♚ Do they consider themselves to be evil? @Riece
Their forces were already scarce. Now they were thinned to one set of partners per acre along a massive ornate wall. Riece, Master Sergeant, guarded the breach - a pile of rubble - alongside her favorite Private First Class, Aremmil.
Only one casualty so far, but many had been sent back to their outpost twenty miles east to defend against raids.
It was small enough to be ignored by the Mantid, but the Alliance nearby acted like loose bands of dogs - sneaking in, looting scraps, and careening off with tails tucked. Inattentive guards alternately blamed starving wild tigers and “Alliance scum” whenever it was discovered that a bit of rations had gone missing.
Riece and Aremmil were being rushed. Their grips on axe and crossbow respectively tightened. The insectoids’ weapons and limbs clacked, and their collective gurgling summoned the same disgusting turmoil within the elves’ stomachs.
“Double your efforts Private.”
Tremors began in Aremmil’s spine as soon as he registered Riece’s words, and extended to his limbs as he realized she was not simply moving to meet them head-on but cutting narrowly through their lines to the back.
Only a tenth of the Mantid were concerned with cutting either Riece or Aremmil down; most only wanted to breach the wall. Despite, Aremmil was easily overrun. Riece left him to die, and worse, she left the most vulnerable point open.
Behind enemy lines, one giant Mantid lay bleeding out, her arm pinned underneath Riece’s axe while the other Mantid seemed to grovel. He was wrestled and forced half prone by Riece’s free hand, which stayed vicelike around a single mandible.
“Your kind simply aren’t allowed past this wall. This wall is my allies’ and mine to defend. You would do well to stay in your land, weakling, or suffer worse fates than your friend here.”
The Mantid’s jaws clacked harmlessly against Riece’s plated digits until she was finished speaking.
“.. Let me gggo.. Klrk- wretch.”
She did - as the one she’d pinned ripped its own pincer, carapace and all, to escape. Riece hefted Thori’endal into both hands, built momentum, and leapt onto that Mantid’s back. Their bodies both hit the ground before the Mantid’s severed head thudded nearby.
I am not confident. I am not confident. What possessed me to do that?
Her sabatons tore chunks from the thick grass. From that distance she could barely make out Aremmil lying beneath two Mantid.
A dozen more panting breaths and a few dozen more muffled footfalls later, Riece saw both Mantid over Aremmil fall to the side. She might have smiled.
She was ready to call out to him. “Get up and run to me, now,” but only had she not seen the huge patch of crimson on his left leg that ruined the brightness of his red leathers.
Aremmil was in her arms and charged with carrying her axe. Under the low sun, her plate, and the added weight of someone she betrayed, Riece could only walk. She let Aremmil roll into the grass, figuring the landing soft enough, then turned and raised her arms. She saw Mantid swarming just behind the rubble.
Remnants of Mantid rained onto - no, assaulted - the partners.
“.. What was that, Master Sergeant?”
“I had to let them think they would get what they wanted.”
“Are you out of your MIND?”
“I don’t see any Mantid that were let through.”
“YOU LET ALL OF THEM THROUGH!” Aremmil grimaced.
“Right. Because I WOULD HAVE DIED. I SHOULD HAVE DIED!”
“I THOUGHT I WAS GOING TO DIE.”
“What were you fighting for in that moment?”
“My life, Master Sergeant.”
“Use that fear to your advantage.”
