Page 35 of The Witch who Trades with Death

Chapter Thirty-Five

Flying nightmares raked Khana’s shield as shouts and grunts from Blue Battalion indicated the imperial forces had smashed into them. The back of Blue Battalion crowded her and the others as they were pushed back by imperials. The rear units of Red Battalion – far enough back that they hadn’t even seen the nightmares come in – pushed them forward, effectively trapping the Poison Dart Frogs in the middle. A man screamed as he was plucked into the air by a night creature and torn to pieces by another, raining blood and entrails onto the soldiers below. Something wet and red smacked against Khana’s helmet but she didn’t dare look.

Soldiers threw spears and axes, some of them hitting the creatures, others missing. At least one soldier died of friendly fire. Blue Battalion was pushed back into the ravine, forcing Red Battalion further. The shuffle made Khana lose her footing, and she ended up on her back; a couple of soldiers stepped on her legs.

A flying nightmare landed on top of her, snapping at her face, its weight pressing her against the stone, shoving the other soldiers away. She dropped her spear. Only her shield protected her, and she screamed as it tried to punch through with its snout.

Then it gurgled, jerked, and stumbled away from her. Khana peeked over the rim of her shield to see Haz had stuck it with his spear. Yxe, on her other side, followed suit, stabbing with surprising force for his lanky build.

They were so focused on the night creature in front of them that they didn’t notice the one flying toward them from above. As soon as Khana registered the threat, she jumped to her feet and pushed Haz aside, shield ready. The creature slammed into her, pushing her into Haz and Yxe. No matter. She breathed in.

The aji went straight into her lungs. The boys pushed her forward as the nightmare’s thrashing attacks weakened. Khana drank its life in a matter of seconds before it twitched and died.

With life force in her, she felt much better. Stronger. Angrier.

“You all right?” Haz asked, shouting over the chaos.

Khana nodded. She noticed something had changed; there weren’t as many people crowding them. “The Blues are advancing.”

They were. No longer being pushed back, they now pushed forward . Sava’s Blue Owl Company on top of the cliff must have started shooting the imperials, causing enough death and chaos in their ranks to distract and weaken them, allowing the foot soldiers to press the advantage.

It gave Red Battalion more room to fight. Neta called her name and pointed to a nightmare feasting on the corpse of a man against the rock wall. “Get more force! You’ll need it! Poison Darts, we’re helping her.”

“How?” Xopil asked, brushing aside a few jostling soldiers.

“I need to get close enough to breath it in,” Khana instructed. “Distract it. Pin it down, if you can. Do not kill it.”

The unit marched off to their target, the nightmare oblivious in its feasting until Xopil stabbed it through the wing with his spear. It shrieked and snapped at him, its snout ramming into his shield. Neta found a new spear from somewhere and used it to poke its other side, making it bat a wing at her. Itehua taunted it from behind. Khana, hiding behind her shield, got as close as she could and breathed.

It took a little longer than the other because it wasn’t on top of her, but she still managed to drain it. Her skin glowed with red, black, and yellow light.

Neta smirked. “Let’s find another one.”

They didn’t have to go far. Most of the Ghura had grouped together into half a dozen herds with their shields over their heads, spears slashing, creating leather and metal porcupines that the nightmares tried to claw and bite their way into.

“Incoming!” Xopil warned as a nightmare swooped down from the wall.

Khana gritted her teeth and breathed in, focusing on the creature on the other side of her shield so she wouldn’t accidentally take from her unit. It tried to fly away, but Xopil grabbed its leg and threw it to the ground like the behemoth he was. Khana finished it off, wondering if she had enough aji to do the same trick.

“Witch!” someone shouted. “Khana!”

They followed the call, finding a soldier standing over another with his head bashed in, but still alive. Khana immediately healed him by breathing out some life force, then got distracted by another nightmare trying to take a chunk out of her unit. Her supply was quickly replenished.

“I think I’m getting the hang of this,” Lueti panted, poking her spear at their latest target. They were down to the last four or five night creatures. The winged monsters had killed a solid handful of people, but their own numbers hadn’t been more than a couple dozen.

“Blue Battalion needs support!” Chaku shouted. “Let’s clean up and get ready to go!”

Khana, distracted by the order, didn’t notice the nightmare behind her.

Claws pierced her shoulders and pulled. The creature yanked her into the air, and she screamed as her feet dangled over the heads of the other soldiers. None of them were able to help her as it flew her up and out of the ravine.