Phoenix

Battle Part II

Ash pumped her arms, breathed through her nose and out her mouth while she dodged and weaved a practised route through the trees, away from the booted footfalls of the soldiers. She could hear them on the beach shouting, "Fan out and hold formation. Slow and steady on the sweep," before crashing into the forest. Their intention was clear—comb the Wanderers out like lice then force them into submission.

They clearly didn't know the island... or the Wanderers.

Ash found her position, and whistled a bird call to Eli, who whistled to Jacob, Ollie and Apple until the signal passed all the way down the line to Oroton. Once everyone was in position, the fire-wielders lit resin torches attached to pulley systems in the trees. The earth-wielders controlled these pulleys via weighted ropes. Once the weights were released, the torches drifted in a circuit through the forest, mimicking human movement.

Delighted cries rose from the Establishment soldiers, some even breaking rank to follow the positional beacons. But the commanders weren't so easily fooled and with warning gun shots, keep their ranks in line and moving at a steady pace.

Ash and Eli followed the river and took shelter amongst an outcrop of trees.

"How many?" Ash said.

"At least a hundred," Eli said, squinting through the trees which flickered an eerie whitewash green under the swirling black storm clouds.

"How can you tell?" Ash said.

"From the sound of their footfalls."

Ash shook her head. To her, the marching army sounded like nothing but an oncoming train. "Weaponry?"

"Guns. Don't know what else."

"Armour?"

"Bullet proof vests. Leathers—thick around the mid-section but weak around the neck, arms and legs."

"Weaknesses?"

Eli paused. "Unfamiliar terrain." And fell silent. It seemed, their only advantage was the forest.

Shrill war-cries erupted from the bottom of the valley, followed by the rhythmic stamping of wooden staffs against the forest floor, which echoed through the forest, weaving a web of confusion. Ash and Eli gripped the closest tree, anticipating the earth-wielders attack. The trampling boots of the soldiers slowed as they waited for further instruction from their commanders.

The earth-wielders exchanged their staffs for clubs and with root-shaking power, bashed the ground, sending large chunks of rock into the Establishment's ranks, degrading their perfect lines. Their assault continued until they'd chipped away at the soldiers ranks and funnelled them towards pre-set traps like grains of sand through an hourglass.

The soldiers stumbled and fell into the deep pits concealed by loose foliage, inset with deadly poison-tipped spikes. Those who weren't taken by the pits, found themselves tripping a labyrinth of Aurelia Vines which swooped from the treetops, fibrous lengths split down the middle to release a sticky secretion of toxic residue. As they swung from side to side, they slapped the exposed faces and arms of the soldiers, who fell, paralysed.

The commanding officers fired a sequence of shots into the air, signalling their soldiers to open-fire. And just like that, the unspoken treaty between the two groups was lost. The Wanderers had made it clear they weren't coming quietly. The Establishment had responded with the power of modern weaponry—it seemed they weren't against killing the majority to force the rest into submission.

The soldiers who weren't stuck in traps, paralysed, or pinned beneath large rocks and boulders fired round upon round into the trees, forcing the earth-wielders into a defensive retreat. Ash and Eli ran, following the river towards the widest, deepest section where it would be impossible for the soldiers to cross by foot. It was the last part of their battle plan—the part they were hoping they wouldn't have to use.

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