hill, dark silhouettes against the noonday sun. They leered down at us, and Sadic opened his mouth, his voice booming down at us.

"You have one hour to collect your wounded. After that... well, my boys will have lunch, won't they?" The chorus of laughter started again, from out of our vision. I turned to Brasta to see an expression of complete horror on his face that matched my own.

"An hour? He's actually giving us time?" I said in disbelief.

"No." He shook his head, looking at me piteously. "He's going to rest his troops for an hour. Then- he's going to watch us all die."