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I darted through the hallway, taking a cursory glance at those running out of officer and special quarters. While most recruits and enlisted soldiers were assigned to barracks that were built outside of the main facilities, there were plenty of staff within that needed to make their way out into battle.
It was most certainly not a great situation, but I was quite pleased with how fast things were mobilizing. I raced up the passageway that’d take me to the walkways on the upper walls, where our more physical defenses were located. We had ballistae and trebuchet, both old-fashioned, but they certainly worked well against our larger enemies. More magically inclined cryptids tended not to expect old-fashioned, manual attacks, and would sometimes be so surprised by them that they didn’t quite recover before we gained the upper hand.
My heart pounded, but unlike my human form, my wolf was thrilled. Something about being an animal made adrenaline far more exhilarating and addicting. It was probably why us wolves loved to run so much.
“Shifters!” I called in the shifter-speak all our kind could hear in our animal bodies. Ancient legends said that we usedto not have that ability, and at this point, I couldn’t imagine having any form of productive society without it. Our non-shifter soldiers wouldn’t be able to hear me, but that was what the various telepaths were for. They were rare, but they were vital to large armies, as they were the great unifier of cryptid communications. After all, some of us didn’t have mouths — hell, some of us didn’t even havevocal cords,and that wasn’t even going into creatures like banshees and sirens whose voices could actually hurt those around them, and while our inhibitor bracelets stopped them from reading our thoughts, it didn’t stop them from being able to project what they needed to.
“All of you to the walls! There you will be led by your assigned officers to the source of the attack. Psychics, cover them and make sure to translate any orders to all soldiers within your sphere of influence!”
Naturally, most of our experienced soldiers already knew what to do, and indeed, I could see them moving into proper positions, but I wanted to make sure that each base was covered, especially for what was a surprise attack.
“I’m going to need winged soldiers to stand at long range defense until you get the signal to advance! Anyone vampiric, glamour and distract. Do not risk direct contact with the enemy for draining unless you have no choice.”
Vampires were incredibly powerful, but most of the ones we had were baby bats, as elder vampires were largely stationed closer to our capital to protect the royal family and the larger population. Our young recruits were still talented, but I didn’t want any of them to get caught up in their bloodlust and end up isolated.
“Sorcerers, make sure you work with the shifters. You can cover each other!”
Having made my orders, I jumped down from the wall. It was quite the leap, and if I took it straight on, shifter or not, Idefinitely would’ve broken my legs. Still, it was easy enough to land against one wall, my claws scratching down the side before leaping off with a twist. It killed enough of my momentum that I was able to land safely, and whatever damage happened to my legs healed almost instantly—another shifter gift I'd never take for granted.
We were the tanks of the cryptid word, and between that, our teeth, and our claws, we tended to sustain, as well as dish out, an insane amount of damage. If our bodies didn’t sew themselves back together at a rapid pace, there probably wouldn’t be enough of us alive to actually serve in the military.
If there were no shifters, our country Camdaria would've long since lost the war we’d been engaged in for generations.
Letting out a howl, I bounded to the front and joined up with Oren, who had his own group forming. As usual, we were on the same page, and his orders were even in tandem with mine. Sometimes I worried about what would happen to our troops if I died or was critically wounded, but with Oren around, I knew they’d be safe. He understood my way of doing things and had a head for combat. He wasn’t always the best with camaraderie among enlisted folks, but he was never purposefully disrespectful.
“Ready?”I asked as I bounded up to him, and just as I expected, he fell in line, with his group following suit. Naturally, as my righthand man, his team were all fairly experienced and lauded warriors.
But we didn’t even get out of the front gates before the ground shook with yet another explosion. What were they even firing at us to cause such percussive blasts? I had no idea, but I definitely needed it to stop.
After steadying myself, my eyes did a quick sweep to check for casualties. No, no one seemed injured, even those on the wall. However, our architecture was certainly taking several hits,with cracks fissuring their way through the thick walls. That was going to need a lot of work later.
As I scanned, however, I saw Darla working with a group putting up defensive magic in the midst of the attacks, repairing the breaches as they appeared. The wolf in me, with all its pack instincts, could sense that my mixed pack was well prepared with the offense, mobilizing like the warriors they were.
That was when a flaming ball hit that exact spot.
Damn it!
I burst into my human form, reaching out to catch a sorcerer who’d been blown clear off the parapet. Thankfully, I wasn’t the only one, as the corner of my eye saw Oren and another two shifters from our group.
“Retreat to the eastern parapet!” I heard Darla call from above, and I felt relief that she was all right, but I could only spare her a sliver of my attention as I had a burned and bleeding sorcerer in my arms.
“Soldiers! Prepare to advance with evasive maneuvers. Oren, we need to get these magic users to the infirmary.”
Normally I'd just hand off an injured soldier for escort to the medics, but magic users were a precious resource. The faster I got them taken care of, the faster they could be put back on the battlefield. That was the advantage of not having to physically fight. Thankfully, Oren didn’t argue with me as we dashed to the infirmary, making damn sure none of the injured would be left behind in all of the mayhem. Just then, three more flaming missiles crashed into our wall.
It didn’t take us long to burst into the infirmary’s intake area, where I spotted Ayla working in tandem with a warlock to help with the last of the swift evacuations from the barracks. If my adrenaline hadn't been pumping, my inner wolf tensing for a fight, I might have even smiled. As it were, I was pretty sureI managed a vague grimace in her direction. If she noticed, she didn’t react, her attention only on her patient.
At least I could be at ease knowing the injured and ill were in good hands with Ayla looking after them.
Strangely, I also felt better about Ayla being in the bunker instead of out in the battle providing support. It wasn’t professional at all, but I could at least take solace in the fact that my best healer was out of harm's way. Then I could focus on my own plan of attack, already mapping out my trajectory to deal the most damage to the—
Wait, what?
I’d just finished setting the sorcerer down on a free cot, and when I’d stood up, suddenly Ayla was no longer by her patient. Whipping my head this way and that, I tried to figure out where she’d gone. Why did my mind have such a hard time keeping track of her? It was like whenever she was directly out of my line of sight, she vanished from existence.
I finally spotted her after a beat, and my stomach sank. Naturally, none other than Ayla was dashing out of the infirmary, heading down the wide, main corridor leading out into the courts and then to the gates. Then those led to theoutside, and something in me told me she absolutely was about to try her hand as a battlefield medic.
I didn’t know what came over me, but suddenly I was running after her and catching up in just a few beats. She was surprisingly fast for a witch, though. Usually, magic users weren’t the most athletically inclined.
