The flickering candlelight danced across Demetrica's stern face, highlighting the sharp angles of her jaw and the grim set of her lips. The guard, a young man barely out of his teens, shifted nervously from foot to foot, his armor gleaming faintly in the dim light.
"Commander," he began, his voice barely a whisper, "there's… a disturbance at the West Harbor. A sizable band of bandits, and… and their beasts."
Demetrica's eyebrow arched.
"Beasts? Specify."
Her voice was low, controlled, but the steel in it was unmistakable.
"Several, Commander. Large ones. We have three beast tamers attempting to control the situation, but… they're outnumbered, and the bandits are… well, they're vicious."
The guard swallowed hard, his eyes scanning the room as if he expected one of the beasts to burst through the door.
Demetrica stood up, her movements fluid and precise despite her imposing stature. She took her sword, the polished steel reflecting the candlelight like a mirror.
"How many bandits?"
"At least twenty, Commander. And the beasts… they're causing significant damage to the docks. Several ships are in danger of being destroyed."
Demetrica's face was immobile, but a muscle had flickered in her jaw. Three beast tamers against twenty bandits and beasts was a suicide mission. She looked over the gathered guards.
"Sergeant Valerius, form up a squad of ten. Beast tamers. We're moving now. Concentrated fire on the bandits."
Her gaze flashed up at the map hanging on the wall and lingered on West Harbor.
"Hope they hold until we get there."
*****
Three beast tamers stood out amidst the chaos, a defiance against the tide of bandits and beasts. Each had their own unique companion.
First, there was a young woman with fiery red hair and eyes that burned with the intensity of a thousand suns.
She stood beside a beast unlike any other, a colossal spider with a metallic sheen to its exoskeleton. Its legs, each the thickness of a man's arm, ended in razor-sharp claws that glittered in the flickering light. Its eight eyes, like black pearls, tracked every movement with unnerving precision.
Her whip was a good length of braided steel, crackling with electricity as she rode the spider, its fangs snicking with precise deadliness at the coming bandits.
A bandit lunged, sword flashing. The woman sidestepped with effortlessly fluid motion. Before he could recover, the spider hit. Webbing, a rope-thick strand shot out. Instantly he was binding the attacker head to heel. He crashed down to ground, his flailing equally useless against the sticky silk.
Two more bandits charged, a snarling, red-eyed wolf-beast at their heels. The spider whirled, a blur of chrome and precise movements; legs a blur, its body a low, deadly hum. Webbing flew, ensnaring bandits and beast mid-leap. They crashed, tangled in a shimmering web.
Another beast tamer, a brutish man with a hawk the size of a small child perched upon his shoulder, nodded curtly and released his own companion. The hawk dove into the fray, tearing through the shoulder of one of the bandits before rising into the air again, harbingering death with wide-spread wings.
The third tamer was an angular youth with two twin panthers at his shoulder. Their sleek black silhouettes darted back and forth in the shadows of the room, their glowing yellow eyes the only warning one could get before they struck; screams went up as, one by one, the bandits fell, unable to meet the coordination of the tamers and their beasts.
Despite the bloodshed, the bandits pushed forward. Their leader, a hulking figure in battered leather armor, strode forward, his booming voice cutting through the din.
"Enough! Overwhelm them! Let the beasts loose!"
At his command, the bandits' remaining creatures—hulking bears with spiked collars, serpents large enough to crush a man, and more—charged in a mass. The tide shifted as the tamers found themselves surrounded.
The red-haired woman narrowed her eyes, her grip tightening on her whip. She glanced at her spider, its metallic legs digging into the ground, ready to unleash its fury.
"We hold the line, back up will arrive soon."
As the beasts closed in, the spider released a guttural hiss, its webs spinning faster than ever. The hawk circled above, screeching a warning, while the panthers prowled protectively around their tamer.
Somewhere in the distance, the sound of galloping hooves and clanging armor echoed through the day.
Demetrica led her squad toward West Harbor, the rhythmic beat of their horses a counterpoint to the battle's screams. Their arrival was a wave of steel and shouts, cutting through the chaos.
"Form up!" Demetrica yelled above the din. "Get the beasts first!"
The scene before them was a maelstrom of violence. Fires crackled along the docks, casting long shadows over the struggling beast tamers. Bandits swarmed like ants, their beasts tearing through crates and ships, their snarls mixing with the cries of wounded sailors.
The scene before them was a maelstrom of violence. Fires crackled along the docks, casting long shadows over the struggling beast tamers. Bandits swarmed like ants, their beasts tearing through crates and ships, their snarls mixing with the cries of wounded sailors.
Demetrica didn't hesitate. She raised her sword high, its blade catching the light like a beacon, and charged into the fray. Her squad followed, each with their own beast companion at their side.
A massive, spiked bear turned to face them, its glowing eyes narrowing as it roared a challenge. One of Demetrica's tamers, a woman with a sleek, silver-scaled dragonfly-like beast, stepped forward.
"Oblivia, pin it!"
She commanded, and the creature obeyed, darting forward with impossible speed. Its translucent wings hummed as it wove around the bear, distracting it with stinging jabs from its razor-sharp tail.
Demetrica moved in, her sword flashing. With a precise strike, she severed the chain binding the bear to its handler, cutting off the bandit's control. The bear hesitated, growling in confusion, before retreating into the shadows.
Meanwhile, the red-haired woman and her spider continued to hold their ground.
"We were starting to think you'd leave us to die!"
She called out as Demetrica approached.
"You held longer than I expected, Xana."