Part 6
It was still twilight at the top of the cliffs on either side of the narrow slot canyon that formed the pass out of the valley to the west, with the occasional beam of red dusk light still filtering through the underbrush. The Sylvan formations were lined up right to the edge of the cliffs, knowing that their god’s gift of absolute Stealth hid them from the sight of any others. All that had a vantage of the goat shed watched it intently.
When Stripe had first alerted Reggie, the great cat had been on the slope near the ridge on the north side of the valley. He’d halted his stalk at his young master’s command, and a few minutes later his awareness of his prey sharpened considerably. He now knew the locations of the closest few exactly, including their motions and the positions of their limbs, and the twins assured him that for now, the Sylvan couldn’t detect him. At Reggie’s direction, Stripe had moved west and up, gaining the top of the ridge where the cliffs to the west began, and he’d stalked along the top of the cliffs to the edge of the Sylvan formation. He was now hidden in the bush less than a meter and a half from the closest Sylvan, who crouched at the cliff’s edge and diligently watched the goat shed.
“Okay. Let’s start it.” Reggie decided.
“Wait. Are we really ready to kill these people?” Helemia asked.
“Yup. You know Vanakit’s gonna torture you to death if he catches you. He’ll just kill me quick to get me out of the way. And we’re not good enough to stop them without killing at least some of them. We’ll let the wounded live if they’re hurt bad enough that they won’t attack us anymore, but that’s as nice as I’m willing to be.”
“Good.” Helemia grinned with satisfaction. “Just checking. Let’s do it.”
At their direction, Scout took off from the tree he was in near the valley floor, and flew up to the top of the ridge to the south-west. He pumped his wings hard as he flew just above the ridge going clockwise, gaining speed.
a couple of meters to get a better view of the shed, but one of the rocks he tried to step on was an Illusion covering a crack in the slope. He fell heavily and cried out before his face smashed against the rocks, and he tumbled down the steep slope for a while before sliding to a stop,
Sylvan woman who was stationed eighteen meters to his left stood to see what was happening, and started to move to assist him. Before she’d gone three meters the same thing happened to her. She yelled and tumbled and slid until she struck a tree, and lay there moaning from the pain of a broken arm, as well as numerous serious cuts,
heard the cries and the crashes of the fallen tumbling down the slopes on the far side of the valley, and stood as they
behind, unseen and unheard, making his best speed. He swooped down at the last moment and slammed into the back of the second row of Sylvan from the edge. He hit two of them in the backs of their heads with his wings, knocking them into the ones at the very edge in front of them. He sank his claws into the scalp of the one between them, and drove his sharply-pointed hooked beak into the scalp of the one in front of that.
just over eighteen meters high, and none of them had the
reached the far side of the formation and turned. The rest of the Sylvan had backed away from the edge, but he grabbed six of
Most of the Sylvan on his side hadn’t moved back yet, instead they stood staring as Stripe, silent and invisible, tore through their fellows on the opposite side of the canyon. Scout took four more off the edge on his side, and the rest of them moved
him, the Sylvan around Stripe backed away from where their fellows were dying, and
surrounded by a ring of spears, swords, and knives. He leaped over the weapons pointed at him and started laying waste
behind some kind of Indetectability spell! Now bunch up and defend yourselves!” Soon they were huddled in small clumps of eight to ten with their weapons sticking out in all directions, and many were casting Force Shields and
small wounds,
cat bounded out of the Sylvan formation and ran