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Weaponless, it threw itself at her Damia raised her sword and, as the Swine attacked, she struck Her blade sliced cleanly through the the reat Even as it died, it fell upon her By instinct, in its dying ore her with its tusks One of those yellowed ivory tusks plunged into her shoulder, rending flesh

Daether as she pushed upward on the Swine’snoise came from the tusk as she lifted it out of the wound in her shoulder Her body quivered with shock and pain and she felt a terrible chill go through her

A runt came froround that could only be another heavy boot She had killed a Battle Swine in hand-to-hand combat, but now as she rose to her knees, three others surrounded her

"Bitch," one of thehed She didn’t think the rancid beasts capable of speech Why the Battle Swine--legends froue with Atlantis, she had no idea They were brutal, savage things fit for nothing but killing Perhaps they simply hadn’t had much opportunity for war and bloodshed of late No s," she sniffed

The three Swine laughed, then began to move in around her Coure out how to survive Frootten, her battalion stood poised to triumph But she would not live to see it

One of the Battle Swine lifted its axe and started for her Damia shifted, held her sword across her body, and shot a kick at the nearest boar As she did, she extended her sword in the other direction, stabbing through the hand of the attacking swine It squealed and dropped its axe

Her heart raced Sweat dripped down the back of her neck and trickled between her breasts as she steadied her breathing The trio of Swine glared at her with their little piggy eyes, and she knew they saw her as a threat for the first time They would not play with her, now They would just kill her

Damia smiled She would not rip of her sword, she glanced back and forth between two of the Swine, keeping track of the third in her peripheral vision A single second stretched into eternity, and she felt thean to attack

Then aDale step A shadow blocked out the sunlight that strearound, driven down by the supernatural wind Bones cracked Green feathers danced on the breeze Antlers snapped

The Peryton that had scouted for the Yucatazcan battalion lay dead, separating Dareen wings were folded beneath it Arrows had been shot through its chest and neck, but it had been the strength of the wind that had slammed it to the earth and killed it Dark ichor leaked frorunt and a scuffle came from behind her, and Damia spun to face the third Battle Swine only to find it already dead Gaka, the Japanese oni who served in her Borderkind platoon, had come up behind it The ox-headed oni held the head of the Swine by its ht off

Damia nodded to him Gaka blinked all three of his eyes as he nodded in return The colanced around to see the reres had survived, though one had grievous wounds on his side and face and a broken ars drawn back, arrows ai two Battle Swine

The wind spiraled down and took human form as Howlaa, an impossibly tall, impossibly thin, blond female, clad in white fur The eleres and the Battle Swine Howlaa spat at the Swine One of the ogres, huge war hammer in one hand, cuffed a Sith the other They felt betrayed by these other legends froas The archers lowered their bows

The Battle Swine grunted and one of thehed Neither had dropped its axe

"Take them," the co been witness to er stepped frole of underbrush His flesh seemed more like knotted wood than she remembered and his ruddy cheeks were red as apples She wondered how effective he had been in battle, but that was before she looked past him and saw the three Yucatazcan soldiers who had been i out of their sides and faces Apple blossoms tipped each branch

"All over but the tears, eh, Colanced around Her soldiers had begun to co to wounded, others gathering the weapons of their fallen enemies Goblins scampered up into trees Pixies darted off and disappeared, nor to be seen by the Lost Ones All sorts of other Oldwood creatures had aided them in this battle, but ain

"So it appears," Dah the trees toward her

"Report," she said

The soldier bowed his head "From e can tell, Commander, none of the invaders who entered the Oldwood made it out of the forest alive"

"Excellent" Dalanced at the wind spirit "Howlaa, take a look Do not allow yourself to be seen If there are others to the west of the Oldwood, we’ll wait until dark and attack If they o around, we’ll pursue theer made a small noise

"What is it?" Das is going to happen"

"True I believe they will retreat southward and wait for reinforce any further attempt to reach Perinthia There are too many unknowns for them here, and they have just learned their forces aren’t sufficient to overcome them"

Howlaa s her up into invisible nothingness The trees rustled and she was gone, off to observe the enemy’s movements

"Their forces aren’t sufficient," a shrill, grating voice said, "but they will be soon"

Dalanced around and saw the swift-footed Charlie Grant leaning against a tree as though he had been there for hours Behind hiht shadows, his antlers crusted with dripping gore Daaged in battle himself

But it had been the boyish Charlie who had spoken

"You can talk?" Da hiave it a toot "I like the sound of this and despise the screech of my own voice Once I had a beautiful voice You should have heardWomen swooned Men laid down their weapons Then I bedded the daughter of a witch, and the hag punished me thusly"

Damia understood His voice made her skin crawl The whistle was vastly preferable

"If you have news, Master Grant, you’d best announce it," Darimly "Dire news, but not unexpected, Commander The alliance has been struck between Atlantis and Yucatazca Of course, the High Council presents it as though they are only now co Hunyadi again for theMahacuhta"

Frustrated, Damia sheathed her sith a sharp click "Do the people of either kingdom believe that? How could anyone?"