Wow, I\'m popular enough to get a bump.
I feel so special!
Thanks, guys. Love the confidence, Sep.
Anyways, I now present the long overdue Chapetr 6! Yay! *Starts throwing frilly things*
Chapter 6
?Happiness is your own responsibility.? ~Jedi
The morning dawned grey and foggy. A thick mist had moved in during the night, blanketing the plains. There was no wind to move the humid air and the moisture was stifling. The only indication of the sun was a lighter circle in the fog low on the horizon.
Jedi sheathed his staff and wiped the glistening sheen off of his forehead. He had stayed up the entire night practicing the forms and his body was burning with the exertion. His breathing was heavy and his eyes stung from the perspiration that had run down from his sweat-soaked hair. He tasted salt in his mouth, but to him it was not unpleasant. It was the sweet flavour of exhaustion.
Behind him the camp began to animate. Rested soldiers crawled out of tents, stretching and yawning in their creaking leather and mail armour. They began packing up their belongings and one by one the tents started coming down. There was a slight murmur from their whispered conversations, but it was relatively quiet.
Captain DeGracy finally came out of his tent and stretched luxuriously, his bones popping audibly. He surveyed the camp and, finding the activity to his approval, went back inside to pack his own things. He finished quickly; he never brought very much with him and after strapping it to his horse made his way over to where Jedi had turned to watch the men.
?Didn?t sleep?? The captain asked as he stepped in beside Jedi.
Jedi shook his head, ?Wasn?t tired.?
DeGracy nodded knowingly. He had been with Jedi on missions before and he knew that sleeplessness often plagued him whenever he was distracted. DeGracy stood silently for a time and then asked, ?What?s on your mind??
Jedi smirked and looked over at the Captain, ?Who says there?s anything on my mind??
DeGracy grinned, ?We?ve been fighting together for too long for me not to know when something?s bothering you. Come on, let?s hear it.?
Jedi sighed and nodded, ?We?re being followed.?
The captain turned serious, ?I suspected as much myself. How can you be sure??
?The watch lieutenant last night said that he had seen the carcass of a bison while he and his men were out on their rounds.?
The Captain grimaced, ?Way up here that can only mean one thing. But I wonder why they didn?t attack the patrol??
Jedi nodded thoughtfully, ?I was wondering the same thing myself, curious to be sure.?
?Should I put the troops on alert??
Jedi chewed his lower lip in thought ?It would be better, but I want to avoid anything that will alert the Tallics to our knowledge.? He closed his eyes in thought for a moment, ?Don?t sound the alarm, but just tell everyone to have their swords handy. I don?t want to be taken by surprise. The Tallics haven?t attacked us yet, so we can only assume that they want us to lead them somewhere. My guess is that there were survivors. The Tallics knew we?d try to send a rescue party so they dispatched a division to follow us and when we?ve drawn out the refugees, they attack, wiping the whole lot of us out.
DeGracy shook his head, ?That?d be just like them. All right, I?ll make sure the message is passed along.?
?Remember: inconspicuous.?
The captain nodded and trudged off through the grass to see it done. Jedi fingered the hilt of his sword as he watched the man go. The thought of being tailed by the enemy was always unnerving; it meant that battle was an inevitable eventuality. His gaze raked the misted plains. If only it weren?t so foggy. If the Tallics decided to attack now for some reason, they would be on Jedi and his men before he even saw them.
But the mist wasn?t going to go away for a while, so there was no use worrying about it. Sighing, Jedi turned back to the camp and made his way to his horse. He gave it a kind rub on the snout and quickly brushed it down. After saddling him, he mounted and inspected the remains of the camp. All of the tents had been taken down and one or two men were still loading theirs on their horses, but everyone else was already in the saddle. Anxious soldiers stayed their mounts with nervous hands.
Suddenly, Jedi realized that the air had suddenly become tense. There was a stifling quality to it, like some dire plague waiting to be unleashed. The fog was too thick. The world had gone quiet and the silence was deafening. Time began to slow. Jedi looked off into the fog; he started to get a tight feeling in his stomach. And there, in the distance, he could see them.
Huge black shapes thundered forward through the fog, their lazy motions seemed to be so slow. Jedi could hear his heart beating and it was slow too. He turned his head and saw that his soldiers were still looking nervously about under the misty sea. Why couldn?t they see them? Couldn?t they hear the deep rumbling of Tallic hooves?
Jedi opened his mouth to shout and the words came out low and slurred, ?AMBUSH!? The soldiers seemed to sit there for an eternity before they comprehended. They sluggishly grabbed for their weapons. The horses reared in slow motion as their riders turned them about.
Finally, the soldiers seemed to hear the ground quaking and began searching the fog for signs of the encroaching enemy. Their heads swayed back and forth, every motion infinitely drawn out. Then they began to make out the shapes and raised their swords. Their shouts were muted and long.
Then the Tallics were upon them and the world seemed to jump back to normal speed. The great insectoid hulks came crashing into the line of soldiers, their clubs and pikes clanging off of mail and shield.
The soldiers were no longer slow. Their weapons and shields whirled in dizzying displays, parrying Tallic blows and delivering deadly thrusts of their own. Humans were no longer inferior to Tallics when it came to warfare. After the first catastrophic defeats men began studying the Tallic physiology. They discovered many weaknesses and were taught to exploit them. They were also educated in the Tallic battle forms and how to protect against them. At first the training had been almost ineffectual, but gradually their knowledge of Tallic fighting increased and so did their training. That training had proved itself countless times in numerous battles and it was proving itself again here. Already five Tallics lay slain and not a man of Jedi?s division had fallen. They were not so much soldiers as warriors. They fought with a ferociousness that could only be described as feral. It was a sight to behold.
As well as the soldiers fought, however, victory was far from assured. Tallics always attacked in large numbers and won battles by overwhelming the foe. It was time for Jedi to join the fray.
Drawing his sword, Jedi kicked his horse forward and bolted toward the battle. He readied himself with one foot on the saddle and waited for the perfect moment. One Tallic at the edge of the horde noticed him and turned to swing his club. A heartbeat before impact Jedi vaulted from the back of his horse, the club whistling through the air where he had a moment before been.
Jedi sailed over the Tallic?s head and landed lightly on his large insect-like back. Turning swiftly he brought his sword around and lopped off the Tallic?s head. He jumped to avoid a jab from another Tallic and landed on the tip of the pike, pinning it to the back of the Tallic he had just killed. The jolt pulled the live Tallic forward and Jedi lunged, driving the blade it deep into its throat.
Meanwhile, one of Jedi?s soldiers had become surrounded and was about to be impaled from behind when Jedi jerked his sword free and, spinning around a deadly swipe from an enemy, hurled it with all his might. The blade sliced through the air and buried itself in the Tallic?s eye, cleaving its head nigh in two. The soldier stumbled back around the dead beast and rejoined the main group of men. Jedi?s sword was lost to view as more Tallics stampeded over the one he?d killed.
Dodging a clumsy pike swipe, Jedi whipped out his staff and cracked his foe?s fingers. The Tallic dropped the pike with a shout of pain, but before it could finish Jedi jabbed the staff under its chin, crushing its wind pipe. It fell to the ground gargling, blood spilling out of its gasping mouth. Without stopping, Jedi jumped on the downed Tallic and used its height to jump onto the back of another.
The Tallic went wild and frantically flailed its arms, trying in vain to knock Jedi off. Steping forward, Jedi jabbed his knee into the Tallic?s back and swung his staff around the its neck. Grabbing the other end, he gave it a hard yank. There was a sickening pop and the Tallic crumpled, its head limp.
Spinning off the dead enemy, Jedi twirled his staff and clocked another on one of its legs. The hardened shell cracked and a gooey substance began to ooze out of it. The Tallic stumbled and Jedi quickly cracked its skull.
Another desperate foe tried to jab Jedi with a spear, but it was dodged easily. Jedi grabbed the spear and jumped up, swinging his foot in a long arc that caught the Tallic full in the face. The Tallic dropped the spear and staggered back cursing. Jedi landed lightly and, spinning the spear around, stabbed up under the Tallic?s jaw. It slumped to the ground.
Jedi yanked the spear free and hurled it at another. He was satisfied when the tip pierced its chest, killing it. He noticed that he had approached the other side of the battle and was preparing to dive back in when suddenly he noticed something odd. One Tallic seemed in the middle of the horde was killing not soldiers, but the other Tallics. Jedi was confused for a moment, but then there were more of them, and Jedi saw that they were different than the ones that had attacked. These new ones sported garish red paint on their back and, despite being smaller, seemed to be much better fighters. Jedi watched in wonder as one by one the enemy Tallics fell before the ruthless onslaught of these newcomers. Eventually, the enemies became confused and turned on one another and all of a sudden there weren?t so many Tallics any more.
Jedi noted that the painted Tallics had not attacked any of his men yet. Perhaps this was a coincidence, but until he knew for sure, he was going to return the favour.
Turning back to where his men were still fiercely battling a large group of enemy Tallics, Jedi dove towards them.
The first one didn?t even see it coming. Jedi jumped and just made its back, bringing the staff down hard. Jedi felt a meaty crunch and the Tallic fell.
Jedi sheathed his staff and quickly loosed his dagger. He ran up and ducked under the Tallic ahead of him and, plunging the dagger into its soft underbelly, gutted it from tail to torso. Its innards slopped to the ground with a sickening sound and were crushed by its own corpse.
Spying his sword still stuck in a dead Tallic, he grabbed it and sheathed it. The last Tallic standing between in front of him started to turn, but was hewn down by one of Jedi?s men. Jedi took his chance and ran through; the hole behind him was quickly occupied by more Tallics.
Jedi pushed the soldiers to Captain DeGracy on the other side of the circle and, switching back to his staff, began reigning blows on the enemy while shouting orders to the DeGracy, ?Captian! Do you see the Tallics with red paint on their backs??
The man took a brief look around while parrying a pike thrust, ?Yes! What about them??
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