Feathered Hearts - Continuation and Chronicles

“Well, what then?” Marco asked earnestly in response to Gilda’s announcement that there was something he had to know. So mustering all her courage and taking a final deep, if ragged breath, she began to tell him about her unexpected encounter with Karin Kazal, asking only that he let her finish the entire tale before saying anything.

She first detailed the battle to save the retreating Ravens and drakinas by defending the bridge they were crossing. That action was swiftly followed by engaging the flyer swarms over the lake, ending with the terrifying appearance of a corrupted adult dragon who was apparently Emerald Inferno’s father.

Marco started to hug her when he saw her begin to shake at the memory of being targeted by the monstrous and mindless fire-breathing creature. But Gilda stopped him with an upraised wing so she could keep the story going, fearful of losing her nerve if she didn’t.

She explained her mistake of flying into the gorge and being rescued from her own idiocy by Karin Kazal, emphasizing that the ibex buck had saved her life when he didn’t have to, likely sacrificing his own to do so. She then took pains to say that she had saved his life in return, carrying him on her back on a desperate dash towards the hive in a futile effort to outpace the pursuing dragon, where two human ‘missiles’ had slain the drake but thrown them hard across the lake from the force of the explosion.

Marco looked aghast at the story, wanting to hug her again. But no matter how badly she wanted to collapse into his embrace at that moment, she took the plunge. “So after all that, Karin Kazal and I ended up alone during a lull in the battle, still holding each other. And then…”

And then...
Whitesand - Eternity (Epic Beautiful Dramatic Emotional Instrumental) [Copyright Free]

Marco’s eyes went wide and his jaw dropped open when he saw the guilty look on her face and her sudden inability to meet his eyes. “You and him?” he reeled, finally able to guess the rest. “But… why?” he asked her in a stunned and forlorn tone, to which she could only answer honestly.

“Because he saved my life, Marco,” Gilda emphasized again, praying she hadn’t just made a grave mistake. “And not just once, but three times now in the past day! If I said he hadn’t earned me after all that, it would be a lie. I’m sorry.” She bared her throat hard at him, finding tears welling in her eyes.

When Marco seemed too stunned to speak, she went on. “Look—I know it’s a shock, but I swear to my Ancestors that I didn’t plan it. I also swear that before I ended up there with him, I didn’t even want it! But after the Marines took out the drake, the blast knocked us halfway across the lake and we ended up washed into this small cove, passed out in a heap and just happy to be alive. And when we woke up…”

She blushed deeply, trying hard to stop her wings from going erect at the memory. “I couldn’t help it. It’s not an excuse, but I was charged up with so much cider from the battle that…” she once again couldn’t finish the statement.

“Seems like that shit’s real good at making sex happen,” Marco muttered, running his hand through his hair as he struggled to find a response. “But dammit, Gilda, if you were going to be with him, why weren’t you with us first? We had all those chances, but we backed off because you told us to!” he reminded her, stepping back and crossing his arms in what she realized was a defensive gesture. “And then you turn around and sleep with him? Even knowing what he was going to do with Chris?”

“I’m sorry!” she said again more forcefully, feeling her voice choke. “I was a crow-damned fool not to take those chances, and I realize that now. Though for what little it’s worth, I think part of the reason it happened was that you three got me so keyed up!” she recalled. “After all those close calls and all the cider boosts I got during the battle, I needed to be rutted in the worst possible way. He was there with me. And for saving me, he earned me. And after saving him right back, I guess I earned him, too.”

She knew what she said was true, but Marco was unmollified. “If you saved him back, then the debt was paid! You didn’t have to fuck him! And now you come here seeking forgiveness?” He glared at her, making clear that he wasn’t about to give it.

“Marco…” Tara’s voice called from the end of the corridor, causing their heads to whip around to see her standing there, supported by Guerrero. “Sorry, the corridor’s not soundproof in this direction. We heard everything, so now I’m telling you to back off and stop yelling at her. She’s trying to be honest with you like a partner should, and you’re hurting her right now.”

“Hurt her? She just hurt me!” Marco shouted, then rounded on Gilda again. “You said we were mates, and then it took you what, less than two days to be unfaithful?”

“That didn’t sound like being unfaithful, Flip-boy. It sounded like a classic case of post-combat coitus,” Guerrero spoke up, his lips tight. “So you’d better back the fuck off her.”

“Post-combat what?” Marco echoed angrily, and Gilda had never heard that word before either.

“Post-combat sex. It happens all the time, even with us,” the big Marine said, his eyes going distant for a moment before they refocused. “A lot of the time, it’s inevitable. I mean, we fight for our lives together, saving each other and watching each other’s back, and afterwards… well, shit happens, and it usually never gets spoken of again. But it does happen. And it doesn’t mean we can’t go back to our wives or girlfriends later.”

“Listen to him, Marco,” Tara admonished. “I admit I’m surprised, but I don’t begrudge it. Not after he saved her. And not after all the stuff we nearly did with her just in the past day. Not once, but twice,” she said, earning a startled look from Guerrero.

“Okay, I definitely wanna hear more about that!” he told her.

“Me too!” Brennan called from out of sight. “So, for a goat, was he good, Centurion?”

“Yeah. Maybe he was better than me?” Marco suggested bitterly, looking ready to storm off and leaving Gilda flustered, wondering if she would have been better off just taking Karin Kazal’s advice to never speak of it again.

“You stay right there, Marco Lakan,” Tara ordered him sharply before he could depart, freezing him in mid-stride. “And apologize to her right now.”

“Apologize? For what?”

“For acting like a fucking idiot over her… again!” she replied vehemently. “Forgetting that you haven’t exactly been a paragon of fidelity in the past, do you realize how hard it was for her to come here and tell you this? Or have you forgotten how hard it was for us to come together again after we had that fling a year or two back?” she asked pointedly.

“And what the fuck does that have to do with this?” he shouted.

“Everything. Weren’t you in another relationship at the time?” she reminded him. “And didn’t you try to go back to her after?”

“Yeah, and after I told her what happened, she told me to piss off!” he recalled bitterly. “Just up and dumped me for being unfaithful even after we’d barely seen each other during the pandemic! And she didn’t even have the courtesy to do it in person! Just did it over a fucking text!”

“Exactly. So even after knowing how bad that felt and how willing you were to make it up to her, you’re going to do the same thing to Gilda here?” Tara pointed out, causing Marco’s expression to drop. “She’s trying real hard to do the right thing and make amends, but you’re throwing it back in her face!”

“I gotta agree, Rico,” Guerrero said cautiously. “Look, dog, I’ve seen shit like this happen way too many times to be surprised by it anymore. So if you won’t take it from her, then take it from someone who’s been there—it happens and it ain’t the end of the world. And sorry to say so, but Miss Fields is right. You’re acting like an idiot, and you need to calm the fuck down.”

Marco stared at him as Gilda held her breath. As he glanced from them to her and back, she caught his gaze just long enough to see that he was fighting his own emotions; for a moment she thought she scented cider in the air around him.

He confirmed it with his next words. “I’m seeing a lot of pink right now…” he admitted through gritted teeth, rubbing his temples. “And I think it’s making me even more pissed.”

“In other words, that damned cider has hold of you,” Tara tried to talk him down. “I get that it’s making you madder, Marco, but like Gilda here said, don’t be a slave to it. Don’t let it control you and make you do something you regret.”

“Like she did?” Marco growled again, to which Gilda had to stifle equal urges to snarl and sob.

“Marco!” Tara spoke sharply to him. “For fuck’s sake, stop it! You weren’t there, and you didn’t save her life from a fucking full-grown dragon! But that ibex buck did. Then she saved him in turn, and they ended up alone together during a lull in the battle, in a pile with each other coming off an adrenaline high and just happy to be alive,” she recited, to which Gilda nodded sharply.

“Think about it. They were vulnerable and in need of comfort after their close call, never mind the cider in her system and that they were already basically naked. So to borrow the griffon phrase, how by all the fucking crows of the Kingdom could something not happen?”

“Listen to her, Marco.” Guerrero’s rare use of his real name seemed to get his attention. “She’s not wrong. Remind me to tell you later of what happened to me this one time in Iraq.”

“Just once? I had shit happen in Afghanistan at least three times. Can’t say I regret it, either,” Brennan called out from around the corner, and this time, Gilda didn’t think he was exaggerating.

“After hearing the whole story, I don’t blame her one bit for this. So let it go, Flip-boy. It doesn’t mean she loves you any less. Especially if she didn’t hide it from you like my bitch of an ex-girlfriend did!” he added angrily. “She got pissed at me when I told her what happened, but then it turned out she’d been unfaithful! And I’d only been gone a month when she did it!”

Gilda stayed silent, letting her mate’s friends speak for her. As she watched, Marco stared at them and then slumped hard against the wall of the corridor, burying his head in his hands. “I’m sorry, but cider or no, this is just really hard for me to accept…”

“No harder than it was for me to accept that I had feelings for you,” Gilda couldn’t keep the catch from her voice. She felt certain that she was about to be dumped by someone she loved again, and even worse, that this time it was her own fault. “And that I’m now terrified of losing you. Both to the Cloven and as a mate.”

He finally turned to look at her, and she saw a glimmering in his eyes to match her own. “You are, aren’t you?” he realized, if somewhat grudgingly to her eyes. “And I guess I’m afraid of losing you, too. Not just to the Cloven, but to… well, some other guy who could offer a lot more than me. Who has magic and shit and can do things I can’t.”

“And you can do things that he can’t. I swear to my Ancestors that I am not trying to replace you, Marco Lakan,” she told him fervently, trying not to cry as her earlier breakup with Rainbow flashed through her memory. “But I also told you that griffons don’t hide things from their mates. So even with a battle happening, I couldn’t hide this, either. Especially after barely escaping death again. I couldn’t live with myself if I died without telling you.” She grimaced at the contradiction inherent in her statement, but she didn’t correct it, either.

“And here you are…” he muttered, rubbing his eyes and his temples again. “I’d say I need time to absorb this, but—”

“But there is no time, Marco,” Tara reminded him. “So I’m telling you as your longtime friend—stop acting like a total ass. She’s trying to be honest with you, and you need to understand that. Hurting her now will hurt her ability to command the battle, and there’s still a good chance that none of us walk away from here. So don’t let your last meeting be a fucking break-up!”

Instead of replying, he walked away a few steps, still visibly seething before he turned fractionally back to Gilda. “So you’re saying that what happened didn’t mean anything to you?”

Gilda stared at him. She thought about giving him the answer he wanted, but to do so would not only be the basest of lies but dishonor the Starshina when he was anything but deserving of it. “It meant a great deal to me. I wouldn’t have done it otherwise. I don’t have sex with random dweebs, Marco. You have to win me. You have to earn me. And Ancestors above, he did.”

It was the truth, but she was afraid it was just making things worse as anger flashed through Marco’s eyes again. He looked like he was about to snarl another reply, but Guerrero cut him off.

“He saved her from a fucking full-grown dragon? I’d say that qualifies,” the burly young Marine agreed with a nod.

“Seconded,” Brennan concurred from out of view. “And I’d be lying if I said what happened to me in Afghanistan was meaningless, too. So I’m telling you again to just let it go, Flip-boy.”

“Listen to them, Marco,” Tara warned him. “Because if you break up with her over this, you’re breaking up with me. I won’t forgive you for hurting her when she was just trying to do the right thing.”

Marco glanced at her, then turned away, walking off with his fists clenched; for a moment, Gilda’s heart froze as she thought he was going to pass out of sight of her and not come back. “Damn cider’s making me so mad I can’t see clearly or think straight…” he grated out, then added something else under his breath in his native tongue.

“You’re right. It is. So take deep breaths and a swig of that whiskey if you have to,” Tara advised.

“Whiskey?” Guerrero instantly perked up. “I’ll take one too!”

“And me!” Brennan agreed eagerly.

Marco obeyed, fumbling with the flask on his belt for a moment before taking a large gulp. His eyes watered and he coughed hard, then stumbled back against the wall as the effects seemed to war with the cider within him for a moment before he visibly relaxed and leaned back against the corridor.

“Better?” Tara asked.

“Better,” he confirmed, though he still didn’t look at Gilda. “I guess what I’m having the most trouble with is that fucking buck was going to kidnap Chris, and after he saves you once, suddenly you want to screw him?”

“Not just once,” Gilda reminded him, impressing herself that she could speak coherently. “Three times. He saved me from the attack of the first flyer swarm over Bale. And then from a corrupted Raven before the latest battle, blocking a repeater and a sword aimed at my head!” she shivered again. “And that’s to say nothing of the fact he saved us all with those summoning gems. We would have never made it out of Bale if he wasn’t there,” she recited.

But her words only seemed to make Marco even more upset. “Great. And how am I supposed to compete with all that?”

“So now this is about you being inadequate?” Tara asked derisively as Guerrero rolled his eyes. “Goddammit, Marco, she didn’t have to do this!”

“Yeah, well, she didn’t have to do that, either!”

Despite her wounded leg, which seemed to be straighter than it was—had it been splinted? —Tara all but snarled and lunged at Marco, hitting him squarely in the jaw and sending him sprawling. “That’s for hurting her,” she told him, struggling not to lose her balance as Guerrero rushed out to support her and Marco gaped up at her from beside Gilda, blood coming off his chin. “And for severely pissing me off. You aren’t the only one seeing pink right now, you know.”

Marco didn’t reply right away, bringing his hand to his face and seeing it came back red. And then, to Gilda’s amazement, he began to laugh. “Wow, Tara. You’d think I got drunk and tried to grope you again back when you were working at that bar.”

“And you never will again unless you apologize to her.” Tara glared down at him over crossed arms, balancing herself on her good leg as Brennan hobbled to the entrance on a set of odd stilts to see what was happening.

“Whoa… she hit him?” he recognized, then nodded in satisfaction. “Nice. Guess the stories of you laying out Dana Carraway and PFC Ricardo were true, Miss Fields. And for the record, you deserved it, Flip-boy.”

“Yeah, maybe I did…” Marco admitted, and Gilda prayed that she wasn’t just imagining his voice being calmer and his eyes clearer. “I guess Tara is right and I’m just being an idiot again.”

“Ya think?” Tara said unsympathetically as Guerrero offered Marco a hand up, but he shook his head and turned to Gilda, who was staring down at him, afraid to move or speak.

“Sorry, girlfriend. Guess I needed some sense smacked into me. Look, I’m not gonna say I approve of it—or him! —but after hearing the whole story, I guess I can understand it, too,” he granted as he sat up. “And after all that’s happened to us and all the crazy shit we know we did that night? Guess I’m not one to talk, either. I’m sorry for overreacting, and I’d be lying if I said it was all due to the cider. I forgive you, Gilda. So will you now forgive me for being a horse’s ass?”

A sorely relieved Gilda’s only response was to hug him, hard. “If we get out of this, I’m making it up to you. I’ll make it up to all of you!” She promised with a glance up to Tara, who nodded and grinned.

But then she grimaced. “Appreciate the thought, but I should probably get my leg fixed first. Fuck… that was dumb,” she said through gritted teeth, trying to hobble back inside the bedchambers on one leg with a helping hand from Guerrero, who put her arm around his shoulders.

“Maybe, but damn, girl. Between your aim and your fists, you’re gonna make all the Marines fall in love with you if you keep doing shit like that…”

Before Tara or Gilda could reply, one of the latter’s communication gems buzzed, vibrating hard in its slot on her belt. “Centurion! Beg to report,” came Giraldi’s voice. “You need to get up here now, sir. It looks like the Cloven are massing again. And this time, there are some of those Elder Ram forms in the mix.”

She nodded, pulling it out even though she didn’t immediately release Marco. “I’m on my way,” she said into it, then took one final breath before pulling back from the embrace. “I have to go.”

“I know,” Marco said. “Don’t die, Gilda. Because if you do before we get a chance to be together again, I’ll kill you,” he echoed her earlier words to him with a sudden twinkle, sticking a digit into her armored chest.

She smiled and hugged him tightly one last time. “And you as well, Marco Lakan. Now put your armor back on and ready your weapons. Whatever happens, defend the infirmary and the cubs to the last.”

“By your command,” he said with a bared throat and passable griffon-style salute. “Though do me a favor and try not to screw any more ibex for a bit…”

Fight to the Finish
TO KILL A GOD | Epic Battle Dark Heroic Music | Epic Music Mix by @Audiomachine

After passing word through the infirmary to be ready for more casualties and possible invasions of the hive—a glance to the side showed that Gabby was speaking softly to Emerald Inferno, who was visibly crying, with steam coming off her tears—Gilda ran upstairs and out the entrance onto the plateau, finding Giraldi and Imlay there along with Obsidian Ire and Miles Fortuna.

“Report!” she called out as she ran up to them, finding to her relief that the burden on her heart was lifted and her mind felt clear again. Thank you, Marco. And thank you, TARA! she told them with her thoughts, mentally renewing her oath that she would find a way to make it up to them later.

“They’re massing and moving closer, both in the air and on the ground. There appear to be Cloven rams in the mix and worse, the big flyers are carrying a few. They’re circling just out of effective bowcaster and rifle range,” Giraldi said with a nod upwards. Gilda followed his gaze to realize that there were indeed several centuries of fresh flyers orbiting the hill; her sharp eyes could also pick up the monstrous-looking Elder Ram forms in the mix.

“At a guess, they’re going to try to drop them right on top of the hive so they can come crashing downhill as the ground forces strike,” Imlay added, speaking over the radio so everycreature could hear him. “Orders?”

She grimaced as she visualized it. “That means they also might try to invade the hive through the skylights. Decurion Gletscher! Be ready for that possibility! If they come in force, do not try to fight them in the open air! Retreat inside the skylights, and then blow the entrance behind you. Keep them out at all costs!” she called into the radio.

“By your command!” he acknowledged. “With respect, Centurion, may we have Rose Ruby in support again? Crows know she’s equal to an entire Turma of soldiers!”

Gilda glanced at Obsidian Ire, who grinned and nodded. “Granted. Join them, drakina.”

“By your command,” the small and surprisingly soft-spoken dragon female said with a nod before spreading her wings and shooting upwards.

Gilda then glanced up again at the orbiting flyers and realized that she didn’t like their odds. Crows take it… there’s too many! And even if there weren’t, I don’t have enough Wind Knights left to try engaging them in the sky again! she instinctively knew, having suffered the loss of eight over the course of two engagements. I’ll have to keep them here. I’ll use them to protect the upper slopes! And as for the plateau…

“Obsidian Ire! You and Orange Crush will defend the trenches directly. Keep flyers off them as best you can! Just try not to burn us.”

“Just try not to shoot us!” the former retorted. “As you wish, Centurion. Orange Crush and I will—”

“And me!” a new voice was heard, causing them to turn to see Emerald Inferno emerging; her eyes wet but her snout close to a snarl.

“Emerald?” Orange Crush asked. “Are you—”

“No,” she said, with a look on her face and gleam in her slitted eyes that gave Gilda pause. “But as the griffon drakina named Gabriella reminded me, nor can I stay out of this struggle while my clan still fights. So fight I will!” she announced.

“Know, my sisters, that I have purged my heart of all but heat and hate. For seizing our lands, slaying my sire and worse, turning him into a puppet while forcing me to witness his death for a second time, I swear by the magma below that I will kill every Cloven I see!” She vented bright green flame whose heat made Gilda grimace as it stung her skin and eyes.

“Welcome back, clan sister,” Obsidian Ire acknowledged with a bow of her head. As she spoke, she tossed the other drakina a spare blade off her back, still in its scabbard. “Know that we share your sorrow and rage. And by our lost Dragon Lord, we will avenge our fallen.” She exchanged a forearm clasp with the other female much as a griffon would do, which quickly turned into not a hug, but a hard bump of their armored chests.

“Good to have you back, Emerald Inferno,” Gilda addressed her after the odd greeting was finished. “Did you hear my instructions?”

“Yes. And I will carry them out with my clan sisters,” she promised, strapping the borrowed blade to her back. “Now let them come so that I may incinerate every last one of them!” She inhaled hard and the gaps in her chest scales glowed bright green for a moment.

“Damn, that girl’s intense,” Gilda heard PFC Jamal call out after she had gone off with her sisters. “Think I’ll steer clear of her.”

“Too bad. Because it sounds like she’s just your type, Jamal,” Stavrou remarked from where he still wielded the human ‘fifty’, which was staring downslope from the center of the forward trench. “You do seem to go for hot girls. Gonna stick your dick in her?” he suggested, earning some weak snickers and a sputtering sound on the other end.

“Uh, no thanks. I’d rather not have my cock cooked…” Jamal said weakly, and his remark even earned a brief grin from Imlay before he ended the conversation.

“Alright, cut the chatter. Stay sharp! When they come, they’re gonna come quick and—”

“They’re coming now!” One of the Marines shouted, followed by echoing yells from the Knights and Talons, who leveled their crossbows to see several lines of standard Cloven soldier forms emerging from the nearby woodline in both directions along the lakeshore. But they only took a few dozen steps forward before stopping this time, forming a loose semicircle around the hive.

“By the Ancestors… they’re not attacking? What in the name of the crows are they doing this time?” she heard one of the male Talons ask in tense tones.

“Quiet on the line!” Giraldi spoke sharply like he was the First Spear of their old Century again. “We’ll know soon enough. In the meantime, bowcasters and humans! Fire at will!” He ordered to a fresh eruption of twangs and cannon cracks which fell a few more soldier forms.

“Centurion…” a nervous Fortrakt’s voice was heard. “Look at the ground soldiers! They’re those newer Cloven trooper types we saw at Harness that are armed with wing-launched spikes!”

“What?” Squinting, Gilda’s avian eyes could see that Fortrakt was correct—they had two wingspans full of forward pointing spikes that they then arched upwards as one to target the plateau. “Crows take it—kill as many as you can before they fire!” was suddenly all she could think to do.

“By your command!” the calls came out as a dozen more forms were dropped in the next few seconds, yet still they did not fire despite being able to unleash what looked like a deadly bombardment.

“Fuck… each of those soldier forms has their own mortar section now!” Stavrou said as the hastily cleaned human fifty opened up with a series of muffled cracks on their enemy again from a fresh box of large bullets. He took down an entire row of enhanced forms; it was only then she realized that the ibex must have cast some form of sound suppression spell on it to protect the hearing of nearby griffons. And yet, the Cloven didn’t move, simply absorbing the fire and accepting their losses until the big gun exhausted another ammo box and had to be swapped out.

A sudden silence fell over the hill as all present realized the Cloven weren’t fighting back, simply staring up at them through their sunken eyes. What are they doing? Gilda thought to herself, her unease growing along with a strong sense of foreboding.

And then she saw something moving around their talon-like feet.

“What the hell…?” She didn’t know which human Marine said that as what appeared to be a liquid flowed forward around the grounded Cloven forms, migrating impossibly but inexorably uphill.

“By the crows, what is that?” Giraldi squinted at what almost looked like a moving carpet on the ground while some very weak scraping or scuttling sounds reached her ears. As the moving black liquid got closer, she was finally able to pick out what she was seeing and a feeling of utter dread filled her. The seeming carpet was in fact composed of countless tarantula-like creatures, each nearly the size of a griffon fist.

They had exaggerated jaws paired with an ugly pair of forward pincers; individually they could be swiftly shredded by a swipe of steel talons or simply stomped by a human boot. But taken together…

“Ancestors above…” Gilda realized that Fortrakt had reached the same conclusion as she had. “They’re Cloven parasites!”

“Parasites?” The Marines opened up again at Imlay’s order to only limited effect against such small creatures as they began climbing the hill, scuttling quickly right over everything in their way. “But those are only for possessing corpses!” A worried Miles Fortuna protested as she swapped her repeater drum for one containing electrical bolts.

“Unless they attack in massive numbers and swarm us with those teeth and talons! Marines! Use frag grenades!” Imlay ordered, going for his vest to load his bottom tube as Giraldi likewise ordered the griffons to begin tossing explosive and incendiary gems into the seemingly endless mass of minor Cloven creatures, leaving a suddenly terrified Gilda frozen in fear.

Spiders… why did the parasites have to be spiders…? The only other creature who knew she had a touch of arachnophobia was Rainbow Dash, who had played pranks on her with them to good effect.

“Centurion! Orders?” Giraldi called to her, and for a moment, Gilda couldn’t answer, feeling old nightmares coming to life and more fear than she could ever remember. But then she imagined Marco facing such a swarm and that fear snapped her out of her terror.

“Ugh! Dragons! Burn them down!” she ordered the three drakinas into the air. But seeing them, the grounded Cloven soldiers opened up with their new wing-mounted spikes, which alternately targeted the fire-breathing females or outright burst over the plateau, forcing her forces to take cover from a hail of red-hot fragments.

The three dragons managed only one fiery pass to take down the fore of the surging front before they were forced to retreat, with several fresh spikes sticking out of their tough hides.

“By the Magma below…” This time, it was Obsidian Ire who had fared the worst, stumbling down as she oozed steaming blood from two sizzling holes in her side. “Too many! They’ll shoot us down if we try that again…”

Despite her still-potent and nearly paralyzing fears, Gilda grimaced, starting to see the newest Cloven strategy take shape in her head—keep her forces pinned in their trenches while the parasites swarmed them, who had now made it nearly halfway up the hill. “Into the trenches, then! Attack them with fire from there! In the meantime, hit them with every explosive and electrical device we have!” she ordered again, notching an explosive bolt for her crossbow only to fumble the motion repeatedly as her talons shook.

“By your command!” She could hear the growing fear in the voices of human and griffon alike as gems and odd dimpled devices were tossed by the human Marines over their heads to roll downslope and detonate. Imlay and a cursing Lance Corporal Jamal—his only unwounded fire team leader—added grenades from their lower tubes to the mix, launching them with heavy thumbs to blast great gaps in the approaching flood of Cloven creatures.

Unable to fly, Emerald Inferno and Orange Crush opened their maws to release great gouts of flame downslope as the disconcerting click-clack of the parasites got closer, incinerating dozens to hundreds with every breath they took.

But as they couldn’t sweep the front on the strength of their wings, it wasn’t enough to stop the unconventional assault. And even as Gilda saw the tail end of the awful tide pass the bottom of the hill—at least their numbers weren’t limitless! —she realized that they’d reach her trenches in seconds and then overwhelm her forces.

And worse, she looked up to see the cloud of Cloven flyers starting to descend, intending to bombard them while they were being swarmed by the parasites and could not effectively fight back. The two ibex started targeting them, but even their most powerful flak spells weren’t enough to significantly dent the still-vast numbers of airborne Cloven.

“Dammit, they’re gonna get us! We can’t stay here!” Even Stavrou suddenly sounded panicked though he continued to fire.

“Hold the line!” Imlay ordered as Giraldi snapped the same in Aeric to see the Talons start to waver despite continuing to pepper the parasites with explosive gems and bolts. “It’s our only cover out here!”

“We can’t hold!”Even Miles Fortuna sounded alarmed as her repeater buzzed only to run empty and she looked uncharacteristically clumsy as she fumbled for a fresh drum. “Centurion! If they reach us, we won’t be able to fight them! We have to leave, now!”

Gilda tried to reply, only to find she was having trouble forming thoughts or thinking coherently as she launched her own arrow, which detonated ahead of the swarm when her shaking talons jerked the crossbow downward, causing her to miss completely. And worse, the crossbow and cannon fire she was seeing from the humans and Talons alike seemed strangely uncoordinated and ineffectual. She felt like she was drowning in a daze of dread and despondency, like nothing she was about to do would matter against the latest Cloven tactic.

It was only at that moment, as she sensed their end approaching, that she finally shook herself free of her stupor again, knowing that the Senior Scimitar was right—that to stay was suicide.

“Crows take it! Retreat! All soldiers and Marines, break contact and get inside the hive!” Gilda gave the order to abandon the trenches. “Ibex! Give us what cover you can!” she next directed the two Adepts, who placed some weak shields over two narrow corridors from the front of the trenches to the entrance of the old cave complex.

Hearing her shouted words seemed to cue the Cloven as their grounded and airborne soldiers erupted with a massive bombardment, one Gilda could only guess was meant to kill her forces in the open. The grounded soldiers couldn’t see what they were aiming at, but they simply launched their spikes high over the hill rank by rank, which detonated overhead in another new trick to repeatedly pepper the entire plateau and upper slopes with fresh fragments.

They struck down several of her soldiers in mid-flight as they struggled to extricate themselves from their trenches and holes to fly back inside. Over a dozen Talons died getting there, knocked to the ground by airborne detonations that made them easy prey for the closing flyers, and worse, some never made it out of the trenches before the parasites reached them.

They slashed at them desperately with their talons but in the end were only able to scream in pain and terror, falling to an endless series of what were almost certainly venomous bites as the parasites burrowed into their brains while they still lived.

At least one dying eagless managed to shoot herself in the head with her own crossbow before she succumbed to the swarm, but another of Gilda’s struggling soldiers gave one final shriek before his eyes went lifeless and he suddenly turned his weapon on his own comrades, firing a crossbow bolt into another Talon’s back.

Struggling to salvage the rapidly deteriorating situation in the face of her own all-consuming terror as she watched her defense crumble, Gilda ordered the drakinas to blast the evacuated trenches and the dead bodies with flame, sending Obsidian Ire to grab the ‘fifty’ that Stavrou and his partner had abandoned before it could be turned on them. Despite its heavy weight and red-hot barrel, she simply slung it and hurried back with more spikes chasing her until Karin Kazal, knowing the weapon’s importance, grabbed her and teleported her to the entrance.

But the situation remained no less dire as the remaining parasite forms crested the hill and began to flood towards her retreating forces, and even worse, Gilda could just see that the Cloven ground soldiers who had expended their wing-launched spikes were now surging uphill as well. They clearly intended to charge in hard on the heels of the carnage the parasites and massive spike barrage had caused, with less than a fifth of her soldiers having made it to what promised to be the only fleeting safety of the hive.

“We need to get the wounded inside! Have the heavy repeaters cover us!” Gilda told Giraldi as the latter stood upright with his war hammer and simply brought it down on the ground in front of them to fling hundreds of parasites backwards with the shock wave of the weapon alone. Her former First Spear nodded and shouted an order, to which the remaining two earth griffon heavy repeaters were emplaced on the plateau directly and began firing streams of explosive bolts to try to keep the tide of parasites at bay.

Earth griffon Talons began to move while Wind Knights took to the air at her order to get them out of reach of the grounded Cloven. She hoped they could evade the bulk of the barrage and take at least a few out from above despite the flyer assault, the thrums of their crossbows mingling with sporadic human gunfire as they fell back to the entrance. But it was clear that the Cloven were quickly gaining the upper wing and worse, that she was very likely to lose the bulk of her force before they could make it inside.

Marine rifle fire began to slow down as the humans took spikes and struggled to take aim, while her available Knights and Talons were now concentrated far more on escaping than shooting in the face of the seemingly unstoppable attack.

A clang of metal echoed nearby, and Gilda saw one of her few remaining Fortis Knights raising his shield to protect Giraldi from flyer spikes as he fell back despite a visibly hobbled leg; she hadn’t seen it happen, but he had a spike sticking out of his hip in what had to be a very painful injury. “Get inside! Inside!” she shouted as one by one, Marines and Talons carrying the injured dashed through the opening, outrunning the black spikes stabbing the ground in their wake.

“Goddamnit,” Imlay cursed as he hurriedly swapped out a fresh magazine on his rifle with an uncharacteristic fumble. He resumed firing and triggered his bottom tube again with a hollow thump that shortly turned into another resounding BOOM! which cleared a large area of the outer plateau of parasites, but it still wasn’t enough.

Gilda glanced in his direction, seeing him cover two Marines carrying a third with wounded legs between them only to be pinned down by the flyers. Dust flew, punctuated by the rain of spikes that slackened just long enough for several carrier forms to swoop in and drop Cloven Rams on the edge of the plateau.

They roared in victory before they lowered their heads and began to charge, this time on all fours, clearly intending to shatter her force’s faltering and increasingly ragged battle line once and for all.

“Shit!” the Corporal shouted as he fired his rifle at them to no effect. “Cover Stavrou and Briggs! We need that fifty-cal set up back inside the entrance, now!”

But Gilda knew there was no time as Cloven Ram war cries echoed through the smoke-filled air. She could now see them running at full speed as they smashed through anything in their path, mercilessly crushing the corpses of the downed flyers and a thick layer of dead parasites under their hooves.

We’re going to be overrun! she knew beyond any shadow of a doubt even as she struggled to keep the Cloven out of the hive for just a few seconds more, until her stragglers could reach it.

Their defeat and death now nigh, everything seemed to move slowly, from the retreating Marines and Talons struggling to hold off the onslaught to Fortrakt’s group trying to fly in the sky to bring the Marines stationed further upslope down. And though she’d never been the praying type before the Cloven invaded, Gilda found herself calling out for the Ancestors to help.

We’ve done all we can and can no longer fight back! Ancestors, if we fall here, the humans belong to the Cloven and the Kingdom falls in turn! For the sake of not just the Kingdom but the entire world, we need your aid, NOW! she pleaded with them as she dragged one of her Talon eaglesses towards the entrance, who screamed with pain as her spike-broken ribs and leg were jostled.

And once again, her prayer was answered.

A sudden roar of fresh fire made her open her eyes to see pure yellow flames raining down from the sky—not the color of the ones the drakinas emitted. They hit the screeching flyers who were still trying to impale them with spikes, fires enkindling them with dancing orange light before the same effect was turned on the remaining parasites and lead Elder Ram forms, immolating them and clearing the trenches they had consumed.

Then the sound of the Western Drums came next as a full century of fresh Fortis Knights came streaking down from the sky like a striking hammer, flying low over the upper slopes. They dove hard, ramming their shields on the larger flyers before slowing down long enough to land on the plateau on all fours. A Senior Spear Gilda had never seen before followed them, shouting orders to form a shieldwall in a semicircle between her retreating force and the advancing Cloven.

As she watched, metal clinked as the shields linked together, meeting the incoming tide of pure Cloven soldier forms without losing ground. Every once in a while, two shields would open up just long enough for the Knights to swing their warhammers, smashing chitin with the force of their strokes. Then, on signal, the frontline thrust their shields forward hard enough to push the enemy back, giving them enough time to hover in the air and fall backwards, letting the next line put up a fresh shieldwall and take the brunt of the attack for a few seconds.

It was the well-practiced effort of a veteran unit; one that swiftly smashed the ground attack. A signal then came from the sky, and Gilda watched with awe as two turmas of Wind Knights followed, targeting the Cloven flyers. They came in behind the Fortis Knights, and in a synchronized manner, aimed their crossbows towards the airborne enemy forces and let loose a barrage of electrical and proximal explosive bolts. The razorbat forms scattered immediately, but not before losing several additional scores of their fragile forms.

A fresh wave of Cloven Rams crested the hill and wailed out, their steps making the ground shake as they attacked the shieldwall at a full charge. They raised their arms high to smash the defenses down, only to meet their deaths as deafening bolts of lightning speared them out of the smoke-choked skies.

Though dazzled by the bolts, Gilda finally saw four Magus Knights as the source of the flashes, just above the top of the now-collapsed skylights. Their staves glowed brightly as they pooled all their energies together to unleash their spectacular offensive, crushing the heavy Cloven infantry just as sure as the human ‘fifty’ had.

“Centurion!” Fortrakt’s excited and relieved voice called out from behind her, where he’d apparently succeeded in getting the Marines on the upper slopes inside. “Reinforcements have arrived!”

“Yeah, I kinda noticed, cub…” she said in relief, busying herself with getting the rest of her force behind their protective wall. Within a minute, despite nearly having them on the verge of defeat, the Cloven assault had been smashed yet again with the loss of another four centuries of varied ground soldiers and Ancestors-only-knew how many dead parasites, leaving the steep hillside carpeted with their fallen forms and further quantities of green gore.

Gaining at least a brief respite as the remaining Cloven forces retreated again in the face of the newly arrived Knights, the reinforcing Century’s commander turned to a shaky Gilda and saluted.

“Centurion! Beg to report. I am Senior Spear Figura Mutatio of the Fortis Knights! We were dispatched from Aricia to aid you,” she introduced herself, holding her salute until Gilda had returned it. “Tribune Cipio sends his compliments. And instructs you to keep holding out here for now.” She passed Gilda another order written in the Tribune’s script.

Gilda’s heart sank as quickly as it raised while muffled curses were heard around her. “Hold out? With what?” she asked incredulously. “I am grateful for the rescue but look around you—over a third of my force is down, Senior Spear, and we are dangerously low on munitions! And you saw what else they have out there! Even with your additional century of soldiers, we’re exhausted and can’t hold out much longer! So why in all the crows is he still leaving us out here?”

Figura Mutatio regarded her unblinkingly, disconcertingly so. To look at her, her feathers and armor almost seemed too clean, like they hadn’t seen action yet. “I know not, as the Tribune did not see fit to share his plans. But by the Hi—by the Ancestors themselves, I have my orders and will carry them out. My force is at your disposal, Centurion. And with regards to crossbow bolt and crystal supply, worry not—we brought reloads, fresh from the Aricia armories.”

Gilda barely had time to wonder what the Senior Spear had caught herself from saying or how her force had gotten there all the way from Aricia undetected before she tossed several storage gems on the ground; they turned into full quivers and chests containing large quantities of various gem types from explosive to incendiary. “We hope these will help.”

“They will, but not enough…” Gilda knew, ordering Giraldi to supervise their distribution, trading her own nearly-empty quiver for a new one that she then attached to her left shoulder, in easy reach of her right set of talons. “With those new spike-launching soldier forms, I don’t think we can defend from the trenches now. So we’ll have to defend the plateau directly under Magus protection. Are your mages at full charge, Senior Spear?” she asked.

The newly arrived eagless nodded. “They are. And with the help of feeder crystals in our possession, they can create powerful shields.”

“Then do so, but spare two for healer duty,” Gilda directed, nodding back to her bloodied force; she wasn’t sure she had anycreature left unwounded at that point. “Triage the severe injuries, but priority goes to the walking wounded. Anybody who can be brought back into the fight quickly, do so. The rest are to be healed just enough to be out of danger and then escorted below.” She realized too late that she’d resorted to a human word again.

“By your command.” The Senior Spear bared her throat as she barked orders to the Magus, sending the requested pair down to the plateau below.

They looked around at the dozens of wounded and swore violently; she wasn’t sure but thought one of them might have said something like “Chicken rot.”

Chicken rot? Never heard that one before. Is that some sort of Southern curse? Gilda wasn’t sure, but noted they immediately attended the worst of the injuries as the two airborne magus alit slightly upslope. They pooled their power to cast broad shield spells over the rear half of the plateau, just encompassing the shieldwall.

“Centurion? I think they’re coming again…” Fortrakt’s tired and increasingly shaky voice sounded over the radio. “Ancestors, after all the soldiers we’ve slain, how can they still have reserves?”

Gilda slumped at the news. She felt emotionally and physically spent, wondering if the Ancestors were testing them, or if the Cloven were simply so determined to kill and corrupt them that every single soldier their factory at Harness was churning out was now marching from their hatcheries directly to the Lake.

If so, it meant they would never run out of reinforcements, and the end of her force was all but assured.

“Crows take it…” she couldn’t resist saying, trying to rouse herself to action one final time. “Optio! Set our remaining heavy weapons in holes below the Magus positions to keep them within the shield. Marines! Any of you who are still unwounded join them and the rest defend the entrance! Decurion! By my order, destroy the skylights and—” she trailed off as a horrific shriek was suddenly heard in not just her ears or her bones, but her very soul.

It sounded just as painful as talons on glass but was somehow far more piercing and pounding, leaving her not only unable to think but increasingly steeped in despair. She sat back and clamped her talons over her head. “What the fuck is that?” Imlay asked, forced to drop his rifle to do the same thing.

“I don’t know! But I can’t…” Gilda felt herself beginning to wobble, able only to look up into the sky to see a monstrous black shadow approaching with webbed wings and a visible glow in its throat

“Dragon!” the call came up from the Talons, but as it got closer, Gilda realized it wasn’t. It was much worse—a Cloven-created version of one, meaning it would be far better-armored and its form fully intact instead of the half-rotted and crippled bodies of the possessed drakes they’d seen previously.

It then stopped and entered a hover several hundred perches over the hill and opened its mouth to emit another shriek at closer range, whose impact on her mind and mental processes left her consumed by terror and forced down to her knees.

Its cry was also echoed by the remaining centuries of Cloven soldiers massing for a fresh and final attack on the hill. They added their own voices to the awful chorus, and it was only then that Gilda understood from the assault on their very sanity and senses what they were actually facing.

“Ancestors preserve us! It’s a Cloven Overlord!” she finally realized, using the phrase for the first time as she felt her heart filling with fresh fear and despair. “Marines! Shoot it down before it’s too late!”

“Can’t…” Hearing Imlay’s voice, she looked to see that the Marines, like all her soldiers, were unable to act. Even the newly arrived Knight century seemed affected, if not as much, maybe because they were far fresher and less fatigued. But the shield covering them seemed to falter as the Mages casting them were weakened, and seeing it flicker, the monstrous Overlord swooped down to release a great gout of greenish fire that almost seemed more smoke than flame, promising to both incinerate and suffocate them with intense heat and poisonous vapor alike.

Its assault struck the barrier and caused it to collapse as only a few of the strongest-willed Marines, Knights and remaining Ravens raised their weapons against it, but their bolts and bullets were just pinpricks to be ignored.

The shield down, it then landed before them and grinned toothfully, its mental pressure as stifling as its brutally burning breath as one final shriek sent all her remaining soldiers to the floor of the plateau, crying out and pleading for help from their Ancestors or what she would later guess were various religious figures in the case of the humans.

Several Marines and Talons openly sobbed, unable to take the mental assault as they sensed their death was imminent. Sometimes they just curled themselves into balls and called like cubs for their mothers, but in at least two cases she saw her wounded soldiers commit suicide, obeying an impulse Gilda herself was now desperately fighting to slash her own throat.

In that moment, either due to the Overlord’s presence or the helpless state of her surviving soldiers around her, Gilda lost all hope. No escape this time… she knew, and their end at wing, she decided in a final moment of defiance to the despair that was trying to consume her that they had fought hard and fought well.

And that she could at least die knowing that she had done her duty to the Kingdom, crippling the Cloven so badly that one of their own Overlords had been forced to intervene.

Regrets flooding her thoughts for the final time as the dragon-sized Cloven commander took a final breath to kill them all, she found herself wishing for everything from another opportunity to be with Marco to the chance to make amends with Rainbow Dash, all the way down to more trivial matters like meeting the mysterious mare named Starlight Glimmer who had befriended and helped her human friends.

But none of it mattered any more as the two ibex slapped a weak shield over the opening; she sensed they did so in hopes of deflecting some flame while a small fraction of her force retreated deeper into the hive. If they weren’t mentally incapacitated, she guessed that they might buy the civilians a few more minutes at most. But she also knew that even without the Overlord constantly force-feeding them thoughts of defeat and certain death, that their end was equally inevitable.

And so too, perhaps, was that of the Kingdom as Gilda could only look up from her back into the darkening skies. Despite the heat and awful stench of the Overlord’s breath, a cold gust of wind blew around her, and even with her thick coat, she shivered.

Once again, everything seemed to move slowly, from the crawling Marines to the Wind Knights trying to hold off the onslaught with their remaining repeaters as the final four centuries of Cloven ground soldiers crested the hill. Though she’d never been the praying type before that day, she called out to her Ancestors one last time even though she was certain she’d already severely abused their generosity, asking not for rescue but only that their sacrifice wasn’t in vain.

And that for fighting and falling in service to the Kingdom, they would admit all her soon-to-be dead human friends to Valhalla.

... Before the Dawn
Dwayne Ford - In A World

It was then that a shimmering orange field fell over not just the plateau but the entire hive, deflecting the blast of dragon-like flame with contemptuous ease and holding strong against the efforts of the apparently surprised Cloven creation to batter it down with tail and talon.

It was accompanied by a great flash of light in the center of the plateau right in front of the fallen shieldwall; it faded to reveal a tall, dark-armored quadrupedal form with orange trim who had what appeared to be an enormous scimitar on its back.

Its owner—a female? Her gentle curves and less chiseled features seemed to suggest she was—was an alicorn-like figure the size of Princess Celestia, accompanied by six smaller armored insectile figures who formed a protective ring around her, with the two nearest her being twice the size of the others but still smaller than the large being they guarded.

Much like an alicorn, the central figure was somewhat slender with wings and an impressively long horn. But the former was insectile, looking like those of a fairy fly, while the latter was slightly jagged with one or two holes in it, accompanied by several holes in its crystal-gloved hooves. The central part of her torso from where her wings sprouted was covered with some form of shell—a carapace? She also wore a glittering opal crown and pendant that accented her size and station, marking her as some form of royalty.

And then the large creature turned to Gilda, otherwise ignoring all the shocked eyes on it. Her voice was somehow both soothing and commanding; it was only then Gilda realized that the pressure on her thoughts was gone and she could suddenly think clearly again.

“Well-fought and well-led, Centurion Grizelda Behertz. You did your duty. Now we will do ours.” The newcomer said in a strangely serene female voice, her horn still aglow as Cloven forces were not only repelled but flung right off the cliff by an irresistible wave of magic that sent them tumbling down the slopes.

“Holy shit…” Stavrou said from his knees. “She’s a Changeling!”

“Not just a Changeling, but a Changeling Queen…” Giraldi realized in a rare note of awe, motioning with his wings at her still-nervous soldiers to lower their weapons.

“A Queen? You mean… she’s Chrysalis?” a worried Marine asked as he struggled to his feet, to which some of the Changeling soldiers glared back at him. But the large alicorn-like female only responded with a single, serenely delivered word:

“No.”

She had no sooner said it then there were a series of sharp explosions from the lower parts of the hive that blew out dirt and rocks. And in their wake, scores and then centuries of armored insectile forms surged forth from the revealed entrances to strike down the dazed and disoriented Cloven who were caught looking the wrong way. Some did so with blades and bolts from wrist-mounted crossbows that fired what looked like magic-infused arrows, others by transforming themselves into various creatures to rip them apart with teeth and talons.

And to further shock, the survivors of the fresh century of Fortis Knights she’d received suddenly stood back up as if they were unaffected by the mental assault. As Gilda watched, they were then consumed in green flame to reveal themselves to be changeling drones as well, though they were still wielding the same weapons as before, and this time, they formed a protective ring around the Queen herself.

“Ancestors… then they were Changelings, too?” an agape Fortrakt asked over the radio, and though Gilda might have been annoyed with him for stating the incredibly obvious, she could only stare transfixed at the scene outside the bubble as for the first time, the Cloven were engaged and quickly crushed by a more numerous force that swarmed over them like whipwasps defending their nest.

But far from a simple swarm, the drones were clearly well-trained soldiers as they worked together, flying in formation or otherwise synchronizing their attacks to swiftly defeat the threat. The carnage outside the shield was intense, but the Queen continued to speak calmly, maintaining her powerful protective spell over the hive and the visitors within it.

“They were indeed. I apologize for the deception, but we had to ensure that you survived long enough for the Overlord to appear, while still keeping our presence a secret. I promise that you are safe inside my shield, so lay your wounded out here, Grizelda Behertz. My healers will attend them shortly.”

“By your command…” Gilda said wanly, giving a nod to Imlay, who began barking orders into the radio, telling his Marines to hold their fire as Giraldi did the same for the griffons. She was barely aware of his words or the response as she watched nearly half a millennium of changeling drones finish off the once-massive Cloven assault force, just before turning on the desperately fleeing Overlord itself with their entire army.

But the nightmare creature didn’t get far as the drones transformed into griffons and even adolescent drakes and drakinas. They soon caught the adult dragon-sized Cloven commander and began dragging it down with sheer weight of numbers; she saw them slowly rip its form—she didn’t think the Cloven had gender, so she refused to assign their Overlord one—to pieces until it could no longer fly or defend itself, finally sending it plummeting into the hillside.

They pinned its still-potent and struggling form down with the combined weight of their bodies and auras as the Queen herself stepped up to the edge of the plateau. She then generated an enormous spear-like construct with her impressively strong magic that she plunged into the creature’s head, splitting its skull and silencing its shrieks for the final time.

Their Overlord fallen and no longer receiving its mental instructions, what few remaining Cloven they could see on the slopes and in the surrounding woods lost all cohesion. They simply attacked any enemy they saw but didn’t coordinate their efforts, becoming little more than a frenzied but unfocused mob that was easy prey for trained troops.

Which the Changelings clearly were as they hunted down the surviving pure and corrupted Cloven soldiers without mercy, slaying them swiftly. Once they were all dead, the drones turned en masse into adolescent dragons to incinerate the bodies to the evident disgust of Obsidian Ire, ensuring the fallen couldn’t be recycled to threaten the Kingdom again.

“A poor imitation of the real thing,” the large drakina groused to see that the Changeling-generated dragonfire clearly wasn’t as intense as those of her or her sisters, but even Gilda could pick out the grudging note of admiration in her voice.

The battle won in mere minutes, the cohort-sized force of Changelings fanned out to pick off any stragglers as Gilda could only watch in amazement, glancing around her to see that her exhausted soldiers were equally agape. It was only then, when her mind had finally caught up to the incredibly unlikely turn of events, that Gilda understood the truth of the place:

That the abandoned changeling hive had been used as camouflage for a real one!

“Well, what do you know,” an awed Imlay said softly as the Changeling drones did their deadly work with incredible speed and efficiency. “Live to fight another day.” He spared just a moment to watch the insectile army at work along with the rest of his Marines before issuing fresh orders.

“We ain’t done yet, Marines! Reload, and let’s sweep the slopes! You ain’t gonna let the damned Changelings do all the work, are you?”

“If you don’t mind, Corporal, I think I am,” a ragged-looking Stavrou said, laying down the slashed and bleeding Talon eagless he was carrying to be attended by various drones, who immediately began bathing her with healing magic. Once he had released her, Stavrou himself collapsed to the ground and then forward onto all fours, shaking violently. “We’re completely spent, and with due respect, we’ve more than carried our weight.”

“Agreed,” Giraldi said, and Gilda noted that even he sounded tired. “I do believe our work here is done, Centurion.”

“Indeed,” the Queen concurred, her voice sounding directly in their heads. “Please stand down your troops, Centurion Behertz and Corporal Imlay. You have fought heroically, but your forces are exhausted, and there is no need to risk yourselves any further. It is our turn now, and as we have not practiced working together, I respectfully request that you let my soldiers finish this fight unhindered…”

Battle’s End
Good vs Evil - Instrumental Song

A minute later, the Battle of Lake Languid was over as the Changeling army annihilated and incinerated all the remaining Cloven, with their efforts to destroy the dead bodies leaving most of the previously scenic forested area aflame. And to Gilda’s amazement, she was still standing along with half of her force.

Despite being overjoyed at simply being alive, she found she felt afraid to relax, worried that if she did, her physical and emotional fatigue would catch up to her and she would quickly collapse. And that was to say nothing of finally being able to reflect on all that had happened to her over the past day, which she wasn’t sure she was ready to do.

By the crows… am I actually disappointed that I’m NOT in any more danger? she couldn’t help but think as the Changeling Queen dropped her protective spell over the hive and turned to Gilda, baring her throat exactly as a griffon would.

“Greetings to you, Centurion Grizelda Behertz, and to all our human, griffon, dragon, and ibex friends. I am Queen Scylla Lepidoptes VIII, sovereign of the Lepidoptes Changeling Hive,” she announced in a calm but commanding voice that earned blinks and startled looks from every griffon there, including Gilda.

For the name of Lepidoptes was well-known to the Kingdom, as it belonged to the hive who had betrayed the invasion plans of the former Gryphon Empire to Equestria some seven centuries earlier.

They had not only alerted the ponies and likely saved them from annihilation by forcing the Empire to launch its invasion before sufficient forces were in place, but then assisted the Equestrian nation by passing information and intelligence throughout the course of the war. This despite the best efforts of the Empire’s intelligence service, which was then known as the Office of Owls, to pin down and eliminate them; it was even said that some drones had fought directly in the pony services.

After the war, they had disappeared, and the Council of Crows had ultimately no more luck than their predecessors in tracking them. Then they were HERE all this time? Gilda found herself admiring them immensely for having successfully hidden in plain sight, beneath an abandoned hive near a well-known and frequently-used recreation area.

“I bid you welcome to our home and offer our sincerest apologies for not assisting you sooner. But we could not without compromising the plan of Tribune Cipio, who we have been sharing information with since the invasion began,” the Queen said.

“Plan?” Gilda repeated blankly, still staring up at her in disbelief, feeling her thought processes starting to turn sluggish as the cider and adrenaline that had been powering her began to wear off. Ancestors above, please don’t let me end up with withdrawal symptoms again!

“Indeed.” Queen Lepidoptes motioned with her head off to the northwest where Gilda suddenly heard a series of distant booms. She recognized them as naval ballistae, though she couldn’t see their source through the smoke in the air.

“Ever since the Cloven attack began, we have been sharing what intelligence with your military leadership we could. To that end, we detected your arrival at Lake Languid, and immediately passed that information along to Tribune Cipio in Aricia.

“Though it was our hope—and no doubt yours as well—that he would rescue you quickly so as not to compromise our hive, he saw your presence here as an opportunity to destroy both the large Cloven factory at Harness, and the Overlord who controlled it. An opportunity that required a sacrifice of our own, as well.”

Gilda had to sit back heavily as understanding finally dawned on her. Then Giraldi was right—there WAS an actual purpose to the Tribune leaving us for dead out here!

“So in other words… we were bait for a trap.” Imlay reached the same conclusion in a surprisingly calm tone.

The orange-trimmed Queen turned to him, taking him in at a glance. “Yes, Corporal Michael Imlay. And the Cloven took it—how does the human phrase go? Hook, line, and sinker. They wanted you and your fellow humans so badly that they were blinded to everything else.”

“Then he left us hanging out here because he knew that the Cloven couldn’t resist the chance to capture the humans, and that he could use that against them.” A still-reeling Gilda finally found herself comprehending the full sweep of Cipio’s plan.

“Correct, Centurion Grizelda Behertz. Because of how much of their available army the Cloven committed against you, they stripped their defenses enough to allow their factory to be razed by a joint force of griffon airships and adolescent drakes,” she further explained, nodding off to the northwest again where booms still echoed.

“Your stand here means that not only is the stronghold of Aricia safe along with its precious population within, but Cloven efforts throughout the entire province are now crippled, buying the Kingdom much-needed time to regroup and ready a counterattack.”

“Ancestors above…” Fortrakt said the words Gilda wanted to, then walked forward fractionally towards the Changeling monarch and bowed low, flaring his wings before her in a show of honor. “For reporting our location and saving all our lives, we are in your debt, Queen Lepidoptes.”

Gilda didn’t reprimand him for the display, given he was technically bowing before royalty. But still, she didn’t join him. “Not to sound ungrateful, Your Highness,” —she didn’t know what else to call her— “but we lost half our soldiers here and were nearly overrun at least twice, even with your reinforcing century helping us. Could you not have intervened in full force sooner?”

Accepting the rebuke, the Queen bared her throat in what Gilda interpreted to be contrition. “For that, I can only offer my sincerest apologies and regrets, Grizelda Behertz. You are correct that we could have, but to do so would have caused the Cloven to withhold further attacks without a great deal more preparation and numbers, thus losing the opportunity for a resounding victory,” she explained.

“In pursuing his prize, the Tribune wished for all their reserves to be committed against you first. For it was only then that the factory would be vulnerable, and the Overlord would show itself in order to lend its strength to the effort here. And that required you to be on the verge of defeat with Cloven forces also decimated, needing just one more Overlord-assisted push to overrun your defenses and corrupt the humans as they so desperately desired.”

Gilda wasn’t sure if she was more impressed or appalled at how she and her force had been used by Tribune Cipio, resolving she’d have some sharp words for him later whether he appreciated them or not. But she also couldn’t deny that it had worked brilliantly—that they had been completely in the dark as to what was happening, thus preventing the Cloven from learning the plan by killing and corrupting her soldiers.

“And the summoning crystal?” Karin Kazal addressed her next. “May we assume that your drones took care of the invading force, considering we found them all dead by a bewildering array of means?”

She and her guards gained a sly smile. “You may indeed, Starshina. We were not about to let them invade our hive or threaten your rear, so when we detected them, we eliminated them the instant they fully materialized. But I do suggest that you upgrade your anti-teleport field enchantments, as corrupted mages were evading them repeatedly, including to teleport in a single possessed ibex with the gem. As it happens, we have some idea as to how, and we will be more than happy to share our insights with your Magus Knights.”

“Then we owe you again, Your Highness.” So it turns out that she was in on this from the start and watching over us the whole time! But how did she know Tribune Cipio or gain his trust? Gilda wondered, able only to guess that one of her drones—or the Queen herself! —had been rutting him or his advisors, using them to gain love. I guess in the end, it doesn’t matter. And we do owe her our lives!

Closing her eyes briefly as she reached her resolution, she stepped forward and bowed low before the alicorn-like Changeling ruler as well, signaling the rest of her still-standing soldiers to do the same. “Thank you for saving us, Queen Lepidoptes. As the Decurion says, we are in your debt. All I ask now is that you convey our request to the Tribune for the immediate evacuation of the humans and civilians to Aricia.”

The Queen offered a warm smile as she bowed her head back. “You are very welcome, Centurion Grizelda Behertz. But there is no need. As the Tribune does not wish to risk his remaining air carriages for now, I will offer my own royal transport for the purpose,” she said as she cast a fresh spell that caused a shimmering in the air. A series of arcane energies briefly billowed to reveal a slender but rather ornate airship with several sets of insectile wings in place of oars and sails, covered in a layer of glistening green and orange chitin.

“Despite its admittedly delicate appearance, be assured that it is fully armed and armored, and that there is sufficient room for all. But time is pressing, and there remains the possibility that a neighboring Overlord may attempt to avenge the loss of its brethren and destroy us in flight if we linger too long. So please order your forces to board, Centurion,” she requested as a gangplank was lowered to the plateau floor.

Gilda noted the Changeling Queen was deferring to her despite unquestionably having a higher rank and a great deal more power. She wasn’t sure she was comfortable with that, but in the end, she wasn’t about to question it.

“We have additional wounded below,” Gilda replied in amazement, finally understanding what Cipio had done—by all my Ancestors, the Tribune wasn’t being a fool! He used the Cloven fixation on us as a distraction to strip the area of soldiers so he could take out the factory and the Overlord who controlled it! “Both human and griffon. They will need immediate healer support.”

The Queen nodded gravely. “You will have it. Be assured that our healing arts are the equal or better of your own, especially if we have full magical charges to work with. We will triage and treat them along the way. Now if you please, Centurion, it is best not to linger here. It is time for your civilians and soldiers to board,” she politely requested again.

This time, Gilda didn’t hesitate. “By your command. Marco!” she shouted into the radio.

“Right here! What’s going on, Gilda? And what’s with all these weird insect ponies?” He sounded nervous and she had a sudden sense that he had his rifle raised.

“Stand down! They’re friendly, so please don’t shoot them!” She was afraid to tell him that they were Changelings, given the reaction the Marines had to hearing the name. But she didn’t blame them for that, given all they’d probably heard about them was that they’d attacked Equestria earlier; she doubted that they could make the distinction between those of Queen Chrysalis and those of different hives.

“Tell the Senior Scimitar to get everyone ready to move up top. They saved us, and now they’re going to get us to Aricia via their Queen’s personal airship. If anyone needs help being moved, let the newcomers assist. They can levitate the wounded, at least.”

“No problem, girlfriend,” he replied, causing her to feel a momentary pang of guilt at the title again, even though he now knew what had happened.

I guess he really has forgiven me. By the Ancestors, I swear I’ll make it up to you later, Marco Lakan, whatever it takes! she mentally promised him once more. Gilda had no sooner had the thought when she caught the Queen looking at her again, giving her a smile when their gazes met.

“You love him,” the Changeling monarch said simply, to which Gilda could only nod. She recalled then from Gauntlet training that Changelings could sense emotions, which made them very difficult to surprise or otherwise approach undetected. “Then worry not about earlier events, Centurion. For in the end, they change nothing.” She looked from her over to Karin Kazal as she spoke and gave him a strangely serene smile, causing them both to stiffen and exchange a nervous look.

Does SHE know? Gilda internally froze. If they detected our arrival here, could they also have detected… THAT? She swallowed hard, praying the Queen knew enough to be discreet.

Ten minutes later, all remaining civilian and military forces were aboard, and the oddly insectile airship lifted off from the plateau. Scanning it, Gilda noted that it had several unfamiliar forms of cannon that were loaded and ready, though it certainly wouldn’t have been a match for one of the Kingdom’s capital airships in battle.

But as it began to gather speed and gain altitude, Gilda realized that much like the Changelings themselves, its survivability lay in stealth as a shroud fell over the airship similar to the kind she’d experienced when activating the nightshade crystal, causing sounds to be muffled and the outside to appear darker.

Just like the Raven goggles she still wore, it seemed to make detail clearer as they rose above the ground-hugging pall of smog to see a massive pillar of ugly black smoke rising from Harness. Two Kingdom airships and a bevy of adolescent dragons continued to pour fire into it, pounding the hill into powder to make sure the underground part of the Cloven construct was destroyed as well.

The booms remained audible at that distance, causing all her remaining soldiers to watch the display of naval power. “Look at that. Damn griffies get some too,” Imlay said with a smile from beside her. She wished Marco was there to watch as well, but after checking in with her and being slightly warily introduced to the Changeling Queen, Marco had elected to stay with his friends, watching as Tara and Chris finally received strong doses of healing magic.

Though she suspected he was doing it in part to avoid being in the company of Karin Kazal, Gilda looked at the Corporal. “Griffies?”

“Yup,” Imlay replied with a smile, swapping out the magazine from his rifle. “What can I say? You guys earned it.” He watched as the airships and drakes began to hunt down stragglers. “Damn earned it.”

“You said it, Corporal. Look at the damn dragons and griffies getting some,” Guerrero said, before raising his arm and shouting: “Yeah! Get some!”

“Crows take it… do you have to call us that?” Gilda asked him. Between feeling herself starting to relax for the first time in two days and finally knowing that she hadn’t lost Marco to either the Cloven or her own indiscretions, she sensed some of her old attitude starting to return. “It’s really insulting and dweeby.”

“What do you mean?” Guerrero looked taken aback. “It’s a term of endearment! It means we like you guys!”

“Oh, really? And would you like it if we called you ‘humies’?” she asked him, to which his expression dropped.

“Well, when you put it like that…” he granted, trailing off as the two airships completed their work along with the adolescent dragons she could just see pouring gouts of fire into the area as well, completing the destruction of the factory and what she assumed were the many thousands of half-created Cloven forms within it.

As they watched, the two vessels ceased fire and turned for Aricia, pausing only long enough to collect the soldiers and dragons they’d used in the effort, though a protective cloud of them still surrounded the two vessels. “Looks like they did it,” Imlay finally noted.

“We did it!” a scratched up and smoke-stained Fortrakt corrected, though it was hard to see the latter against his darker fur and feathers. “It was all thanks to our stand here. Crows know that we faced the worst of the Cloven and lived.”

“Ran a goddamned gauntlet to get here, too,” Guerrero added. “Survived battle after battle and were never beaten. Can’t wait until the higher-ups back home read the report on this one.”

“Not all of us lived…” Gilda had to look away, finding the fallen faces of her old Turma and PFC Jenkins swimming through her mind. “Not even close.”

“Guilt does not become you, Grizelda Behertz,” Queen Lepidoptes spoke again. “Take it from a longtime ruler with the shared memories of Queens and conflicts past that you have nothing to be ashamed of. In every facet of the battle, you commanded your forces well. At every turn, you acted in the interests of others, putting them before you.”

“At every turn?” Gilda asked despondently, her time with Karin Kazal flashing through her memory again.

“Yes.” It was the Starshina himself who answered this time, the less-injured doe at his side. “There are many words I could describe you with, Centurion, and most would not be flattering. Obnoxious, insulting, and occasionally outright infuriating foremost among them,” he said deadpan, though Gilda caught a glint of mischief in his orange eyes that belied his tone.

“I’ll second that!” Obsidian Ire said angrily from where she was being treated by Changeling magic, eating what looked like a sapphire as her wounds were slowly mended.

“He’s got you there, Gilda,” Fortrakt agreed with a knowing grin, to which Gilda could only blush.

Karin Kazal gave him a smirk and wink. “But that said, you are also an uncommonly courageous and exceptionally effective leader, willing to take risks where others, whether griffon or ibex, never would. I cannot even begin to call you selfish given all that happened this day, and after fighting at your side and seeing your quality up close, I would now gladly obey your orders and even die at your command in defense of our two nations. So have no regrets about your actions here, for after surviving this ordeal, I find no fault in them. In fact, I am immensely grateful for them.”

She felt her cheeks warm as he gave her a meaningful look. Ancestors above… he’s telling me that he’s glad we rutted and to stop feeling guilty over him! His words caused her to blush again and even left her desiring him anew.

“Well said, Starshina,” Queen Lepidoptes agreed in a tone that brooked no argument, and then turned to face all of Gilda’s surviving soldiers. “Karin Kazal speaks true. So be proud, all of you. Your stand against the Cloven was a magnificent effort worthy of story and song. But sadly, Harness is not the only hill that will crumble this day.”

As she spoke, the large Queen walked over to the side of the airship, looking down on the hill that had hidden their hive. She then said something in what Gilda guessed was their native language to one of her aides, who nodded and responded in kind.

She nodded gravely, and without another word, she cast a fresh spell that caused a series of loud booms around the base of the old hive that had been their salvation.

As a surprised Gilda watched, the formerly steep anthill-like structure collapsed in on itself with a resounding rumble and cloud of dust. “And thus, does our home of seven centuries fall,” the Queen said sadly as her drones bowed their heads. “A hard loss, but a necessary one to deny the enemy intelligence. And certainly not the first time we have been driven from our hive.”

Gilda guessed she was referring to the great pony/griffon war, when they had been ejected from their underground lair in the old Imperial capital of Mosclaw at the start of the conflict. They had spent the next four years of it always on the run, yet still found time and ways to aid the ponies and even occasionally assassinate high-ranked Imperial officials.

“I am truly sorry for your loss. Then for making such a great sacrifice, may I assume you will be joining us in this fight, Your Highness?” Giraldi inquired, to which she nodded and moved back to the center of the airship flanked by the large, well-armored drones of her personal guard. Gilda noted again that they were far bigger than the Changeling norm, each looking as powerful and battle-ready as any earth griffon Paladin. “Surely Queen Molyneux will reward you richly for aiding us in our hour of need.”

Queen Lepidoptes nodded solemnly. “We will indeed, Optio Galen Giraldi, and for the first time in our hive’s history, we will do so in the open regardless of any reward offered. For this war is on not just the Gryphon Kingdom, but on all races and nations of Tellus. A Cloven victory means the end of all life, and as Changelings, we are uniquely able to help fight this particular foe.”

“And why is that?” a wary Karin Kazal asked her, to which she glanced at him and answered evenly.

“Because the Cloven were originally created from captured Changelings, devolved to a more primordial state and then reprogrammed through very dark magic,” she answered to a series of startled looks.

“Though we consider them to be abominations no less than you, that we are related to them means we can detect and counter them, and can thus greatly aid in defeating them once and for all…”

Hello, one and all. This is your humble author speaking. I wish everyone to know that I dedicate this chapter to former Fimfiction and Gentlemanverse author Denim_Blue. He was an excellent writer, and the Lepidoptes hive belonged to him, along with the character of Queen Scylla Lepidoptes the VIIIth—or at least, her great-great grandmother, Queen Scylla Lepidoptes the IVth. So for me to include them here is homage.

They were first revealed in my Firefly series of stories when he guest-authored a couple chapters. He has departed the site, sadly, but he is not forgotten, and his extensive and very well-thought Changeling lore is simply too good not to use. Here’s hoping I’ve done it justice and will continue to do so.

—Firesight