Xerxes kept his sword in the Longfacing position as his eyes darted around the camp. Were there more Abhorrent? Or was this the only one? He looked up. A few more meteors streaked across the dark sky.

Ningal was sobbing. Xerxes looked over and winced when he saw white bone amidst the blood and flesh of her mangled arm.

“Kishar!” Gandash shouted from his tent, which wasn’t far away. “Heal Ningal!”

The olive-skinned Kishar was the closest to Ningal. She hurried over, jabbed her hand into her component pouch, and casted Minor Restoration.

Gandash didn’t wait to see how the spell turned out, and instead, shouted orders.

“Officers of Units One, Two, Three, Four, and Five, form up on the mound. Spread word now. Everybody else, get into ranks on foot and be ready for combat.”

What followed was a buzz of controlled chaos.

Xerxes found Sergeant Stratos in the crowd, and together they marshaled the Unit One soldiers and headed to the westernmost part of the mound. They were one of the first units to be represented in full.

Xerxes looked past the wooden stakes and into the darkness, but saw no signs of further attacks. The moon provided enough basic illumination to be able to make out some general details, but not much in the way of details. About two or three minutes later, Kashtiliash and Sergeant Arda brought Unit Two into position to the east.

Within five minutes of the attack, the five heavy infantry units Gandash had called out were in position, lined up on the mound, behind the wooden stakes, facing out into the darkness.

Behind them, the rest of the mages and soldiers lined up in ranks. None of the cavalry were mounted.

Silence prevailed for five minutes. Ten.

There was some shouting from deeper in the camp. Gandash had moved away, so it wasn’t possible to make out his words. After the shouting was some running about. Xerxes scanned the area outside the camp, then looked over his shoulder.

To his surprise, Enusat, one of the only two Sinitu mages in the company, was casting a spell.

Melam flowed around him as he transformed into an ape with mottled brown and gray fur. Then he flew up and over the cliff face that they were camped against.

Gandy’s gonna have him scout above. But why in that direction?

“Look!” someone yelled from Unit Two.

Numerous soldiers craned their necks and looked out into the night. Xerxes did the same.

He caught motion from the direction of the road, but it was impossible to determine what was out there. Everything was still. Then he saw it again. Something… rolling toward them. A wheel?

“The fuck?” a soldier said.

“By the Pontifarch,” another growled.

As it neared, Xerxes throat tightened as something that looked like eight or nine human arms protruding from a lumpy mass of flesh rolled toward them on outstretched hands.

“Same as the one we killed by the Gateway,” Kashtiliash said.

“Captain!” shouted Sergeant Arda. “Got an Abhorrent here!”

There was a blur of motion as Gandash ran over. Coming to a stop next to Arda, he looked out at the bizarre creature rolling toward them.

“Unit Eight!” he shouted. “Get onto the mound!”

Eight was Jad’s unit, and they were light infantry. A Sergeant named Vasilios issued further orders, and the Unit Eight archers ran up the packed dirt.

“Take that thing down,” Gandash said, pointing. “And any others like it that approach.”

“Yes, sir,” Vasilios said.

“Lieutenant Jad,” Gandash went on, “be ready to cast Stronghold Deflection.”

“Sir,” Jad said, “I never mastered that spell.”

Gandash made a frustrated sound. “Right.” Then he raised his voice. “Arwia!”

“Over here, sir!”

Gandash trotted down the mound and toward the voice.

The company had three Nasaru mages, but only Arwia could cast Stronghold Deflection, a spell capable of defending a very large area, such as a complex of buildings, a castle, or a camp.

“Private Pua,” shouted Sergeant Vasilios. “Private Zuwiziti. Nock arrows and shoot that thing.”

The two privates stepped forward and loosed arrows.

The first arrow struck one of the ‘arms’ and didn’t do a thing. The other hit the blobby flesh in the middle. After that, the thing stopped ‘rolling,’ but continued to spasm as it dragged itself across the ground.

“More, Sergeant?” Private Zuwiziti asked.

“Go ahead.”

They loosed two more arrows. This time, the thing stopped moving.

Around then, short-haired Arwia joined them.

“I’m to cast Stronghold Deflection if necessary,” she said.

“What’s ‘necessary?’” Jad asked.

“My discretion.”

Another minute or two passed, and then, out of the darkness rolled another of the many-handed Abhorrent.

“Take it down,” Sergeant Vasilios said.

Four arrows did the trick.

Then two more rolling monsters appeared. A few curses could be heard from the line of soldiers.

Three more rolled out behind the other two.

“Unit Eight, everybody up here,” Vasilios shouted.

As the archers ran up the mound, the heavy infantry made room, and the arrows began to fly.

At the same time, more and more of the many-handed Abhorrent rolled out of the forest. In the larger wave following the group of five, a large one appeared, at least twice the size of any of the others. It looked to be around as tall as an average human, from bottom to top. Its ‘skin’ had a greenish tint. What was more, its fingers were freakish in length and had sharp talons at their ends. This was not one of the Abhorrent they had studied about back on Sin-Amuhhu.

Do they have eyes? Xerxes thought. Or mouths?

“Fucking hell,” Kashtiliash muttered, and many of the Unsighted troops echoed his words.

“Loose arrows at will,” Vasilios said. Then he turned to Arwia. “Lieutenant,” he continued, “do you think we ought to bring Unit Nine up here as well?”

Unit Nine was also light infantry, though they specialized in javelin-throwing in addition to archery. Arwia stared out into the night at the mounting wave of Abhorrent. “Yes.”