After Iah shows Vel a way to help him be more useful, it’s time for the big battle.

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Chapter 25

Iah held up a new managlass to her eye for inspection. She had never seen one so small before. The thing was smaller than Vel, which it was supposed to be. It was something Masumi and Oshiko had been working on for the humans. The thing was half the size of a human, which still made it a little unwieldy for them, but at least it was small enough for them to carry if need be. And Iah did not have to worry about it crushing her little companion if she moved around in the wrong way.

It only contained a small amount of powder by normal standards, but it was enough for a concealed human to cast a few surprise spells. After hearing about Vel’s success as a hidden weapon, Qandryd had prioritized seeing if other humans were similarly talented in learning magic. Not all of them were, but there were enough to be worth training. As it turned out, the almost endless number of languages used by humans and the lack of translation spells seemed to be the cause. Humans around major international trade centers often had to learn multiple languages to engage in trade. Those who developed a talent for learning languages seemed to be able to translate that talent into learning the language of magic, too.

Technically, there were not many humans with the talent. But when dealing with a race far more numerous than any other race, ‘not many’ was a relative term. Dozens of humans had been trained well enough to assist other races in battle now, and more were on the way.

Satisfied with what she saw of the managlass, she handed it over to Vel, sitting on a table in her tent. The seemingly tiny object was enough to make Vel’s knees bend under its weight when he grabbed it. It was just one of those differences between them that made her cock her head in curiosity. Vel sat the managlass down next to him and said, “It’s nice to have a managlass of my own, but I’m worried about something else.”

Iah thought she had a good idea of what he was about to say, but she tried to suppress a smile as she said, “And what would that be?”

“Iah, I’ve seen you come back from battle with dings in your armor, armor as thick as a ship’s hull, which left even you bruised. If one of those hits were right over me or any other person, some fur cushion wouldn’t protect us. Every bone in our bodies would get shattered, and our organs would be liquified,” Vel said.

“We know,” Iah said, openly smiling now, “Which is why I have a surprise for you.”

It was Vel’s turn to look a little curious as he asked, “What is it?”

Iah took off the shirt she had been wearing and watched in amusement as Vel quickly turned around and turned an amusing shade of red. She chuckled, “Come now, Vel, I’m wearing undergarments, and I have something to show you in your pocket.”

Vel hesitantly turned around to see that Iah had the shirt held up for him to see, and the pocket was inside out. He had been unable to see it with the shirt on Iah, but now he could see the outline of something else sewn into the shirt besides just fur. Vel walked up to the shirt, and Iah made sure to hold it low enough so he could feel it. As he ran a hand over it, he asked, “What is that? Feels hard even through the cushion.”

“A dragon scale from one of our fallen allies.”

Vel’s hand hesitated for an instant as he felt the scale sewn into her shirt, “That’s right, you do put everything to use. But it’s just more armor. The force of an impact would still kill someone like me.”

“If it were just a normal scale, that would be true,” Iah explained, “But these scales have been reinforced with some of the spare gold powder you have produced.”

Vel looked thoughtful as he said, “From what I understand, that makes it harder, which is good for you, I suppose, but it doesn’t help me much.”

“That’s where you’re wrong, Vel,” Iah said, “The gold powder makes dragon scales just as formidable as they were when the dragons were at their height. Back then, they were not just hard, but they somehow absorbed the force of blows. The effect doesn’t last forever under repeated blows, but it would make a direct hit feel like nothing more than a love tap, even to you.”

Vel whistled in amazement, “Dragons must have been a nightmare to take down back in the day.”

Iah chuckled, “I’ve heard a duel between a dragon and a phoenix could last for hours due to the toughness of their scales and the regenerative capabilities of the phoenix.”

“Are all the other people working with titans getting this sort of protection?”

“Of course, all of us want to make sure our partners are adequately protected,” Iah said before smiling once more, “And that is not the only surprise. Oshiko and the rest of those tricky nines have added another feature to the pockets. Apparently, this is a variant of a spell they use for spying.”

After Iah recited a few words, Vel looked at the pocket in amazement, “I can see through it like it’s some sort of window.”

“It should help you pick out targets without me needing to let you know.”

“And what did Oshiko ask for in return?”

“You are starting to understand the nines,” Iah chuckled, “She demanded the top human magic student for herself. That was technically you since you are the most experienced right now. But we talked her down to the most talented of the new recruits.”

“I hope that person’s going to be alright.”

“No need to worry. Oshiko seems to have taken a liking to you humans. I’ve already seen her trying to seduce her new partner,” Iah smiled.

As Iah put her shirt back on, they heard horns all through the area. Iah’s expression turned more serious as Vel said, “That sounds like an alarm.”

Iah placed her hand next to Vel for him to crawl into it so she could place him in his newly improved pocket. While she was doing that, she said, “ The cultists must have been spotted outside the walls. It’s time for battle.”

With Vel in his pocket, Iah started putting on her armor. There was no need for her to rush. She had over a century of practice putting on her armor. Slipping everything on and ensuring everything was right was practically second nature to her. It did not take her long to prepare herself for battle.

Iah and her clan were armored up and out of their tents swiftly enough. She sent her clan to the walls while she stalked around the camp, ensuring everyone else was getting ready to her satisfaction. Since her own army was mostly made up of warriors, they were alright on their own. Some others were rushing past her that seemed either anxious or overly eager that caught her eye. By the looks of them, she assumed that they were hunters. When she spotted armor that was not being worn properly, she made sure to slow them down and fix their equipment.

Most were grateful to get the help and attention from an experienced warrior. There were a few trouble cases, though, as was to be expected from a group of carnivores. They did not like having their competence questioned. It was a game of dominance, one which Iah was more than prepared to win. Iah did have to cuff a few of them hard enough to let them know they did not want to fight with her. Many of the hunters had never dueled a warrior before, and after their heads were rung hard enough to ratttle their stubborn brains, they fell into line. Still, Iah shook her head in annoyance each time she had to do it. Dealing with humans was much easier. Only the dumbest and craziest of them were willing to challenge her physical dominance and the ones that did were more cute than frustrating.

Speaking of the humans, Iah passed by the area where they were being kept to ensure things were fine there, too. A quick but thorough inspection showed that their guards were in place, and all other defenses were also in place. There were even a few of the human armies out in force. They were equipped with what they considered modified heavy spears that they had been using against the vermin. Apparently, some aquatic creatures could reach the size of the smaller races, and they used their experience with killing those to develop the design. They also had various artillery in place. Iah doubted how effective their weapons would be against even the smaller races. They were not mere animals, and they would be wearing formidable armor. Things would have had to go considerably wrong for the humans to have to defend themselves.

When Iah was sure everything looked to be to her satisfaction, she headed to the walls herself. She strode there purposefully, trying to look confident for any other soldiers seeing her. Iah heard the twang of bows being shot well before reaching the wall. If the cultists had already been spotted, they were probably in range of carnivore archers. Their forces were already harassing the cultists. When Iah reached the wall, her assumptions were confirmed.

Archers were releasing volley after volley of arrows. Iah could not see any return fire yet, meaning the herbivores were not in range. She climbed to the top of the wall to see how things looked. What she saw was pretty much expected. The Djallowuo cultists were advancing slowly with shields at the ready. Not only were the arrows slowing them down, but the area around the fortress had not been cleared. They usually would have cut down the trees to give the archers a clear line of fire, but all the trees on this world were so small that they qualified more as brush. And the forest around the fortress was incredibly thick.

The forest was acting as an obstacle for the cultists while providing them minimal cover. Some trees would knock shields aside at inopportune moments, and some cultists were even tripping over them. It was probably frustrating for them, but they were still willing to advance.

Part of that was probably due to a spell that fortified their spirits. Many herbivores simply were not suited for battles and lengthy military campaigns. They came from creatures that tended to flee from combat as often as possible and only fought back when cornered. There were exceptions, but not many. Before merging with Patch, many herbivores rarely even had wars. Conflicts tended to be solved with either personal duels or tournaments. Large-scale wars were dominated by carnivores and omnivores, who often had to charge into battle if they wanted to eat. With the help of magic, they could somewhat even that up.

Even magic could only push the cultists so far without turning them into a disorganized mob of berserkers, though. What was helping to further boost their spirits was their sheer numbers. Besides the human armies, Iah had never seen an army so large. The second largest army she had ever seen was the army she was currently a part of. Even then, from what she could see, they were outnumbered at a bare minimum of 30 to one. It would not have surprised her if it were somewhere closer to 60 or 70 to one.

The archers were doing their job of picking off as many cultists as possible. The closer the cultists came, the more effective the archers were and the less effective their shields were. Most predators were strong enough to use bows that allowed their arrows to completely penetrate an herbivore’s shield from close enough. Their armor could protect some of them, but no one could afford to equip an army of that size with armor of high enough quality to deflect arrows that powerful. Despite how many that fell, there were many more cultists to replace them.

There was nothing that could be done to prevent the cultists from getting close enough to start returning fire. While Iah did prefer to dual-wield her axes, she had also come to the wall with a shield to help deflect such arrows. The herbivores did not have nearly as much strength behind their shots, and they would not have been able to penetrate her armor. However, all armor had weak spots, and her memory of getting shot in the shoulder not that long ago was enough of a reminder of that. Thus, the shield for some added protection.

Iah shouted orders to the forces under her command on the wall before she suddenly heard Vel exclaim, “By the gods, that’s a lot of them. I hope Iah is up for this.”

“You think I’m not good enough to slay 100 of them on my own, Vel,” Iah asked with a hint of amusement.

Vel was quiet for a moment before he hesitantly asked, “You heard that?”

“For one thing, I’m certain my sense of hearing is far better than a human’s,” Iah said. “Second, you just cast the spell so you could see through my shirt and armor, didn’t you?”

“Yeah.”

Iah smiled, “Well, I told you it was a modified spell that the nines used for spying. The part about it that was modified allows humans to communicate to the one carrying them around far more easily.”

“I guess I should watch what I say then.”

“Oh, have you been insulting me all this time you’ve been in your pocket,” Iah asked, feigning offense.

“Not once,” Vel said quickly, “But I don’t want to say anything that would embarrass me when this battle starts in earnest.”

“You don’t need to worry about that.”

“Are you that confident in my bravery?”

Iah chuckled, “No, I’m that confident I can impress you enough that you won’t need to feel any fear. After all, I still have to make up for my wrongs against you.”

“Spoken like a true goddess of war,” Vel said.

Iah frowned, “Don’t ruin the mood.”

Vel laughed, and Iah soon joined in. It was a nice distraction for Iah while she waited for the cultists to close the distance with the fortress. Iah crouched down to take advantage of the wall’s barriers and put away her shield, now opting to use both her axes. It would not be long before the cultists started climbing the walls. They were barely taller than she was. It was the best they had been able to do with the materials available on the humans’ world. They seemed like grand edifices to the humans, but they would be easy enough to climb with a basic ladder for medium and larger races like herself.

Iah watched as the first ladders were mounted against the wall. Then she listened as the first cultist rushed up the ladder. She popped up from behind cover when she knew the moment was right. Based on how fast the cultist was moving, she was confident the cultist was not concerned with protecting him or herself. She was proven correct when she saw the cultist’s unprotected head. Iah did not hesitate to swing the flat side of one of her axes at the cultists. Her strength and the weight of the weapon proved to be enough to cave in the cultist’s helmet along with its head at the same time. The cultist fell off the ladder, dead, just like that.

Iah heard Vel whistle, “Yeah, I’m impressed.”

“That battle’s just begun. I’m sure I can do better than that,” Iah said, sounding totally serious.

Indeed, the battle had just begun. The killing was easy at first, as had been expected. Iah and many others had assumed the cultists would throw their least experienced and skilled soldiers at the walls first. As short as their walls were, the dead bodies quickly piling up outside them would act as stairs to help the more experienced soldiers climb the walls more easily later. Plus, the smell of all this blood would excite all the predators. The sweet smell of a fresh kill certainly tugged at Iah’s instincts. It could make an inexperienced predator overeager and overconfident. She was constantly scanning her own soldiers to make sure they were not getting sloppy and yelling some very explicit threats at those who were showing such signs.

Iah slaughtered the next few cultists trying to climb the walls nearly as easily. It was good to see that the same was true for the rest of the defenders holding the wall. The most dramatic thing to occur was when one of her axes managed to get stuck in the neck of a cultist. When she tried to pull it out, she ended up dragging the entire cultist over the wall along with the axe. That did not surprise her enough to make any mistakes. Instead, Iah just went with what was happening and continued pulling on the axe and the cultist. The cultist was thrown completely over the wall before the axe came free. He was thrown to soldiers below, who had been waiting to replace anyone who fell on the wall. While that cultist survived, that condition did not last long. He was quickly torn apart by the soldiers below.

Some of the smaller races did try to sneak past Iah and the other defenders. The herbivores were probably depending on the larger predators being distracted by larger prey, but that was not the case with her. While she did not have much time to turn her weapons against them, with the larger cultists trying to assault her, she did need them. Humans were not the only races small enough to crush under her paws. When she stomped on the smaller races with enough force, they would not survive the experience. A swift but powerful kick was also enough to shatter bones and rupture organs, no matter how much armor they wore.

After enough death was brought down on the cultists, even the spell fortifying their spirits could not prevent them from retreating. The first wave of cultists fell back while the defenders roared their defiance at them, Iah joining in with a mighty bellow of her own. After things had settled down a bit, Vel said, “That was really loud. My ears are ringing.”

“That is the sound of glorious victory,” Iah remarked.

“Yeah, getting 13 of them is pretty good, but there are still a lot left,” Vel said.

Iah laughed, “This is still the easy part. I didn’t even give you the chance to cast a spell. You aren’t getting bored in there, are you?”

Vel snorted, “I almost miss not being able to see what was going on. Seeing someone swinging swing a weapon the size of a castle at you is a lot more nerve-wracking than I had expected.”

“None of them even came close to penetrating my guard,” Iah stated.

“Oh yes, I noticed that. You are a true mistress of death, Iah Splithallow,” Vel said, the unexpected compliment causing Iah’s tail to sway happily. “My mind can grasp how amazing and strong you are, but my heart can’t help but leap when something that could crack open a fortress like an egg comes at me.”

“Just remember that I am mightier than any human fortress, Vel. I’ll keep you safe,” Iah said reassuringly.

“I have no doubt about that.”

Iah soon heard horns coming from the cultists’ lines. Another attack was on the way. By their looks, they were better armored, and the way they moved said they were more experienced and well-trained. This assault was most likely the real thing. As if to further confirm that, Iah saw various spots where magical energies were building up. She had not bothered to wear her eyepatch for this battle, and she had also managed to keep some of the gold mana powder Vel had produced. Her gift was at full strength.

In a battle of this size with so many non-gnolls around, her chances of being noticed were significantly higher than normal, even with her helmet on. However, she had discussed this with the other matriarchs participating in this campaign. It had been decided that she and the few other gifted gnolls were to use their abilities to their fullest. After all, if they lost this battle, all of creation would come to an end, and their secrets would have been pointless.

Without worrying about how suspicious it might seem, Iah singled out the location of one of the magical energy sources. Vel went on the offensive while she prepared to defend against the spell being cast. From the looks of it, the spell was not specifically targeted at Iah. It was a siege spell meant to bring down the walls. All the spells being prepared by the cultists were probably meant for the same thing. A signal soon went up through the rest of the army, warning of the same thing. The elder races had a good sense for magic in the air, and such magic would not have gone unnoticed among those present in the army.

While most spells focused on countering the cultists, only a few of the cultists found themselves being attacked. Iah strongly suspected that the few spells that attacked the cultists came from her fellow gifted gnolls and their human partners. If it came from anyone else, that was all the better. If other races had gifts that would help with this battle, she welcomed that. And it might help to avert some of the suspicion from gnolls after the war, should they succeed.

Iah deflected the spell targeted at her section of the wall in just enough time to avoid any significant damage. A few other spots on the wall did take more substantial damage, but nothing to be that worried about. There was no need for Iah to worry about another attack either. Vel hit the caster with a lightning spell that blew right through her chest and took off the arm of another cultist standing behind her. Iah was proud of her partner as she proclaimed, “Nice shot, Vel. With aim like that, you might catch up to me.”

“Just doing my part,” Vel said, “How’d the others do?”

“From what I could see, only one other human managed to hit a caster. A few others managed to hit cultists around the casters. Only one didn’t manage to hit anything,” Iah said.

“Doesn’t sound that great.”

Iah shrugged, “Could have been better, but it could have been a lot worse. It’s amazing that so many of you were so close on target after training for so little time. And it looks like it has the cultist spell casters being a lot more cautious. They may be preparing another round of spells, but they are doing it from more well-protected positions that don’t give them as good a view. Their accuracy is going to take a hit.”

The next round of attacks from the cultists took more time to come. Iah could see they were readying more spells but were not aiming for the walls this time. They had been arrogant before, not placing protection spells on themselves before beginning their attack. This time, they corrected that mistake before going on the offensive once more. Even more spell casters were involved in the attack, too. Again, Iah and her people countered while the humans attacked. Vel hit his target, but the spell caster’s protection prevented more damage than some cuts and bruises.

Iah would only be able to counter for but so much longer. The second wave of cultists was nearly at the wall. Archers were whittling away at their numbers but were not taking them out fast enough. The cultists had probably hoped to breach a few spots in the wall first, but they had not been so lucky. That left the second wave trying to climb the wall just like the first. However, enough bodies were piled up in front of the wall that they could nearly walk up to the top of it.

Bodies did not make for the best of steps, but they were better than nothing so long as they did not shift, which did happen in more than enough locations. For the cultists, losing their footing in such a situation could be very deadly. The defenders on the wall certainly would not give them a chance to recover.

While things were not ideal for the cultists, they were not ideal for Iah either. Fighting multiple opponents at once and casting counterspells was not an easy thing to do. Eventually, she had Vel switch to counterspells while she concentrated on fighting the cultists trying to get over the wall. These cultists were doing a much better job protecting themselves and each other, making Iah actually put some effort and time into killing them.

The longer she took to kill them, the more opportunity they had to bring their numbers to bear. While Iah could easily overpower the herbivore cultists, their numbers guaranteed that some of their blows would eventually get through to her. Iah felt she would have already been dead or severely injured if it was not for her armor. As it was, she would only have a few bruises she would really be feeling later.

A quick glance around the walls showed that Hes was favoring one leg. Some blood dripping down the other leg made it look like a smaller race had managed to stab her in the small gaps between her armor. She spotted at least three dead, including one of her clan, one of the eldest females, Knah. While their losses were few, their army really felt each death. The cultists were not trying to defeat them. They were trying to break through and get to the humans. If an army of this size were to break through, it might have taken as little as a few minutes for them to slaughter the humans.

With so many of their own spell casters having to concentrate on the attackers rather than countering spells, it was only a matter of time before the walls started getting struck by magic. Having the humans assist with that was helping, but they had so little training. Perhaps they could have defended the walls if they had weeks or months to train. As it was, they were too slow with their castings. Holes were blown in the wall, but reserve forces quickly reinforced those areas. Still, it was only a matter of time before the cultists forced a breakthrough somewhere.

Still, it was obvious the walls were indefensible, and the signal was eventually given to abandon them. Iah relayed the order to retreat to her own forces, and they fell back, fighting all the way. The cultists seemed reinvigorated by this victory and pressed the advantage as hard as they could. That was to the detriment of many cultists as their advance grew a little sloppy. Some of them moved too quickly, getting ahead of their fellows, and a lone herbivore did about as well as one did throughout the course of history without its herd to back it up.

That did not matter to the cultists, though. They could practically smell victory. Iah knew it had to be obvious they were falling back to form a tight, protective encirclement of the human refugees. If this was a typical battle, Iah was still confident that she would have been picking the cultists from between her teeth later. Now, though, they were one breakthrough away from a final defeat, and the cultists still had the numbers to do it.

Every predator that fell in battle made the cultists ever bolder. Iah’s army was making them pay for every loss they took. She doubted anyone had killed less than 20 cultists for every one of their number that fell. But the cultists had the numbers to absorb such losses and still succeed. Based on the looks of a few cultists with their faces exposed, she could tell they were fully aware of that fact, too. They could taste victory, could not see how they could possibly lose. However, on the battlefield, things did not always go as expected.