With bated breath, the vast majority of the swarm waited for true night to fall. The suns dipped behind the Shandise to our west long before true darkness descended over the land. Even so, we were in shadow, and we’d prepared for this. Through the full day’s travel, keelish had gathered every loose scrap of wood and brush that we’d found, and when we’d come across a deadfall of several trees, dozens of keelish had ripped all the dry wood to manageable chunks that we carried on our backs and attempted to load the oxfiends with. Without any saddles, yokes, or anything else to fasten the loose wood to the beasts, few found any measure of success in enlisting the oxfiends’ assistance.
Even so, nearly 1000 keelish served as enough of a beast of burden, allowing for a full perimeter of torches and fires to be established. The shadows approaching our campsite were staved off by Solia and Hala’s efforts. Sentries were stationed at each flame with sufficient fuel on hand to, hopefully, make it through the shorter summer night. Keelish screeches rang through the air, and what little food remained from the day’s hunts was quickly consumed. We had devoured nearly one tenth of all the creatures we came across in our passage, though we’d left the possibly poisonous hyena corpse behind. Again, I was struck by the necessity to preserve the creatures living here, but more than the preservation of this land, we needed to ensure we survived.
Nothing seemed to approach our well-lit camp, but our concerns weren’t regarding whatever physical creature we could easily see. The shadows seemed to grow thicker and deeper, though I couldn’t say if that was due to the dying light of the suns or due to any shadow monster’s presence. Each sentry’s eyes remained focused on whatever it could be that approached, searching for any unnatural shadow or sound. Minutes passed, and there was nothing. An hour passed, and still, there was nothing. With my [Innervating Address], I hoped to maintain and strengthen attentiveness, though I couldn’t say if I was successful as another hour passed and still there was no sign of a shadow monster’s approach.
Finally, after hours past full dark, I, with half of the swarm, began to hope that the creatures had decided to leave us in peace. With a quick circuit of the borders of our camp, I verified that Hala would still be awake to ensure none of the flames died out entirely. The rest of the sentries assured me they were ready for any “sneaky cowards who dared to strike in the night”, so I attempted to retire to bed.
That was, of course, when the basso, organ rumbling growls began. On each side of the swarm, the shadow beasts seemed to scream to each other in frustration at finding their invisible approach thwarted. They continued to rumble their dissatisfaction at each other as they circled the perimeter, but finding no apparent weakness, their rage reached its peak and they screamed nearly in unison. Their nearly paralytic screams joined together, and though many of the swarm and our herds suffered under the sonic attack, I felt a greater understanding of what my magic could do as the cries harmlessly washed over me.
After a couple of minutes spent venting their fury, the shadow monsters began to retreat, their angered sounds both retreating towards the east. Though my nervousness had spiked with the surging sonic attacks from the beasts, their retreat forced a grim smile to my face. All throughout the camp, keelish chattered and shouted to each other in joy and celebration. After all, their Alpha’s wisdom had prevented these creatures from even attempting to attack the swarm!
I stood, and began to address the swarm as a whole.
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“When we turn the strengths of our enemies to their vulnerabilities, we can be sure that they will buckle before our strength. Instead of their deaths, we have proven the shadow beasts to be cowards! They flee at the sight of our fires, and they cannot overcome our plans! Now, find your rest, for in the morning–”
My victorious speech was interrupted by a furious whoom sound as a roaring shadow beast materialized just outside of the light cast by a smaller fire. It shrieked a furious challenge as it twisted its full body and smashed its tail through the burning branches and logs. Its body shriveled and puffed into an acrid white smoke when it touched the flames, but once the fire was reduced to scattered paltry flames and embers, it rushed through the dim light and into the previously safe borders established by the other fires.
To make matters worse, immediately after the first monstrosity pressed in towards the panicking swarm, its partner materialized and leapt in with its hideous maw split wide open in a deafening snarl of victory. Both hurtled forward with their powerful legs tearing the earth in deep furrows below them. Keelish dodged out of their way, their jaws and claws seeking to tear the brazen intruders apart. Nothing functioned, and each attack phased through the creatures’ bodies.
“HALA!” I shouted, “Burn them!”
No sooner than I made the command did a pillar of fire lance towards the two monstrosities. Without looking at the inbound attack, both melded with the shadows and out of the path of attack. In retribution, they nearly immediately leapt from a distant shadow at an oryx only beginning to wake in the chaos. Both gaping maws tore into the beast, its throat and chest caving in to the sudden assault. It died nearly immediately, and as it did, the larger shadow monster took it in its jaws and melded back into the shadow. The smaller one let out a haunting roar, the sound sending shudders down my spine, all the way to the bottom of my tail.
Even so, I fought to hold it down, to slow it. I sprinted, trying to catch the slippery creatures, but before I could reach the perimeter we’d established, the larger one materialized once more, the oryx’s body still in its jaws. It rushed through the faintly lit, shadow-filled expanse, and dove back into the shadows once it was once again in the inky blackness of the shadows outside of our ring of flames.
Knowing where the remaining beast would have to return to, I sprinted, drawing just the slightest amount from [Spear of the Many] to accelerate myself even the slightest bit more. I reached the faint light at nearly the same moment as the predator. With a surge of will, I flooded my claws with sonic magic and sent a long scythe of [Destructive Wave] at the creature’s long body. It shrieked in pain when my attack landed on it, but it paid me no mind. Instead, it too leapt into the shadows outside our grasp, diving as if into a pond. There was no ripple or evidence of its presence as both the creatures fled without the swarm having been able to do anything to slow or stop their approach, their invasion, and their hunt. The only positive to all this was that no keelish had died in the attack.
“I’m so sorry Alpha!” Hala ran up to me, her frills downcast and her tone shaky. “I was too slow. If I’d realized what was going to happen, I could have stopped the attack before they could do anything!”
“Do better. Be better.” I answered, my jaws clenched. “I listened to their retreat and thought myself clever. How wrong I was.”
“That… ok, Alpha.” Hala answered before slinking off. Solia walked close to me while, with a brief command to a nearby keelish, rekindling the fire the creature’s had mostly destroyed.
“This idea mostly works.” She mused. “Maybe it just needs a little tweaking.”
“Then tweak it. Make the fires more difficult to destroy without running out of fuel too early. We see that they work, they just need a little more.”
“Of course, Alpha.” Solia answered as I remained at the edge of the fires’ light, imagining I could hear the low shrieking laughs of the shadow beasts.