Xerxes ran forward with his sword ready. For the time being, he didn’t worry about spellcasting. Gandash had mentioned conserving melam, and given the number of opponents, Xerxes didn’t want to just burn through his stockpile.

Next to him, he saw that Kuri was taking the opposite approach, and was already digging into his component pouch.

The first of the giant rats barrelled into the line of heavy infantry from Unit Six. They held strong, pushing back against the monstrous thing. It snarled, grabbed a shield and yanked it out of the hands of the hapless private.

Then Xerxes was there; he kicked the thing, shoving it back, then ducked a swipe of its clawed hand. He slashed down with the Wrath strike, only catching a bit of the rat’s fur. He slashed back up. Missed.

Shouting and screaming surrounded him. In his peripheral vision, he saw soldiers stabbing and crushing the rats. His focus remained on the hulking beast who was now crouching down on all fours as if to pounce on him.

He switched to the Reaping guard.

The thing jumped. He stabbed.

The tip of the sword sliced right through the giant rat’s mouth into its gut. However, it didn’t come close to killing it. In fact, when its jaws clamped down, it almost got Xerxes' hand with its teeth.

Then its pale, clawed hands clamped onto the quillons and it tried to push itself off the sword.

“Nope,” Xerxes growled. He twisted the sword, then wrenched it up. The rat shrieked, twitched, and spasmed. He pulled harder. It writhed.

Then his sword squelched out of the top of the thing in a fountain of blood. He didn’t look down at the half-bifurcated corpse. Smaller rat Abhorrent had already swarmed over it and were snapping at his feet. He stabbed one, slashed another in half, and kicked a third.

To the right, Kuri tangled with one of the hulking rats. Both of his hands were burning in Double Lethality, and he seemed to be holding his own.

Where are the others?

He looked left.

Fuck.

A gigantic rat had knocked down two soldiers, punching a hole in the line. Xerxes jumped toward it.

“Hey!” he shouted, lifting his sword as he closed in.

It opened its mouth, and he assumed it was going to howl or lunge to bite him.

It vomited.

Pink liquid erupted from the thing’s throat like sewage water from a broken pipe. Filled with maroon-colored chunks of what might have been half-digested flesh, as well as clumps of hair and bits of bone, it stank far worse than the monsters alone.

Xerxes skidded to a halt and jumped to avoid the blast of foul liquid.

Some of the soldiers in the line weren’t as lucky. Their shields and armor hissed and smoked as the liquid splashed on them. The ground around them melted slowly. Some of the smaller rats that got caught up in the burst screamed as they dissolved into piles of sludge.

The corrosive vomit seeped to the soldiers’ skin as well. They wailed.

Xerxes didn’t ponder the situation as the huge rat turned and prepared to lunge.

He got his sword into the Reaping guard, and stabbed out like before, just as the gigantic rodent jumped toward him. This time, his aim wasn’t as good. His sword tip hit the thing’s shoulder, and cut into its flesh but didn’t pierce it through.

Then the rat was on him, swiping at him with jagged claws. His sword was pinned beneath the thing, so he let go of the hilt and shoved the creature’s chest. It flew off him, rolling over onto all fours. Before he could get to his own feet, it was on him again. He kneed it. Shoved it.

It fell off.

He got onto a knee.

White light shone as Kuri lunged in from the side and buried a burning hand into the thing’s side. It shrieked and rolled away from him, but Kuri didn’t let it get away. Hitting it on top of the head with a hammer fist that melted bone, he killed it.

“Thanks,” Xerxes said, getting up and grabbing his sword.

“Isn’t there one more?” Kuri asked.

Xerxes scanned the area. “There.”

It lay still, peppered with arrows and at least three javelins.

There were still more smaller rat Abhorrent to deal with. Xerxes and Kuri both fell back into the line and helped.

The small ones weren’t to be taken lightly. But they were nothing like the big version.

Clearing the horde took another twenty minutes of fighting.

It was only when things went silent that Xerxes took the time to examine his wounds. He had some pretty bad scratches dug into his arm and shoulder. Blood soaked his garments.

He still didn’t feel the pain.

On the other side of the camp, the soldiers on the mound had held their position. All the many-handed Abhorrent were dispatched.

Gandash ordered the surgeons and the Balatu mages to see to all the wounded.

Overall, the fight had gone well. There were casualties, most of which were easily tended to.

However, some soldiers had been unlucky enough to receive mortal wounds when the healers weren’t nearby.

One heavy infantry from Kashtiliash’s unit. Two from Teucer’s. Two heavy cavalry from Dasi’s unit. And three heavy cavalry from Enusat’s unit.

Kashtiliash had nearly been strangled to death, and Teucer had been knocked unconscious, during which time he suffered some deep cuts.

Arwia was dead. Some of the many-handed Abhorrent had broken through the line, and one of them got to her in the chaos. Two of its hands were still wrapped around her throat, even after the monster lost its own life.

The death of a mage cast a pall over the company. Xerxes’ heart felt empty, and the other mages’ eyes looked haunted. Arwia was one of the smart kids, and a High Seer. But she was gone.

Gandash gnashed his teeth, though Xerxes suspected he was angry at himself, not the soldiers or officers. Xerxes kept finding his eyes drawn to Arwia, where they’d lined her corpse up with the other fallen. Dammit. Dammit!

The surgeon who examined Xerxes’ wounds made a decision quickly.

“You need healing,” she said. “Go to Lieutenant Katayoun over there.”

There were two ahead of him to receive healing from Katayoun. When it was his turn, she examined him.

“Looks like it hurts,” she said. She looked into his eyes, and he saw concern in her expression.

“I’m fine.” And that was what he kept telling himself. Over and over again.