Lee felt a pang of sadness as the brave human warrior dropped to his knees in the wake of the devastating slash, before toppling over to the ground, dead at the feet of his slayer.
Curiously, after the human leader had been felled, and the field of battle had fallen eerily silent, the savage posture of the inhuman warriors dissipated rapidly. The fighting over, it was as if the blood-lust that they had exhibited suddenly released its grip upon them.
The huge sky warrior knelt down upon one knee at the side of the horsemen’s slain leader. With a massive hand, the sky rider picked up the fallen warrior’s sword, from where it had fallen from his grasp, and carefully returned it to the dead man’s grip. The sky warrior, who had only recently been a tempest of martial ardor, looked uncannily gentle in its movements.
There was a respectful aspect to the purposeful gesture, and Lee could not help but think that the hulking warrior was honoring the skill and fortitude of its fallen opponent.
No more than seven or eight of the attacking war band had been killed in the fighting, with a few more wounded, in comparison with every last one of the horse riders being slain.
A few horses had died as well, though a great majority had made it through the battle without serious injury. Several of the rider-less horses were wandering aimlessly nearby, or cantering farther off in continued fright, with nobody left to guide them.
The victorious attackers proceeded to systematically check the corpses littering the area, and to Lee’s eyes they appeared to be making sure that the humans were indeed dead. No human survivors were discovered, but there were a few critically injured horses in the vicinity that still had breath in them. Without hesitation, and without any sign of pleasure, the inhuman warriors quickly put the beasts out of their misery with focused, singular blows.
The bestial faces of the warriors, and their absolute ferocity in battle, were quite unsettling, in a primeval way. Yet Lee observed that these warriors were not simply animalistic barbarians. Their complex nature was acutely reflected in the way in which they went around the fallen humans, and attended to the mortally wounded steeds.
A couple of sideways glances revealed that Lee’s companions were similarly spellbound by the sights and frozen in place, with nary a breath to disturb the air and invite discovery.
As Lee continued to observe them, the creatures spoke to each other from time to time in a guttural language. Though rough in manner, it was very clear that the warriors were highly disciplined and well-organized. Watching their exchanges, Lee was left with no doubts that the huge one that had felled the human leader did indeed hold the primary authority over the entire group.
The extraordinary winged steeds that the beast-men rode lingered in patience for their masters, a few emitting low whines or barks. A couple of the ones situated closer together nipped and snarled at each other.
When the riders were completely finished with their inspection of the battlefield, the huge leader shouted to all of them. At the leader’s call, there was a little spark of hesitance, which flared suddenly into reticence among the others. The leader seemed to be expecting the reaction, speaking sharply as the others cast glances about at the fallen humans and those of their own race.
At first, Lee had been sure that the taciturn response had something to do with the fallen non-human warriors, but the more that he watched their deliberate glances include the human warriors, he was not quite so sure.
The leader shook its great head emphatically from side to side, in an unmistakable negation to the unvoiced objection that the others were clearly referencing.
The leader then spoke again, its tone changing and lowering in volume, as its next words came out slower. Lee was positive that the leader was addressing the unspoken desire within the others in a more sympathetic fashion.
The leader glanced around at the corpses, shook its head again, and finished its address with a few words that took on a more authoritative timbre. The other warriors seemed to be largely assuaged from whatever issue had initially troubled them. A few of them hurriedly went over to their fallen brethren, carefully removing amulets and other small objects from the bodies of the dead beast-men.
Before standing back up, the living warriors bowed their heads, some laying their massive hands upon the shoulders of the prone bodies. Lee could see their lips moving as they uttered last words at the sides of their comrades.
The few sky steeds that had carried the fallen among the beast-men were then wrangled and brought together with the others. Lee took note that these had not strayed far from the vicinity of the rest of the steeds. All of the warriors eventually proceeded to stride back to their winged steeds and mount them.
The huge leader was the last one into the saddle. A few moments later, after a loud cry from the prominent warrior, the riders spurred their exotic steeds into motion. The creatures spread their wings, lurched into a short, bounding run, and leaped towards the sky. With powerful, snapping flaps, the mounts carried their riders up into the air. The steeds with empty saddles followed the cue of their brethren, as if trained, pursuing the others off of the ground and up towards the sky.
Lee watched the steeds beat their wings vigorously as they climbed towards the heavens, gaining height steadily on a sharp incline. In a loose formation, the great steeds finally leveled out, as they carried the throng of menacing sky riders across the rolling plains, heading into the distance towards the west and the setting sun.
Lee and the others remained motionless long after the riders were just mere specks on the far horizon. Nobody so much as moved or spoke, until those specks had completely disappeared from view.
“Don’t ask me,” Lee commented at last, his eyes slowly lowering to gaze upon the garish collection of corpses strewn all about the grounds ahead of them.
His heart sank.
A predatory, bird-like creature, like that faced by Erin and Lynn upon their entrance into the new world, was one type of danger. Bands of well-armed fighters, fully equipped with iron weapons and riding upon incredible winged steeds, was another level of threat entirely.
“Maybe we could use some weapons, from out there,” Ryan then suggested, pointing out towards the dead warriors. “These stakes aren’t going to do us much good, especially if we run into either of those who were in the fight.”
Lee was impressed by Ryan’s proposition, especially the fact that he had not assumed that the humans would automatically be receptive to their group. It reminded Lee to maintain a better wariness himself, and to presume nothing about the things of this new world, no matter how familiar they might look at first.
“I think that’s an excellent idea. We should take advantage of it while we know that the area is clear right now,” Lee concurred.
“I’m not going out there,” Erin stated flatly. “No way. If those things come back, there is no way we are going to get away. If a couple dozen armed fighters on horses can’t survive, then how the hell will four of us?”
Without saying a word, Lynn got up with a somber expression and started forward. Just a few strides carried her out of the shelter of the forest, and out under the open sky.
She paused for a moment, and turned back to the others. Her eyes fixed solidly upon Erin.
“We can’t just wait for the trouble to find us. This might be a chance that we won’t have again, or anytime soon,” she stated. “We have to try and be prepared somehow, and I would rather do it with what those dead men were carrying, than with the sticks we have now.”
Lee got up and trotted out after her. Ryan finally got to his feet and jogged to catch up with them, after some initial hesitation.
“Let’s get it done quickly,” Lee remarked to them.