As we were being herded across the town square, I kept a watchful eye on the horizon. Our air support had to be getting close by now. Looking over my shoulder, I noticed Jones, Wastworth, and a few others doing the same.
Alright then, maybe we’re not screwed after all.
Jones’ name flashed in my HUD as I was looking back. One of the Cobrhan next to the large man, shoved him with the side of his axe, clearly telling him to be silent. As he stumbled forward, Jones collided with another Cobrhan. The brightly colored female barely faltered, and made a threatening hiss, brandishing her axe. As he regained his stride, the female relaxed and fixed her gaze on me. I swung my head back around, uncomfortable with the attention.
Straight ahead, the small forest of stone buildings sat in brooding silence. The irregular outlines gave the town a jagged saw-like appearance. Less than half of the buildings had windows, and wooden doors hung loosely in many entrances. The woods beyond town jutted above the squat buildings, shaggy evergreens attempting to stab the sky. Large black birds could be seen nesting throughout the branches, sleeping or preening themselves, preparing for a night of hunting. The ground we traversed was hard under my feet. The top layer of dirt was compacted from years of use. Grass grew in patches throughout the square, its greenish-blue color a sharp contrast to thelight brown of the soil. Looking up, the twin stars radiated brightly in thesky. Wispy white-grey clouds could be seen, marring the otherwise perfectlyblue sky.
We had made it almost three quarters of the way across the square when the large black birds began taking wing. Their deep squawks crescendoedin a warning call.
I could feel the Cobrhans tense with the growing sound. The large grey male issued several commands in the slurred, long-winded Cobrhan language. The elongated oval we had been traveling in was immediately compacted.My squad was in the center, surrounded by three rings of warriors. Theoutermost ring of Cobrhan were the spellcasters. These magi began waving theirfour-fingered hands about, their fingers contorting in strange and rhythmic motions.A slow chant bubbled up from the casters and began to build.
I tore my eyes from the spectacle happening around me, looking once more to the fleeing birds and the sky beyond them. Seconds before the helicopters could be heard, I saw the magi raise their arms in unison. Their bodies swayed slowly back and forth in prefect sync. Then the low droning of the apaches could be heard over the chanting Cobrhan and the cavalry came into view.
My squad-mates and I tensed, knowing that our extremely close quarters with the Cobrhan would make any attack or rescue difficult. But, being in the middle of an open field offered a clear line of sight to the gunners.
The helicopters never opened fire though. They circledthe village several times, circled the destroyed apache twice and flew back theway they had come. Within two minutes, the whole ordeal was over.
Cranial Notations 